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Tag: what to watch (Page 3 of 10)

Watchable on Prime Video, CBC, Netflix Nov. 28 to Dec. 4, 2022

November 28, 2022 /

SHOW OF THE WEEK: Three Pines (Dec. 2, Prime Video)

Alfred Molina as Armand Gamache in “Three Pines.” PHOTO CREDIT: Amazon Studios

I’m not sure what could be more Canadian than a murder surreptitiously committed during a curling match in a seemingly placid Quebec village.

That’s the case that introduces us to the TV version of Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, the hero of Louise Penny’s bestselling mystery novels, brought to life by Alfred Molina (“Spider-Man,” “Frida”) in this eight-part series.

If you’re looking for flashy and gory, this isn’t the show for you; if you’re interested in a mystery series anchored in character and place, and the secrets that those hold, then settle in.

The show, like the books, is mainly set in the village of Three Pines in Quebec’s Eastern Townships. Though Gamache, an officer with the Quebec provincial police, is based in Montreal, he keeps getting drawn back to the small community. Even when the murders don’t happen there, there is inevitably some connection with the outwardly idyllic place.

Molina leads a strong cast that includes Rossif Sutherland, Ella-Maija Tailfeathers and Sarah Booth as fellow officers Jean-Guy Beauvoir, Isabelle Lacoste and Yvette Nichol, and the wonderful Tantoo Cardinal as gallery owner Bea Mayer.

Molina told the Toronto Star that Gamache isn’t the typical troubled male detective, something that will no doubt be old hat for viewers who have read Penny’s books. His Gamache is kind without being a pushover; authoritative without being a tough guy; smart and intuitive without being a showoff. And he carries painful secrets of his own, although they don’t interfere with his ability to do his job or his loving relationship with his wife, Reine-Marie (Marie-France Lambert).

The show also departs from the books in a significant way, by adding a storyline that runs throughout the eight episodes anchored in Canada’s shameful history of murdered and missing Indigenous women, and residential schools.

A former residential school and its history of atrocities figure into at least four of the episodes. And Gamache gets personally involved, despite the displeasure of his superiors, in trying to help an Indigenous family whose daughter has disappeared along with her boyfriend, initially dismissed as runaways despite her family’s insistence she would never leave her baby daughter behind.

If you watched CBC’s promising but short-lived series “Trickster” you’ll recognize actors Crystle Lightning, Georgina Lightning and Anna Lambe in this storyline.

“Three Pines,” as is fitting for a show set in Quebec, switches between English and French dialogue, another way it differentiates itself as a made- and set-in-Canada series.

But don’t watch it just because it’s Canadian; watch it because you’ll be drawn in by its stories of all too human crimes and the good-hearted man trying to solve them.

Odds and Ends

Cat fancier Kim Langille and her retired champion Bobby. PHOTO CREDIT: Markham Street Films

Sorry readers, but I chose to spend a weekend in Niagara-on-the-Lake rather than screening shows as I do most weekends, so I haven’t watched pretty much all of what’s on this list.

I did screen “Catwalk 2: The Comeback Cats” (Dec. 2, 9 p.m., CBC and CBC Gem), a sequel to the documentary “Catwalk” (still available to stream on CBC Gem), which apparently became a hit on CBC and Netflix with its tale of rivalry on the Canadian cat show circuit. Things get even, well, cattier in No. 2. With her prize Turkish Angora Bobby retired, Kim Langille attempts to gain the glory that eluded Bobby with his son, Chance. But after Kim gets banned from the  Canadian Cat Association, both she and Bobby mount a comeback.

Netflix, as usual, has a lot. There’s a new instalment of crime docuseries “Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields” (Nov. 29) and the title pretty much says it all; the food competition “Snack VS. Chef” (Nov. 30), about recreating classic snacks; the documentary “Take Your Pills: Xanax” (Nov. 30); another doc, “The Masked Scammer” (Dec. 1), about a French con man; Season 2, Part 1 of the tearjerker “Firefly Lane” (Dec. 2); a series with the intriguing name “Hot Skull” (Dec. 2), about a virus that spreads through verbal communication; the film “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” (Dec. 2), based on what was once considered a scandalous novel by D.H. Lawrence, starring Emma Corrin (“The Crown”) and Jack O’Connell (“The North Water,” “Godless”); Season 2 of reality TV show “My Unorthodox Life” (Dec. 2); and documentary “Sr.” (Dec. 2), actor Robert Downey Jr.’s tribute to his late filmmaker father, Robert Downey Sr.

