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Because I love television. How about you?

Author: Debra Yeo (Page 5 of 29)

Watchable on PBS, Disney, Crave Dec. 19 to 25, 2022

December 19, 2022 /

SHOW OF THE WEEK: Call the Midwife Holiday Special (Dec. 25, 9 p.m., PBS)

Leonie Elliott, Helen George and Megan Cusack in the “Call the Midwife Holiday Special.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of Neal Street Productions and BBC Studios

If you want to feel good about the human race at this time of year I can think of few things more likely to engender that sentiment than the annual “Call the Midwife Holiday Special.”

Is it unbashedly sentimental? In spades, but that doesn’t mean it’s Pollyanna-ish.

Truth be told, I resisted watching the show for some years, despite it being a favourite of my late mother-in-law’s. Alas, by the time I had succumbed to its charms, it was too late to share that appreciation with her. But I shall share it with you.

Essentially, the British series is about a group of midwives — both nuns and laywomen — working out of a convent in an impoverished area of East London. It begins in 1957. Season 11, released earlier this year on PBS, advanced the time period to 1967.

(In Canada, you can catch up on previous seasons on BritBox and CBC Gem, which starts streaming Season 11 on Dec. 22.)

Obviously the show deals with subjects historically pigeonholed as women’s issues, including pregnancy and childbirth, infertility, miscarriage, stillbirth, birth defects, maternal mortality, birth control, sexual assault and lack of access to safe abortions. But it also deals with general social ills: poverty, mental illness, spousal violence, alcoholism, racism, homophobia, gentrification, and medical ignorance and prejudice, to name just some. (A quibble: I suspect in real 1960s London, Jamaican nurse Lucille would have been subject to a lot more racism than the show portrays.)

This year’s Christmas special reintroduces Rhoda and Bernie Mullucks (Liz White and Chris Reilly), who had a thalidomide baby in Season 5 (thalidomide was prescribed to pregnant women to fight nausea in the 1950s and early ’60s, and was found to cause birth defects).

Rhoda is pregnant with her fourth child, fearful that her new baby will also have disabilities, and dreading having to divide her attention between an infant and daughter Susan, who was born with deformed arms and legs. Susan is being discriminated against at school because of her disability, and Bernie is spending his free time at the pub rather than deal with his worries for the new baby and his guilt over Susan’s condition.

Another plot line involves a young, pregnant woman just released from jail who’s subjected to total indifference by the welfare official supposedly there to help her and is kicked out of her rooming house when she goes into labour.

If you’re familiar with past iterations of the “Call the Midwife Holiday Special,” you probably suspect both these situations will be resolved with happy endings, although that’s not always the case in the series.

The episode’s feel-good plot involves a Christmas talent show organized by handyman Fred (Cliff Parisi) and wife Violet (Annabelle Apsion) to help mitigate the after-effects of Season 11’s fatal train crash.

Besides Day 1 character Fred, the special also checks in with originals Sister Julienne (Jenny Agutter), Sister Monica Joan (Judy Parfitt), Dr. Turner (Stephen McGann, the real-life husband of series creator Heidi Thomas), Shelagh Turner (Laura Main) and Nurse Trixie (Helen George).

Trixie and Sister Frances (Ella Bruccoleri) undergo some significant plot developments, but Nurse Lucille (Leonie Elliott) and husband Cyril (Zephryn Taitte), Nurse Nancy (Megan Cusack), Nurse Crane (Linda Bassett), receptionist Millicent (Georgie Glen), Fred’s cousin Reggie (Daniel Laurie), the Turners’ son Timothy (Max Macmillan) and Trixie’s rich boyfriend, Matthew (Olly Rix), also figure in the action.

One of the beauties of “Call the Midwife” is that its revolving cast of characters doesn’t lessen enjoyment of the show. Sure, you miss people who have left the series, but the new characters fit easily into the ebb and flow of life in Poplar, and it seems we’re in for more additions when Season 12 debuts in 2023.

In the meantime, there’s this holiday special with the show’s usual mix of comedy and drama, sorrow and joy, and an abundance of kindness. Enjoy and keep the tissues handy.

Short Takes

The Flagmakers (Dec. 21, Disney+)

For the immigrants and refugees who work at Eder Flag in Oak Park, Wisconsin, sewing and shipping five million American flags a year is part of their American dream. They’ve come from countries like Serbia, Iraq, Bosnia, Puerto Rico, Tanzania, Mexico, fleeing war and other hardships, or just seeking better lives for themselves and their families. They toil alongside native-born Americans like SugarRay and Barb, a Trump supporter who nonetheless forms seemingly genuine connections with her diverse co-workers. Sewing manager Radica, who left Serbia with her husband after her house was bombed, believes every flag created at Eder has a soul, but she also feels betrayed when the Stars and Stripes are brandished during the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, even used as a weapon against a police officer. SugarRay, meanwhile, is trying to reconcile the country he loves with the country where fellow Black man George Floyd was murdered. “When you start to learn more about how this country was built for Black and brown people it really doesn’t kind of include you,” he says. And Ali, who fled war in Iraq with his wife and children, initially believes life in America is beautiful, a belief that is challenged when he’s hit and knocked unconscious while shopping at Walmart with his family. Radica theorizes that while America isn’t perfect, that’s its beauty, but she also ends up moving back to Serbia. The work at Eder, meanwhile, goes on. This doc, which runs just 36 minutes, was co-directed by Sharon Liese and Oscar winner Cynthia Wade.

Disney also has the streaming debut of “Strange World” (Dec. 23), the animated film starring the voices of Jake Gyllenhaal, Gabrielle Union and Dennis Quaid.

Things get tense between Dan (K. Trevor Wilson) and Stewart (Tyler Johnston) as Wayne (Jared Keeso) steps in during the Season 11 premiere of “Letterkenny.” PHOTO CREDIT: Bell Media

Letterkenny (Dec. 25, Crave)

On the surface, “Letterkenny” would seem to be merely a clever and sometimes strange comedy in which the jokes fly at the speed of light. However, there are decidedly serious things going on under the surface, which is how a group discussion about the merits of various types of potato chips in the Season 11 premiere is really about topics like loneliness, racism, familial love and friendship. And underneath all of that, always, is a love of Canada. Only one episode of the new season was made available for review, but the synopsis put out by Crave says the new episodes will also encompass “lost dogs, an influencer invasion, Skid business, a mystery at the church bake sale, unwanted guests at beer league and the Degens stirring up trouble.” Bottom line, if you’re already a fan of Jared Keeso’s ode to his small-town Ontario upbringing, expect more of what you love.

Odds and Ends

Lily Collins and Lucien Laviscount in Season 3 of “Emily in Paris.”
PHOTO CREDIT. Stéphanie Branchu/Netflix © 2022

I apologize to all the “Emily in Paris” fans, but I was unable to get through the first episode of the first season when it debuted, such was my revulsion. And while I have considered going back for a reassessment given its continuing popularity I just haven’t had the time, so I’m no use to you at all as Season 3 debuts on Netflix on Dec. 21. Also dropping on Netflix this week: drama series “Trolley” (Dec. 19), about a congressman’s wife and family secrets; Season 4 of the docuseries “I Am a Killer” (Dec. 21); Season 2 of Japanese sci-fi drama “Alice in Borderland”; the streaming debut of “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” (Dec. 23); the streaming debut of “Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical” (Dec. 25); Brazilian comedy series “Time Hustler” (Dec. 25), in which a man is hit on the head and wakes up in 1927, where he’s mistaken for a famous bandit; and prequel series “The Witcher: Blood Origin” (Dec. 25), starring Michelle Yeoh and Lenny Henry (“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”).

This just in: if you’re Team William and Kate or you just want to study their faces for signs of how they really feel about “Harry & Meghan,” BritBox will have “Royal Carols: Together at Christmas,” the special hosted by the new Princess of Wales, on Dec. 24. It’s dedicated to the late Queen Elizabeth II and, naturally, William, King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla were in attendance.

Anybody who has Paramount+ will no doubt want to watch box office megahit “Top Gun: Maverick” when it starts streaming Dec. 22.

Prime Video’s big debut this week is the third season of “Jack Ryan” (Dec. 21), starring John Krasinski as the titular action hero.

Apple TV+ has the animated short film “The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse” (Dec. 25), based on the Charlie Mackesy book. And Apple is also making the classic “A Charlie Brown Christmas” available free between Dec. 22 and 25.

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.

Watchable on PBS, AMC+, Netflix Dec. 12 to 18, 2022

December 12, 2022 /

Sorry folks, it’s another week without a show of the week, mainly because I spent my limited screening hours watching eight episodes of “Kindred” before realizing it’s debuting only on Hulu this week, which we don’t get in Canada. Onwards . . .

Short Takes

Rebuilding Notre Dame (Dec. 14, 9 p.m., PBS)

Notre-Dame de Paris before the 2019 fire that almost destroyed it.
PHOTO CREDIT: Brian Lawrence/Alamy Stock Photo

I know exactly where I was the moment I fell in love with Paris: atop one of the towers of Notre-Dame, gazing out at the city on a perfect blue-sky day, surrounded by some of the cathedral’s famous gargoyles. Certainly anyone who loves that city and has spent time in that ancient church was stricken when fire destroyed its roof and threatened the entire 850-year-old structure in April 2019. I returned on a recent visit; the plaza in front of the church was swarmed with people, but the building was off limits, surrounded by construction hoarding. This episode of “Nova” explains what’s going on behind the hoarding as hundreds of workers toil to rebuild the cathedral exactly as it was before the fire in time for the 2024 Olympics in Paris. It’s a mammoth, painstaking task but one that promises to reveal a splendour that hasn’t been seen since the 13th century. This is an uplifting documentary and an interesting one for anyone with a love of history, architecture and/or the City of Light.

PBS has told me repeatedly that “American Masters: The Adventures of Saul Bellow” — about the Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning American author — is debuting Dec. 12 at 8 p.m.,, but it’s not in the online listings for Buffalo’s WNED, so make of that what you will.

