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Tag: Watchable (Page 2 of 3)

Watchable Oct. 4 to 10, 2021

October 4, 2021 /

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

Bilal Baig stars as Sabi, a gender-fluid millennial, in “Sort Of.” PHOTO CREDIT: CBC

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)

Sabrina Grdevich, David Cronenberg and Chris Jacot in “Slasher: Flesh & Blood.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Cole Burston for Shaftesbury

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 in 1953 at the premiere of the film “Lili.” PHOTO CREDIT: Murray Garrett/Getty Images

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)

Rose McIver and Utkarsh Ambudkar as Samantha and Jay, with their paranormal roomies in “Ghosts.” PHOTO CREDIT: Cliff Lipson/CBS

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.

Watchable Sept. 20 to 26, 2021

September 20, 2021 /

SHOW OF THE WEEK: Born Bad (Sept. 25, 8 p.m., CBC and CBC Gem)

There’s been a lot of attention paid recently to the abuses perpetrated on Indigenous children in Canada’s residential schools, and rightfully so. This doc shines light on another group of children victimized by the state: the thousands who were sent to Ontario training schools as far back as the 1930s but mainly from 1953 to 1984.

The “schools” were meant for so-called “delinquent” kids who couldn’t be managed by their parents or other institutions. But the doc by Marc de Guerre (“Who’s Sorry Now?” “Why Men Cheat”) makes clear these were essentially jails for children as young as 8 and, in many cases, no crime had been committed. Children could be incarcerated for things like skipping school or, according to a former psychologist who tried to help kids at a training school in Bowmanville, something as trivial as chewing gum in church.

“The purpose of a training school shall be to provide the boys or girls therein with a mental, moral, physical and vocational education, training and employment,” says a line from the Ontario Training Schools Act of 1950.

In fact, what they got was brutality and intimidation from so-called teachers who weren’t properly trained or supervised, as well as from other inmates.

Wendy Herrell, a survivor of the Kawartha Lakes Training School in Lindsay, Ont., calls it “a beautiful hunting ground . . . What better place to work when you’re a pedophile?”

Another survivor, Rick Brown, who attended the Brookside Training School in Cobourg when he was 10, recounts how a teacher hit him so hard his eardrums burst.

Thomas Lavoie, who was also at Brookside from the ages of 11 to 15, was raped by another boy whom the guards had groomed to keep the other kids in line.

“Back then, adults could do anything they wanted to kids,” says Wendy. There was no one to tell about the violence and even if there was, “You think they’re gonna believe a bad kid?” says Shelly Richardson, another Brookside survivor.

Three of the four survivors interviewed came from grossly troubled homes where they endured physical, psychological or sexual abuse, and/or alcoholic parents. That they ended up stealing, skipping school and otherwise acting out is no surprise. But that they ended up in places where, in the words of psychologist Don Weitz, “the government of Ontario was assaulting children and calling it training” was a hideous abuse of power.

There is a class action lawsuit against the government seeking $600 million to be divided among up to 20,000 survivors. The case is expected to go to trial in 2023.

Obviously money can’t take away the pain of the abuse — we get a taste of it from the survivors interviewed in the doc and those are the ones who are traumatized but coping — but I hope they get every penny they’re asking for.

The Big Leap (Sept. 21, 10 p.m., CTV)

Simone Recasner and Ser’Darius Blain in “The Big Leap.” PHOTO CREDIT: Sandy Morris/FOX

This Fox series had me at “reality dance show.”

I have long been a devotee of “So You Think You Can Dance” so was intrigued by the fact “The Big Leap’s” comedy drama plays out against a TV dance competition.

That’s where the similarities end, though. The dance show in “Leap” is far more cutthroat and manipulative than anything I ever witnessed on a “SYTYCD” set. Also, not all of the fictional competitors are, strictly speaking, dancers.

The objective is to whip the chosen ones into shape for a gender-blind performance of “Swan Lake,” but also to exploit whatever crises and insecurities they’re experiencing for audience entertainment.

Scott Foley (“Scandal,” “Felicity”) plays Nick, the Machiavellian producer in charge of that task. Kevin Daniels (“Modern Family”) plays a sympathetic judge and Mallory Jansen (“Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”) is the scary, mean one.

The main contestants Nick’s looking to exploit include Gabby (Simone Recasner), who left her dance ambitions behind when she got pregnant in high school and is battling body image issues; Julia (Teri Polo, “The Fosters”), a former ballet dancer whose marriage is falling apart and who’s freaked out about aging; and Mike (Jon Rudnitsky, “Saturday Night Live”), a non-dancer who lost his factory job and his wife, and is hoping to win the latter back through the show.

This isn’t high concept television. It’s pretty easy to guess, for instance, that Gabby — who’s in a triangle involving disgraced former football player Reggie (Ser’Darius Blain) and nasty, skinny ballroom dancer Brittney (Anna Grace Barlow) — will at some point get a chance to eclipse Brittney onstage. Or that Mike will eventually get romantic with executive Paula (Piper Perabo) despite his laser focus on his ex-wife. Or that Nick will probably turn out to be not as much of a jerk as he seems. And I’m spitballing here because I’ve only seen two episodes.

Still, you want to root for the show’s lovable losers to redeem themselves, especially Gabby, who shows an admirable determination not to let anyone else define her. And you do get to see some actual dancing, especially with ringers like Ray Cham Jr. in the cast.

The Wonder Years (Sept. 22, 7:30 p.m., CTV)

Dule Hill, Saycon Sengbloh, Elisha Wiliams and Laura Kariuki in “The Wonder Years.”
PHOTO CREDIT: ABC

This remake of the 1988 sitcom about a middle class family in the late ’60s and early ’70s has the task of presenting a feel-good slice of nostalgia while not shying away from the racial reality of a Black family in 1960s America.

Based on the episode I saw, the only one available for review, “The Wonder Years” manages to walk that line.

When it begins in 1968 Montgomery, Alabama, the now adult narrator (voiced by Don Cheadle) says that his parents taught him “how to handle yourself around cops” and notes that the country is facing a presidential election that creates a racial divide, but Dean (Elisha Williams) has more universal concerns the year he turns 12: how to get the girl he likes to like him, how to avoid the school bully, how to look cool despite his glasses.

Dean and his best friend Cory (Amari O’Neil) don’t even notice when a couple of white kids at their recently desegregated school back away from the water fountain after Cory takes a drink.

Dean’s family — musician and music professor dad Bill (Dule Hill), accountant mom Lillian (Saycon Sengbloh) and university-bound sister Kim (Laura Kariuki) —lives in a comfortable Black neighbourhood. Bill doesn’t see a reason to mix with white folks so is reluctant to grant Dean’s request to play baseball against a white team that includes his Jewish friend Brad (Julian Lerner).

The game seems like a prime scenario for small-scale racial conflict, but it’s not the white kids who impede Dean’s playing but the rivalry between his dad and the Black coach (Allen Maldonado). And then a real-life tragedy interrupts the game and unites the Black participants in grief.

“It felt like the world around us had changed forever,” says Dean, but “the world on the inside hadn’t.”

It remains to be seen if “The Wonder Years” can maintain that balance between its outside and inside worlds, but the cast certainly seems up to it.

CTV also has “Our Kind of People” debuting Sept. 21 at 9 p.m., a dramedy about a single mom (Yaya DaCosta) trying to break into a wealthy Black enclave in Martha’s Vineyard, as well as singing competition “Alter Ego” (Sept. 22, 10 p.m.) and “Celebrity Wheel of Fortune” (Sept. 26, 8 p.m.). Crave has Season 2 of “The L Word: Generation Q” (Sept. 20, 9 p.m.), Season 3 of “Doom Patrol” (Sept. 23, 9:30 p.m.) and the Starz crime drama “BMF” (Sept. 26).

Midnight Mass (Sept. 24, Netflix)

Zach Gilford and Hamish Linklater in “Midnight Mass.” PHOTO CREDIT: Eike Schroter/Netflix

What is it that makes islands the perfect setting for horror TV and movies? Probably the sense of not being able to easily escape, which was certainly the case in HBO’s creepy “The Third Day.”

In this series from Mike Flanagan, the creator of Netflix horror hits “The Haunting of Hill House” and “The Haunting of Bly Manor,” tiny Crockett Island is the scene of the supernatural goings-on.

The locals don’t seem as threatening as the ones in “The Third Day,” but there’s still an undercurrent of unease as native son Riley (Zach Gilford, “Friday Night Lights”) returns home after spending four years in jail for driving drunk and killing someone.

But Riley’s discomfort at being back in this insular place and his regrets over what he’s done are the least of his worries. The real trouble starts when aged parish priest Monsignor Pruitt fails to return from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and, in his place, appears Father Paul (Hamish Linklater, “Legion”).

