Because I love television. How about you?

Tag: Murdoch Mysteries

Watchable the week of January 4, 2021

SHOW OF THE WEEK: Monkey Beach (Jan. 6, 9 p.m., Crave)

Grace Dove stars as a young woman coming to terms with her powers in “Monkey Beach.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Ricardo Hubbs

I can’t possibly say what it will take to bring about true reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in this vast country of ours, but maybe one very modest, infinitesimal step forward involves consuming culture made by Indigenous people that tells Indigenous stories.

“Monkey Beach” is the film version of Haisla/Heiltsuk author Eden Robinson’s novel of the same name. If you pay any attention to the arts in Canada, you’ve likely heard of Robinson. Her 2017 novel “Son of a Trickster” was nominated for the International Dublin Literary Award and the Giller Prize, and is the basis of the CBC TV series “Trickster,” which debuted earlier this year. “Monkey Beach” was likewise nominated for the Giller after it came out in 2000, as well as a Governor General’s Literary Award for fiction.

Like “Trickster,” “Monkey Beach” is set in Kitimaat Village in B.C., the main community of the Haisla Nation, although when we first meet heroine Lisa (Secwepemc actor Grace Dove, who’s known for “The Revenant”) she has run away to Vancouver.

Forces that Lisa isn’t entirely comfortable with compel her to return to Kitimaat and her family. Lisa has been having visions since she was a child, in particular a disturbing premonition of her younger brother Jimmy dying (Joel Oulette, the young Cree/Metis actor who also stars in “Trickster”).

Like “Trickster,” “Monkey Beach” combines a plot that anybody can relate to — a young woman on a journey of self-discovery — with supernatural elements drawn from Indigenous tradition. It also touches on Indigenous trauma, specifically murdered and missing Indigenous women and the blight of residential schools.

Filmmaker Loretta Todd, who directed and co-wrote the script, is of Metis and Cree heritage while the cast is virtually all Indigenous, including Adam Beach (“Arctic Air”), Nathaniel Arcand (“FBI: Most Wanted”), Stefany Mathias (“Da Vinci’s Inquest”), Tina Lameman (“Mixed Blessings”) and Glen Gould (“Cardinal”).

Murdoch Mysteries and more (Jan. 4 to 10, CBC)

From left, Matthew Finlan as Charlie Chaplin, Ryan Tapley as Stanley Laurel and Yannick Bisson
as William Murdoch on “Murdoch Mysteries.” PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of CBC

Quite seriously I had to give CBC its own special category this week. The deluge starts Monday with the return of “Murdoch Mysteries” for its 14th season and “Frankie Drake Mysteries” for its fourth (Jan. 4, 8 and 9 p.m.). The “Murdoch” premiere special guest is none other than Charlie Chaplin (Matthew Finlan), who’s in Toronto with a travelling vaudeville show. And if you’re a fan of vaudeville and silent movies, you’ll enjoy seeing which other famous comedians turn up. Meanwhile, Frankie (Lauren Lee Smith) and her sidekicks are on a scavenger hunt in the woods when they find — what else? — a dead body.

Jan. 5 at 9:30 p.m. brings a new comedy series, “Humour Resources,” which features Jon Dore as an HR manager who coaches comedians via webcam, including Sarah Silverman, Aisha Brown, Scott Thompson and more. That’s preceded by the Season 28 (!) debut of “This Hour Has 22 Minutes” (8:30 p.m.) and never-before-seen sketches from “Baroness von Sketch Show” in “The Final Season: Bonus Episodes” (9 p.m.).

On the same night, CBC’s documentary channel debuts “Anyone’s Game” (9 p.m.), a docuseries about the Oakville high school that turns out some of the world’s best basketball players (it makes its main channel CBC debut on Jan. 15).

Archeologist Kathleen Martinez with two mummies discovered in Taposiris Magna, Egypt.
PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of CBC

If you’re intrigued by ancient history, “The Nature of Things” has “Searching for Cleopatra” (Jan. 8, 9 p.m.), which is both a hunt for the truth about the last queen of Egypt, immortalized via Hollywood as a sexy seductress, and a literal search for her tomb in the ruins of Taposiris Magna.