Margarita Levieva and David Tennant in “Litvinenko.” PHOTO CREDIT: ITVX/Sundance Now

Litvinenko (Dec. 16, AMC+/Sundance Now)

If you’ve seen any advertising for this four-episode drama, you have likely seen the face of a bald-headed David Tennant, looking very ill in a hospital bed. In fact, Tennant is in only the first episode playing late Russian defector Alexander Litvinenko and, despite my enduring love of David Tennant, I have to say he is not overly convincing in the role apart from getting the hospital look right. The series is really about what happened after Litvinenko died in 2006 from ingesting Polonium-210 at a London hotel: about the police investigation that pointed the finger at two Russian assassins and the public inquiry that concluded the killing was likely approved by President Vladimir Putin himself — just as Litvinenko claimed on his death bed. The show is a pretty standard police procedural — aside from the fact the detectives get to interview the murder victim — but it’s loaded with very good actors whom you’ll know if you watch any British TV. Mark Bonnar (“Line of Duty,” “Shetland,” “Guilt”) and Neil Maskell (“Humans,” “Utopia”) play cops; Stephen Campbell Moore (“War of the Worlds,” “Titanic”) is a lawyer who pushes for a public inquiry; and Russian-American Margarita Levieva (“The Deuce”) is Litvinenko’s widow, Marina. At the very least the timing is interesting, providing another view of just what a murderous thug Putin is as he continues to try to destroy Ukraine.

Odds and Ends

David Letterman with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of Netflix

It’s another jam-packed week for Netflix content. I know I’ll be watching the next three episodes of the docuseries “Harry & Meghan” (Dec. 15) — you can read my review of the first three for the Toronto Star here — and there will be huge interest in “My Next Guest With David Letterman and Volodymyr Zelenskyy” (Dec. 12), for which Letterman went to Kyiv, Ukraine, to meet with the Ukrainian president and Man of the Year. Also on my radar, “Who Killed Santa? A Murderville Murder Mystery” (Dec. 15), in which star Will Arnett’s friend and “SmartLess” podcast co-host Jason Bateman gets to improv his way through solving the slaying of Kris Kringle alongside Maya Rudolph. Then there’s the second season of “Last Chance U: Basketball” (Dec. 13); Polish 1970s-set drama series “Glitter” (Dec. 14); docuseries “Don’t Pick Up the Phone” (Dec. 14), about scammers who talked fast-food managers into strip-searching their employees; documentary “Kangaroo Valley” (Dec. 14), about a baby kangaroo trying to survive in the Outback; action drama “The Recruit” (Dec. 16), in which teen heartthrob Noah Centineo gets to play a grown-up CIA lawyer; Norwegian miniseries “A Storm for Christmas” (Dec. 16), about travellers stranded at the Oslo airport; the Alejandro G. Inarritu film “Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths” (Dec. 16); and documentary “The Volcano: Rescue From Whakaari” (Dec. 16), about a New Zealand eruption in 2019.

Disney’s main offering this week is the series “National Treasure: Edge of History” (Dec. 14), a followup to the movie franchise with a new Latina heroine, Jess Valenzuela (Lisette Olivera). It also has the critically acclaimed movie starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, “The Banshees of Inisherin” (Dec. 14).

If you’re not choking on baking shows yet, CTV has the new series “Cross Country Cake Off” (Dec. 15, 9 p.m.), starring Mary Berg and Andrew Han.

Finally, specialty channel Love Nature has the Africa-set docuseries “Chasing the Rains” (Dec. 18, 8 p.m.), narrated by Adjoa Andoh, a.k.a. Lady Danbury of “Bridgerton.”

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.

Watchable on Disney, Super Channel, Netflix Dec. 5 to 11

December 5, 2022 /

There is no Show of the Week this week. The spirit was willing, the screener selection weak.

Short Takes

Idina Menzel in concert in “Idina Menzel: Which Way to the Stage?”
PHOTO CREDIT: Eric Maldin/Walkman Productions Inc.

Idina Menzel: Which Way to the Stage? (Dec. 9, Disney+)

Those of us who aren’t famous tend to think of it as a constant in the lives of those who are: you get famous, you’ve got it made. This documentary about singer and actor Idina Menzel reminds us that it’s more of a roller coaster with highs and lows. Menzel, a New York native, first hit it big in 1996 with “Rent,” but it was another seven years before she got her next big break, creating the Tony-winning role of Elphaba in “Wicked,” and then another decade before she was catapulted to even higher heights with the song “Let It Go” and the movie “Frozen.” This doc follows Menzel on a 2018 concert tour culminating in her dream gig of playing Madison Square Garden. It balances concert footage with archival film of her performing in high school musicals, and at weddings and bar mitzvahs, with personal moments: interacting with her father, husband and son, Walker, and undergoing ultimately unsuccessful IVF treatments. If you don’t know much about Menzel — or Adele Dazeem, as she was dubbed in a memorable moment at the 2014 Oscars — this doc is a reminder of her hits and of the glorious voice underlying them all.

Disney+ also has “Night at the Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again” (Dec. 9), an animated sequel to the live action “Night at the Museum” films; the star-stuffed comedy caper film “Amsterdam” (Dec. 7); animated series “Alice’s Wonderland Bakery” (Dec. 7) and Season 2 of “The Mysterious Benedict Society” (Dec. 7).

Yannick Bisson and Cory Lee in “Baking All the Way.” PHOTO CREDIT: Vortex Media

Baking All the Way (Dec. 10, 8 p.m., Super Channel Heart & Home)

I am not a fan of holiday rom-coms, but I make allowances for Canadian offerings like this one. Sure, it’s set in Chicago and Wisconsin, but it was made in Ontario with a Canadian cast, led by “Murdoch Mysteries” star Yannick Bisson, who also directs. Bisson is Kris Thompson, widowed owner of a small-town bakery that’s being pummelled by an outpost of a corporate baked goods franchise. He also has the requisite precocious daughter (Bianca Sas) and wisecracking mother (Jayne Eastwood). Things start to turn around when cookbook author Julia Wilson (Cory Lee) comes to town because she wants to include Kris’s gingerbread recipe in her new book — it reminds her of the cookies she used to bake every Christmas Eve with her late mother. Colin Mochrie and wife Debra McGrath co-star as friendly B&B owners who take Julia under their wings. Baking and romance ensue, naturally. Let’s be honest, this is as saccharine as the treats Kris and Julia create to turn his business around, but such is the nature of Christmas movies. And if you get through it without raiding your kitchen for something sweet you’re a better person than me.

Also, if you are a Jayne Eastwood fan, I’m told she guest stars in “A Pink & Green Christmas” (Dec. 8, Bell Fibe TV1), the holiday episode of the comedy about a women’s prison in Hamilton.

Odds and Ends

Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, in “Harry & Meghan.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

The big Netflix release this week is “Harry & Meghan,” an explosive new docuseries about the royal runaways that drops on Dec. 8. I have only seen the trailer, like everyone else, but if you thought the Oprah Winfrey interview put the monarchy in a bad light, hoo boy, I think this will probably have royal knickers in a twist when it’s released.

Netflix also has “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” (Dec. 9), the Oscar-winning director’s stop-motion, animated vision of the classic story, in which the wooden boy (Gregory Mann) is brought to life by a bereaved father (David Bradley) in Italy in the 1930s. It boasts a stacked voice cast, with Ewan McGregor, Ron Perlman, John Turturro, Tilda Swinton, Cate Blanchett, Christoph Waltz, Finn Wolfhard and more. Also releasing on Netflix, the Mexican coming-of-age series “The Most Beautiful Flower” (Dec. 7); Spanish gay rom-com series “Smiley” (Dec. 7); the documentary “The Elephant Whisperers” (Dec. 8), about a couple in India who devote their lives to caring for an orphaned baby elephant; doc “In Broad Daylight: The Narvarte Case” (Dec. 8), about a corruption and murder case in Mexico; and lots of other stuff.

I wasn’t able to get a look in time for today’s post at Jann Arden’s Christmas special, “Jann: Alone for the Holidays” (Dec. 9, 9 p.m., CTV/CTV.ca), in which Arden’s sitcom character finds herself with just her assistant Trey (Tenaj Williams) for company at Christmas. The special includes Arden performing holiday standards, and guest appearances by Michael Buble and Bryan Adams.

Also in the Bell Media family, Crave via HBO has the third season of “His Dark Materials” (Dec. 5, 9 p.m.); the docuseries “Unveiled: Surviving La Luz Del Mundo” (Dec. 6, 9 p.m.), about a sex abuse scandal at a Christian church; and Season 2 of “Random Acts of Flyness” (Dec. 9, 9 p.m.). Also on Crave, Season 4 of “Doom Patrol” (Dec. 8, 9 p.m.); the Jennifer Lopez rom-com “Marry Me” (Dec. 9); and supernatural crime series “The Rising” (Dec. 11), in which a dead woman in purgatory has to find her killer.

Apple TV+ has the Will Smith comeback film “Emancipation” (Dec. 9), which was not offered for review, at least not on Apple’s press site. Antoine Fuqua directed the movie, in which Smith plays a runaway slave. Apple also has Season 2 of “Little America” (Dec. 9), the first episode of which was directed by Indo-Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta, who has firsthand knowledge of the immigrant experience.

Prime Video has British World War II series “SAS: Rogue Heroes” (Dec. 9), starring Connor Swindells (“Sex Education”), Jack O’Connell (“Godless”), Alfie Allen (“Game of Thrones”) and Dominic West (“The Crown”).

CBC Gem has comedy series “Avoidance” (Dec. 5), starring Romesh Ranganathan (“Cinderella”); Season 2 of “The History of Comedy” (Dec. 8) and the New Zealand comedy series “Kid Sister” (Dec. 9), about a young Jewish woman facing family pressure in Auckland.