You don’t need to be an expert in the genre to know there’s something off about the new priest. Riley, town doctor Sarah (Annabeth Gish, “The Haunting of Hill House”) and Muslim sheriff Hassan (Rahul Kohli, “The Haunting of Bly Manor”) seem like the only people who are skeptical after Father Paul performs an apparent miracle during Sunday mass. The church is suddenly packed with acolytes and others start noticing physical changes in themselves — although one of those changes is devastating for Riley’s love interest, expectant mom Erin (Kate Siegel).

Town meanie and devout Catholic Bev Keane (Samantha Sloyan, “Grey’s Anatomy”) is fully on board, even after she discovers the secret behind the miracle.

In this case, the angel as well as the devil is in the details. I don’t want to spoil the reveal of the creature that’s hiding in the shadows of Crockett Island, but it puts a different spin on the idea of divine intervention as well as the extremes of faith.

The series is steeped in the rituals of the Catholic Church, with plenty of scenes that take place during mass and episodes named after books of the Bible. It’s hard to tell if Catholic-raised Flanagan is demonstrating reverence for the religion or the opposite, considering that the higher power to which Father Paul appeals seems more evil than benevolent.

“Midnight Mass” gets off to a slow start — it isn’t until episode 4 that the horror really ramps up — but it draws you in nonetheless.

Netflix also has Season 2 of “Love on the Spectrum” (Sept. 20); “Monsters Inside: The 24 Faces of Billy Milligan” (Sept. 22), about a serial rapist diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder; and Season 4 of “Dear White People” (Sept. 22).

Odds and Ends

Alison (Charlotte Ritchie, left) and Mike (Keill Smith-Bynoe, right) and their mansion full of spirits
are back for Season 2 of “Ghosts.” PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of CBC

If you’re looking for something fun to watch that’s not overly demanding of either time or brain cells, I recommend “Ghosts.” CBC Gem has Season 2 debuting Sept. 24 (with episodes running about a half-hour you can easily catch up on Season 1 there if you haven’t already). Alison and Mike (Charlotte Ritchie and Keill Smith-Bynoe) are still stuck in their haunted money pit of an inherited mansion. The normal and paranormal roomies have learned to co-exist, but the ghosts aren’t much help as Mike and Alison struggle to make enough money to maintain the house.

CBC Gem also has Season 2 of homemade web series “The Next Stop” on Sept. 24.

Hollywood Suite has “Relentless: The Kevin Porter Story” (Sept. 21) about the Ontario firefighter and paramedic who pursued a professional hockey career in his 40s.

Global TV has Season 41 — yes, 41! — of reality TV granddaddy “Survivor” (Sept. 22, 8 p.m.) and, if you think about it, the show is really the ultimate survivor. It also has the new spinoff “NCIS: Hawai’i” (Sept. 26, 9 p.m.), featuring the franchise’s first female special agent in charge (Vanessa Lachey).

You can also catch “Savage X Fenty Show Vol. 3” Sept 24 on Amazon Prime Video, featuring the latest fashion collection from superstar Rihanna.

The Watchable list will return

September 13, 2021 /

If you’ve been following this space, you know I’ve been publishing a weekly list of TV reviews since I started this blog in April 2020, and never missed a week despite vacations, stat holidays, whatever. But my editing and writing workload for the Toronto Star this week and last was just too heavy to provide time to watch any screeners. The list will return next Monday, Sept. 20. And there will be a “Bachelor in Paradise” recap this week.

Watchable Sept. 6 to 12, 2021

September 6, 2021 /

SHOW OF THE WEEK: Reservation Dogs (Now on Disney Plus Star)

Lane Factor as Cheese, Paulina Alexis as Willie Jack, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai as Bear and Devery Jacobs as Elora Danan in “Reservation Dogs.” PHOTO CREDIT: Shane Brown/FX

“Reservation Dogs” is its own unique thing and also utterly universal.

The proudly Indigenous comedy is about four friends — Bear (Canadian Oji-Cree actor D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai), Elora (Canadian Mohawk actor Devery Jacobs), Willie Jack (Paulina Alexis of Alberta’s Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation) and Cheese (Lane Factor, a Creek-Seminole and Caddo actor from Oklahoma) — living on the rez in rural Oklahoma, plotting to escape to California.

That specificity, the fact that every writer, director and cast regular on the show is Indigenous, and the humorous matter-of-factness with which the series presents its Indigeneity make it groundbreaking. But Bear, Elora, Willie and Cheese could also be any bored teenagers anywhere — Indigenous or otherwise — yearning for something more without knowing what they actually want.

When we first meet them, the foursome are stealing a delivery truck full of spicy potato chips. Despite the ease with which they accomplish this, these are no hardened criminals. The theft — along with the other petty crimes they’ve been committing around the village — are a means to an end: fattening up their running-away fund.

They are mourning their friend Daniel, who’s been dead a year and whose dream it was to get to California. But Bear, Willie and Cheese all seem less keen on the plan than Elora.

Also complicating things is that another gang of teens is out to get them, the self-named Indian Mafia, which is problematic since the Reservation Dogs aren’t even really a gang and aren’t particularly tough.

In one of the funnier episodes, they visit Elora’s reclusive uncle, a notorious bar brawler in his younger days, to try to get tips on how to fight but end up driving him all over town trying to sell his skunky homegrown marijuana.

During a Television Critics Association panel, the cast members and creators Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi emphasized that Indigenous communities everywhere are full of humour. That humour, as expressed in “Dogs,” is subtle and situational, and the four leads deliver it with aplomb, especially neophyte actor Alexis, but even the minor characters have impact here.

That includes Lil Mike and Funny Bone, whom people will recognize from “America’s Got Talent,” as bike-riding, rapping twins Mose and Mekko; Kirk Fox (“Parks and Recreation”) as Kenny Boy, movie-loving meth dealer and receiver of stolen goods; Zahn McClarnon (“Fargo,” “Westworld”) as laid-back tribal cop Big; and Dallas Goldtooth as the ghost of a warrior from the Battle of Little Bighorn — except that he didn’t actually fight because, as he was charging Custer, his horse tripped on a gopher hole, rolled over and squashed him.

Goldtooth’s Spirit character is a particularly funny poke at the stereotypes that “Reservation Dogs” is trying to lay to rest and also a reminder that the supernatural often co-exists with the so-called normal in Indigenous entertainment.

It’s not defined whether Spirit is real or a figment of Bear’s imagination, and the same goes for the deer woman (played by Canadian Mohawk actor Kaniehtiio Horn) that Big remembers from his childhood and the Sasquatch-like Tall Man that Willie Jack’s father sees in the woods. And it doesn’t really matter; they are part of the characters’ reality.

Painful things are also part of that reality. It’s implied but not stated outright, at least not in the six episodes I screened, that Daniel killed himself. Elora lost her mother when she was three. Bear is being raised by his mother (Canadian Indigenous actor Sarah Podemski) since the rapper dad he idolizes can’t be bothered to even visit. Yet the teens are nurtured by family, friends and the larger community.

Anyway, the pain isn’t the point here, which is very much the point of “Reservation Dogs.” The “Dogs” and everyone else they know are not one thing, but many things, just like any other human being.

Impeachment: American Crime Story (Sept. 7, FX)

Sarah Paulson as Linda Tripp and Beanie Feldstein as Monica Lewinsky
in “Impeachment: American Crime Story.” PHOTO CREDIT: Tina Thorpe/FX

It seems from what the producers have said to the media that a large part of the purpose of this drama is to try to change the way the women who were part of the Bill Clinton impeachment scandal are perceived.

They might stand a chance with Monica Lewinsky and Paula Jones, but Linda Tripp? Good luck with that.

Sarah Paulson, nearly unrecognizable in the role in prosthetics and a “fat suit,” seemed defensive of Tripp during a Television Critics Association panel, bristling at a reporter’s comment that Tripp was unlikeable. But Tripp does seem unlikeable from the get-go in this 10-episode series: petty, judgmental, vindictive, self-important — and that’s before she gets anywhere near Lewinsky.

I suppose you could argue that Tripp’s decision to tape Lewinsky’s phone calls about her affair with Clinton and to turn those tapes over to independent counsel Ken Starr — whose report led to a vote to impeach Clinton in 1998 — was motivated by her respect for the institution of government and her anger over Clinton’s treatment of Lewinsky. But it also reeks of a desire to insert herself into the drama and make herself seem important. After all, she started taping the calls — as “Impeachment” tells it — at the instigation of literary agent Lucianne Goldberg (the ever reliable Margo Martindale) as material for a tell-all book she was hoping to write.

However you feel about her, Tripp is a key part of the action in “Impeachment,” at least the four episodes I had time to watch.

And what of Lewinsky, who was a producer and consultant on the show, even vetting some of the scripts?

It’s easy to shake our heads at Lewinsky’s choices. She comes off here as a bright but naive 20-something, head over heels in love with the president, blind initially to the fact that she was being used — as if the leader of the most powerful country in the world would trade his political might for sporadic, tawdry encounters in a private office. But it’s arguable she would have got a fairer hearing if Clinton’s dalliance with an intern, and its enormous imbalance of power, had come out during the #MeToo era instead of when it did.

