Tag: The Last of Us

Yes, you read that right, this is a 20-day Watchable list since I will be in California from Jan. 5 to 15, partly to attend the Television Critics Association press tour, and won’t be screening anything until I get back. Herewith, some short takes on some shows I checked out during the past week.

Surviving R. Kelly: The Final Chapter (Jan. 2, 9 p.m., Lifetime)

The 2019 docuseries “Surviving R. Kelly” and its 2020 followup, “The Reckoning,” are arguably big reasons why the R&B singer is in jail right now, having been convicted in 2021 of racketeering and sex trafficking, and in 2022 of child pornography. This final three-episode instalment of the docuseries follows Kelly’s federal trial, and includes fresh interviews with the sexual assault survivors and their families. This is not an easy watch. What these women (and some men) endured was horrific and has forever changed their lives and the lives of their families.

Workin’ Moms (Jan. 3, 9 p.m., CBC)

It’s the end of the road for Catherine Reitman’s comedy about a group of Toronto mothers who connected in a Mommy and Me class and then, over seven seasons, took us on a funny, relatable ride as they navigated parenthood, careers, friendship and romance. I watched the first two episodes of Season 7 in preparation for interviewing Reitman and cast members Dani Kind, Enuka Okuma, Sarah McVie and Jessalyn Wanlim (you can read the story here) and can attest that the final season sticks to what made the show a global success. I’m not allowed to tell you how last season’s cliffhanger turned out after Anne (Kind) was hit by a car, but I’m sure you can figure it out on your own. This ain’t “Game of Thrones.”

CBC also has new seasons of charming coming-of-age comedy “Son of a Critch” (Jan. 3, 8:30 p.m.); Jonny Harris’s “Still Standing” (Jan. 4, 8 p.m.); Andrew Phung’s family comedy “Run the Burbs” (Jan. 4, 8:30 p.m.); and detective dramedy “Pretty Hard Cases” (Jan. 4, 9 p.m.), with dream team Meredith MacNeill and Adrienne C. Moore.

The Rig (Jan. 6, Prime Video)

Setting a thriller on an oil rig in the North Sea already guarantees a certain amount of drama. “The Rig” adds a restive crew trapped there by a mysterious fog and a communications breakdown; a series of increasingly bizarre injuries to crew members; and the suggestion there’s an ancient, hostile force at work. The main attraction is the terrific cast, a who’s who of Scottish and British actors alongside Emily Hampshire of “Schitt’s Creek” (you can read my interview with her here), who plays a petrochemical geologist and one of the few women aboard the rig. She gets to play off “Line of Duty” actors Martin Compston, Mark Bonnar, Rochenda Sandall and Richard Pepple, and “Game of Thrones” alum Iain Glen, Mark Addy, Owen Teale and Emun Elliott, plus one truly mammoth co-star: the model of an oil rig built in a Scottish studio.

Prime Video also has the second and final season of “Hunters” (Jan. 13), the Nazi-hunting drama that made a splash in 2020 by giving Al Pacino a rare recurring TV role. Even though his character Meyer Offerman — SPOILER ALERT! — died in Season 1, Pacino is back in flashback. I watched the first new episode, but reviews are embargoed so that’s all I’ll say.

Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches (Jan. 8, 9 p.m., AMC/AMC+)

Reviews of this series are embargoed until Tuesday, but I’m including it anyway since it’s fair to say yet another TV series based on a beloved trilogy of Anne Rice novels is something of an event. This one stars Alexandra Daddario (“White Lotus”) as Rowan, a neurosurgeon who discovers she has troubling and dangerous powers, and is likely part of a family of witches. Harry Hamlin also stars as Cortland; Cameron Inman (and later Annabeth Gish) as Deirdre; Jack Huston as Lasher and Tongayi Chirisa as Ciprien. It remains to be seen if this will be as big a hit as “Anne Rice’s Interview With the Vampire” was for AMC.

The Case Against Cosby (Jan. 8, 8 p.m., CBC/CBC Gem)

I apologize for recommending two documentaries about sex offenders in one week, but there is definite merit in this film that tells the story of Andrea Constand, the Canadian woman who succeeded in having Bill Cosby convicted of sexual assault. Yes, the conviction was overturned because of an unofficial deal that a district attorney made with Cosby in 2005 that he wouldn’t be prosecuted criminally after admitting in a civil trial that he used Quaaludes to have sex with women, but that’s not the same thing as being found innocent. This doc, directed by Karen Wookey (“Intervention Canada”), also features interviews with other survivors who took part in a trauma retreat with Constand; with her parents and sister; with police, lawyers and journalists involved in the case against Cosby; and with experts in what’s called “counterintuitive victim behaviour,” i.e. the way women behave after they’ve been sexually assaulted by someone they know as opposed to the way we’ve been led to believe they’re supposed to behave.