Finally, if you’re a fan of “As Time Goes By,” the long-running British sitcom that starred Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer, BritBox has the “As Time Goes By Reunion Special” on Dec. 6.

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.

Watchable on Prime Video, CBC, Netflix Nov. 28 to Dec. 4, 2022

November 28, 2022 /

SHOW OF THE WEEK: Three Pines (Dec. 2, Prime Video)

Alfred Molina as Armand Gamache in “Three Pines.” PHOTO CREDIT: Amazon Studios

I’m not sure what could be more Canadian than a murder surreptitiously committed during a curling match in a seemingly placid Quebec village.

That’s the case that introduces us to the TV version of Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, the hero of Louise Penny’s bestselling mystery novels, brought to life by Alfred Molina (“Spider-Man,” “Frida”) in this eight-part series.

If you’re looking for flashy and gory, this isn’t the show for you; if you’re interested in a mystery series anchored in character and place, and the secrets that those hold, then settle in.

The show, like the books, is mainly set in the village of Three Pines in Quebec’s Eastern Townships. Though Gamache, an officer with the Quebec provincial police, is based in Montreal, he keeps getting drawn back to the small community. Even when the murders don’t happen there, there is inevitably some connection with the outwardly idyllic place.

Molina leads a strong cast that includes Rossif Sutherland, Ella-Maija Tailfeathers and Sarah Booth as fellow officers Jean-Guy Beauvoir, Isabelle Lacoste and Yvette Nichol, and the wonderful Tantoo Cardinal as gallery owner Bea Mayer.

Molina told the Toronto Star that Gamache isn’t the typical troubled male detective, something that will no doubt be old hat for viewers who have read Penny’s books. His Gamache is kind without being a pushover; authoritative without being a tough guy; smart and intuitive without being a showoff. And he carries painful secrets of his own, although they don’t interfere with his ability to do his job or his loving relationship with his wife, Reine-Marie (Marie-France Lambert).

The show also departs from the books in a significant way, by adding a storyline that runs throughout the eight episodes anchored in Canada’s shameful history of murdered and missing Indigenous women, and residential schools.

A former residential school and its history of atrocities figure into at least four of the episodes. And Gamache gets personally involved, despite the displeasure of his superiors, in trying to help an Indigenous family whose daughter has disappeared along with her boyfriend, initially dismissed as runaways despite her family’s insistence she would never leave her baby daughter behind.

If you watched CBC’s promising but short-lived series “Trickster” you’ll recognize actors Crystle Lightning, Georgina Lightning and Anna Lambe in this storyline.

“Three Pines,” as is fitting for a show set in Quebec, switches between English and French dialogue, another way it differentiates itself as a made- and set-in-Canada series.

But don’t watch it just because it’s Canadian; watch it because you’ll be drawn in by its stories of all too human crimes and the good-hearted man trying to solve them.

Odds and Ends

Cat fancier Kim Langille and her retired champion Bobby. PHOTO CREDIT: Markham Street Films

Sorry readers, but I chose to spend a weekend in Niagara-on-the-Lake rather than screening shows as I do most weekends, so I haven’t watched pretty much all of what’s on this list.

I did screen “Catwalk 2: The Comeback Cats” (Dec. 2, 9 p.m., CBC and CBC Gem), a sequel to the documentary “Catwalk” (still available to stream on CBC Gem), which apparently became a hit on CBC and Netflix with its tale of rivalry on the Canadian cat show circuit. Things get even, well, cattier in No. 2. With her prize Turkish Angora Bobby retired, Kim Langille attempts to gain the glory that eluded Bobby with his son, Chance. But after Kim gets banned from the  Canadian Cat Association, both she and Bobby mount a comeback.

Netflix, as usual, has a lot. There’s a new instalment of crime docuseries “Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields” (Nov. 29) and the title pretty much says it all; the food competition “Snack VS. Chef” (Nov. 30), about recreating classic snacks; the documentary “Take Your Pills: Xanax” (Nov. 30); another doc, “The Masked Scammer” (Dec. 1), about a French con man; Season 2, Part 1 of the tearjerker “Firefly Lane” (Dec. 2); a series with the intriguing name “Hot Skull” (Dec. 2), about a virus that spreads through verbal communication; the film “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” (Dec. 2), based on what was once considered a scandalous novel by D.H. Lawrence, starring Emma Corrin (“The Crown”) and Jack O’Connell (“The North Water,” “Godless”); Season 2 of reality TV show “My Unorthodox Life” (Dec. 2); and documentary “Sr.” (Dec. 2), actor Robert Downey Jr.’s tribute to his late filmmaker father, Robert Downey Sr.

I was not as blown away by Gary Oldman-starring spy drama “Slow Horses” as some critics were, but that doesn’t mean I won’t watch Season 2 when it debuts Dec. 2 on Apple TV+.

Crave has a documentary with a great title, “Meet Me in the Bathroom” (Nov. 29), which chronicles the New York music scene of the early 2000s, when bands like the Strokes, Vampire Weekend, LCD Soundsystem, TV on the Radio and the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s were the next big things. Also streaming: Season 2 of “Gossip Girl” (Dec. 1); the docuseries “Branson” (Dec. 1), about entrepreneur, daredevil and space pioneer Richard Branson; the docuseries “Cocaine, Prison & Likes: Isabelle’s True Story,” (Dec. 2), about convicted drug smugglers Isabelle Lagace and Melina Roberge, the so-called “Cocaine Cowgirls” who inspired the recent Prime Video movie “Sugar”; and the limited series “George & Tammy” (Dec. 4), in which Jessica Chastain plays Tammy Wynette to Michael Shannon’s George Jones.

The Disney+ offerings include “Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2: Rodrick Rules” (Dec. 2); the fantasy movie “Darby and the Dead” (Dec. 1); and TV series “Willow” (Nov. 30), a sequel of sorts to the 1988 Ron Howard-George Lucas film, with Warwick Davis reprising his role as Willow.

If you like British female-led mystery series, “Whitstable Pearl,” starring Kerry Godliman (“After Life”), is back for a second season on Acorn on Nov. 28.

Finally, the fact that Christmas is less than a month away is inescapable, so you might as well watch “The Original Santa Claus Parade” on CTV on Dec. 3 at 7 p.m. This time, there was a proper parade to film in the streets of Toronto and not just a bunch of floats rolling along without any spectators at Canada’s Wonderland.

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.

Bachelor in Paradise recap: Well, we have Brandon and Serene

November 23, 2022 /
“Bachelor in Paradise” cast members: from left front row, Logan Palmer, Andrew Spencer, Genevieve Parisi, Shanae Ankney and Rodney Mathews; from left back row, Jacob Rapini, Sierra Jackson, Kira Mengistu and Romeo Alexander. PHOTO CREDIT: All L.A. photos Eric McCandless/ABC

When the going gets tough after “Bachelor in Paradise,” apparently the tough go to Italy.

That was one takeaway from the second part of the Season 8 finale on Tuesday. That’s where two of the women — Brittany Galvin and Victoria Fuller — hightailed it when they broke up with their “Paradise” sweeties.

Who is to blame for those breakups is sure to be a subject of much contention among Bachelor Nation.

Both Tyler Norris and Johnny DePhillipo seemed heartbroken onstage with host Jesse Palmer during the live portion of the finale. Brittany and Victoria, not so much, although Victoria did get close to tears at one point. Accusations were exchanged by the ex-lovebirds. Closure was elusive. I’ll have more to say on the he said-she said of it all later.

Thankfully we came out of this slog of a season with some nice things: Brandon Jones and Serene Russell are engaged and still deliriously in love; Michael Allio finally told Danielle Maltby he loved her, onstage no less; Jacob Rapini and Jill Chin are going to give it another try; Kira Mengistu and Romeo Alexander — remember them? — are still dating.

It’s not exactly a love-a-palooza, but we’ll take it.

I’m not gonna make like the producers and rehash the season in highlight reel after highlight reel, but here’s what went down on the final episode.

Pssst, you know they can hear you, right?

Logan Palmer, who’s gone from sort of villain on Gabby’s and Rachel’s “Bachelorette” season to wronged man on “Paradise,” got to confront erstwhile squeeze Kate, who’d spent much of the latter part of their relationship dissing Logan behind his back for not being wealthy enough for her.

Kate told Logan she hated that he had heard her “concerns,” that she had been talking “to my girlfriends in private,” and that it wasn’t really about what car he drove or which gym he could afford, but “you weren’t ready for the type of serious partnership I’m looking for.”

Logan reminded her that there were “cameras everywhere, we were wearing mics” and that he, in fact, had a career he was proud of in TV production despite spending a year as a scuba instructor and dog walker to make ends meet.

“I wish you did say it to me,” he told Kate. “It would have cleared a lot of things up. It would have really showed who you were.”

Yeah, feels like we all have a pretty good idea now of who Kate is.

Jacob Rapini and Jill Chin kissed and made up.

Tarzan finds his Jane?

Speaking of Kate, you’ll recall that Jacob Rapini threw over Jill Chin for her — even though Kate had already discarded him for Logan — which seemed like a really bad call. Jacob acknowledged he had messed up and, striding across the stage to take Jill’s hands, told her he wanted to try again. She did too. They kissed and Jacob carried her off the stage to the cheers of the audience.

I hope those two weirdos — and I mean that in the most affectionate way — can make it work.

Two wrongs don’t make a reconciliation

One of the more annoying bits of producer manipulation this season was letting rose reject Justin Glaze come back to the beach to pursue Eliza Isichei, who seemed to be in a solid relationship with Rodney Mathews.

Eliza vacillated between the two, finally gave a rose to Rodney and then declared the next morning that she’d made a mistake, leaving Paradise to pursue Justin in Baltimore, who in turn rejected her.

On Tuesday, Eliza said that, oops, she’d made a mistake when she said she made a mistake and she still had feelings for Rodney. But Rodney was having none of it.

