Tag: Sort Of

SHOW OF THE WEEK: Sort Of (Oct. 5, CBC Gem)

Perhaps the day will come when our screens will be so full of characters of varied genders, sexualities and ethnicities that we won’t feel the need to label them.

But that day isn’t here yet, so “Sort Of” is getting attention for being the first show on Canadian TV to have a non-binary lead character as well as the first to star a queer, South Asian, Muslim actor in Bilal Baig.

If that’s all “Sort Of” had going for it, I doubt I’d like it as much as I do, but it’s also the best kind of comedy series: one in which the humour flows organically and the characters act like human beings and not punchline generators.

Baig, who is queer, brown and trans-feminine (and uses the pronouns they and them), created “Sort Of” with Fab Filippo, who is straight and white. Their common ground was the idea that everyone is in transition in their lives.

So lead character Sabi is figuring out their place in the world, not only in relation to their gender and sexuality, but the other people around them, including their boyfriend, their sister and their Pakistani mother, to whom they haven’t come out yet.

But just when Sabi decides to ditch Toronto for queer-friendly Berlin with gender-fluid best friend 7ven (a delightful Amanda Cordner), the family that Sabi nannies for has a crisis and suddenly everybody’s relationships are in transition. And Sabi decides to stay.

If that sounds earnest, trust me: it’s also fun and charming and touching.

Sabi’s deadpan demeanour belies their vulnerability and big heart. Baig, a first-time TV actor, makes Sabi someone who’s easy to care about and root for.

They’re backed by a capable group of supporting actors, including Grace Lynn Kung and Gray Powell as the couple whose children Sabi minds; Elora Patnaik and Supinder Wraich as their mother and sister; Kaya Kanashiro and Aden Bedard as the kids; and transgender actors Cassandra James and Becca Blackwell as Sabi’s mentor and boss, respectively.

Slasher: Flesh & Blood (Oct. 4, 9 p.m., Hollywood Suite)

If the dysfunctional family of “Succession” was out for blood as well as money, you might have something like the fourth season of this made-in-Canada horror anthology series.

It focuses on the Galloway clan, which consists of sadistic patriarch Spencer (played by horror master David Cronenberg), greedy siblings Florence (Sabrina Grdevich) and Seamus (Chris Jacot), their more altruistic half-brother Jayden (Corteon Moore), his mother, Spencer’s second wife Grace (Rachael Crawford), and the grandkids and assorted hangers-on.

There’s at least one extramarital affair, a twin kidnapped 25 years earlier who mysteriously reappears, a secret illegitimate child, a reputed family ghost and, because this is “Slasher,” gallons of blood. And that’s just in the first two episodes.

The action kicks off at a family reunion at the Galloway estate on a small island. Rapacious businessman Spencer has a couple of surprises for the clan, one of which is that he’s reviving a former family game, a sort of treasure hunt/survival of the fittest competition, the winner of which will become sole heir to his entire estate.

Florence, Seamus and Grace are particularly cutthroat competitors and the game is a cruel one, but the relations have more than each other to worry about: there’s a killer in the woods and he’s dispatching his victims in ways that suggest the show’s makeup and prosthetics department was working overtime.

Look, this isn’t prestige TV, but it’s kind of fun to watch these people being terrible to each other while waiting for the next splattering of gore. So grab the popcorn (or not, if you’re squeamish) and enjoy.

Short Takes

Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It (Oct. 5, 9 p.m., PBS)

If your only knowledge of actor Rita Moreno comes from “West Side Story” or the TV shows “Oz” and “One Day at a Time,” I’d urge you to watch this fascinating documentary. I was a little embarrassed after doing so that I hadn’t paid more attention to Moreno during a seven-decade career that includes dozens of film and TV appearances as well as theatre roles: she’s one of just 16 EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Award) winners. And it’s clear from the doc that at 89 (87 when the film was being made) she’s nowhere near done. It’s also clear that of all the things that Moreno is, she’s primarily a survivor. The doc covers a lot of ground: her childhood in Puerto Rico; her teen years dancing in New York nightclubs to support her family; the sexism and racism she endured as an MGM contract player cast in “dusky maiden” roles; her rape by her agent; a tortured romance with Marlon Brando that led to a dangerous abortion and a suicide attempt; her reinvention as a TV actor when the movie roles dried up after her “West Side Story” Oscar; her long but troubled marriage; motherhood and more. As Moreno herself says, “Did having to struggle so much take something out of me? Not me, not I.”

Among the Stars (Oct. 6, Disney Plus)

We’re a long way from the days when astronauts were household names and every NASA mission brought blanket media coverage, but that doesn’t make space travel any less fascinating a subject. This docuseries follows American astronaut Chris Cassidy in his quest to get back to the International Space Station, but it also highlights the specialists on the ground who make such journeys possible. And it reminds us that space exploration is still risky, more than three decades removed from the Challenger disaster. The opening minutes of the series follow a spacewalk that had to be aborted when an astronaut’s life was endangered. If you enjoyed the Disney Plus series “The Right Stuff” and companion documentary “The Real Right Stuff,” or Apple TV Plus space drama “For All Mankind,” consider this a worthy addition to your viewing.

Disney Plus also has the Halloween special “Muppets Haunted Mansion” debuting Oct. 8.

Ghosts (Oct. 7, 9 p.m., Global TV)

I approached this American remake of the charming British comedy of the same name with both eagerness and trepidation. For every U.S. adaptation that matches or exceeds the U.K. original — think “The Office” or “Shameless” — there are clangers like “Gracepoint,” a remake of “Broadchurch” that even David Tennant couldn’t save. I’m still on the fence about “Ghosts,” in which an American couple (Rose McIver and Utkarsh Ambudkar) inherits a Hudson Valley estate from a distant relative of hers, not realizing it’s already occupied by an octet of spirits. Based on the first episode (the only one I was given to screen) I much prefer the wry, self-deprecating performance of Charlotte Ritchie in the original to McIver’s perkiness, and the ghosts’ personas didn’t captivate me as immediately as in the Brit version. But I’ve seen other clips that made me chuckle, so perhaps there’s life in this dead people comedy yet.

Odds and Ends

I didn’t get a chance to preview a couple of Crave programs that piqued my interest. “15 Minutes of Shame” (Oct. 7) is a documentary look at public shaming, executive produced by someone who would know all about that: Monica Lewinsky, with “Catfish” host Max Joseph. And the Crave original doc “A.rtificial I.mmortality” (Oct. 8) examines the idea of using technological advances to create an immortal version of oneself.

Netflix’s offerings include Season 4 of L.A. high school drama “On My Block” (Oct. 4); the docuseries “Bad Sport” (Oct. 6), an intersection of sports scandal and true crime; competition series “Baking Impossible” (Oct. 6); and sitcom “Pretty Smart” (Oct. 8).

CBC has Season 3 of its Halifax-set legal drama “Diggstown” (Oct. 6, 9 p.m. on CBC TV and CBC Gem) and Season 2 of sci-fi import “War of the Worlds” (Oct. 6, 8 p.m., CBC and CBC Gem).

NOTE: The listings here are in Eastern Standard Time, and reflect information provided to me and cross-checked 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.