I was not as blown away by Gary Oldman-starring spy drama “Slow Horses” as some critics were, but that doesn’t mean I won’t watch Season 2 when it debuts Dec. 2 on Apple TV+.

Crave has a documentary with a great title, “Meet Me in the Bathroom” (Nov. 29), which chronicles the New York music scene of the early 2000s, when bands like the Strokes, Vampire Weekend, LCD Soundsystem, TV on the Radio and the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s were the next big things. Also streaming: Season 2 of “Gossip Girl” (Dec. 1); the docuseries “Branson” (Dec. 1), about entrepreneur, daredevil and space pioneer Richard Branson; the docuseries “Cocaine, Prison & Likes: Isabelle’s True Story,” (Dec. 2), about convicted drug smugglers Isabelle Lagace and Melina Roberge, the so-called “Cocaine Cowgirls” who inspired the recent Prime Video movie “Sugar”; and the limited series “George & Tammy” (Dec. 4), in which Jessica Chastain plays Tammy Wynette to Michael Shannon’s George Jones.

The Disney+ offerings include “Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2: Rodrick Rules” (Dec. 2); the fantasy movie “Darby and the Dead” (Dec. 1); and TV series “Willow” (Nov. 30), a sequel of sorts to the 1988 Ron Howard-George Lucas film, with Warwick Davis reprising his role as Willow.

If you like British female-led mystery series, “Whitstable Pearl,” starring Kerry Godliman (“After Life”), is back for a second season on Acorn on Nov. 28.

Finally, the fact that Christmas is less than a month away is inescapable, so you might as well watch “The Original Santa Claus Parade” on CTV on Dec. 3 at 7 p.m. This time, there was a proper parade to film in the streets of Toronto and not just a bunch of floats rolling along without any spectators at Canada’s Wonderland.

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.

Watchable on Netflix, Disney, Prime Video Nov. 21 to 27, 2022

November 21, 2022 /

SHOW OF THE WEEK: Wednesday (Nov. 23, Netflix)

Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams in “Wednesday.” PHOTO CREDIT: Vlad Cioplea/Netflix © 2022

As the famous theme song says, it’s creepy, kooky, mysterious and spooky, and it’s one of the more entertaining things that Netflix has released recently.

“Wednesday” takes Wednesday Addams of the Addams Family cartoons (and later TV series and movies) and ages her up. She’s now a 16-year-old attending Nevermore Academy, a boarding school for supernatural “outcasts” that was the alma mater of her father Gomez (Luis Guzman) and mother Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones).

Jenna Ortega (“Scream,” “Jane the Virgin,” “You”) shines in the title role, with a lively, fierce intelligence behind the contemptuous stare and deadpan quips.

When she first arrives at Nevermore — having been expelled from eight other high schools, the last because she sicced piranhas on the swim team — Wednesday has only one aim: escape.

But she can’t resist the chance to make like a goth Nancy Drew when several mysteries arise: among them, why did a fellow student try to kill her twice; what or who is the monster ravaging hikers in the nearby woods; how does a long-ago death at the school, in which her father was accused of murder, figure in?

Wednesday has other things on her plate: psychic visions that she can’t control; a prickly relationship with her mother; and fellow students who insist on engaging with her despite her insistence she prefers solitude.

She has a roommate, Enid (Emma Myers), a cheery werewolf with a love of all things girly and brightly coloured; a rival in smart, athletic siren Bianca (Joy Sunday); an ally in nerdy beekeeper Eugene (Moosa Mostafa); and a couple of admirers, psychic artist Xavier (Canadian actor Percy Hynes White) and so-called “normie” barista Tyler (Hunter Doohan), the son of the sheriff (Jamie McShane) in the nearby town of Jericho. Plus she’s being closely watched by school principal Larissa Weems (Gwendoline Christie) and normie teacher Marilyn Thornhill (Christina Ricci, who played Wednesday in two Addams Family movies).

The school is also populated by vampires, gorgons and other supernatural scholars, targets of mistrust and bullying by the townies.

The series, the TV directing debut of filmmaker Tim Burton, blends YA high school drama with detective, fantasy and horror elements. It has dry, understated humour but also darkness: characters die.