“I’ll never forget how I felt in those moments, so hurt and humiliated in front of everyone. That’s something that hurts me to this day,” Rodney said. “But I feel like I’m finally getting better in my healing and coming back to life.”

Once bitten, twice shy, as it were.

Remind me again why this man isn’t our new Bachelor?

Jesse Palmer, Genevieve Parisi and Aaron Clancy: not arguing for a change.

He’s sorry, that’s facts

Genevieve Parisi and Aaron Clancy, who had the most volatile relationship in Paradise, shared the hot seat after not having seen each other since the day they broke up on the beach — with another argument, naturally.

They apologized to each other: her for being “emotionally reactive” to the things Aaron said; he for being “prideful,” “foolish” and “ignorant to your feelings.”

They hugged it out, but someone slap them if they ever consider getting back together.

Tyler Norris and Brittany Galvin have a not entirely cordial chat in the hot seat.

He said, she said Part 1

Next, it was Tyler’s turn in the hot seat and he seemed to struggle at times to hold back tears. He said Brittany broke up with him by FaceTime from Italy the same day we all watched him get dumped by Rachel Recchia on “The Bachelorette.”

When Brittany joined him onstage they had very different views of their parting. Tyler said she had still been telling him every day how much she loved him. Brittany said she had asked to take a break, but Tyler kept Snapchatting and DMing her. “It was too much,” she said.

So was she driven away by an overly clingy boyfriend or was he deceived by a duplicitous girlfriend? I lean toward the former since I can’t help recalling how intense Tyler was when he talked to Rachel about “unconditional love” and trying to find somebody who “can love as hard as you can.”

Brittany tweeted Tuesday night that she and Tyler had ended things on “mutual terms” and she was blindsided onstage, which was why she seemed “cold-hearted.”

Michael Allio gets emotional after telling Danielle Maltby he loves her.

Worth the move to Akron?

Phew, Michael Allio and Danielle Maltby are still together.

The promo for Tuesday’s episode was edited in such a way that you might have thought they’d broken up, but it was just stupid producer tricks as usual.

When Michael said, “I didn’t give you the kind of closure that you needed,” he was talking to Sierra Jackson, the woman he was with before Danielle arrived. Sierra very graciously accepted Michael’s apology.

As for him and Danielle, she is moving to Akron, Ohio, to be with Michael — not moving in with him, mind you, although she has met his son, James, a bunch of times.

Asked by Jesse to share final thoughts, widower Michael told Danielle, “You know I only said ‘I love you’ to one person in my entire life, but I love you.”

So maybe we should all stop resenting Michael now for dumping Sierra and for being a producers’ pet, and just cheer on him and Danielle.

Victoria Fuller and Johnny DePhillipo before the wheels fell off. PHOTO CREDIT: Craig Sjodin/ABC

He said, she said Part 2

At this point, “Bachelor in Paradise” finally went back to Paradise, where we watched Victoria and Johnny get engaged in Mexico. Victoria said she couldn’t imagine her life without Johnny and Johnny said he would have her back no matter what.

And that lasted for what, three weeks? That’s when Victoria said she knew they weren’t going to be engaged anymore “if we are fighting this much, this soon and this toxic.” Although it was bleeped out on air, Victoria said that Johnny had called her a stupid C-word and asked her what she could provide to the relationship if she wouldn’t cook or clean.

Johnny claimed the cooking and cleaning comment was a joke. He also accused Victoria of cheating on him emotionally by talking to someone else while they were still trying to work things out.

That someone, of course, is Greg Grippo, formerly of Katie Thurston’s “Bachelorette” season and Victoria’s new boyfriend.

Greg joined Victoria in the hot seat — after Johnny had left, mercifully — and told Jesse he and Victoria had been friends who ended up “rekindling” in the weeks after Paradise. Then they decided to go for a drink to test things out . . . in Rome because, Victoria said, they couldn’t be seen together in New York or Nashville. Oh yeah, and they got matching tattoos of the word “Ciao” on their arms while they were there so I guess the test went well.

While this conversation was going on, production kept cutting to the parking lot where Tyler was commiserating with Johnny, basically about what a liar Victoria was.

I honestly have no idea if Victoria is a liar, if Johnny is a misogynist or who’s telling the truth. Social media certainly seems to be on Johnny’s side.

But Victoria said, “Everyone can hate us if they fucking want. I don’t give two fucks because I’ve got this bleep” (no idea what that third bleep was) and there you have it.

Serene Russell and Brandon Jones get engaged in Mexico.

The only love story that really mattered

Throughout the disappointments of the season, Brandon and Serene were our rock. They never so much as looked at anyone else on the beach. They never fought. They were steadfast in their desire to be together. So yes, they got engaged after exchanging heartfelt speeches in which they pledged undying love to each other. Brandon teared up just watching Serene walk across the sand toward him, for heaven’s sake.

They did, however, decline Jesse’s offer to marry them right there on the beach.

As Brandon explained, “we’re so family oriented to the point that our family has to be there.” Makes sense to me.

So yes, this interminable season of “Bachelor in Paradise” is finally over. “The Bachelor” begins Jan. 23 and bad news, Victoria haters, she was in the promo. She will be on Zach Shallcross’s season for reasons I can’t yet fathom.

I haven’t decided yet if I will recap it, although who am I kidding? It’s like a cult. I can’t seem to get out. But I will definitely recap “Bachelor in Paradise Canada,” which is supposedly coming soon.

Till then,  you can comment here, visit my Facebook page or follow me on Twitter @realityeo

Bachelor in Paradise recap: That beach sure emptied fast

November 22, 2022 /
Last couples standing: Brandon Jones and Serene Russell, and Johnny DePhillipo and Victoria Fuller. PHOTO CREDIT: All photos screen grabs

So this is it? This is what we spent nine weeks and soon-to-be 16 episodes of “Bachelor in Paradise” for? One lousy engagement?

Since we’ve only seen Night 1 of the two-part finale, I know that technically nobody is engaged yet. But if Brandon and Serene don’t put a ring on it Tuesday, it really will be the most shocking finale ever.

And I also know, because I broke my own rule and read a spoiler, that Johnny and Victoria supposedly also get engaged on Tuesday’s final episode, but nobody cares because — SPOILER ALERT! — they’ve already broken up and she’s allegedly dating Greg Grippo (Katie’s “Bachelorette” season).

So I repeat: one engagement.

Considering the lengths producers went this season to mess with relationships — sending the women away in a “Love Island”-style twist, letting people who’d been sent home come back to chase people who were already coupled up — I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised this is what it came to. But it’s a pretty crappy reward for sticking it out with the worst “Paradise” season yet.

Ahead of Monday’s final rose ceremony, there were eight couples remaining plus Mara, who announced to everyone else, “I think I’m gonna have to take myself out of Paradise.” I’m sorry, are you still here?

The producers did their best to make the rose ceremony a dramatic one by cancelling the cocktail party — this after host Jesse Palmer made a point of telling all the couples they had to think carefully about the state of their relationships and whether they were ready to get engaged. But just don’t talk to the other person while you’re thinking about it.

Despite that, there was only one crash and burn: Logan and Kate, and let’s not pretend we’re surprised.

Logan, bless him, told Kate, “I still believe in you and me” before offering her his rose.

Logan Palmer before Kate Gallivan rejected his rose with one last lecture.

Kate noted that Logan had told her she was “critical, looked down on you, not warm enough and stimulated by the drama.” And your point is?

“In reality, those are projections that I feel from you,” Kate said. “And when Jesse told us earlier to ask ourselves if we were happy or in love, the answer for those questions for me is no. I know what I want and this isn’t it.”

Ouch.

After Kate climbed into the SUV of Shame she basically insulted Logan’s penis size as well as his income. Instead of their relationship being an uphill battle, she said, they should have been “dry-humping in the corner” (or maybe the pool, which is what she did with Jacob, although I guess really that’s wet-humping).

“Please God, bring me a grown-ass man with a big *bleep* and a bigger bank account,” Kate said.

Good luck with that.

The next day it was time for the usual “Paradise is over” speech that always marks this point in the season. Fantasy suites were coming up, yada yada. If the couples weren’t ready to be engaged there was the door, etc. And the dominos began to fall.

The most elegant breakup belonged to twin Justin and Florence.

“At the moment, I think we shouldn’t pursue things outside of Paradise,” he said.

“Yeah, I agree,” said Flo.

Done and dusted.

It wasn’t as easy for his brother, Joey. Shanae tearfully rambled on about how the age gap scared her — he’s 24, she’s 30 — how he wasn’t independent enough since he still lived with his parents, how he was doing TikToks all over the place and she wanted a “man” — insulting Joey more with every utterance.

But honestly, I’m surprised the twins lasted past their first night, never mind to the last day of Paradise.

Three guesses for who had the messiest break-up and the first two don’t count: Come on down, Aaron and Genevieve. You think they were going to go without one last pointless argument?

You didn’t think Genevieve Parisi and Aaron Clancy were going to stay a couple, did you?

Essentially, Aaron said that because Genevieve had packed her bags and tried to leave twice when they’d had disagreements he couldn’t trust her to give him the security he needed, even though he claimed to love her.

But hey, he told her she looked beautiful and he wished her the best.

Genevieve responded with silence, which seemed like the right way to go, but then changed her mind and went back to confront Aaron, accusing him of trying to put all the blame for the breakup on her. And to be fair, it did sound like that, but I also kind of agree with Aaron: what was the point of bringing it up?

Eventually Genevieve left for real. “Third time’s the charm,” she said.

Also, in a callback to their famous itching vs. pain argument, she said: “It doesn’t pain me, but it makes my brain itch. I just wasted my time on a child and that’s a big fact.”

Two other couples agreed not to get engaged but left the beach together: Tyler and Brittany, and Michael and Danielle.

Tyler and Brittany said they loved each other; Michael and Danielle did not.

Michael Allio and Danielle Maltby left Paradise together.