And then there’s Paula Jones, portrayed by Annaleigh Ashford, who seems the most sympathetic of the three: a rube who got manipulated by right-wing ghouls like Susan Carpenter-McMillan (Judith Light) into a battle she couldn’t win, collateral damage in the Republicans’ vendetta against the Clintons.

If nothing else, the series is a feast for those who appreciate good acting, including Edie Falco as Hillary Clinton, Cobie Smulders as Ann Coulter and Clive Owen as Bill Clinton, although I’d say his is the least convincing portrayal.

The series doesn’t have the same crackle as “The People v. O.J. Simpson,” but I found it watchable nonetheless.

Short Takes

Priyanka during her Season 1 “Canada’s Drag Race” victory. PHOTO CREDIT: Bell Media

Canada’s Drag Race Anniversary Extravaganza (Sept. 6, 9 p.m., Crave)

This 90-minute special is meant to whet our appetites for Season 2 of “Canada’s Drag Race.” Presided over by Season 1 champion Priyanka, it’s mostly a strut down memory lane and a catch-up with the first season cast, most of them in studio aside from Rita Baga, Kiara and Kyne on video link. There’s also a meet-and-greet with new judges Brad Goreski, Traci Melchor and Amanda Brugel, and music videos from Tynomi Banks, BOA and Priyanka. It’s not all glitter and grins, with BOA calling out Priyanka for not returning her texts, and Scarlett BoBo and Ilona Verley talking about their broken friendship. Mind you, this must have been shot before Ilona went public slamming “Drag Race” producers for not letting them talk about their trans identity on the show.

Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac in “Scenes From a Marriage.” PHOTO CREDIT: JoJo Whilden/HBO

Scenes From a Marriage (Sept. 12, 9 p.m., HBO/Crave)

Look, I won’t bore you by bemoaning what a crazy week I had last week; just know that I didn’t get to watch as many screeners as I needed to, which means I got through only one episode of this drama, an adaptation of Ingmar Bergmann’s 1973 miniseries about a couple’s marriage falling apart. First impressions: Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac are excellent as the central couple, as you’d expect, and it seems like a thoughtfully made, thought-provoking drama, but it wouldn’t be fair to say more without having seen more.

Crave also has Showtime’s “American Rust” (Sept. 12, 10 p.m.), which looks intriguing in the trailer and has a cast led by Jeff Daniels and Maura Tierney.

Odds and Ends

Jenn Colella and the cast of the “Come From Away” movie. PHOTO CREDIT: Apple TV Plus

The filmed version of the theatre musical “Come From Away” debuts on Apple TV Plus on Sept. 10, just ahead of the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The musical is about how residents in Gander and other Newfoundland towns took care of the more than 6,500 “plane people” who were stranded there when the attacks led to U.S. airspace being closed. Unfortunately, reviews are embargoed until Tuesday.

Showcase has “Dr. Death” (Sept. 12, 9 p.m.), starring Canadian Joshua Jackson as the real-life Texas doctor who left his spinal surgery patients maimed or dead.

Fans of the drama “Lucifer” will be pleased to know Season 6 is coming to Netflix on Sept. 10. That same day, Netflix has “Metal Shop Masters,” a competition series for metal artists. Personally, I couldn’t be bothered with “Countdown Inspiration4 Mission to Space” (Sept. 6), which is meant to culminate with the Sept. 15 launch of SpaceX’s Inspiration4 rocket, with an all-civilian crew orbiting Earth, but if you’re a fan of billionaires like Elon Musk fiddling in space while the Earth burns, have at ‘er. There’s also the documentary “Untold: Breaking Point” (Sept. 7), about American tennis player Mardy Fish’s mental health challenges.

Disney Plus has “Doogie Kamealoha, M.D.” (Sept. 8), in which the plot line about a teenage doctor (Neil Patrick Harris in the 1989 original) has been updated with a female, mixed race lead, Peyton Elizabeth Lee, and the action moved to Hawaii.

Amazon’s main debut this week is the movie “Voyeurs” (Sept. 10), which has Sydney Sweeney of “The White Lotus” and “The Handmaid’s Tale,” and Justice Smith (“The Get Down”) as a young couple who get more than they bargained for when they spy on their sexy neighbours across the way (Ben Hardy and Natasha Liu Bordizzo). This was shot and set in Montreal.

There’s a “Days of Our Lives” spinoff series, “Beyond Salem,” on StackTV on Sept. 6.

Stop-motion comedy “Robot Chicken” is back for its 11th season Sept. 6 at midnight on Adult Swim.

If you have an appetite for new food shows, Mary Berg is back on TV with “Mary Makes It Easy” Sept. 6 at 8 p.m. on CTV Life Channel, followed by 8:30 p.m. by “Up the Dish” with Carolyn Sandler.

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.

Watchable Aug. 16 to 22, 2021

August 16, 2021 /

SHOW OF THE WEEK: Nine Perfect Strangers (Aug. 20, Amazon Prime Video)

Nicole Kidman as Masha in “Nine Perfect Strangers.” PHOTO CREDIT: Vince Valitutti/Hulu

On the face of it, the Tranquillum House wellness retreat exudes comfort, luxury and exclusivity, but from the moment its nine guests arrive for their 10-day stay there are hints they’re in for more than bliss.

They’re under surveillance, for one thing. And the smiling staff members pleasantly but firmly insist they surrender their cellphones and submit to having blood drawn. There’s even a hint of menace in the way the blades of the blender pulp the fruit that goes into their individually tailored smoothies.

Ethereal guru Masha — Nicole Kidman in long golden locks, flowing pastel clothes and steely blue gaze — makes it clear that they’re not there to be pampered. “This is Tranquillum. I mean to fuck with all of you,” she says.

The guests include bereaved mother Heather (Australian actor Asher Keddie), her husband Napoleon (Michael Shannon) and their daughter Zoe (Grace Van Patten); romance novelist Francis (Melissa McCarthy), ex-pro football player Tony (Bobby Cannavale), newly rich couple Ben (Melvin Gregg) and Jessica (Samara Weaving), divorced mother Carmel (Regina Hall) and cynical journalist Lars (Luke Evans).

They’ve all been hand-picked by Masha for their traumas, which include an assortment of relationship issues, professional crises, insecurities, drug addiction and unresolved guilt over others’ deaths.

Despite the sometimes uncomfortable activities they engage in (digging their own graves, a day of eating nothing but what they can forage), defences come down, the guests warm to each other and they start to feel incrementally better. But Masha doesn’t think they’re getting to the heart of their pain fast enough and institutes a new treatment protocol over the objections of counsellor Delilah (Tiffany Boone), one that poses psychic if not physical dangers.

Masha isn’t being truthful about her own trauma, either, even though she shares with the guests that she was once a corporate CEO who died after being shot in the chest and was brought back to life by Yao (Filipino-Canadian actor Manny Jacinto), a former paramedic who is now her right-hand man at Tranquillum.

What viewers will realize — although Masha is blind to it — is that she’s still addicted to power, but rather than wielding it in the business world she’s playing god with the lives of the people who’ve entrusted her to make them better.

Having seen only six of the eight episodes, I don’t know whether she causes any of her charges lasting harm or how the death threats that Masha is simultaneously receiving play out.

Like the treatment being meted out at Tranquillum, “Nine Perfect Strangers” is itself imperfect. Some of the stories — the Instagram influencer who’s insecure about her looks, the discarded wife who resents anyone younger and prettier —are a little too on the nose.

But there are also plot twists and surprises, at least for those who haven’t read the Liane Moriarty novel. There’s also a lot to be said for watching actors of this calibre play together.

In a TV universe that often offers up junk food, “Nine Perfect Strangers” is more of a high-end meal, even if it leaves you still a bit hungry.

In the Same Breath (Aug. 18, 9 p.m., HBO/Crave)

Health-care workers during a celebration of China’s victory over COVID-19.
PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of HBO

It’s impossible to know for sure whether lives would have been saved if Chinese authorities had been more open with their own citizens and the rest of the world about the pneumonia-like illness being seen in Wuhan as early as December 2019.

We all know now that mystery illness was COVID-19, which to date has killed more than 4 million people worldwide.

But as Nanfu Wang admits in her documentary, even though she had seen, and archived, Chinese social media posts about overloaded hospitals and people dying in the streets, she believed American officials who said the virus didn’t pose a threat in the U.S. and scoffed when her mother, back in her hometown east of Wuhan, urged her to wear a mask outdoors.

This doc is critical of both Chinese and American authorities for downplaying COVID and, indeed, punishing those who spoke out about it — “I have lived under authoritarianism and I have lived in a society that calls itself free,” says Wang, who now calls New York home. “In both systems, ordinary people become casualties of their leaders’ pursuit of power.”

For me, the film is most striking when it’s sharing human stories, captured with the help of camera people in Wuhan: a father in tears at the bedside of his adult son, who’s unable to do much more than blink; the woman who ran a medical clinic near the infamous wet market and whose husband, having caught the virus from patients, was turned away by four hospitals after they saw CT scans of his lungs; the son and husband who have to decide on the spot whether to take their loved one back home or let her die in the street when paramedics are unable to find a hospital with room for her.