CBC and CBC Gem also have the docuseries “Stuff the British Stole” (Jan. 6, 8:30 p.m.), based on the podcast about, well, stuff the British have stolen over the centuries from other lands and cultures; the documentary “Last of the Right Whales” (Jan. 6, 9 p.m.) on “The Nature of Things”; and the documentary “Doug and the Slugs and Me” (Jan. 15, 8 p.m.), which is mainly about unlikely 1980s pop star Doug Bennett, directed by his family’s former next-door neighbour, Teresa Alfeld.

In addition, CBC Gem has the Ken Burns docuseries “The U.S. and the Holocaust” (Jan. 13), about America’s failure to rescue more than a fraction of the Jewish refugees trying to escape murder by the Nazis; and the Northern Ireland-set drama “Death and Nightingales” (Jan. 6), which has an intriguing cast in Ann Skelly, Matthew Rhys and Jamie Dornan but is very slow.

All Creatures Great and Small (Jan. 8, 9 p.m., PBS/PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel)

This is one of those shows I watch not just out of professional duty but because I really enjoy it. Based on the first two episodes, Season 3 looks to be as delightful as the first two seasons. It opens in 1939 with Yorkshire veterinarian James Herriot (Nicholas Ralph) about to marry farmer’s daughter Helen Alderson (Rachel Shenton). Naturally, there are complications — a boisterous bachelor’s party and a herd of cows at risk for disease among them — but the episode title, “Second Time Lucky,” gives a hint of how it turns out. All of the excellent lead cast are back, including Samuel West as irascible head vet Siegfried Farnon, Callum Woodhouse as his somewhat feckless brother Tristan and Anna Madeley as long-suffering housekeeper Mrs. Hall.

PBS also has Season 27 of the U.S. version of “Antiques Roadshow” (Jan. 2, 8 p.m.); and Season 3 of period mystery series “Miss Scarlet and the Duke” (Jan. 8, 8 p.m.); PBS also says it will rebroadcast “The U.S. and the Holocaust” beginning Jan. 6 at 9 p.m., although it’s on the WNED schedule Jan. 9 at 9 p.m.

And because I can’t really resist anything to do with Scotland, the birthplace of two of my grandparents, I screened “Wildheart” (Jan. 18, 8 p.m.), a restorative episode of “Nature” about a Scots pine in what’s left of the Caledonian Forest in the highlands that’s almost 500 years old. Did it really grow from a pine cone tossed aside by Mary, Queen of Scots as a child? I don’t see how one could prove that, but it makes for a whimsical start to telling the life story of this tree and the creatures that have surrounded it for centuries.

Bollywed (Jan. 12, 8 p.m., CBC/CBC Gem)

If you have ever taken a streetcar along Gerrard Street East in Toronto you have no doubt spotted Chandan Fashion out the window with its distinctive blue and magenta exterior. This docuseries takes viewers inside the shop and the Singh family, who have run the business in Little India for 37 years. As it gained inventory and customers, the shop grew to three storeys, but the first episode makes clear that those floors, as well as the basement, are bursting at the seams as father Kuki brings in more and more merchandise, and kids Chandan and Chandni encourage him to open another location. I suspect that clash of old school business practices vs. modernization will drive the action throughout the series. There’s also a touch of “Say Yes to the Dress” as Chandan helps brides choose their wedding ensembles in the third-floor bridal showroom.

The Last of Us (Jan. 15, 9 p.m., HBO/Crave)

Reviews of this postapocalyptic drama are embargoed until next week. I don’t think I’m even allowed to tell you whether I like it, so you’ll have to draw your own conclusions from the fact I have singled it out here. It’s based on a video game of the same name about the aftermath of a fungal infection that has wiped out huge swaths of humanity, leaving survivors penned into militaristic quarantine zones. I can at least tell you what I think of the cast, led by Pedro Pascal, a standout in shows like “Narcos,” “Game of Thrones” and “The Mandalorian,” and Bella Ramsey, the enormously talented young actor also seen in “Game of Thrones” and “Catherine Called Birdy.” They play Joel, a hardened survivor, and Ellie, the 14-year-old he is tasked with escorting across the country to a revolutionary group that’s trying to find a cure for the infection. Other cast members include Anna Torv, Merle Dandridge, Gabriel Luna, Nick Offerman, Murray Bartlett, Melanie Lynskey and Toronto’s Lamar Johnson.

