I posted the first Watchable list on April 29, 2020, just over a month into the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the time, not only was the entire world upside down, my professional world was in disarray. I had just been moved from my role as the Toronto Star’s deputy editor of Entertainment (now renamed Culture) to a new editing desk and it appeared I would no longer be allowed to write about TV for the Star.
As stated at the top of this blog page, I love television. I have loved it ever since I was a kid watching “The Brady Bunch” and “The Partridge Family” (luckily, my tastes have evolved since then). The idea of no longer being able to write about it was incomprehensible, so I started this blog with the idea of posting weekly reviews and occasional interviews, and keeping my hand in the game.
The interviews didn’t really materialize because the Star decided to keep using my services as a part-time TV writer, but I kept up the weekly reviews, missing very few weeks over the last three years.
I did this by working seven days a week: five days as a full-time editor and part-time writer for the Star, screening and writing about shows for this blog pretty much every Saturday and Sunday.
It’s been a labour of love, an exhausting one but manageable.
That is no longer the case. I am back in the Star’s Culture department, where I have taken on more responsibility for both the writing and assigning of TV stories, and that means my work for the Star sometimes bleeds into my weekends.
I realized over the last couple of very busy weeks that I can no longer carve out the time to give the Watchable list the attention I feel it deserves.
I had hoped to go out with a bang rather than a whimper with one last good list, but I barely had time to fit in four episodes of “Dead Ringers” (April 21, Prime Video, which would have been the Show of the Week) and a couple of “SLIP!” (April 21, Roku, which would have been a Short Take).
Television will continue to be a huge part of my life. I will still be watching as many new shows as I can manage, but I’ll be writing about them exclusively in the Star, at least for the next while.
I still plan to recap shows in the “Bachelor” franchise here, however, so check back May 9 for a post about “Bachelor in Paradise Canada.”
SHOW OF THE WEEK: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (April 14, Prime Video)
Alex Borstein as Susie and Rachel Brosnahan as Midge in “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of Prime Video and Philippe Antonello
I’m breaking my own rule and making a show I couldn’t review (embargoed till Wednesday) a show of the week, but you like what you like. And I have liked “Mrs. Maisel” very much since I belatedly began watching it after the second season came out.
You have no doubt heard that this fifth season is the final one, which means Miriam “Midge” Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan) is focused on getting her career to the next level, after getting told off by Lenny Bruce (the also marvellous Luke Kirby) at the end of Season 4 for wasting opportunities after the Shy Baldwin tour disaster.
Despite having seen the first five new episodes, I can’t tell you how Midge goes about putting things right without breaking the embargo. But if you have seen the trailer, you already know that talk show host Gordon Ford (Reid Scott, “Veep”) is part of the season. And that the character played by Milo Ventimiglia (“This Is Us”) is back.
And it goes without saying that the regulars who have contributed so much to “Mrs. Maisel” have returned, including Tony Shalhoub (Abe), Marin Hinkle (Rose), Michael Zegen (Joel), Kevin Pollak (Moishe), Caroline Aaron (Shirley) and especially the brilliant Alex Borstein, who plays Midge’s manager, Susie.
The season debuts with three episodes on Friday and then rolls out weekly until the series finale on May 26.
Short Takes
Video footage of Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev as seen in “American Manhunt: The Boston Marathon Bombing.” PHOTO CREDIT: Netflix
American Manhunt: The Boston Marathon Bombing (April 12, Netflix)
Sometimes a true-crime series is gripping even though you already know the outcome (or can easily google it). Such is the case for this one, which documents the hunt for the two men who set off pressure cooker bombs near the finish line of the annual Boston Marathon, killing three people and injuring 281 others. But first this series from Floyd Russ (“Zion”) and Tiller Russell (“Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer”) establishes what the marathon means to the city of Boston and sets the scene of the picture perfect day when all hell quite literally broke loose five hours into the race. And then, hour by hour, the series paints a detailed picture of the investigation into the terrorist attack, from the chaotic minutes after the two bombs went off to the chaotic minutes and hours after the suspects were tracked to a quiet Watertown neighbourhood four days later. The record includes archival video footage, photos, police radio calls, news coverage and fresh interviews with police and FBI agents, bombing survivors, the man they carjacked, people who knew the bombers and more.
For reality TV fans, Netflix has “Love Is Blind: The Live Reunion” on April 16.
Ava Louise Murchison and Mason Blomberg in “Jane.” PHOTO CREDIT: Apple TV+
Jane (April 14, Apple TV+)
Apple TV+ has been quite gung ho about promoting this kids’ series and since it’s from a Canadian company, Sinking Ship Entertainment, was shot in Alberta and stars a bunch of Canadians, the least I could do is give it a look. Toronto native Ava Louise Murchison stars as the Jane of the title, an extremely imaginative young girl who wants to follow in the footsteps of her hero Jane Goodall — the scientist and conservationist known for her pioneering work with chimpanzees — and help save animals and the planet. Fittingly, Jane’s companions on her mission are a stuffed chimp named Greybeard, her friend from the next apartment over, David (Mason Blomberg), and that imagination I mentioned. Thus Greybeard comes to life and Jane and David appear to interact with animals like polar bears. Naturally, there are adults who don’t always understand what Jane and David are up to, including her single mother Maria (Tamara Almeida) and her grumpy neighbour (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee of “Kim’s Convenience”). The child stars are sweet without being too cloying and you’ve got to love any show that has Paul Sun-Hyung Lee in it, right? The point, of course, is that children watching the series will learn something about animals and the very serious crisis our planet is in. And real-life experts weigh in, like Canadian underwater explorer Jill Heinerth in the first episode. Surely we can all learn something from the words of Goodall, which the young Jane lives by: “Only if we understand, will we care. Only if we care, will we help. Only if we help, can they be saved.”