Some of the most eye-opening images, at least for those of us without exposure to Chinese media, are of news anchors parroting the same government-approved script about the lack of COVID dangers, or of health-care workers at rallies celebrating China’s victory over the virus, waving flags and singing patriotic songs about the motherland. The doc contrasts those images with footage from inside the hospitals of those workers breaking down in tears, exposing the reality glossed over by the upbeat, state-sanctioned propaganda about China’s “Angels in White.”

That, and Wang’s interviews with sad and angry nurses in New York, reaffirm there’s a secondary pandemic of trauma among front-line workers, one that will only worsen as those same workers deal with the fourth wave of COVID surging around the world.

I don’t know that any lessons will be learned from this documentary — Wang includes footage of anti-mask, -lockdown and -vaccine protests across the U.S. and we know they’re still happening even as the Delta variant rages and politicians refuse to do what’s necessary to protect their citizens — but it’s worth watching nonethless.

The Chair (Aug. 20, Netflix)

Sandra Oh, Nana Mensah and Holland Taylor in “The Chair.” PHOTO CREDIT: Eliza Morse/Netflix

I have a lot of time for Sandra Oh in whatever role she’s in and she delivers a reliably smart and sympathetic performance as Ji-Yoon Kim, a Korean-American professor who’s just become the first female and the first person of colour to chair the English department at fictional Pembroke University.

Created by actor Amanda Peet and screenwriter Annie Wyman, who’s also a lecturer at Stanford University, “The Chair” portrays Ji-Yoon as struggling with the things you’d expect a career woman to struggle with while balancing a demanding job with family. In Ji-Yoon’s case, ethnicity adds another layer as she’s a 40-something single mother to an adopted Mexican-American daughter she’s raising with the help of her father Habi, played by Ji-yong Lee, who speaks only Korean.

And of course, Ji-Yoon’s is not just any job. As chair, she has to worry about faculty egos, budgets, and keeping the dean (David Morse) and the donors happy, not to mention the students, a sometimes fickle, fractious lot. (There’s a cameo I won’t spoil for you by a well-known TV actor who’s parachuted in give the university’s marquee lecture because he’ll put “butts in seats.”)

“The Chair” touches on issues like academic freedom, conflict between traditional and modern teaching, sexism and racism in hiring and promotion, campus protest and social media censure, although not in a deep way.

The senior male professors (Bob Balaban and Ron Crawford), who are at the top of the dean’s hit list because they cost the most and attract the fewest students, are portrayed as fuddy duddies. Balaban’s character, in particular, is threatened by Yaz (Nana Mensah), a young Black female professor who teaches a popular course called “Sex and the Novel” and lets her students use rap and spoken-word poetry to interpret “Moby-Dick.”

Holland Taylor plays an equally senior professor named Joan and steals scenes as she fights against indignities like being relegated to a tiny office next to the basement gym and crudely targeted by a male student on Rate My Professors.

I didn’t love the fact that Ji-Yoon expends considerable energy trying to rescue the job of fellow professor and love interest Bill (Jay Duplass) after he does something boneheaded in the classroom that gets immortalized on YouTube. Sure, Bill is a widower and a nice guy who cooks her dinner and helps with her daughter, but he also behaves like an irresponsible man-child and I feel like we’ve had enough of those on television.

Just as Ji-Yoon doesn’t quite manage to revolutionize the Pembroke English department, “The Chair” isn’t going to revolutionize your TV-viewing experience, but at six half-hour episodes you can watch it in less time than it would take to write an essay.

Chapelwaite (Aug. 22, 10 p.m., CTV Sci-Fi Channel/CTV.ca)

Adrien Brody with Ian Ho, Jennifer Ens and Sirena Gulamgaus in “Chapelwaite.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Chris Reardon/Epix

If you like classic horror stories and you are a patient viewer, you will find things to entertain you in “Chapelwaite,” the latest Stephen King adaptation to hit screens, inspired by the short story “Jerusalem’s Lot.”

Certain elements of the original are intact here, including the creepy ancestral home that gives the show its name; a possible family curse; a mysterious, ancient book; hostile townspeople; undead folks and an obsession with worms.

But adaptors Jason and Peter Filardi have changed and expanded the story. Charles Boone, played by Oscar winner Adrien Brody, is now a widowed father of three and former captain of a whaling ship. Instead of a manservant, his confidante is a woman named Rebecca, played by Emily Hampshire of “Schitt’s Creek,” an aspiring writer and governess to his children. And there are plenty of side plots and new characters.

The town of Preacher’s Corners, Maine, to which Charles brings the two daughters and son he had with his late Polynesian wife, is a hotbed of superstition and racism. The townspeople blame the Boone family for the disease that is killing some of their children, shun Charles’s offspring for not being white, and reject his plans to expand the sawmill he inherited and bring shipbuilding to the town.

Since the series was filmed in Halifax, the cast is loaded with Canadians, including Eric Peterson (“Corner Gas”) as Charles’s chief antagonist; Gord Rand (“Orphan Black”) as the sympathetic town minister; Julian Richings (“Todd and the Book of Pure Evil”) as Charles’s Uncle Phillip; Steven McCarthy (“The Expanse”) as his cousin Stephen and newcomer Devante Senior as Able, a Black sawmill employee who’s the only worker to stand by Charles.

But all the extra faces and scenes mean the show can plod when it’s not sticking to the gothic horror plot, which it brings to life in moody, foreboding fashion.

The most successful new characters are the children, Honour (Jennifer Ens), Tane (Ian Ho) and especially sensitive middle child Loa. Toronto’s Sirena Gulamgaus, who also stars in “Transplant,” plays the part with depth beyond her years.

Hampshire, who’s second to Brody in the credits, brings energy and charm to Rebecca, but the character seems to have been parachuted in from a more modern show, with a way of speaking and behaving that doesn’t fit the 1850s time period.

Still, if you have a taste for atmospheric, supernatural horror stories you might be able to overlook “Chapelwaite’s” shortcomings.

Odds and Ends

The show that is a summer highlight for most “Bachelor” and “Bachelorette” fans, “Bachelor in Paradise,” returns for its seventh season after sitting it out last summer due to the pandemic. It debuts Aug. 16 at 8 p.m. on Citytv.

A show that I think has been trudging on for far too long, “The Walking Dead,” debuts its 11th and final season on AMC Aug. 22 at 9 p.m. Oh sure, I’ll probably hate-watch it just to see how things end.

Disney Plus has “Growing Up Animal” on Aug. 18, which features lots and lots of baby animals, so how can you go wrong?

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.

This post has been edited to tweak my review of “Nine Perfect Strangers.”

Watchable Aug. 2 to 8, 2021

August 2, 2021 /

SHOW OF THE WEEK: Mr. Corman (Aug. 6, Apple TV Plus)

Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as the title character in “Mr. Corman.” PHOTO CREDIT: Apple TV Plus

Meet Joshua Corman, a grade school teacher with a perfectly human imperfect life.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who wrote, directed, executive-produced and stars in “Mr. Corman,” created his lead character as a kind of alter ego to himself: a man who, like him, grew up in the San Fernando Valley with aspirations to become a rock star, but whose life didn’t take the fortunate turns that Gordon-Levitt’s did.

Gordon-Levitt, obviously, never became a rock star, but he’s a highly respected TV and movie star as well as a director, producer, songwriter, and a husband and father of two.

Joshua hasn’t had it quite as good: he gave up on music to become a fifth grade teacher, split up with his fiancee and lives in a modest L.A. apartment with his high school friend Victor (Arturo Castro, “Narcos,” “Broad City”).

It’s not that Joshua has a bad life. He himself acknowledges how lucky he is, especially compared to the street person he’s forever noticing as he moves around L.A.

But if perfect is the enemy of good, Mr. Corman is often the enemy of his own good in his reluctance to accept the imperfect.

“It just feels like I blew the whole thing, like I suck as a person,” he tells his mother, Ruth, played by Debra Winger.

Joshua suffers anxiety attacks, which are signified onscreen by a loud clanging noise and a flaming CGI meteor speeding toward Earth. (The series mixes sometimes whimsical animation and special effects with its live action, including a gravity-defying dance number between Winger and Gordon-Levitt.) 

Even when he’s not having attacks, Joshua is apt to find fault with whatever’s going on, which pisses off the people around him, including his mother, his sister Beth (Shannon Woodward), his ex Megan (Juno Temple) and the women he half-heartedly attempts to date. This contrasts with his roomie Victor, a divorced dad and UPS driver who always finds the glass half full.

By series end, there is some hope for Joshua; not that his life is likely to change in earth-shattering ways (although he does commit to making music again and to giving romance a shot) but that he stands a better chance of embracing its imperfection.

“Mr. Corman” has its subtle comic moments, but it’s also a modest, thought-provoking drama, one that might have you reflecting on the paths your own life took.