Crave also has Viking revenge movie “The Northman” (Jan. 6), featuring a super ripped Alexander Skarsgard, which Toronto Star reviewer Peter Howell gave 3.5 out of 4 stars; British crime drama “Without Sin” (Jan. 6); competition series “The Climb” (Jan. 12), in which contestants climb foreboding looking peaks overseen by series creator Jason Momoa; animated Scooby-Doo spinoff “Velma” (Jan. 12), created by and starring Mindy Kaling; and Season 2 of “Your Honor” (Jan. 13), in which Bryan Cranston and Michael Stuhlbarg return as the judge and the mob boss whose lives were upended by a hit-and-run in Season 1.

Shadowland (Jan. 21, 9 p.m., History/STACKTV)

If there’s one thing we all became familiar with over the two years (now into its third) of the COVID-19 pandemic it’s conspiracy theories. This docuseries, based on a series of articles in the Atlantic magazine, takes a deep dive into the subject by having documentary teams interview the holders of these theories about their beliefs. The subjects include a woman in Pennsylvania who has bought so completely into the belief that the world is being controlled by a “deep state” cabal of elites that she risks going to jail for her part in the Jan. 6 riot rather than subject herself to the authority of the court. Other subjects include a Montreal woman, former journalist and rabid anti-vaxxer who has moved to San Francisco with her boyfriend, the so-called “Google whistleblower.” The series is directed by Joe Berlinger, an Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated documentarian.

And while we’re on the subject of conspiracy theories, they are also the subject of the first episode of “Truth & Lies,” a docuseries debuting on TVO Jan. 17 at 9 p.m. The series from Emmy nominee Lewis Cohen takes a more historical approach. In the opener, for instance, it draws a line between the “blood libel” conspiracy theory of the 12th century that claimed Jews harvested the blood of Christian children, to the modern claim that Democrats are child pornographers using children for their blood. Other episodes look at war propaganda, scandals, money, religion and influencers.

Also, back to the Corus Entertainment slate, Showcase has “Irreverent” (Jan. 8, 9 p.m.), about a criminal mediator who has to flee Chicago for Australia and pose as a minister; and the latest David E. Kelley series, “The Calling” (Jan. 16, 9 p.m.), about a particularly dedicated NYPD detective. And W Network has the Hallmark series “The Way Home” (Jan. 22, 8 p.m.), which stars Andie MacDowell, Chyler Leigh and Sadie Laflamme-Snow as three generations of an estranged family and is set, at least in part, in a Canadian farm town.

Odds and Ends

I very much wanted to review “The Last Movie Stars,” the docuseries about actors and spouses Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, directed by movie star Ethan Hawke, that got rapturous reviews when it debuted in the U.S. It finally makes its Canadian premiere Jan. 12 on Hollywood Suite, but screeners won’t be available until after I’ve left for California.

Speaking of stars, Matthew Macfadyen and Keeley Hawes are certainly that, particularly if you’ve watched “Succession” or any number of British series that they’ve been in. The real-life couple plays British politician John Stonehouse and his wife Barbara in “Stonehouse” (Jan. 17, BritBox). The MP was at the centre of a scandal in the U.K. after faking his own death in 1974. Reviews, unfortunately, are embargoed until next week.

Let’s get to Netflix. I liked the first season of the soapy but charming “Ginny & Georgia,” but there was an embargo on Season 2 episodes, which debut Jan. 5. More (not all) Netflix premieres: documentary “Madoff: The Monster of Wall Street” (Jan. 4); doc “Mumbai Mafia: Police vs. the Underworld” (Jan. 6); Season 2 of “Vikings: Valhalla” (Jan. 12); tennis documentary “Break Point” (Jan. 13); “That ’70s Show” spinoff “That ’90s Show” (Jan. 19); so-called reality series “Bling Empire: New York” (Jan. 20).

Your Disney+ pick is “If These Walls Could Sing” (Jan. 6), the story of Abbey Road Studios as told by Mary McCartney, daughter of Beatle Paul McCartney. Also, buzzy movie “The Menu” has its streaming debut Jan. 4.

Apple TV+ has docuseries “Super League: The War for Football” (Jan. 13) and by football they mean soccer. It also has the fourth and final season of “Servant” (Jan. 13).

David Attenborough is back with yet another nature documentary, “Dynasties II” (Jan. 8, 9 p.m., BBC Earth), which follows families of elephants, macaques, cheetahs, pumas, meerkats and hyenas.

I don’t usually write up Paramount+ series since they don’t often send me releases, but that seems to be changing. On Jan. 19, the streamer has the Canadian debut of “The Chemistry of Death,” based on two Simon Beckett novels, starring Harry Treadaway (“Penny Dreadful”) as former forensic anthropologist David Hunter.

And finally, the tarnished “Golden Globe Awards” are back and will air Jan. 10 at 8 p.m. on Citytv.

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.

CORRECTION, JAN. 22, 2023: Edited because I accidentally misspelled Murray Bartlett’s last name in the “Last of Us” entry.