Widower Michael did not definitively say he was ready to love again, but he showed Danielle the compass he’d had made just before his wife died, which he always carries with him, and said, “I can’t help but think this compass brought me to you.” He also said he was excited to introduce Danielle to his son, James, “when the time is right,” and that his late wife, Laura, would have loved Danielle.

So it seemed like a pretty promising exit, except the promo for Tuesday’s finale suggests things didn’t stay promising for Michael and Danielle but, then again, that could just be editing.

But if Michael did dump Danielle after all the special treatment he got this season we’d better not see him on a Bachelor show ever again.

Finally, just two couples were left and headed for fantasy suites: Brandon and Serene, and Victoria and Johnny.

Brandon and Serene, they’ve got this. They’ve been dropping the L-word all over Paradise; they’ve already said they want to spend their lives together. They are obviously the couple that Jesse is talking to in the promo when he tells them they can get married right there on the beach.

“I don’t even have a second thought in my mind that this isn’t gonna work out,” Serene told Brandon in the fantasy suite. Me neither.

As for Victoria and Johnny, like I said, who cares since we already know they’re not going to work out?

In the fantasy suite, Johnny was still shying away from a proposal whereas Victoria still wanted one as badly as ever. But if I was Johnny, I’d be more concerned about the self-loathing he is apparently harbouring.

He told Victoria, “Even just when it comes to looking at myself in a mirror, I just hate everything about me.”

Dude, get some therapy before you put a ring on anything or anyone.

And that’s where we’re at until Tuesday night when it will all be over except for the acrimony at the reunion. Frankly, I would expect nothing less than a shit show after the season we’ve had.

You can watch at 8 p.m. on Citytv. And you can comment here, visit my Facebook page or follow me on Twitter @realityeo

Watchable on Netflix, Disney, Prime Video Nov. 21 to 27, 2022

November 21, 2022 /

SHOW OF THE WEEK: Wednesday (Nov. 23, Netflix)

Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams in “Wednesday.” PHOTO CREDIT: Vlad Cioplea/Netflix © 2022

As the famous theme song says, it’s creepy, kooky, mysterious and spooky, and it’s one of the more entertaining things that Netflix has released recently.

“Wednesday” takes Wednesday Addams of the Addams Family cartoons (and later TV series and movies) and ages her up. She’s now a 16-year-old attending Nevermore Academy, a boarding school for supernatural “outcasts” that was the alma mater of her father Gomez (Luis Guzman) and mother Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones).

Jenna Ortega (“Scream,” “Jane the Virgin,” “You”) shines in the title role, with a lively, fierce intelligence behind the contemptuous stare and deadpan quips.

When she first arrives at Nevermore — having been expelled from eight other high schools, the last because she sicced piranhas on the swim team — Wednesday has only one aim: escape.

But she can’t resist the chance to make like a goth Nancy Drew when several mysteries arise: among them, why did a fellow student try to kill her twice; what or who is the monster ravaging hikers in the nearby woods; how does a long-ago death at the school, in which her father was accused of murder, figure in?

Wednesday has other things on her plate: psychic visions that she can’t control; a prickly relationship with her mother; and fellow students who insist on engaging with her despite her insistence she prefers solitude.

She has a roommate, Enid (Emma Myers), a cheery werewolf with a love of all things girly and brightly coloured; a rival in smart, athletic siren Bianca (Joy Sunday); an ally in nerdy beekeeper Eugene (Moosa Mostafa); and a couple of admirers, psychic artist Xavier (Canadian actor Percy Hynes White) and so-called “normie” barista Tyler (Hunter Doohan), the son of the sheriff (Jamie McShane) in the nearby town of Jericho. Plus she’s being closely watched by school principal Larissa Weems (Gwendoline Christie) and normie teacher Marilyn Thornhill (Christina Ricci, who played Wednesday in two Addams Family movies).

The school is also populated by vampires, gorgons and other supernatural scholars, targets of mistrust and bullying by the townies.

The series, the TV directing debut of filmmaker Tim Burton, blends YA high school drama with detective, fantasy and horror elements. It has dry, understated humour but also darkness: characters die.

There’s also a nostalgia element with callbacks to the 1960s TV series and 1990s movies seeded throughout the show: a double finger snap, for instance, opens the entrance to a secret library; when Wednesday rings the bell at the coffee shop, Tyler responds, “You rang?”; her parents send disembodied hand Thing (a scene stealer courtesy of actor Victor Dorobantu) to keep an eye on Wednesday, who co-opts him as her co-detective.

Servant Lurch (George Burcea) also turns up in a limited role while Uncle Fester (Fred Armisen) is the highlight of a single episode. But it’s definitely Wednesday who’s the star of the show.

When all is said and done, there’s a heart beating under that forbidding, black-clad exterior, loath as Wednesday is to admit it. In the big finale, when Wednesday faces down a force that would destroy the school, fellow students have her back.

The show isn’t perfect. It’s somewhat overstuffed with characters and plot (a tangent about Bianca having escaped a cult, for instance, seems like an unnecessary distraction) and the Wednesday-Tyler romance angle strains credulity. But I would welcome another semester at Nevermore Academy, should “Wednesday” get a second season.

Netflix also has comedy special “Trevor Noah: I Wish You Would” (Nov. 22); the docuseries-drama hybrid “Blood, Sex & Royalty” (Nov. 23), touted as a look at Britain’s deadliest and sexiest monarchs, i.e. King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn; movie “The Swimmers” (Nov. 23), based on the true story of two Syrian sisters who fled that country’s civil war; and the documentary “Ghislaine Maxwell: Filthy Rich” (Nov. 25), about the recently sentenced accomplice in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking schemes.

Short Takes

Kumail Nanjiani, right, as Steve Banerjee and Murray Bartlett as Nick De Noia
in “Welcome to Chippendales.” PHOTO CREDIT: Erin Simkin/Hulu

Welcome to Chippendales (Nov. 22, Disney+)

“Welcome to Chippendales” is billed as a true crime drama, but it really feels more like a biopic with some crime at the end. It’s based on the book “Deadly Dance: The Chippendale Murders,” which is itself based on the true story of Somen “Steve” Banerjee, the Indian immigrant who created the male stripper empire Chippendales in 1979. As “Welcome to Chippendales” tells it, Steve — consumed by his ambition to be a success in America — turns a failing Los Angeles nightclub into a gold mine by making it a stripper bar that caters to women. (According to other accounts, the idea was actually Paul Snider’s, the pimp and club promoter who murdered his Playboy playmate wife Dorothy Stratten, then killed himself in 1980. Snider and Stratten, played by Dan Stevens and Nicola Peltz Beckham, appear in the first episode, which significantly alters the facts of the murder-suicide.) Kumail Nanjiani portrays Steve as a man secretly riddled with self-loathing, especially since his mother in Bombay regards him as a failure, and rigidly focused on making money and inflating his status. The other star of the show is Murray Bartlett (“The White Lotus”) as Nick De Noia, the choreographer and producer who turns the ragtag Chippendales dancers into stars, and comes up with the ideas for a lucrative New York club and a world tour. Bartlett is the standout in an excellent cast, which also includes Annaleigh Ashford as Steve’s accountant turned wife Irene and the seemingly ageless Juliette Lewis as costume designer Denise. When the team is harmoniously doing their thing, before Steve develops a deadly jealousy of Nick, the show is as fun as you’d expect a series about male strippers to be. But missteps and overreach by Steve — including a deliberate effort to keep Black patrons out of the bar — lead to grievous financial problems at the original club, and his fanatical jealousy of competitors spawns the criminal behaviour that ends with both Nick and Steve dead. It’s not groundbreaking TV by any stretch — especially since the Chippendales story is already a well-trod one — but the acting makes it an entertaining watch.

A scene from “Good Night Oppy.” (Courtesy of Prime Video/TNS)

Good Night Oppy (Nov. 23, Prime Video)

We’ve come a long way from the days when NASA space launches were international events that millions upon million of viewers watched live on TV, but this documentary by Ryan White gives you a sense that space exploration is still a thrilling, if less high profile, pursuit. It uses archival NASA footage and visual effects recreations of Mars (by “Star Wars” effects maker Industrial Light and Magic, no less) to tell the story of Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity, the Oppy of the title. The robots landed on the red planet on Jan. 3 and 24, 2004, respectively, and lasted long past their 90-day lifespans. Spirit made it to May 25, 2011, but Oppy was still going, albeit with robot “arthritis” and memory loss, until Feb. 12, 2019. Both rovers provided invaluable information about Mars, including a confirmation that drinkable water once existed on its surface, but this film isn’t a dry scientific treatise. Even before Spirit and Opportunity left Earth, the various scientists and mission specialists involved imbued them with human characteristics, which only intensified once the robots had begun their lonely, perilous journeys on the planet’s surface. It gives the doc an emotional resonance that very well might have you reaching for the tissues.

The Hip Hop Nutcracker (Nov. 25, Disney+)

If you find the idea of mixing Tchaikovsky with hip-hop beats heretical then avert your eyes from this update of the classic holiday story. But if you’re a fan of dance competition shows, particularly “So You Think You Can Dance,” you might like this. Like a ballet, the tale is told through dance without dialogue, other than Rev Run’s rapping. Actor-dancer Cache Melvin is Maria-Clara, an older version of the usual “Nutcracker” protagonist, and “SYTYCD” winner “Fik-Shun” Stegall is her Nutcracker/Prince. Also in starring roles are “SYTYCD” alumni and spouses Stephen “tWitch” Boss and Allison Holker as Maria-Clara’s parents, and Comfort Fedoke as sorcerer Drosselmeyer. And keep your eyes peeled for other alum like Alex Wong and recent winner Bailey Munoz. Ballet legend Mikhail Baryshnikov even makes a cameo. The story — about Maria-Clara trying to get her folks to rekindle their romance — is as thin as the New York City sets are fake, but the dancing makes it seem like an extended “SYTYCD” holiday episode, minus the judging the competition.