Finally, a miniseries version of the famous Victor Hugo novel “Les Miserables” premieres Jan. 10 at 8 p.m. I haven’t pre-screened it, but it has a crackerjack cast, including Dominic West (“The Wire”) as Jean Valjean, Olivia Colman (“The Crown”) as Mme. Thenardier, David Oyelowo (“Selma”) as Javert and Lily Collins (“Emily in Paris”) as Fantine. It’s preceded at 7 p.m. by the Season 14 premiere of family drama “Heartland.”

All of these shows will be available on the CBC Gem streaming service, which will also debut Season 3 of the Idris Elba-created dramedy “In the Long Run” on Jan. 8.

Phew!

Surviving Death (Jan. 6, Netflix)

Kimberly Clark Sharp of the Seattle International Association for Near-Death Studies
leads a meeting in “Surviving Death.” PHOTO CREDIT: Netflix

What happens when we die? It’s a question that might hit closer to home more now than ever given how many people have been lost to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This docuseries suggests that human consciousness survives physical death. Over six episodes it explores the question through phenomena like near-death experiences, mediums, apparitions and reincarnation.

And it’s not just the people who claim to have had such experiences making the case; doctors and scientists also weigh in. A doctor, in fact, describes her own NDE in the first episode, after a kayaking accident left her physically dead for 30 minutes and she could feel, in her words, “my spirit peeling away from my body” and being greeted by warm, loving beings in a pathway full of flowers and exploding colours, in which every second was an eternity.

Yes, it sounds pretty far out.

But as another NDE survivor puts it: “At the end of the day I can’t prove to you, I can only share my experience with you.”

Netflix’s other offerings this week include “Lupin” (Jan. 8), a French crime drama that blends a heist at the Louvre with a story about a man seeking vengeance for racial injustice. It stars Omar Sy (“The Intouchables”) as the gentleman thief. If you’re a fan of clever people, humour and New York City, you should catch “Pretend It’s a City” (Jan. 8),  a docuseries featuring Fran Lebowitz in conversation with filmmaker Martin Scorsese, who also directed. Also debuting: “History of Swear Words” (Jan. 5), which apparently is exactly that, hosted by Nicolas Cage.

All Creatures Great & Small (Jan. 10, 9 p.m., PBS)

James Herriot (Nicholas Ralph) with patient Clive the bull in “All Creatures Great & Small.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Matt Squire/Playground Television (UK) Ltd.

I have never read the memoirs of James Herriot, nor seen more than scattered episodes of the beloved 1970s and ’80s TV adaptation of his books, but I found this new version of the story of a young veterinarian in Yorkshire very appealing.

In fact, I binged all seven episodes in one sitting when I meant to watch just a few and move on to other shows.

It’s set in the late 1930s when Scotsman James (Nicholas Ralph, in an impressive screen debut) travels to the village of Darrowby for what’s probably his last shot at a veterinary career, as assistant to the prickly Siegfried Farnon (Samuel West, “Mr. Selfridge”). After a baptism of fire or rather birth, involving a cow whose calf is stuck, he gets to keep the job.

There’s no question this show is a throwback, with a very white and male POV, but it’s also got charm galore, able acting (including Anna Madeley, Callum Woodhouse and Diana Rigg in one of her final roles), breathtaking scenery, gentle humour and drama that’s modest but touching, involving both animals and humans.

Odds and Ends

Hailee Steinfeld as Emily Dickinson in Season 2 of “Dickinson.” PHOTO CREDIT: Apple TV Plus

If you found yourself caught up in Season 1 of Apple TV Plus’s “Dickinson,” a biographical series about poet Emily Dickinson (Hailee Steinfeld) that’s audacious and funny and thought-provoking in the way it combines period drama with modern language, music and perceptions, you’ll be glad to know that Season 2 is afoot, debuting Jan. 8.

The moment that woke reality TV lovers have been agitating for is finally here, when ABC’s “The Bachelor” (Jan. 4, 8 p.m., Citytv) debuts its first Black lead (lagging behind “The Bachelorette,” which just finished a season with its second Black lead). Entreprenuer and philanthropist Matt James is in the hot seat. And yes, I’ll be recapping it here.