Small Town News: KPVM Pahrump (Aug. 2, 9 p.m., HBO/Crave)

Missey Kohler, Deanna O’Donnell, John Kohler, Vern Van Winkle, Eunette Gentry and Ronda Van Winkle, the stars of “Small Town News: KPVM Pahrump.” PHOTO CREDIT: Gilles Mingasson/Courtesy HBO

I confess I started watching “Small Town News” expecting it to be a real-life version of TV comedy “WKRP in Cincinnati” or even “SCTV” with its Melonville TV network. And in some ways it did not disappoint.

KPVM, the privately owned TV station in Pahrump, Nevada, that is the subject of the docuseries, has its share of unusual characters and comic situations. 

Certain scenes will put you in mind of the Les Nessmans, Earl Camemberts and Ted Baxters of the TV world, like station owner Vern trying repeatedly to pronounce “Deepak Chopra”; or weatherman John, a former member of the “Portly Presleys,” giving the forecast in an Elvis costume; or customer Barbara, who has her own show, singing about spaceships and her supposed fling with Michael Jackson. 

(News director Deanna says of Barbara: “I have kind of a personal relationship with her ever since she was kidnapped by aliens.”)

But the show also highlights a serious issue in journalism: the dwindling of independent news sources as tech giants like Facebook and Google continue to hog advertising dollars while media conglomerates gobble up the outlets that have managed to survive.

KPVM is just one of 95 independently owned news stations that still exist in the U.S., the series tells us.

What’s more, as unintentionally funny as the employees of KVPM can be, they clearly care about their jobs and about getting out the news in their little corner of the world.

Sure, there are small dogs lounging under the anchor desk during broadcasts, and John wears shorts with his suit jacket and tie, and the station-made ads have catchphrases like “When’s the last time you had a mouthful of Big Dick’s pizza?” but the workers endure, for the station and for each other.

We follow them from January to November 2020, through the COVID-19 pandemic and the presidential election — Trump fan Vern is convinced the election of Joe Biden will sink the business. But when we leave them, they’ve just expanded into Las Vegas an hour away, reporting news from the larger city and opening a second station there.

“You don’t see this from individuals as much anymore,” says Vern. “This is all done by big corporations who have large funding and we’ve really worked hard to get to this point.

“The fact that Pahrump, Nevada, a small town of this size, has a TV station, it’s very rare,” he adds. “The thing of it is we’re still succeeding at KPVM-TV because we have a lot of great people who work for us, to cruise through the difficult times.”

Short Takes

Richard Harrington as Tom Mathias and Mali Harries as Mared Rhys in “Hinterland.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Warren Orchard/Acorn TV

Hinterland (Aug. 2, Acorn TV)

With its austere landscapes and sometimes impenetrable accents, “Hinterland” often feels more like a Scandinavian than a British crime drama. Set in Aberystwyth, Wales, it stars Richard Harrington (“Poldark,” “Gangs of London”) as DCI Tom Matthias, a good detective with a messy personal life (aren’t they all?), a tendency to put himself in harm’s way and a keen sense of justice. He alternately impresses and frustrates his colleagues — including Mali Harries as DI Mared Rhys, Hannah Daniel as DS Sian Owen and Alex Harries as DC Lloyd Ellis — and his shadowy boss, Chief Superintendent Brian Prosser (Aneirin Hughes). In case those names don’t give you a hint, the main cast are all Welsh and the series was filmed in Wales. It presents an interesting selection of homicides that go beyond the run-of-the-mill young woman raped and murdered plots of so many crime dramas as well as an ongoing mystery involving the abuse of children at a residential school.

Then president Barack Obama and vice-president Joe Biden, as the House passes
the health care reform bill in March 2010. PHOTO CREDIT: Pete Souza/Courtesy of HBO

Obama: In Pursuit of a More Perfect Union (Aug. 3, 9 p.m., HBO/Crave)

I watched the first part of this three-part docuseries trying to figure out why this biography of former U.S. president Barack Obama is coming out now. The best answer I can venture, based on pre-release publicity, is that it’s meant to add to the conversation about America’s racial reckoning by looking back at the political career of the country’s only Black president. But based on what I saw, and I confess I didn’t have the time or inclination to watch the other two parts, it feels like standard bio-doc territory. There doesn’t seem to be anything here that anyone interested in Obama wouldn’t already know about. Nor did doc maker Peter Kunhardt get fresh interviews with Obama or wife Michelle, although he does feature commentary from influential Black Americans like Ta-Nehisi Coates, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson.

Crave also has the doc “Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street” premiering on Aug. 2; the British drama “Anne Boleyn,” a re-examination of Henry VIII’s most famous wife, on Aug. 6; and Season 2 of “The L Word: Generation Q” on Aug. 8.

Odds and Ends

Netflix has the Israeli American crime thriller “Hit & Run” (Aug. 3), which I was all set to tell you about until I realized that reviews are embargoed until Tuesday. It also debuts “Cooking With Paris” (Aug. 4), as in Paris Hilton, who makes food with celebrity friends like Kim Kardashian and Demi Lovato.

Amazon Prime Video has the documentary “Val” (Aug. 6), about actor Val Kilmer, which brought renewed attention to the “Top Gun” star when it recently debuted at the Cannes Film Festival.

If you missed the marijuana-dealing dramedy “Weeds” in its original eight-season run, Super Channel Fuse has the whole thing on demand as of Aug. 4 or if you want an old-fashioned pre-binge experience you can watch four episodes every Tuesday beginning Aug. 3 at 9 p.m.

BritBox has Season 2 of the Bath-set crime drama “McDonald & Dodds” (Aug. 3), starring familiar face Jason Watkins and Tala Gouveia.

NOTE: The times listed 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.

Watchable July 5 to 11, 2021

July 5, 2021 /

SHOW OF THE WEEK: The White Lotus (July 11, 9 p.m., HBO/Crave)

Jolene Purdy, Murray Bartlett, Alexandra Daddario and Jake Lacy in “The White Lotus.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Mario Perez/HBO

The opening credits of “The White Lotus” — glimpses of expensive wallpaper festooned with nature scenes that go from idyllic to alarming — perfectly encapsulate the show: stylish and sophisticated with an undercurrent of menace.

We know from the get-go that something has gone wrong at the Hawaiian resort where this “social satire” is set: there’s a body being loaded on the plane heading home and newlywed Shane Patton (Jake Lacy, “The Office”) is without his wife.

Over six episodes, Mike White (“School of Rock”), who wrote, directed and executive produced, skilfully lays out the stories of three sets of tourists during a weeklong stay at the resort, events that weave together to bring about a violent denouement. He’s aided by excellent acting, charged cinematography by Ben Kutchins (“Ozark”) and an evocative score by Chilean-Canadian Cristobal Tapia de Veer.

The tone of luxury underlain with ugliness is set before the rich guests of the White Lotus have even set foot on the island, as spoiled college student Olivia (Sydney Sweeney, “Euphoria”) and her friend Paula (Brittany O’Grady, “Little Voice”) spend the ferry ride secretly observing and denigrating the other passengers.

Unctuous manager Armond (Murray Bartlett, “Looking”) and his staff greet the “VIPs,” whom Armond privately describes as “sensitive children.”

Shane turns out to be a particular problem child. He discovers that he and new wife Rachel (Alexandra Daddario, “Why Women Kill”) didn’t get the “Pineapple Suite” Shane’s mother (Molly Shannon) booked for them. He and Armond get into a war of attrition over the mistake, which horrifies Rachel, who’s only beginning to grasp the level of Shane’s materialism and entitlement.

All of the guests we’re following experience crises during their weeklong stay. 

A skeleton in the closet of tech entrepreneur Nicole Mossbacher (Connie Britton) and emasculated husband Mark (Steve Zahn) resurfaces after Mark learns an unsettling secret about his dead father; Olivia and Paula lose a bag full of recreational drugs and have a falling out over handsome staff member Kai (Kekoa Kekumano); tech-obsessed Quinn (Fred Hechinger) loses all his toys when he’s forced by sister Olivia to sleep on the beach; Tanya McQuoid (Jennifer Coolidge in a brava performance) is trying to make peace with the death of her cruel mother, whose ashes she brought to spread in the ocean.

At least Tanya is up front about her failings: “At the core of the onion I’m just a straight up alcoholic lunatic,” she tells Belinda (Natasha Rothwell, “Insecure”), the resort spa manager whom Tanya befriends and promises to help start her own business. 

The guests all display varying degrees of unlikeability but, when push comes to shove, relative outsiders like Paula and Rachel aren’t willing to give up their proximity to privilege, even if the attitudes of the moneyed disgust them. 

The people who suffer are those whose livelihoods depend on the resort, people like Armond and Kai and Belinda. The wealthy visitors upend their lives but neatly sidestep the consequences. And the next boat of rich people is coming into view.