Disney+ also has the “Dancing With the Stars” Season 31 finale on Nov. 21; “The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special” on Nov. 25; and the sequel series “Criminal Minds: Evolution” (Nov. 25), with original stars Joe Mantegna, A.J. Cook, Kirsten Vangsness, Aisha Tyler, Adam Rodriguez and Paget Brewster reprising their roles.

Odds and Ends

Crave has two documentaries that illuminate stars of music and sports. First up is the four-part “Shaq” (Nov. 23, 9 p.m., HBO), about basketball great Shaquille O’Neal. On Nov. 24, the doc “Love, Lizzo” drops, about the one-named singer, musician and champion of body positivity. Crave via HBO also has Season 3 of “We’re Here” (Nov. 25, 10 p.m.), which follows drag artists Bob the Drag Queen, Eureka O’Hara and Shangela as they journey through small-town America preaching drag, self-love and acceptance of differences.

If you missed it at the Toronto International Film Festival or on Crave, “American Masters” has the documentary “Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On” (Nov. 22, 9 p.m., PBS) about Cree, American and Canadian singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie. PBS also has “Tutankhamun: Allies & Enemies” (Nov. 23, 9 p.m.), which takes a fresh look at the story of King Tut on the 100th anniversary of the opening of his tomb in Egypt.

Season 1 of “The Pact” gained favourable reviews for its story of four middle-aged female friends implicated in a murder. Actor Rakie Ayola, who played a detective in the first season, returns in Season 2 (Nov. 22, 9 p.m., Super Channel Fuse) as a social worker whose family is thrown into turmoil by a stranger (Jordan Wilks) claiming a connection.

W Network has the TV series sequel to the “Pitch Perfect” movie franchise, “Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin” (Nov. 24, 9 p.m.), starring Adam Devine as singer Bumper Allen.

BritBox has the original — and many would say superior — version of dystopian series “Utopia” debuting Nov. 23.

Finally, Apple TV+ has the new drama “Echo 3” (Nov. 23), written by Oscar winner Mark Boal (“The Hurt Locker”), about the search for a missing American woman along the Colombian-Venezuelan border.

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.

Bachelor in Paradise recap: A painful itch and a ballroom blitz

November 16, 2022 /
Becca Kufrin and fiancé Thomas Jacobs return to Paradise to buck up morale.
PHOTO CREDIT: All photos, Craig Sjodin/ABC

Is itching the same as pain? I have no freakin’ idea, but I can tell you what is painful: watching these last few episodes of “Bachelor in Paradise” Season 8.

A protracted argument between Aaron and Genevieve about whether itching is a low level form of pain — yeah, you can’t make this stuff up — was just one example of the aimless silliness cluttering this week’s two episodes.

Things started off Monday night with a funereal vibe as everyone on the beach continued mourning the departure of Rodney. Look, I think Rodney is great, too. I was disappointed that Eliza gave him a rose and then changed her mind the morning after, but that happened last week so why the heck were we still seeing everyone moping around?

I’m not saying they didn’t mope around but, you know, editing.

To add insult to injury, we were forced to watch footage of Eliza in Baltimore — you are correct, that’s nowhere near Paradise — trying to rekindle her great love, um, I mean her three-day romance with Justin.

And Justin turned her down!

Yeah, she showed up at his door, poured into a pair of jeans and a cute bustier, and he blew her off since she had picked Rodney over him at the rose ceremony!

“I flew across the country for you, I’ve only known you for three days,” Eliza complained after she made her exit.

Sorry Eliza, but that’s on you, as well as on the “Bachelor in Paradise” producers who wasted money and viewers’ time going off resort to pursue a potential love story that nobody gave a crap about.

And then we got back to the beach just in time to see the first of the new women arrive. And I know it’s not uncommon for new arrivals so late in the season but really, what the hell is the point?

First up was Mara from Clayton’s Bachelor season, who likes comparing herself to marinara sauce — because it’s spicy, I guess? Whatever.

She showed up with a date card and a bushel of overconfidence and settled on twin Justin since everybody else she talked to blew her off. This did not sit well with Justin’s current older woman, Florence, who at 31 is two years younger than Mara. Especially after Mara rubbed Flo’s face in it pre-date by boasting, “I just took a shot of tequila and I’m feeling all kinds of ready.”

“Battle of the cougars,” Victoria called it. And I’m sorry, but 30-somethings are not cougars. And why don’t we have a similar name for all the older men out there who chase younger women?

Mara and Justin went on one of those disgusting dates where the participants rub food all over each other’s bodies and thanks Bachelor in Paradise, you’ve now ruined churros for me.

There was some smooching to go with the chocolate sauce but the next day, just as Florence was packing up to leave, Justin decided he preferred her to Mara, which made Mara cry and really? Turning each other into human doughnuts does not a romance make.

On the other hand, Flo, I’m sure you could do much better, too, but she stayed.

And speaking of older women and younger men, beats me why the show is devoting so much time to Kate and Logan, who have about as much chance of forming a lasting relationship as I do of getting through an episode without rolling my eyes.

Kate was still moaning about Logan not being at her level financially. “He drives an orange Honda, he has a broken phone, he’s a dog walker,” she whined.

And listen, if she wants a man to bring home the bacon, fine, but why is she looking on a crab-infested beach in Sayulita, Mexico? I mean, the average contestant age in Paradise is not indicative of a cast full of self-made millionaires.

I actually feel bad for Logan at this point — and he was far from my favourite on Rachel’s and Gabby’s Bachelorette season — because he can’t seem to do anything right for Kate. She said she wants to be “wowed” and was still bellyaching that Logan didn’t forbid her from going on a date with that drip Hayden.

“It feels like you look down on me in some way,” Logan told her at one point in a rare moment of perception.

“I don’t at all,” lied Kate.

Somehow, they still wanted to be with each other but not for lack of sabotage attempts by the devious Bachelor producers.

Two new women came to the beach: Ency and Lyndsey from Clayton’s season — and why are there so many contestants from one of the worst Bachelor seasons ever?

Ency zeroed in on Andrew and, despite the fact she was sent home in Week 2 of “The Bachelor,” he knew who she was, so I guess she was on his list. To Jessenia’s consternation, he agreed to go on a date.

Lyndsey had worse luck but accomplished the goal of stirring up more unease between Logan and Kate.

Logan didn’t say an outright no to Lyndsey’s date card, telling her he had to talk to Kate first, and Kate was “spinning out.” But they got back to hugging and kissing and Lyndsey left because, unlike Mara, she can take a hint.

Rachel Recchia, right, and Gabby Windey, centre, give Kate Gallivan their “expert” opinion on Logan.

But before Logan could get comfortable in his ongoing discomfort with Kate, ex-Bachelorettes Rachel and Gabby showed up. Why? Apparently just so they could trash talk Logan.

Like I said, I was never one of Logan’s biggest fans, but by this stage Kate had spent more time with Logan than Rachel and Gabby combined, so what right did they have to cast aspersions on him?

You might recall Logan was Team Rachel on “The Bachelorette,” then switched to Team Gabby and then disappeared without a trace, allegedly due to getting COVID. “I don’t respect Logan. I don’t think Logan has changed. What are you gonna do?” Rachel challenged Kate.

Well, we had to wait a bit to find out because first we had to endure yet another argument between Aaron and Genevieve, which resulted in Genevieve once again packing her bags and trying to leave.

The crux of it was a disagreement about whether itching is a low level form of pain and I can’t even. I will leave the commentary to other people.

Florence: “I just hope it’s not about an STD.”

Wells: “I feel like this place is making me dumber.”

Bruce, the boom operator: “I’ll tell you what’s causing me pain is having to keep listening to this argument.”

Kudos to whoever showed footage of a raccoon scratching itself and superimposed the word “Ouch.”

Speaking of ouch, once Aaron had gone to once again waylay Genevieve on her way out, he said, “I know when you’re not emotional you are very sweet and you’re very nurturing, and there’s a reason I fell in love with you. When you’re emotional it just takes over everything.”

Red flag! Red flag! Red flag! Run, Genevieve, run!

But she stayed. Again.

In between all the fighting and fussing, we did get some reminders of what Paradise is allegedly about.

Michael and Danielle, while carefully avoiding use of the L-word, affirmed that they really care about each other.

Tyler and Brittany weren’t using the L-word either — at least not to each other’s faces — but they went on a date and they were so sweet together that I really hope they make it work post-Paradise.

And speaking of making it work after Paradise, ex-Bachelorette Becca Kufrin and her Paradise squeeze turned fiancé Thomas Jacobs waltzed in. In honour of the fact that Becca proposed to Thomas, there was going to be a 1990s-themed Sadie Hawkins dance, with the women inviting the men.

Kate claimed she still had to ascertain if Logan was a match long-term before asking him to the dance. And I don’t know how you determine such a thing with one conversation on the beach, but the next thing you know Kate was happy with Logan again.

I’m with Logan, it’s exhausting trying to keep up with Kate’s — dare I say? — flip-flopping.

And then it was time for fun, dancing, smooching! But you knew it wouldn’t last, right?

Andrew Spencer and Jessenia Cruz in a past episode.

Jessenia decided she needed to clear the air with Andrew and who can blame her for wanting some so-called closure, especially since this was her second time caught in a Paradise love triangle (remember Chris and Alana from Season 7)?

Well, Ency, that’s who.

She interrupted Andrew’s and Jessenia’s talk, but Andrew replied, “I have to finish this conversation, give me a sec.”

Instead, Ency kept stewing then walked over a second time, peevishly telling Andrew, “I don’t know what validation you’re giving her, but I’m asking you to please walk away from this with me right now if you care to pursue anything with us.”

Whoa, slow your roll, Ency!

Andrew did not walk away, explaining that he wanted to be friends with Jessenia afterwards. Plus, if they’d stopped talking, we wouldn’t have heard him confess to Jessenia: “My heart’s still with someone else: Teddi.”

