SHOW OF THE WEEK: Star Trek: Lower Decks
(Aug. 6, 9 p.m., CTV Comedy Channel)
What if you created an animated comedy devoted to the equivalent of the “Star Trek” “red shirts,” those nameless subordinate crew members who were the first to be killed when shit went down for the USS Enterprise?
Forget the heroic Captain Kirks, the cerebral Mr. Spocks, the honourable Captain Picards: this series is focused on the non-entities who toil below decks, hence the name of the show.
Top of the bottom rung is Ensign Mariner, voiced by Tawny Newsome (“Space Force,” “Brockmire”), who’s brilliant but would rather be drinking margaritas in the ship’s bar than doing her job. Her foil is Ensign Boimler (Jack Quaid, “The Boys”), who loves rules and regulations and dreams of being a captain someday.
The main quartet is rounded out by Noel Wells (“Saturday Night Live”) as green-skinned Ensign Tendi, an overly enthusiastic sick bay trainee, and Eugene Cordero (“Tacoma FD”) as Ensign Rutherford, a part-cyborg engineering geek whose love of the warp core would make Montgomery Scott proud.
They are part of the support crew aboard the USS Cerritos, a second-tier starship in the year 2380 that specializes in second-contact missions and other low-glory tasks.
The series pokes fun at Starfleet self-importance through characters like Captain Freeman (Dawnn Lewis, “A Different World”), who happens to be Mariner’s mother, and Commander Ramson, voiced by honorary Canadian Jerry O’Connell (“Carter”). But while it gently mocks the Starfleet ethos, it is also very much of the “Star Trek” universe.
It was created by “Star Trek” fan Mike McMahan and counts “Trek” heavy hitters as executive producers, including Gene Roddenberry’s son Rod, and “Picard” and “Discovery” execs Heather Kadin and Alex Kurtzman.
The series is populated by alien species familiar to fans of various franchise iterations, like Klingons, Andorians and Ferengi, and includes subtle shoutouts to characters like Miles O’Brien of “Next Generation” and “Deep Space Nine.”
And like all “Star Trek” properties, “Lower Decks” is at heart about human (and non-human) relationships – even at the bottom of the Starfleet food chain.
An American Pickle (Aug. 6, Crave)
in “An American Pickle.” PHOTO CREDIT: Bell Media
A Jewish immigrant in early 1900s New York is accidentally knocked into a vat of brine at the pickle factory where he works and is found alive, perfectly preserved, 100 years later. It’s a preposterous premise, but it worked in “Sell Out,” the short, satirical story by humourist Simon Rich, thanks in large part to the un-ironic narration of the revived Herschel Greenbaum.
This movie adaptation, directed by cinematographer Brandon Trost, is at its best when Herschel (played by Seth Rogen) gets to speak for himself. By the time he has united with his great-grandson Ben (also played by Rogen) in 2019 Brooklyn, we’re in a more conventional fish-out-of-water comedy.
Rich also wrote the screenplay for the movie, but its jabs at hipsters and consumer culture don’t land as sharply here. The great-grandson, a self-absorbed dick in the story, seems petty and vindictive here as he does everything he can to sabotage Herschel’s homemade pickle business. Herschel’s unsavoury traits, particularly his sexism and propensity to solve problems with violence, are also magnified.
The reconciliation that inevitably comes doesn’t feel earned.
“Surviving Jeffrey Epstein” (Aug. 9, 8 p.m., Lifetime)
PHOTO CREDIT: Lifetime
Unfortunately, an advance copy of this documentary, which is sure to be widely watched and discussed, wasn’t available to review because it was still being legally vetted. The two-parter (the second airs Aug. 10 at 9 p.m.) from Robert Friedman, Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern focuses on the victims of the billionaire financier, in the same vein as the Peabody Award-winning “Surviving R. Kelly.” Epstein died a year ago in jail before he could be tried on sex trafficking charges, but the criminal trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, the ex-girlfriend accused of procuring girls for Epstein and his rich friends, ensures the case will remain in the public eye, as will this doc. The more light that can be shed on predators like Epstein the better.
Odds and Ends
PHOTO CREDIT: Bell Media
CTV Comedy Channel and Just for Laughs pay tribute to Canadian comedians – whose livelihoods, like many others, have been wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic. These four standup specials were shot at Just for Laughs festivals in Montreal and Toronto. They kick off with “Aisha Brown: The First Black Woman Ever” (Aug. 3, 11 p.m.) and continue with Tom Henry (Aug. 4), Mark Forward (Aug. 5) and Robby Hoffman (Aug. 6). Viewers are encouraged to donate to the Emergency Relief Fund for Canadian Comedians.
Fans of wall-to-wall surveillance and scheming will be happy that “Big Brother All-Stars” kicks off on Global Aug. 5, at 9 p.m., with thrice-weekly episodes to follow Sundays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. The production will be taking pandemic precautions and the cast will be revealed on the Aug. 5 premiere.
Disney Plus doesn’t have any new releases this week that can top “Black Is King” or the “Hamilton” movie, but if you’re a fan of Disney musicals like “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Little Mermaid,” you might like “Howard” (Aug. 7), which is about how the late Howard Ashman went from showbiz-loving Baltimore kid to beloved playwright and lyricist.
If you have yet to see the movie inspired by former Toronto mayor Rob Ford and his crack cocaine scandal (I haven’t and still can’t wrap my mind around Damian Lewis, one of the best actors from the U.K., in a fat suit), then “Run This Town” is on Crave Aug. 7.
If you’d like to reflect on a devastating event in 20th-century history, “Hiroshima: 75 Years Later” (Aug. 8, 9 p.m., History) uses long-suppressed footage and victim testimony to illuminate the toll of the first detonation of a nuclear weapon in wartime.
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