John Mulaney is returning to late-night television after the success of his oddball, one-week-only show “Everybody’s in L.A.,” which debuted on Netflix last year.

Although he was clear that the first show was strictly a six-episode gig, it appears its popularity enticed both the streamer and the stand-up comedian to invest in a series with a more regular cadence. Titled “Everybody’s Live With John Mulaney,” the live show will premiere Wednesday at 7 p.m. PT and run for 12 consecutive weeks.

On Monday, Mulaney announced via social media that the first episode will feature actor Michael Keaton, legendary folk singer-songwriter Joan Baez, comedian pal Fred Armisen and personal finance columnist and former Times editor Jessica Roy as guests. Hip-hop group Cypress Hill will be the musical guest.

In an interview with “CBS Sunday Morning,” Mulaney said the live aspect of the show was what excited him the most. The stakes make it a fun challenge, he said.

“It’s a fun feeling to know that, hopefully, a lot of people are watching and it’s live globally with no delay, and you could really damage your career,” he said.

Mulaney is serving as host, co-showrunner and executive producer through his company, Multiple Camera Productions. Netflix’s tagline for the show jokingly dubs it “the first-ever celebrity sit-down talk show.”

“We will never be relevant. We will never be your source for news. We will always be reckless. Netflix will always provide us with data that we will ignore,” Mulaney told press after the show’s premiere date was revealed at a Netflix presentation in January.

The comedian, whose brand was, at one point, largely tied to being a New Yorker, now resides in Los Angeles. He showed off his interest in the city in “Everybody’s in L.A.,” highlighting local experts and issues and taking live calls from Angelenos.

“Everybody’s in L.A.” had a starkly ’70s aesthetic, from the living room decor adorning the stage to Mulaney’s suits. The show also drew upon the sketch humor of “Saturday Night Live,” where Mulaney worked as a writer for several years before making it big in stand-up.

A brief promo for “Everybody’s Live” shows Mulaney standing outside a studio lot next to an old car running with the door open, indicating that this series will match the randomness of its predecessor.

“Netflix just made a deal with the devil,” Mulaney says as the ultra-wide shot zooms in on him. “‘Everybody’s Live With John Mulaney’ starts March 12, Wednesday night. Talk show!”

The camera then shoots into a tight shot of him whipping his sunglasses off (it’s pitch black outside). A second teaser features the same wide shot as Mulaney asks off-camera crew to let him know when the shot is tight enough for him to start talking.

Beyond the aesthetic, other elements of “Everybody’s in L.A.” will bleed into “Everybody’s Live.” That includes his sidekick and emcee, Richard Kind, and the show’s delivery bot, Saymo.

“We’re having trouble finding Saymo, so we just keep ordering Shastas and ginger ales and hoping that he’ll roll up,” Mulaney said at the January presentation. “Richard and I met through a real-life ‘Baby Reindeer’ scenario. He kept showing up where I worked and I decided to incorporate him into my life.”

The new series also will feature a mix of celebrities, comedians, experts and academics, as “Everybody’s in L.A.” did. Many of Mulaney’s comedy peers made appearances, including Jon Stewart, Jerry Seinfeld, Nate Bargatze and Sarah Silverman. They joined seismologist Lucy Jones, paleontologist Emily Lindsey, hypnotherapist Kerry Gaynor and other specialists on Mulaney’s guest couches, creating some unexpected pairings and unpredictable conversations. Mulaney promised more odd couples will join him for the new show.

“Everybody’s Live” will be the latest in a long-standing collaboration between Mulaney and Netflix. The show will join his comedy specials, a 2019 variety special called “John Mulaney & the Sack Lunch Bunch” and other projects on the streaming service.