To be honest, I had kind of forgotten that Andrew was into Teddi way back at the start of Paradise, until she left because she had feelings for both Andrew and Rodney.

Should Andrew have left after Teddi left? He told Jessenia he stayed because he had “hope” of finding love with someone else. And since we have seen very little footage of Andrew and Jessenia together we have no idea whether or how much he might have led Jessenia on.

But Jessenia left and then Andrew pulled Ency aside to tell her, too, that he was still into Teddi and he couldn’t be in Paradise anymore. And Ency did not take it well.

She cried and grovelled and begged and held on to Andrew to try to prevent him from leaving. Honey, have some self-respect. You’ve known the guy how long?

But leave Andrew did and so did Ency, crying so hard that her words were unintelligible. Was it the booze cry-talking? Not sure.

Anyway, that’s it until next week’s “shocking two-night finale event.” Host Jesse Palmer has teased that someone might even get married on the beach.

You can watch next Monday and Tuesday at 8 p.m. on Citytv. And you can comment here, visit my Facebook page or follow me on Twitter @realityeo

Watchable on CBC, Disney, Crave Nov. 14 to 20, 2022

November 14, 2022 /

SHOW OF THE WEEK: Sort Of (Nov. 15, 9 p.m., CBC and CBC Gem)

Bilal Baig, right, as Sabi and Dhirendra as their father, Imran, in Season 2 of “Sort Of.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Jasper Savage

I spent a Saturday night earlier this month in the Hot Docs Bloor Cinema, which was packed with adoring fans of “Sort Of,” people of all ages, cultures, gender identities and sexualities who were there for a preview of its first three Season 2 episodes.

If star and co-creator Bilal Baig was nervous at all they didn’t show it, but there’s got to be some pressure involved when you’re putting out a sophomore season of such a critical darling. The first season won a Peabody Award, was named Program of the Year at the Banff World Media Festival Rockie Awards and Best Comedy Series at the Canadian Screen Awards.

The good news is that Baig, co-creator Fab Filippo and the other people who make “Sort Of” haven’t let all that attention interfere with the secret sauce that turned it into a hit in the first place.

The show, like its lead character Sabi (Baig), is still true to itself: a heartfelt, clever, witty, slice-of-life dramedy that doesn’t pander to its characters or its audience.

As Season 2 begins, Sabi is dreading the arrival of their father, Imran (Dhirendra), from Dubai; they’re in a situationship with Olympia (Cassandra James); their friend and employer Bessy (Grace Lynn Kung) has awoken from her coma but is not the person she was before her bike accident; and things are dire financially for Deenzie (Becca Blackwell), owner of the bar from which Sabi derives part of their income. Lack of said income has created tension with Sabi’s sister, Aqsa (Supinder Wraich), from whom they rent a room.

All Sabi wants, they confide to Bessy, is the kind of easy, uncomplicated love that actor Rachel McAdams undoubtedly has. It’s clear from the three of eight episodes made available for review that love in its various forms will continue to be complicated, not just for Sabi but for their family, their best friend 7ven (Amanda Cordner), their employer Paul (Gray Powell) and the kids they nanny, Violet (Kay Kanashiro) and Henry (Aden Bedard).

But the beauty of the series lies in those complications and the fact it doesn’t indulge in stereotypes or cliches.

Imran, for instance, rather than being the strict, macho Pakistani father you might expect, is a man struggling to adjust to the fact that his son has transitioned into someone else, but not in a deliberately hurtful way. And Sabi’s mother, Raffo (Ellora Patnaik), is making noticeable progress in learning to accept Sabi as they are.

Where the characters will all end up in relationship to each other remains to be seen, but the journey, based on what I’ve seen so far, is still an engaging and meaningful one.

Fleishman Is in Trouble (Nov. 17, Disney+)

Meara Mahoney Gross, Jesse Eisenberg and Maxim Swinton in “Fleishman Is in Trouble.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Linda Kallerus/FX

Fleishman is in trouble and he’s not the only one in this TV adaptation of the bestselling Taffy Brodesser-Akner novel.

Indeed, Toby Fleishman (Jesse Eisenberg), his ex-wife Rachel (Claire Danes), and friends Libby (Lizzy Caplan) and Seth (Adam Brody) are essentially avatars for anyone who’s struggled with divorce, aging, identity and just relating to their fellow human beings.

Lead character Toby is a hepatologist (a doctor who specializes in the liver) newly divorced from Rachel, a highly successful talent agent. He has recently reconnected with his best friends from college, stay-at-home mom Libby and single finance bro Seth.

When we first meet 40-something Toby he has recently discovered dating apps and the smorgasbord of horny women available to him, a distraction from the unease he feels now that he’s no longer married to Rachel. But then Rachel drops their two kids off at his new apartment in the middle of the night so she can attend a yoga retreat.

When her absence goes from days to weeks, without so much as a text or a phone call, Toby writes it off as just Rachel being selfish, which aligns with his view of her as a woman who prioritizes moneymaking and social climbing over her own children.

That’s also the view that we have initially of Rachel, whom we see in flashbacks of the marriage, while Toby comes off as a man more interested in helping people than in materialism, disdainful of the rich friends Rachel has collected.

But just as the characters’ perceptions shift as they go from young adulthood to middle age, so do ours as the eight episodes progress.

A chance meeting between Rachel and Libby offers a drastically different explanation for the weeks that she disappeared and why the marriage fell apart, and it doesn’t paint Toby in the most flattering of lights.

Libby, meanwhile, is having a crisis of her own, one exacerbated by reconnecting with Toby. She struggles to reconcile the aspiring writer she was, working for a men’s magazine in Manhattan, with the New Jersey housewife she’s become, which leads to her pulling a mini-disappearing act of her own on her husband and children.

Quite honestly, I wasn’t sure I was going to like “Fleishman Is in Trouble” after the first episode, assuming I was in for endless skewering of entitled New Yorkers and the male ego. But I got sucked into this tale of unsated desire and insecurity, and settling and compromising, and the picture it paints of our flawed humanity.

Libby, our narrator, who’s so appealingly played by Lizzy Caplan, says at one point there are no real villains in life. There are no real villains in “Fleishman Is in Trouble” either, just relatably imperfect people coming to terms with the vagaries of imperfect lives.

Disney+ also has new series “The Santa Clauses” (Nov. 16), in which reigning Santa Scott Calvin (Tim Allen) searches for a replacement Kris Kringle; musical comedy “Disenchanted” (Nov. 18), a sequel to the 2007 film starring Amy Adams and Susan Sarandon, with Adams and Patrick Dempsey returning, and Maya Rudolph taking up the mantle of evil queen bee; holiday special “Best in Snow” (Nov. 18), hosted by Tituss Burgess; and “Elton John Live: Farewell from Dodger Stadium” (Nov. 20), a livestream of the singer’s last concert from Los Angeles.

Odds and Ends

If you can’t get enough “Drag Race,” there’s a new series, “Canada’s Drag Race: Canada vs. the World” (Nov. 18), in which Canadian alumni Icesis Couture, Kendall Gender, Rita Baga and Stephanie Prince compete against drag artists from New Zealand, England, Wales and the U.S. to become “Queen of the Mother-Pucking World.” The judges are Canucks Brooke Lynn Hytes, Brad Goreski and Traci Melchor, and apparently Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will make a guest appearance. Crave also has “A Christmas Story Christmas” (Nov. 17), a sequel to the holiday classic “A Christmas Story,” with Peter Billingsley reprising his role as Ralphie; Season 2 of “The Sex Lives of College Girls” (Nov. 17); Season 3 of “The L Word: Generation Q” (Nov. 18); and the 37th annual “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony” (Nov. 19 at 8 p.m., HBO), featuring Pat Benatar, Duran Duran, Eminem, Eurythmics, Dolly Parton, Lionel Richie and more.

Speaking of music, PBS has “Next at the Kennedy Center: A Joni Mitchell Songbook” (Nov. 18, 9 p.m.), in which various artists pay tribute to the Canadian legend by performing adaptations of her songs with the National Symphony Orchestra, led by Vince Mendoza. PBS also has a special episode of “American Experience” called “Taken Hostage” (Nov. 14 and 15, 9 p.m.), a two-part documentary about the Iran hostage crisis of 1979 that features Canadians Hilary Brown and Carole Jerome among other interviewees.

The weekly Netflix haul (and I’m only including the stuff that sounds interesting to me) includes the documentary “In Her Hands” (Nov. 16), about one of Afghanistan’s first female mayors; etiquette series “Mind Your Manners” (Nov. 16); movie “The Wonder” (Nov. 16), based on Emma Donoghue’s novel about a seemingly miraculous child in rural Ireland; German horror series “1899” (Nov. 17), set aboard a migrant vessel en route to the new world; Season 3 of the dark comedy series “Dead to Me” (Nov. 17); and documentary “Pepsi, Where’s My Jet?” (Nov. 17), about an advertising campaign gone awry and the kid who sued the pop-maker for a fighter jet.

CBC’s “The Passionate Eye” has “Wall Street Blues” (Nov. 18, 9 p.m.), a look at the GameStop saga and whether it was truly a turning point in the democratization of money.

Prime Video’s offerings include two Amazon Original films, “Sugar” (Nov. 18), based on the true story of the so-called “Cocaine Cowgirls,” and “The People We Hate at the Wedding” (Nov. 18), a comedy starring Kristen Bell and Ben Platt; as well as “Where the Crawdads Sing” (Nov. 18), the movie adaptation of the bestselling novel starring Daisy Edgar-Jones.

Apple TV+ has a new film of its own, the musical “Spirited” (Nov. 18), starring Will Ferrell as the Ghost of Christmas Present and Ryan Reynolds as the “Scrooge” he tries to reform.

Anything starring Keeley Hawes usually deserves consideration in my book, although I wasn’t able to preview “Crossfire” (Nov. 15, BritBox), in which she plays an ex-cop caught up in a hostage situation at a Canary Islands hotel.