Short Takes

Cutter (Alanna Ubach), Val (Mindy Kaling), Fritz (Henry Winkler) and Tylor (Ben Feldman)
in “Monsters at Work.” PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of Disney

Monsters at Work (July 7, Disney Plus)

This is one case in which a TV series version of a beloved movie gets things right, at least based on the two episodes made available to critics. “Monsters at Work” is set in the factory that gave the 2001 animated blockbuster “Monsters, Inc.” its name, but big changes are afoot, which throw new recruit Tylor Tuskmon (Ben Feldman) for a loop. The top scarer in his class at Monsters University will now have to learn how to make children laugh instead of frightening them to keep the lights on. In the meantime he’s stuck working with a crew of misfits known as the Monsters Inc. Facilities Team or MIFT. Some old favourites are back from the film, including John Goodman and Billy Crystal as Sully and Mike, who are now in charge of the joint. The new characters include over-eager MIFT boss Fritz (Henry Winkler), gregarious co-worker Val (Mindy Kaling) and winged saboteur Duncan (Lucas Neff), who think’s Tylor is after his deputy supervisor job. The animation is top notch, the jokes are clever and snappy, and the little details stand out, like a hard hat with a hole cut out for Fritz’s single eye. So pop a can of Drooler Cooler and enjoy.

“Corner Gas Animated” is back for one final season. PHOTO CREDIT: Bell Media

Corner Gas Animated, Season 4 (July 5, 8 p.m., CTV Comedy Channel/Crave)

“You can stay so long, When there’s not a lot goin’ on,” says the theme song, but there’s an expiry date on this spinoff of the beloved “Corner Gas” sitcom. It wraps with this fourth season after CTV declined to pick it up for another. Based on the episode I previewed I wouldn’t expect the series to diverge from its proven formula for its swan song. The cartoon residents of Dog River — including Brent (series creator Brent Butt), Lacey (Gabrielle Miller), Hank (Fred Ewanuick), Wanda (Nancy Robertson), Oscar (Eric Peterson), Emma (Corinne Koslo), Davis (Lorne Cardinal) and Karen (Tara Spencer-Nairn) — are as they ever were. In the first episode, with guest voice Mark McKinney, Lacey decides to fulfil her childhood dream of jumping out of a plane and Wanda to fulfill hers of pushing someone out of a plane. Future guest stars include Kim Coates (“Sons of Anarchy”), Simu Liu (“Kim’s Convenience”) and a “Hollywood A-lister” yet to be named.

Sanjeev Bhaskar and Nicola Walker as Sunny and Cassie in Season 2 of “Unforgotten.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Mainstreet Pictures Ltd.

Unforgotten, Season 4 (July 11, 9 p.m., PBS)

Among the glut of British detective shows, “Unforgotten” has always stood out for me, mainly for its sensitive and intelligent handling of the cold cases that fuel its plots but also for the depth that Nicola Walker brings to her portrayal of Detective Chief Inspector Cassie Stuart: a middle-aged divorcee juggling a job she’s devoted to with being a mother to two young adult sons and a daughter to her aging father. She and police partner Sunny Khan (Sanjeev Bhaskar), himself a single father, have a close, respectful relationship that makes it a joy to watch them solve cases together, so I’m delighted they’re back. I had almost given up hope of seeing a fourth season. This season’s case involves the discovery of a headless, handless body of a man inside a freezer at a scrapyard.

Odds and Ends

Cindy Sampson and Jason Priestley in Season 5 of “Private Eyes.” PHOTO CREDIT: Corus Entertainment

Five seasons in, “Private Eyes” (July 7, 9:30 p.m., Global/StackTV) has one burning question to answer: do will-they-or-won’t-they private detective partners Angie Everett (Cindy Sampson) and Matt Shade (Jason Priestley) finally get together? My guess is yes since this is the final season, but expect the tease to last a while since Matt acquires a new love interest (Kandyse McClure) in the second episode.

Global also has a new season of the American version of “Big Brother” beginning July 7 at 8 p.m.

Crave has the new iteration of “Gossip Girl” (July 8), which like the original is about nasty rich kids at a Manhattan private school except now the kids aren’t all white and they’re getting called out on Instagram. Guess you can tell it’s not one of my faves.

There’s a flurry of stuff on Netflix this week, including Season 2 of sketch comedy series “I Think You Should Leave” (July 6); Season 2 of the docuseries “Dogs” and Season 1 of the companion series “Cat People” (both July 7); Season 3 of the popular romantic drama “Virgin River” (July 9); and Season 4 of dramedy “Atypical” (July 9).

“Bridgerton” fans, take note: Ben Miller (Lord Featherington in that series) gets to lead his own show as “Professor T” (July 11, PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel), a Cambridge professor with OCD who helps a former student catch a serial rapist.

BritBox has a twist on the true crime docuseries, “In the Footsteps of Killers” (July 6), in which the star of a crime drama, Emilia Fox of “Silent Witness,” is the one trying to solve the murders alongside criminologist David Wilson. The series plays like a crime drama but, alas, in the episode I previewed, didn’t do much more than rehash the case. BritBox also has TV movie comedy dramas “Murder on the Blackpool Express,” “Death on the Tyne” and “Dial M for Middlesbrough” (July 9).

NOTE: The dates and times listed here reflect information provided to me and cross-checked where possible against broadcast and streaming schedules, 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.

Watchable the week of May 3, 2021

May 3, 2021 /

SHOW OF THE WEEK: Going Native (May 8, 8:30 p.m., APTN)

Drew Hayden Taylor gets a horse-riding lesson from Jarrod Pretty Young Man in “Going Native.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of APTN

What do you think of when you think of Indigenous culture? Beads and feathers? Powwow dances? Drum circles?

How about zombie movies, gourmet cuisine, cutting edge architecture or an award-winning winery? No? Then let Drew Hayden Taylor enlighten you.

The 58-year-old member of Ontario’s Curve Lake First Nation is no slouch himself when it comes to cultural contributions

Take a peek at his website and check out his list of accomplishments, which includes writing short stories, plays, novels, nonfiction books, TV and film scripts, acting as a writer-in-residence at several universities and as artistic director of Native Earth Performing Arts.

I also think of Taylor as a cultural ambassador via documentaries like “Redskins, Tricksters and Puppy Stew,” “Searching for Winnetou” and “Cottagers & Indians” (based on his play of the same name).

In the 13-episode series “Going Native,” he spreads the word about Indigenous accomplishments and combats damaging colonial stereotypes.

Sure, that can be an uphill battle in a country like Canada, whose citizens consistently undervalue its cultural accomplishments, let alone those of its First Nations, but I urge you to check out “Going Native” nonetheless — not just because you’ll learn some things, but because it’s fun.

Taylor travels throughout North America (this was shot pre-pandemic) and uses humour and enthusiasm to share vignettes about Indigenous visionaries — people like architect Patrick Stewart, filmmaker Jeff Barnaby, video game designer Meagan Byrne and vintner Justin Hall, to name just a handful.

Taylor throws himself into his research, sometimes quite literally as when he attempts to mount a horse bareback at the home of the Pretty Young Man Indian Relay Team or gets chased by “zombie” Xander Jones. I’d put those in the “do not try this at home” category, but I’d happily sample the wine at Nk’Mip Cellars in Osoyoos, B.C., or the bison sausage at Toronto’s NishDish.

Other episodes delve into music, fashion, art, business, spirituality, survivalism, storytelling, sports and astronomy. And the series has already been renewed for a second season.

Sortez-Moi de Moi (May 7, 8 p.m., Crave)

Pascale Bussieres and Vincent Leclerc in “Sortez-Moi de Moi,” a.k.a. “Way Over Me.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of Bell Media

This Quebec drama is attention-grabbing right out of the gate in that it’s rooted in the treatment of mental health — and not TV disease-of-the-week mental health but knotty, complex issues that won’t be resolved in an episode or even a season.

It should come as no surprise, either, that the patients aren’t the only ones struggling.

The series begins with a death — I won’t say whose — that has life-changing consequences for some of its characters, particularly crisis team social worker Clara St. Amand (Sophie Lorain), who’s devoted to her work but not to the bureaucracy behind it, and psychiatrist Justine Mathieu (Pascale Bussieres), who seems unsympathetic at first glance.

The other lead character is a charismatic patient with bipolar II disorder, David Ducharme (Vincent Leclerc), a condition that given his line of work (again, no spoilers) could be life-threatening.

Based on the two episodes available for review, the drama does an excellent job of teasing out the connections and complications between its characters, not giving too much away but leaving you wanting to know more.

The show is described as a psychological thriller, but it also plays at times like a medical or crime drama, one grounded in naturalistic performances. It’s based on an idea by actor Lorain and director Alexis Durand-Brault, known in Quebec for the TV series “Au secours de Beatrice” (“Helping Beatrice”), about an emergency room physician with psychological problems.

Also known as “Way Over Me,” “Sortez-Moi” debuts simultaneously in French, on Crave Super Ecran, and on Crave in versions that are dubbed or subtitled in English. 