Nancy Vandergroot (Nicole Kidman), the dewy-eyed protagonist of Mimi Cave’s sophomore feature Holland, has a tendency to somersault to conclusions. At the start of this stylish but plodding film, which premiered at SXSW ahead of its March 27 release on Prime Video, the suburban mother loses a pearl earring. Her husband Fred (a chilling Matthew Macfadyen) suggests she check her junk drawer or the jars housing her craft supplies. Nancy, convinced of her own theories, accuses her son’s tutor, Candy (Rachel Sennott), of theft and promptly fires the befuddled high-school student. 

This is a clever introduction to Nancy because later, when she conscripts her friend Dave (Gael García Bernal) to help her investigate whether or not Fred is having an affair, you can’t help but wonder if Nancy might be jumping to conclusions again. Of course anyone familiar with Cave, whose directorial debut Fresh established her as a filmmaker to watch, will know that Fred, the town’s ophthalmologist, is certainly hiding a secret. The real question is what kind. 

Working from a screenplay by Andrew Sodroski, Cave constructs a visually compelling answer to this question. Holland boasts striking advancements in the director’s style and committed performances from Kidman, Macfadyen and Bernal, but these qualities can’t quite save a narrative fundamentally confused about its purpose. Sodroski’s story hinges on a single, shocking twist that, once revealed (more than two-thirds of the way into the film), hampers instead of helps the third act. It squanders the deftly calibrated anxious suspense, turning Holland into a study of suburban paranoia and domestic isolation that slackens over time.

Before Nancy became suspicious of her husband, she lived contentedly as a home economics teacher and devoted wife in their small town. It’s sometime in the early aughts and Cave opens Holland with a charmed testimonial about the lakefront Michigan locale. Nancy, through voiceover, describes a harmonious existence characterized by her loving family, their stately white home and the annual tulip festival. Cave juxtaposes this supposed serenity with a technicolor aesthetic that establishes an uneasy surrealism. There’s a dreamy quality to each scene, which destabilizes confidence in what’s real. 

Below the pristine surface of Nancy’s life, secrets fester. She suspects Fred’s infidelity after a series of small discoveries, and confides in Dave, a shop teacher at the high school where she works. He harbors a faint crush on her and, in an irrational and lovelorn frenzy, agrees to help her snoop.

The early parts of their adventure possess the feverish quality of new and illicit experiences. It also awakens Nancy from a life she likens to carbon monoxide poisoning — slow and comforting in its kill. This is not the first time Kidman has played a woman rebelling against the gilded confines of her existence, so the actress delivers a reliably fine performance. She vacillates frantically between Nancy’s public performance of innocence and a more subdued desire for risk, giving the character an enticing and unpredictable edge. 

As Nancy and Dave continue to gather evidence, Nancy’s anxieties balloon. She has nightmares about her son Harry (Jude Hill) in danger and imagines herself as a stilted figurine in the intricate diorama her husband has been working on in the garage. She also starts sleeping with Dave and is plagued by complicated feelings around this affair.

The real star of Holland is Cave’s style, which builds a disturbing portrait of suburban unease. Partnering with Fresh cinematographer Pawel Pogorzelski again, the director renders that state as a fever dream defined by claustrophobic shots, frenetic crosscuts and dizzying tilts and pans. Composer Alex Somers (Nickel Boys) adds to this tension by punctuating the ethereal foundation of his score with foreboding elements. All of these choices root us in Nancy’s unsettled psyche, upending earlier assumptions about her personality. 

Unfortunately, Cave’s uncanny portrayal of Nancy’s emotional and physical world struggles against the confusion of a scattered story. Bernal gives a strong turn as Dave, especially as the teacher’s determination to protect Nancy mutates into an excited obsession. There’s evidence early on that this character has moved to Holland for a fresh start, but the film never returns to that plot point. A similar fate befalls a thread that touches on the xenophobia suppurating right beneath the town’s genteel exterior and the significance of the tulip festival.

Too many of these instances weigh on Holland as it plods along, somewhat unsteadily, under the weight of abandoned storylines. The big reveal alleviates some of the pressure, but the shock of it comes a little too late, and what proceeds to unfold in the third act feels like a film disappointedly letting out almost all its air.