Finally, if you have made it through all 11 seasons of “The Walking Dead” — which I have, but just barely, so badly has the quality declined — the whole thing wraps up Nov. 20 at 9 p.m. on AMC and AMC+. AMC+ also has Season 2 of the violent “Gangs of London” on Nov. 17.

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.

Watchable on Netflix, Crave, StackTV Nov. 7 to 13, 2022

November 7, 2022 /

SHOW OF THE WEEK: The Crown (Nov. 9, Netflix)

Elizabeth Debicki as Diana, Imelda Staunton as Queen Elizabeth and Dominic West as Prince Charles
in Season 5 of “The Crown.” PHOTO CREDIT: Netflix

This Netflix drama — emphasis on the word “drama” — debuts its fifth season amid criticism from people who should know better that it’s in danger of being confused with historical fact. I’m looking at you, Judi Dench.

Hackles have evidently been raised since the series has now advanced to covering subjects within living memory, particularly the breakdown of the marriage of Prince, now King, Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales.

Here’s the thing: acting is make-believe, even when real people are being portrayed. While I can’t imagine it’s pleasant for members of the Royal Family to have selected bits of their dirty laundry dramatized for other people’s entertainment I also don’t think the series is damaging the monarchy.

Besides, I found Season 5 relatively balanced in its portrayal of Charles’ and Diana’s marriage failure. It includes well-known events — the Andrew Morton biography of Diana, Charles’ and Camilla’s “Tampongate” tape, the 1994 interview in which Charles admitted to being unfaithful, Diana’s incendiary “Panorama” interview — but doesn’t paint either side as wholly villain or victim.

If there’s a criticism to be made it’s that — despite terrific acting, beautiful sets and costumes, and other attention to detail — this season doesn’t live up to Season 4, which was one of the best, if not the best since the show began.

Imelda Staunton, ostensibly the star of the series as wearer of “The Crown,” doesn’t get all that much to do here besides keeping a stiff upper lip through her children’s divorces (Andrew’s and Anne’s marriages also imploded in the ’90s), the fire at Windsor Castle and other tribulations. She does, however, imbue Elizabeth with dignity and a staunch devotion to duty that seems of a piece with the real queen. (Staunton’s best scene is one in which she has a frank talk with Diana, well played by Elizabeth Debicki, just ahead of the airing of the Panorama interview.)

The series’ attention seems scattered this season with diversions that detract from its overall cohesiveness: one entire episode is devoted to Mohamed Al-Fayed, father of Diana’s eventual boyfriend Dodi; another, in large part, to the thawing of relations between Britain and Russia and the fate of royal cousins the Romanovs.

Diana and Charles, played less convincingly by Dominic West, remain much of the focus of the season, although the spotlight is also ceded to Prince Philip, given a sympathetic portrayal by Jonathan Pryce, and Princess Margaret, played by Lesley Manville as a woman coming to terms with life’s disappointments.

In fact, there’s a melancholy throughout the episodes that touches all of the characters. It’s not just the events portrayed — the divorces, the bad publicity, the “annus horribilis,” the queen’s distress over the decommissioning of the royal yacht — it’s that we as viewers know what’s coming next: the death of Diana (producers, mercifully, have said they will not portray the car crash that killed her).

There is also tenderness and love, between Elizabeth and Philip; Elizabeth and Margaret; Elizabeth and Anne (Claudia Harrison); Diana and sons William and Harry; Charles and Camilla (Olivia Williams); even between Charles and Diana in a post-divorce attempt at detente.

The show also posits a fond, respectful relationship between Prime Minister John Major (a nice turn by Jonny Lee Miller) and the queen.

The real John Major has blasted the show for imagining a meeting between him and Charles that he says never took place, in which Charles floats the idea of acceding to the throne sooner than later. But as I said earlier, this is make-believe. TV shows and movies routinely play with facts in the name of storytelling.

And, despite all the criticisms and the shortcomings, I still find “The Crown” worth watching.

In its portrayal of the royals as fallible humans — ones that even immense wealth and privilege cannot spare from heartache and other ordinary emotions — “The Crown” makes me like them more, not less.

Netflix also debuts the soccer doc “FIFA Uncovered” and “The Soccer Football Movie” (Nov. 9); the docs “State of Alabama vs. Brittany Smith” (Nov. 10), “Capturing the Killer Nurse” and “Is That Black Enough for You?!?” (Nov. 11); and second seasons of “Warrior Nun” (Nov. 10) and “Down to Earth With Zac Efron” (Nov. 11).

Short Takes

Dunie Ryan, former leader of Montreal’s West End Gang. PHOTO CREDIT: Cineflix Media

Kings of Coke (Nov. 7, Crave)

Amid the flood of true crime content from the U.S. comes this worthy Canadian entry. The Crave original, directed by former “Fifth Estate” journalist Julian Sher, tells a fascinating story that would be right at home in a film noir. While it’s no secret that Montreal has long had a thriving underworld dominated by bikers and the Mafia, this film tells the story of the West End Gang, a group of Irish Canadian criminals that was once just as powerful as the Hells Angels and the mob. A cast of colourful characters — ex-gang members Melvin Mingo and Jimmy Holt, ex-homicide and holdup squad cop Andre Savard, former crime journalists Dan Burke and D’Arcy O’Connor, on whose book “Montreal’s Irish Mafia” the doc is based, to name just a handful — trace the gang’s rise from highly proficient bank robbers to murderers and drug lords. As the conduit through which cocaine flowed into Montreal’s port and to others parts of North America, the gang had direct connections to Colombian cartels as well as sources in the legal system that helped keep leaders Dunie Ryan, Allan Ross and Gerry Matticks out of jail. All eventually met their downfalls, either at the hands of law enforcement or fellow gang members. With the use of news footage and animation, the film takes us to the scenes of the various shootings and bombings that marked the West End Gang’s increasingly violent path. It also gives us a glimpse of the Montreal of the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s when the West End Gang thrived. The gang is gone, felled by greed and hubris and violence, but the doc reminds us that organized crime and the drug trade still flourish in Montreal.

Crave also has “Don’t Worry Darling” (Nov. 7), if you didn’t get enough of Harry Styles last week with the streaming release of “My Policeman,” or you want to parse the film for signs of antipathy between star Florence Pugh and director Olivia Wilde. And Daniel Levy’s latest TV venture, “The Big Brunch,” a made-in-Hollywood food competition — so maybe “Schitt’s Creek” was a Canadian content one-off for him — debuts Nov. 10.

Samuel Watts, centre, a World War I veteran featured in “Our War.” PHOTO CREDIT: History

Our War (Nov. 11, 9 p.m., History/StackTV)

On my personal list of regrets is the fact I never asked my grandfathers — one of whom fought in the First World War and one in the Second — about their wartime experiences. It’s entirely possible they wouldn’t have wanted to talk about it, but I still feel a loss of valuable family history nonetheless. This series features Canadians who, likewise, know very little about their relatives’ war service but are able to piece it together with the help of military historians and others, thanks to the show. In the two episodes I watched, the histories uncovered included that of Samuel Watts, a Black World War I soldier who died of wounds suffered in the Battle of Hill 70; Edward Drost, a member of the elite WWII First Special Service Force who survived but was haunted all his life by the fighting in Anzio; famous Indigenous marathon runner Tom Longboat, who took on the dangerous but vital job of dispatch runner in WWI ; and Harry Symes, a WWI vet who survived the Battle of the Somme but came home in ruined health and died not long after. Their family members’ journeys are emotional ones, even in instances where they never met the veteran whose story they’re researching. I suppose people who have no direct connection to the two — and hopefully last — world wars might wonder why shows like this are necessary. I would argue that knowledge of our history is never a bad thing and particularly war history at a time when anti-Semitism is on the rise and Vladimir Putin, like Hitler before him, has invaded a sovereign country with complete disregard for international law.

Chaske Spencer and Emily Blunt in “The English.” PHOTO CREDIT: BBC/Amazon Studios

The English (Nov. 11, Prime Video)

I don’t usually include embargoed titles in the Short Takes and, as far as I can tell, I’m not allowed to review this until 3 p.m. on Monday, but since I watched two episodes and found it had merit I’m including it here. It stars Emily Blunt, who also executive produces, as Englishwoman Lady Cornelia Locke, come to America to find the man who killed her son, who crosses paths with Eli Whipp (Chaske Spencer), a Pawnee ex-Cavalry scout who just wants to ride north and claim a few acres of land. I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that Cornelia and Eli will find themselves enmeshed in this western created by Hugo Blick (“The Honourable Woman”).

Prime also has the series “Mammals” (Nov. 11), described as a darkly comic drama about marriage, which was written by Tony-winning playwright Jez Butterworth (“The Ferryman,” “Jerusalem”); and Rihanna’s fashion extravaganza “Savage X Fenty Show” (Nov. 9), which is drawing heat for including Johnny Depp.

Odds and Ends

If you’re in the mood for more Remembrance Day programming, CBC Gem has Season 2 of “My Grandparents’ War” (Nov. 11), in which stars Keira Knightley, Kit Harington, Toby Jones and Emeli Sandé explore their ancestors’ wartime experiences; as well as Season 2 of “Sorry for Your Loss” (Nov. 11), starring Elizabeth Olsen. CBC has the comedy special “Just for Laughs 40” (Nov. 8, 9 p.m.), celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Just for Laughs festival.

If you’re a movie aficionado, Hollywood Suite has a 4K restoration of “Tales From the Gimli Hospital” (Nov. 9), the feature film debut of Winnipeg auteur Guy Maddin.

Disney+ has “Save Our Squad With David Beckham” (Nov. 9), in which the soccer great tries to turn around the fortunes of an underachieving boys’ team in East London.

Apple TV+ has Season 3 of the workplace comedy “Mythic Quest” on Nov. 11.

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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