Also coming to Citytv is a new season of “Hudson and Rex” (Jan. 5, 8 p.m.). I don’t know about you, but I think everything’s better with dogs. If you’re looking for a brand new comedy, “Mr. Mayor” (Jan. 7, 7 p.m., Citytv), from Tina Fey and Robert Carlock (“30 Rock”), stars Ted Danson as a rich businessman who runs for mayor of Los Angeles as a joke and wins. Holly Hunter plays his deputy.

TVO Kids has Season 2 of the sports competition series “All-Round Champion” (Jan. 6, 5 p.m.), in which 10 young North American athletes compete in a sport that’s not their own, mentored by Olympian guest judges. It’s hosted by Canadian Olympic hurdler Perdita Felicien.

HBO has the Spanish drama “30 Coins” (Jan. 4, 9 p.m.), a horror series that takes its title from the money that the Bible says Judas Iscariot was paid for betraying Jesus Christ.

Super Channel Fuse has a new factual series, “Secrets in the Ice” (Jan. 5, 8 p.m.), about historic treasures hidden in the coldest places on Earth, including a Siberian mummy and the remains of woolly mammoths.

Sundance Now has Season 2 of “A Discovery of Witches” (Jan. 9), which finds Matthew (Matthew Goode) and Diana (Teresa Palmer) hiding in Elizabethan London. The first season will be available to stream free on Sundance Now and Shudder from Jan. 4 to 18, according to AMC Networks.

Watchable the week of December 21, 2020

SHOW OF THE WEEK: Letterkenny (Dec. 25, Crave)

K. Trevor Wilson, Jared Keeso and Nathan Dales, and friends, in Season 9 of “Letterkenny.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Bell Media

Maybe it’s the particular genius of Canadians to make comedies about places in which not much happens. I mean, think about it, “Schitt’s Creek,” our most successful comedy ever based on worldwide acclaim and Emmy Awards won, was set almost entirely in a small, sleepy town and, more often than not, in two motel rooms. Brent Butt and crew spun six seasons out of Dog River in “Corner Gas,” a place where there wasn’t a lot going on. And the “Trailer Park Boys” hatched their hare-brained schemes in a mobile home park.

In “Letterkenny,” the main preoccupations are drinking, fighting, fornicating (or at least talking about it a lot) and, occasionally, chorin’. On paper, it sounds ridiculous. In practice, thanks to the commitment of series creator Jared Keeso and the rest of the cast to their oddball, small-town characters, and the skill with which they navigate the trademark rapid-fire dialogue, it’s pretty brilliant.

Not everything hits the net, of course, if I can use that phrase in keeping with the show’s hockey obsession. The first episode of the new season has one of those big fight set pieces that are so much fun (they remind me a tiny bit of the ones in the old “Batman” show of the 1960s, minus the cartoon “Blam!” and “Kapow!” exclamations and with even cooler music). But the American and Canadian armed forces guys who turn up to help and then hang around shirtless in the bar didn’t really up the comedy quotient for me.

On the other hand, there’s a dialogue in another episode between main characters Wayne (Keeso), Daryl (Nathan Dales), Squirrelly Dan (K. Trevor Wilson) and Katy (Michelle Mylett) about whether whistling sounds can come from parts of the anatomy besides the mouth that had me in stitches.

And you probably won’t want to miss Mark Forward’s master classes in cringe comedy as Coach forces his beer league players, including Jonesy (Andrew Herr) and Reilly (Dylan Playfair), to listen to monologues about his late wife Barb’s erotic skills.

“Letterkenny” also has its sweet moments of caring and camaraderie. Even oversexed bartender Gail (Lisa Codrington) gets a little love this season.

Bridgerton (Dec. 25, Netflix)

Rege-Jean Page as Simon Basset, Lord Hastings, and Phoebe Dynevor as Daphne Bridgerton
in “Bridgerton.” PHOTO CREDIT: Liam Daniel/Netflix

Attention lovers of period drama and star-crossed romance, Shonda Rhimes and her team have a Christmas gift for you.

I’d love to tell you what I think of it, but alas, review coverage is embargoed until Tuesday.

“Bridgerton” is the first original scripted series from Rhimes’ Shondaland as part of her Netflix deal. Created by her “Scandal” protege Chris Van Dusen, it’s based on the “Bridgerton” novels of Julia Quinn, about an aristocratic family in Regency London and their romantic pursuits.