Short Takes

Expert Paul Winicki assesses author Jason Reynolds’ watch collection in “Antiques Roadshow, Celebrity Edition.” PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of Antiques Roadshow for WGBH

Antiques Roadshow, Celebrity Edition (May 3, 8 p.m., PBS)

Prohibited from taking its show, well, on the road by the pandemic, this venerable series celebrated its 25th season by sending its appraisers to the homes of celebrities to assess their favourite things. The episode I screened featured Olympic figure skater Nancy Kerrigan, author Jason Reynolds, actor S. Epatha Merkerson, pro golfer Dottie Pepper and comedian Jay Leno (who, in an unintended bit of irony given his recent apology for making racist jokes about Asians, casually mentions all the Asian antiques scattered around his Newport, Rhode Island mansion). Most of the items in that first episode didn’t have outsized monetary value — apart from a couple of Kerrigan’s medals, particularly the one she won after that infamous 1994 injury — but that doesn’t dampen the vicarious thrill of peeking into famous people’s abodes.

Jill Halfpenny as Jodie with Cody Molko as Daniel in “The Drowning.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Bernard Walsh/Acorn TV

The Drowning (May 6, Acorn TV, Sundance Now)

This drama explores the line between grief and obsession when a woman who lost her four-year-old son in a drowning accident spots a teenager on the street who looks remarkably like her child would at 14. Caution, reason and everything else is thrown to the wind as Jodie (Jill Halfpenny, “EastEnders”) sets out to prove that Daniel (Cody Molko) is actually her son Tom, whose body was never found that day at the beach. Rupert Penry-Jones (“Spooks,” “The Strain”) also stars as Daniel’s father, or abductor in Jodie’s eyes.

Odds and Ends

From left, David Julian Hirsh, Ben Daniels, Josh Duhamel, Leslie Bibb, Mike Wade and Matt Lanter
in “Jupiter’s Legacy.” PHOTO CREDIT: Steve Wilkie/Netflix

There are several shows of interest coming to Netflix this week, all of them embargoed for review until later in the week. Most notable is “Jupiter’s Legacy” (May 7), a made-in-Toronto family superhero drama starring Josh Duhamel, Leslie Bibb and Ben Daniels. It’s based on the comic book series by Mark Millar and Frank Quitely. Netflix also has Part 2 of “Selena: The Series” (May 4) about revered Mexican American singer Selena Quintanilla; and the docuseries “The Sons of Sam: A Descent Into Darkness” (May 5), about a journalist who spent decades trying to prove that serial killer David Berkowitz had not acted alone. 

From Apple TV Plus comes Season 2 of office comedy “Mythic Quest” (May 7) about a group of video game developers.

Watchable the week of March 22, 2021

March 22, 2021 /

SHOW OF THE WEEK: TINA (March 27, 10 p.m., HBO, Crave)

Tina Turner performing in 1990 in Versailles, France, when she was 50.
PHOTO CREDIT: ARNAL/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images

I confess I haven’t paid a lot of attention to Tina Turner over the years, but I came out of this documentary about her life and career with a new appreciation for the 81-year-old entertainer.

Most people are likely at least nominally familiar with her troubled relationship with former husband Ike Turner, who died in 2007. Although it’s a part of her life that Tina has repeatedly said she wants to move past, it’s covered in depth in the doc, mainly through tape recordings made for her blockbuster 1981 People magazine interview about the abuse she suffered.

The doc traces that history from 1957 when 17-year old Anna Mae Bullock moved to St. Louis, Missouri, and began performing on weekends with Ike’s band. Their relationship was at first platonic, but they became romantically involved in 1960, the same year the single “A Fool in Love” was released. Ike changed her name to Tina and created the Ike and Tina Turner Review.

Tina told People that was also around the time Ike first hit her, beating her with a shoe stretcher because she didn’t want to tour while pregnant.

She stayed for 16 years in what she called “a life of death,” blaming it on fear and also guilt about what would happen to Ike’s career if she left.

Katori Hall, who wrote the book for “Tina: The Tina Turner Musical,” notes that Tina grew up seeing violence between her father and mother. She was also abandoned as a child by both parents, first her mother, then her father. That’s got to have a devastating impact on a kid.

Tina also recounts on tape a suicide attempt, which came after the success of “Proud Mary” in 1971.

Surviving that kind of trauma is one thing — Tina finally ran from Ike in 1976 after he left her bloody on the drive from the Dallas airport to their hotel, literally fleeing across a freeway and almost getting hit by a truck — what impressed me most was what came after Ike. That Turner, pushing 40, supporting four children and with debt from the dissolution of the Ike and Tina Review, hustled and toiled and sweated (literally) her way into a new career.

Turner says in the doc she didn’t view her ascendancy as a solo artist in the 1980s as a comeback; it was “Tina’s debut.”

Whatever you call it, it was phenomenally successful: over 100 million records sold; 12 Grammys; the first Black artist and first woman to front Rolling Stone; a record-breaking 1990 tour when she was 50 years old.

Tina says this documentary (directed by Oscar winners Daniel Lindsay and TJ. Martin) is her goodbye to her American fans, along with the Broadway musical about her, which she is seen attending in 2019 in the doc. She has retired to Switzerland with her German husband Erwin Bach, and I hope she has finally found the peace and happiness missing in the early part of her life.

UFO Town (March 26, 9 p.m., CBC and CBC Gem)

The road to Carp, Ont., a.k.a. “UFO Town.” PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of Blue Ant Media

Did alien aircraft visit the Ontario township of West Carleton in the late 1980s and early 1990s? As with anything involving unidentified flying objects there’s no such thing as a definitive answer.

This documentary from Toronto producer Saloon Media focuses in particular on the “Guardian case.”

In 1989, someone using that name mailed documents and photos to UFO investigators purporting to show evidence of a UFO landing in the area, including blurry pictures of an alleged alien. In 1991, more material was mailed, including a video of an alleged flying saucer in a swamp in Carp, Ont.

The case put this part of Ontario on the map in the early ‘90s, with the TV shows “Unsolved Mysteries” and “Encounters” doing segments on it.

No one has ever figured out whether “Guardian” was someone with genuine knowledge or a crackpot. But the doc includes interviews with locals who saw unexplained phenomena around that time: bright lights shining directly into second-floor windows or above a road; a craft with spinning lights rising silently out of the trees before taking off in a blink; military-type helicopters landing in the vicinity of sightings.

One woman, the late Susan Gill, even claimed to have seen beings with glowing skin disembarking from a UFO.

As author Ian Rogers says, a UFO case is never really closed. No one has definitively proved or disproved the existence of extraterrestrial life, but it’s a subject that continues to fascinate us.

If you’re in the mood for more TV with creepy undertones, CBC Gem has the web series “Something Undone” (March 26). Jo (Madison Walsh) is alone in her mother’s old house after her mother, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia, has committed suicide. As she cleans out her mother’s belongings and records sounds for the podcast she’s making with her boyfriend Farid (Michael Musi) — which is about the gruesome murder of a family in Newfoundland — she hears odd noises, and things just get spookier from there. Although it presents on the surface as a haunted house drama, the press materials say “Something Undone” is about isolation and mental health struggles. Directed by Nicole Dorsey and shot in and around Harriston, Ont., it was created through CBC’s Creative Relief Fund, which supports artists in the pandemic. 

CBC Gem also has “The Slowest Show” on March 26, which is described as an “experimental comedy series” from Pat Kelly, known for the CBC Radio show “This Is That.” I would describe it as extremely subtle comedy. A single, stationary camera records actors in a mundane situation, for instance, attending an exhibit at an art gallery.

Finally, the period drama “Victoria,” starring Jenna Coleman (“Doctor Who”) as England’s longest-serving monarch before Queen Elizabeth II came along, makes its CBC and CBC Gem debut on March 22 at 8 p.m.

Short Takes

Model Richie Shazam and musician Lucas Silveira are the hosts of “Shine True.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of Fuse and OUTtv

Shine True (March 22, 10 p.m., OUTtv)

There’s a “Queer Eye” vibe to this reality series, with each episode focused on an American or Canadian transgender or gender non-conforming individual being guided to express their authentic self. Trans Toronto musician Lucas Silveira and nonbinary New York model Richie Shazam are the ones doing the guiding, which includes makeovers but also frank, sometimes painful but also rewarding conversations. In Episode 1, nonbinary Mexican-American artist Azul is still mourning the death of their father and navigating a strained relationship with their mother while trying to feel more comfortable in their own skin. With a new suit, a new haircut and dye job, and support from people who’ve been in their shoes, Azul gets a boost of confidence that’s heartening to see.

For Real: The Story of Reality TV (March 25, E!)

This series surveys the history of reality TV with clips, interviews and even cast reunions. Hosted by “Real Housewives” host and executive producer Andy Cohen, it’s more admiring than critical, although it does touch on the scandals. The first episode profiles “The Osbournes” (2002), precursor to shows like “Gene Simmons: Family Jewels” and “Run’s House”; the tragic “Anna Nicole Show” (2002); “The Simple Life” (2003), which made Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie “hot”; “The Girls Next Door” (2005), which begat reality star Kendra Wilkinson; trainwreck TV “Breaking Bonaduce” (2005); and reality behemoth “Keeping Up With the Kardashians,” which just began its 20th season (and is available in its entirety on Hayu in Canada). If all that hasn’t turned you off, Episode 2 promises a “Real World” reunion.

