SHOW OF THE WEEK: Tiger (Part 1, Crave; Part 2, Jan. 17, 9 p.m., HBO)
I’m cheating a bit here, because the Watchable list usually includes only releases from Monday to the following Sunday and “Tiger” debuted last night on HBO. But I overlooked it in my virtual pile of screeners last week so I’m correcting my oversight.
If you missed Part 1 you can catch it on Crave ahead of Part 2 on Sunday.
Truth be told, anything involving sports usually isn’t my thing, but there’s more to this documentary than Tiger Woods’ golf triumphs, although those are certainly represented and might give you a new appreciation for just how great a player he truly is (it certainly did for me).
There’s much here that’s human and relatable, whether it’s how a father relentlessly moulded his son to match the dreams he’d had for him since he was old enough to walk; the enormous pressure on an athlete who not only achieved worldwide fame at a young age but was expected to be a spokesman for Black America; and what happens when the pressure becomes too much and a hero falls from grace.
Part 1, through interviews with everyone from Tiger’s former caddie to his first girlfriend to close family friends, golf rivals and sports journalists, covers the years from when Tiger was a 2-year-old curiosity, appearing on TV in 1978 with Bob Hope, to his 2006 British Open win, shortly after father Earl Woods’ death.
The appearance of Rachel Uchitel at the end of Part 1 — the woman whose affair with Tiger helped topple his squeaky clean public image — lets us know what’s in store in Part 2: the dalliances, the divorce, the drug issues, the 2017 arrest, the injuries, the 11-year drought in majors championship wins up until his surprise victory at the 2019 Masters.
For filmmakers Matthew Heineman and Matthew Hamachek, who did not get their subject on camera, Tiger is neither the “messiah” his father wanted him to be, nor the villain the tabloids painted him as, but a human being who was extraordinarily good at one thing and not so good at others. But the doc, which ends with Tiger hugging his own son after his Masters win as he once did his father, suggests there’s hope this particular human has finally found a balance between golf and life.
Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer (Jan. 13, Netflix)
Netflix, already an old hand at true crime with shows like “Making a Murderer” and “The Keepers,” gives us a worthy addition to the genre with “Night Stalker.”
The series sets the scene: Los Angeles in the 1980s, a place known for glamour and celebrities but with a dark, dangerous side well known to cops like Gil Carrillo and Frank Salerno.
Gil and Frank are our guides into the story. Even in a city with hundreds of murders a year, the so-called Night Stalker terrified Los Angelenos.
Gil was a young, green homicide detective in 1985 when he began investigating seemingly unrelated murders with his more experienced partner, already a legendary detective. But it was Gil who first deduced that the killings, as well as a series of beatings, rapes and child abductions, were the work of the same man.
Given the subject matter, and the use of witness testimonies and crime scene photos, some gore is unavoidable, but director Tiller Russell doesn’t glorify the crimes or the killer. Much of the focus is on the detectives, the survivors and the families of the victims.
Bling Empire (Jan. 15, Netflix)
Reality TV has finally caught up to the hit 2018 movie “Crazy Rich Asians.” “House of Ho” launched last month (on Super Channel Fuse) chronicling a wealthy Vietnamese-American family. Now we have “Bling Empire,” which follows several super-rich Asians living in Los Angeles and their not so rich friend, model Kevin Kreider. Whether you enjoy this show will depend on your perspective. If you like living vicariously by watching extremely wealthy people spend their millions (or, in this case, billions) you’ll eat up scenes like Anna Shay flying her pal Kelly Mi Li to Paris for a birthday lunch and going shopping for diamond jewelry.
On the other hand, there’s something tacky about such conspicuous consumption when millions of people have lost their livelihoods during the COVID-19 pandemic. Anna has closets that are probably bigger than some people’s apartments.
In one particularly ridiculous plot twist, Anna and trophy wife Christine Chiu get into a “war” because Anna and Christine own the same pink sapphire and diamond necklace and Christine wears hers to Anna’s party. Anna retaliates by seating Christine at the far end of the table for dinner. I mean, seriously?
I did feel some sympathy for Kelly, who’s in a dysfunctional relationship with a needy actor with an explosive temper. No doubt his tantrums will be played up for drama as the series progresses, but I do hope she escapes that toxicity.
Miss Scarlet & the Duke (Jan. 17, 8 p.m., PBS)
“Bridgerton” gave us a period drama with a feminist bent set in Regency England; now “Miss Scarlet” gives us a woman circumventing Victorian restrictions to become a private detective.
If you’re a fan of “Peaky Blinders,” you’ll recognize Kate Phillips as the wife of one of the Shelby brothers (she also played Jane Seymour in “Wolf Hall”). As Miss Scarlet, she’s the quintessential plucky heroine, forced to fend for herself when her private detective father Henry dies (Kevin Doyle of “Downton Abbey”).
Eliza Scarlet isn’t marriage minded, generally the only option open to Victorian upper class ladies without means, but her father taught her the tricks of his trade. She gets some assistance but also resistance from her childhood friend William Wellington (Stuart Martin), a Scotland Yard detective (the Duke is his nickname, presumably because of his last name).
Eliza seems to have little trouble navigating the seamy underbelly of 1882 London, which does require some suspension of disbelief, but this is a pleasant enough way to eat up your lockdown hours.
Odds and Ends
I’m curious about “WandaVision” (Jan. 15, Disney Plus), which looks kind of trippy judging from the trailer. Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany are Wanda Maximoff and android Vision, two Marvel superheroes living a suburban life in a series that is also an homage to old TV sitcoms like “The Dick Van Dyke Show.”
CBC Gem has Season 2 of “Endlings” (Jan. 15), a kids’ sci-fi show that’s endearing without being cloying and carries lessons about endangered species without being preachy. The docuseries “Anyone’s Game,” about the Orangeville high school that’s churning out NBA players, gets its main network debut (Jan. 15, 8:30 p.m., CBC). And CBC Gem has the third season of “Fortitude” (Jan. 15), which takes this rather odd series about the inhabitants of an icy Norwegian outpost into even stranger territory. Dennis Quaid is the name star of the season, but Richard Dormer (“Game of Thrones”) really outdoes himself as unhinged sheriff Dan Anderson.
If Kyra Sedgwick playing an overprotective mother hen to her two adult children sounds like something you’d enjoy, Global TV has the new sitcom “Call Your Mother” (Jan. 14, 8 p.m.)
“Batwoman” returns for a second season (Jan. 17, 8 p.m., Showcase) with Javicia Leslie taking the lead from the departed Ruby Rose. Showcase also has Season 2 of Batman prequel “Pennyworth” (Jan. 17, 9 p.m.) and Season 3 of “AP Bio” (Jan. 17, 10 p.m.).
Apple TV Plus has Season 2 of M. Night Shyamalan’s horror series “Servant” (Jan. 15).
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