Refreshingly, some of the other aristocrats are played by Black actors, including Rege-Jean Page (“Roots”) as the dashing Lord Hastings, Adjoa Andoh (“Doctor Who”) as Lady Danbury and Golda Rosheuvel (“Silent Witness”) as Queen Charlotte.

Phoebe Dynevor (“Younger”) also stars as Hastings’ romantic interest, Daphne Bridgerton, and Dame Julie Andrews gives voice to Lady Whistledown, the gossip whose scandal sheet keeps all the lords and ladies on their toes.

Soul (Dec. 25, Disney Plus)

Jamie Foxx gives voice to Joe Gardner, the protagonist of the new animated film “Soul.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Disney/Pixar

This new animated film from Disney and Pete Docter (“Up,” “Inside Out”) could be subtitled “The Meaning of Life.”

For main character Joe Gardner (voiced by Jamie Foxx), a music teacher living a fairly mundane life in New York City, there’s only one thing from which he derives meaning: jazz music, which he longs to play professionally at the Half Note club.

He finally gets his shot, asked by a former student to fill in at a gig with legendary saxophone player Dorothea Williams (Angela Bassett), but Joe is so enraptured after his tryout that he doesn’t pay attention to where he’s walking and steps into an open manhole. Next thing you know, he finds himself minus his body, on a conveyor belt to the Great Beyond.

Joe manages to escape to a more hospitable spiritual realm called the Great Before, where souls — portrayed as child-like, amorphous blue-green blobs — are assigned personalities. But they can’t travel to Earth and into bodies until they find a spark, something that fires their will to live. Mentors, experienced souls stopping in on their way to the Great Beyond, help them do that.

In his desperate scramble to get back to Earth and to his gig, Joe gets mistaken for a mentor and paired with 22 (Tina Fey), a soul who has decided she has no interest in living and has already foiled mentors like Mother Teresa, Muhammad Ali and Marie Antoinette.

After they end up in the Zone, a place where lost souls wander, Joe and 22 get help from a hippie mystic named Moonwind (Graham Norton), who leaves his body at regularly scheduled intervals, to get to New York. But the re-entry into Joe’s body doesn’t go quite as planned. I won’t tell you how because that would spoil the fun of a delightful interlude in the film.

Once on Earth, 22 finds delight in almost everything: the taste of pizza, the sound of a trombone, a seedling falling from a tree. Her enthusiasm opens Joe’s eyes to the fact there’s more to life than jazz and that he’s been missing out on a lot because of his obsession.

I won’t spoil the ending for you, although this being Disney you can probably surmise that it’s an uplifting one. It’s a sweet, beautifully animated take on a weighty subject.

Odds and Ends

Yannick Bisson in character as William Murdoch with musicians of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra
on the “Murdoch Mysteries” set. PHOTO CREDIT: Acorn TV

If you’re a fan of the long-running Canadian detective series “Murdoch Mysteries,” the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and classical music, the special “A Music Lover’s Guide to Murdoch Mysteries” (Dec. 24, Acorn TV) will be right up your alley. Seven members of the TSO gather on the series’ police office set to play a selection of songs that Murdoch might have listened to in the early 20th century. The selections include Ravel, Brahms, Canadian composer Laura Gertrude Lemon, Tchaikovsky, Haydn, Scott Joplin and the beautiful “Blue Danube Waltz” by Strauss, as well as music composed by Robert Carli for the show. “Murdoch” star Yannick Bisson hosts in character and there are clips from the series interspersed with the music.

If you’re a fan of rich people behaving badly and/or manufactured reality show drama, tune into “House of Ho” (Dec. 21, 8 p.m., Super Channel Fuse). The docuseries follows Vietnamese immigrant turned wealthy Houston businessman Binh Ho and wife Hue, his spoiled son Washington, daughter Judy and other relations. Frankly, Binh’s patriarchal attitudes and Washington’s seeming neglect of his wife and kids to go drinking and gambling with clients left a bad taste in my mouth.

If you enjoyed the most recent season of “The Mandalorian,” which ended with that blockbuster finale on Friday, you might enjoy “Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian ‘Making of Season 2′” (Dec. 25, Disney Plus).

© 2024 Realityeo.com

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