Apple also has “The Last Thing He Told Me” (April 14), which stars Jennifer Garner of “Alias” renown as a woman who has to solve her husband’s disappearance with the help of her somewhat hostile stepdaughter.
Waco Aftermath (April 14, Paramount+)
I didn’t watch the original “Waco” miniseries in 2018, so I can’t say how this sequel compares, but it features some of the same actors, most notably Michael Shannon as FBI negotiator Gary Noesner. I watched only one episode of this new one, not enough to give it a full review. My first impression was that it jumps around quite a lot, starting with the 1994 federal deposition into the 1993 siege in Waco, Texas, also known as the Waco massacre, in which four ATF agents and 82 members of the Branch Davidian religious group were killed. It also covers the trial of five surviving Branch Davidians, including Clive Doyle (John Hoggenakker); flashes back to 1981 when Vernon Howell (Keean Johnson), who later changed his name to David Koresh, first joined the group at Mount Carmel; and looks at the armed militias that grew in the wake of Waco, including one Timothy McVeigh (Alex Breaux), a.k.a. the Oklahoma City bomber. The series debuts just five days short of the 30th anniversary of the end of the siege.
Paramount also has the South Korean series “Yonder” (April 11), about a man who reunites with his late wife; and the documentary “Personality Crisis: One Night Only” (April 14), which looks at David Johansen, singer with the legendary New York Dolls.
Odds and Ends
Bill Hader in Season 4 of “Barry.” PHOTO CREDIT: Merrick Morton/HBO
I know how beloved the Emmy-winning comedy “Barry” is, so I know the debut of its fourth and final season on April 16 (10 p.m., HBO/Crave) is an event. Alas, I never got caught up on “Barry,” which is sometimes the case when there is just so damn much to watch, so it wouldn’t have been fair for me to review this new season.
Crave also has the much acclaimed Jordan Peele horror film “Nope” (April 14); Season 2 of “Blindspotting” (April 14, 9 p.m., Starz via Crave) and Season 2 of docuseries “100 Foot Wave” (April 16, 8 p.m., HBO via Crave).
Look, I know how hard it can be to get Canadians to give a crap about Canadian TV and movies — although one would hope that’s going out of style a bit now that Canadian productions are getting global acclaim. But if you’d like to cheer on the home team you can watch “The Canadian Screen Awards With Samantha Bee” (April 16, 8 p.m., CBC/CBC Gem) which, as I understand it, will be a sort of hybrid interview/awards show celebrating CSA winners.
The Disney+ offerings this week include Jeremy Renner’s reality show “Rennervations” (April 12), in which he and other celebs rebuild vehicles to benefit communities around the world, for instance, by turning a delivery truck into a mobile water treatment facility. This was no doubt filmed before Renner’s New Year’s snowplow accident. If you are into the Kardashians, which I most decidedly am not, “Til Death Do Us Part Kourtney and Travis” (April 13) features the luxury wedding of one of the kids.
YTV and STACKTV have preteen show “Popularity Papers” (April 10, 6 p.m.) based on the Amy Ignatow books.
NOTE: The listings here are in Eastern Standard Time and I’ve verified the times where possible, but it’s always best to check listings for your own area. The selection of programs reviewed reflects what I’m given access to by networks and streamers, whether reviews are embargoed, how many shows I have time to watch and my own personal taste. The Odds and Ends section includes shows that I have not watched.
I watched only three episodes of this comedy drama, not enough to give it a full review but enough to know that Steven Yeun and Ali Wong are brilliant in it. They’re two strangers who get into a road rage confrontation on what is already a bad day for both of them. He’s Danny, a contractor struggling to make a living and fulfil his dream of bringing his parents back to the United States from Korea; she’s Amy, an entrepreneur with a husband and daughter and a big house in Calabasas but no work-life balance. They are clearly not bad people, but neither can let go of their loathing for the other over the road rage incident so they keep upping the ante of their outrage. But what becomes apparent is that they probably have more in common than they’d be willing to admit as unhappy people trying to tamp down their sadness while putting on a front for the rest of the world. The series was created by Lee Sung Jin and features a largely Asian cast, including Young Mazino as Danny’s younger brother Paul and Joseph Lee as Amy’s husband George. It’s worth noting this is Yeun’s first recurring, live-action TV role since “The Walking Dead” (RIP Glenn).