City on a Hill (March 28, 10 p.m., Crave)

If you like complex, character-driven drama with a lot of moving parts, then “City on a Hill” is worth a look. Set in early 1990s Boston — Boston buddies Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are executive producers — it tackles crime, drugs, politics, police corruption and race relations through a sizable ensemble cast. Kevin Bacon stars as FBI agent Jackie Rohr, prolific womanizer, boozehound and dirty cop. His main foil is idealistic assistant district attorney Decourcy Ward (Aldis Hodge, who played Jim Brown in “One Night in Miami”). Reluctant allies in Season 1, they seem to be back to adversaries as the second season begins. It’s not as riveting as “The Wire,” but the acting is top notch. Be warned that you’d best catch up on Season 1, also on Crave, before diving into Season 2.

Odds and Ends

There are a couple of shows I wasn’t able to review due to embargoes. “The Irregulars,” a YA drama that posits that a group of impoverished adolescents in Victorian London were the ones solving Sherlock Holmes’ cases, debuts March 26 on Netflix. (Netflix also has “Who Killed Sara?” on March 24, a Mexican series that’s part revenge drama and part murder mystery about a brother trying to find out who was behind his sister’s death 18 years ago.)

Disney Plus has The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers (March 26), the series sequel to the 1990s films about a hapless pee-wee hockey team and their coach, with Emilio Estevez returning to the role of Gordon Bombay.

FX has Season 2 of “Breeders” (March 22, 10 p.m.), starring Martin Freeman and Daisy Haggard as frazzled parents.

NOTE: The dates and times listed here reflect information provided to me and cross-checked where possible against broadcast and streaming schedules, but it’s always best to check listings for your own area. The selection of series reviewed here 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.

Watchable the week of January 18, 2021

January 18, 2021 /

SHOW OF THE WEEK: Flack (Jan. 22, Amazon Prime Video)

From left, Anna Paquin, Rebecca Benson and Lydia Wilson in “Flack.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of Amazon Prime Video

This show seems like a throwback to the days when television was ruled by anti-heroes, except it’s women instead of men who are breaking bad.

Robyn (Anna Paquin) is a highly skilled fixer who cleans up messes for various celebrities in London, England. When we meet her she’s in a hotel room with two naked men, one of whom is closeted and famous, and the other of whom isn’t breathing. 

Naturally Robyn saves the day, but it should come as no surprise that, like any good anti-hero, her savvy as a troubleshooter doesn’t extend to her personal life.

Robyn can’t stop lying, either to herself or to the people she’s closest to, including her sister Ruth (Genevieve Angelson), a stay-at-home mom whom Robyn followed from New York to London after their mother died, and her devoted boyfriend Sam (Arinze Kene).

Robyn’s best friend is her co-worker Eve (Lydia Wilson), who uses cynicism and snobbery to keep people from getting too close. Rebecca Benson is wet-behind-the-ears intern Melody, who idolizes Robyn, and Sophie Okonedo is their fearsome boss Caroline, sort of a PR version of Miranda in “The Devil Wears Prada.” Marc Warren is Tom, who is drawn into Robyn’s orbit after meeting her at a Narcotics Anonymous meeting. 

The series overall is quite cynical. Some of the fixes that Robyn and the team concoct are preposterous, whether it’s a natural skin care purveyor falsely accusing her husband of abuse to explain the bruises from a facelift or a failing footballer pretending to be gay to get attention and sponsorships, but the underlying message is that everyone can be bought.

Paquin has received lots of attention for the show, her first lead role since the one-season “Bellevue” and “True Blood” before that, but over the first season’s six episodes we merely skim the surface of Robyn’s dysfunction.

The dialogue, written by creator Oliver Lansley and his team, is snappy and sometimes funny. Okonedo, who I’m used to seeing in dramatic roles, gets all the best lines: “It’s like being slowly stung to death by incompetent wasps,” she tells her employees when they’re having trouble closing a case. 

Of course, no one really talks like that. But if you can suspend your disbelief, excuse the moments that are too on the nose and lean into the characters’ naughtiness, “Flack” can be fun. 

Painting With John (Jan. 22, 11 p.m., HBO, Crave)

John Lurie shares his painting and his life in “Painting With John.” PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of HBO

“Painting With John” was in the works long before the pandemic turned those of us who can work from home into hermits, but it seems fortuitously prescient. It’s just John Lurie — artist, musician, actor, Grammy-nominated composer, cult TV show maker (“Fishing With John”), former New York scenester — painting and talking from his home on a Caribbean island.

We catch glimpses of his assistant, Nesrin Wolf, and his cook, Ann Mary Gludd James, but this is essentially a one-man show. Lurie wrote and directed the series, and we hear his music on the soundtrack along with his voice.

It’s by turns soothing, funny, interesting and weird. Lurie is a compelling storyteller, whether he’s recounting how he almost blew himself up trying to reheat a curry and sat naked, applying aloe vera to his burns, as a shocked neighbour drove by; the lengths he went to, while living in Manhattan, to get a live eel to photograph for the “Voice of Chunk” album cover; or the hideousness and side effects of cancer treatment.

And he deftly wields his wit against others (“Talking into a camera is just wrong and people who can actually do it well, they’re probably sociopaths”) and himself (“I don’t even know what the fuck I’m doing”).

“I will teach you things I learned from life as I go,” he says.

It seems a fair bargain.

The episodes are short, the natural scenery is beautiful, watching Lurie paint is almost hypnotic and he’s got lots of life to share.

HBO also has Season 3 of “C.B. Strike,” subtitled “Lethal White,” Jan. 20 at 10 p.m.

If You Missed It … WandaVision (Disney Plus)

Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff and Paul Bettany as Vision in “WandaVision.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Disney Plus

The appeal of this series for me was more in its imitation of the classic sitcoms I grew up with than its connection to the Marvel Universe, into which I have only occasionally dipped a toe.

But the first episode, a riff on “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” left me a little disappointed. Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany) make a charming pair of suburban newlyweds, but I found it all rather corny and clunky.

It got better in the second and third episodes — reminiscent of “Bewitched,” “The Brady Bunch” and a titch of “The Partridge Family” — as Wanda and Vision began to interact more with their neighbours (including Kathryn Hahn as the brassy Agnes) in an effort to fit in. There’s a nice bit of comedy involving android Vision, his works jammed up by an accidentally swallowed piece of gum, doing a magic show at the town fundraiser and forgetting to hide his superpowers, with witch Wanda having to improvise to make the tricks seem fake.

It becomes clear that Wanda is exerting some type of control over their small-town existence and trying desperately to keep an alternate reality from seeping in, presumably a reality in which Vision is dead, as per “Avengers: Infinity War.”

That’s all likely all old hat for Marvel fans who — if they’ve read the comics and seen the movies — will have an inkling of where the story is going. 

For non-Marvel fans, the fun of “WandaVision” lies in its retro trappings and the performances of Olsen and Bettany.

Odds and Ends

From left, Hannah van der Westhuysen, Eliot Salt, Abigail Cowen, Elisha Applebaum and Precious Mustapha in “Fate: The Winx Saga.” PHOTO CREDIT: Jonathan Hession/Netflix

Mean girls, bad boys, outcasts and misunderstood loners: “Fate: The Winx Saga” (Jan. 22, Netflix) has all the usual tropes of angsty high school drama, except the hormones are mixed with magic powers, plus there’s a monster out in the deep, dark woods. Welcome to the Alfea College for Fairies and Magic, the setting for this drama based on Nickelodeon’s “Winx Club” animated series. Abigail Cowen (“Chilling Adventures of Sabrina”) stars as first-year student Bloom and the grown-up cast includes Robert James-Collier of “Downton Abbey.” Netflix also debuts Season 2 of made-in-Canada glass-blowing competition series “Blown Away” and film “The White Tiger,” based on the Booker Prize-winning novel by Aravind Adiga, on Jan. 22.

“Political Blind Date” (Jan. 19, 9 p.m., TVO) begins its fourth season of pairing politicians who hold opposing viewpoints to hash out issues of interest to Canadians and, at least while they’re shooting the show, move beyond partisanship. Episode 1 features NDP MPP Sara Singh and Conservative MPP Natalia Kusendova hanging out to discuss hospital overcrowding, health cuts and “hallway medicine,” a topic of even more interest in these COVID-19 times. Future episodes cross party, provincial and even national lines with the mayor of Flint, Mich., meeting the mayor of Huron-Kinloss, Ont., to talk clean water; and an Ontario MPP tete-a-teteing with a Quebec MLA about religious symbols.

If, like me, you’ve watched and rewatched all your British detective favourites in lockdown you’ll be glad to know that Season 2 of “The Bay” is coming to BritBox on Jan. 20. DS Lisa Armstrong (Morven Christie, “Grantchester”) is back with a new murder to solve and a new family to get entangled with.

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