Tricia Fukuhara as Nancy, Marisa Davila as Jane, Cheyenne Isabel Wells as Olivia and Ari Notartomaso as Cynthia in “Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies.” PHOTO CREDIT: Eduardo Araquel/Paramount+
Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies (April 6, Paramount+)
I previewed this show back in January at the Television Critics Association press tour and was so captivated I had planned to write a feature about it, but other stuff got in the way. It’s a prequel to the beloved 1978 movie that starred John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, set four years before the film, and putting a feminist and LGBTQ-friendly lens on the 1950s. But please don’t think that means it isn’t any fun. From what I saw, and admittedly it wasn’t a lot, the song and dance numbers are wonderful and so is the main cast. Tricia Fukuhara, Marisa Davila, Cheyenne Isabel Wells and Ari Notartomaso play students who all, for one reason or another, run afoul of the rigid cliques and hierarchies of their high school and decide to deal with their ostracization by forming a girl gang.
Paramount also has the movie “80 for Brady” (April 4), which people seemed to go gaga for at the box office.
Schmigadoon! (April 7, Apple TV+)
One of the reasons I enjoyed “Rise of the Pink Ladies” so much is because I love musicals, which is also a reason I loved Season 1 of “Schmigadoon!” The good news is that after sampling a couple of episodes of Season 2 I’m still loving it. Keegan-Michael Key and Cecily Strong are back as Josh and Melissa, only they’re now married. But worn down by the grind of work and infertility, they set out to find Schmigadoon, the magical place where they tested and affirmed their love in Season 1 with the help of musical theatre tropes of the 1950s and ’60s. Instead, however, they find themselves trapped in Schmicago, where the musicals aren’t so sunny (think “Chicago,” “Cabaret” and “Sweeney Todd”) and nobody’s offering them any corn puddin’. The same musical theatre vets who made Season 1 really sing (pun intended) are back in new roles. Alan Cumming might break your heart as a cleaver-wielding butcher a la “Sweeney Todd.” Aaron Tveit is a “Hair”-like hippie who takes Josh under his wing. Kristin Chenoweth is wrangling ill-behaved orphans “Annie” style. Dove Cameron is a Sally Bowles-like cabaret singer and Ariana DeBose the joint’s Emcee. Jane Krakowski steals every scene she’s in as a Billy Flynn-like lawyer. And Tituss Burgess is an inspired addition to the cast as a “Pippin”-ish narrator. And that’s not all. But don’t take my word for it, go ahead and watch. You’d pay a heck of a lot more to see all these very talented people on Broadway.
Apple also has “Boom! Boom! The World vs. Boris Becker” (April 7), a two-part documentary by Alex Gibney about the former tennis great.
Quentin Plair and Kathryn Hahn in “Tiny Beautiful Things.” PHOTO CREDIT: Jessica Brooks/Hulu
Tiny Beautiful Things (April 7, Disney+)
As with “Grease,” I sampled this show in January and haven’t had a chance to screen more episodes since. But Kathryn Hahn who, let’s face it, is good in everything, brings prodigious heart to the role of Clare Pierce, a woman who seems to be screwing up everything in her life — including her job, and her relationships with her husband Danny (Quentin Plair) and daughter Rae (Tanzyn Crawford) — when she takes on the Dear Sugar advice column from a friend. The show is inspired by the book by Cheryl Strayed, who was the real-life Dear Sugar. Other notable performances come from Sarah Pidgeon as the young Clare and Merritt Wever as Clare’s mother.
Disney also has “The Crossover” (April 5), a family-friendly drama about father and son basketball players; and “The Pope: Answers” (April 5), a Spanish special filmed in Rome in which Pope Francis spoke with 10 young adults about subjects like racism, LGBTQ rights and the role of women in the Church.
Odds and Ends
Eric McCormack as Basil Garvey in “Slasher: Ripper.” PHOTO CREDIT: Cole Burston/Shudder
There is some fine Canadian talent in the fifth season of the horror drama “Slasher,” entitled “Slasher: Ripper” (April 6, 9 p.m., Hollywood Suite), including Eric McCormack, Lisa Berry and Thom Allison among others. It’s set in the 19th century but, instead of a killer named Jack, the “Widow” is taking revenge on the rich and powerful with Detective Kenneth Rijkers (Gabriel Darku) trying to stop her.
Super Channel also has “Tehranto” (April 8), a romance movie set in Toronto’s Persian community.
This week’s Prime Video releases include the film “Gangs of Lagos” (April 7), its first African original movie, and the Guy Ritchie flick “Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre” (April 7), which despite the diminishing returns for Guy Ritchie movies attracted Jason Statham, Hugh Grant, Aubrey Plaza and more to the cast.
Finally, TVO has the documentary “Tripping Train 185” (April 7, 7 p.m.), which takes viewers on a journey from Sudbury through the wilderness of the Canadian Shield on one of North America’s last Budd rail cars. And my apologies to the publicist for not getting to this one.
NOTE: The listings here are in Eastern Standard Time and I’ve verified the times where possible, but it’s always best to check listings for your own area. The selection of programs reviewed reflects what I’m given access to by networks and streamers, whether reviews are embargoed, how many shows I have time to watch and my own personal taste. The Odds and Ends section includes shows that I have not watched.
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