There’s also a nostalgia element with callbacks to the 1960s TV series and 1990s movies seeded throughout the show: a double finger snap, for instance, opens the entrance to a secret library; when Wednesday rings the bell at the coffee shop, Tyler responds, “You rang?”; her parents send disembodied hand Thing (a scene stealer courtesy of actor Victor Dorobantu) to keep an eye on Wednesday, who co-opts him as her co-detective.

Servant Lurch (George Burcea) also turns up in a limited role while Uncle Fester (Fred Armisen) is the highlight of a single episode. But it’s definitely Wednesday who’s the star of the show.

When all is said and done, there’s a heart beating under that forbidding, black-clad exterior, loath as Wednesday is to admit it. In the big finale, when Wednesday faces down a force that would destroy the school, fellow students have her back.

The show isn’t perfect. It’s somewhat overstuffed with characters and plot (a tangent about Bianca having escaped a cult, for instance, seems like an unnecessary distraction) and the Wednesday-Tyler romance angle strains credulity. But I would welcome another semester at Nevermore Academy, should “Wednesday” get a second season.

Netflix also has comedy special “Trevor Noah: I Wish You Would” (Nov. 22); the docuseries-drama hybrid “Blood, Sex & Royalty” (Nov. 23), touted as a look at Britain’s deadliest and sexiest monarchs, i.e. King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn; movie “The Swimmers” (Nov. 23), based on the true story of two Syrian sisters who fled that country’s civil war; and the documentary “Ghislaine Maxwell: Filthy Rich” (Nov. 25), about the recently sentenced accomplice in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking schemes.

Short Takes

Kumail Nanjiani, right, as Steve Banerjee and Murray Bartlett as Nick De Noia
in “Welcome to Chippendales.” PHOTO CREDIT: Erin Simkin/Hulu

Welcome to Chippendales (Nov. 22, Disney+)

“Welcome to Chippendales” is billed as a true crime drama, but it really feels more like a biopic with some crime at the end. It’s based on the book “Deadly Dance: The Chippendale Murders,” which is itself based on the true story of Somen “Steve” Banerjee, the Indian immigrant who created the male stripper empire Chippendales in 1979. As “Welcome to Chippendales” tells it, Steve — consumed by his ambition to be a success in America — turns a failing Los Angeles nightclub into a gold mine by making it a stripper bar that caters to women. (According to other accounts, the idea was actually Paul Snider’s, the pimp and club promoter who murdered his Playboy playmate wife Dorothy Stratten, then killed himself in 1980. Snider and Stratten, played by Dan Stevens and Nicola Peltz Beckham, appear in the first episode, which significantly alters the facts of the murder-suicide.) Kumail Nanjiani portrays Steve as a man secretly riddled with self-loathing, especially since his mother in Bombay regards him as a failure, and rigidly focused on making money and inflating his status. The other star of the show is Murray Bartlett (“The White Lotus”) as Nick De Noia, the choreographer and producer who turns the ragtag Chippendales dancers into stars, and comes up with the ideas for a lucrative New York club and a world tour. Bartlett is the standout in an excellent cast, which also includes Annaleigh Ashford as Steve’s accountant turned wife Irene and the seemingly ageless Juliette Lewis as costume designer Denise. When the team is harmoniously doing their thing, before Steve develops a deadly jealousy of Nick, the show is as fun as you’d expect a series about male strippers to be. But missteps and overreach by Steve — including a deliberate effort to keep Black patrons out of the bar — lead to grievous financial problems at the original club, and his fanatical jealousy of competitors spawns the criminal behaviour that ends with both Nick and Steve dead. It’s not groundbreaking TV by any stretch — especially since the Chippendales story is already a well-trod one — but the acting makes it an entertaining watch.

A scene from “Good Night Oppy.” (Courtesy of Prime Video/TNS)

Good Night Oppy (Nov. 23, Prime Video)

We’ve come a long way from the days when NASA space launches were international events that millions upon million of viewers watched live on TV, but this documentary by Ryan White gives you a sense that space exploration is still a thrilling, if less high profile, pursuit. It uses archival NASA footage and visual effects recreations of Mars (by “Star Wars” effects maker Industrial Light and Magic, no less) to tell the story of Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity, the Oppy of the title. The robots landed on the red planet on Jan. 3 and 24, 2004, respectively, and lasted long past their 90-day lifespans. Spirit made it to May 25, 2011, but Oppy was still going, albeit with robot “arthritis” and memory loss, until Feb. 12, 2019. Both rovers provided invaluable information about Mars, including a confirmation that drinkable water once existed on its surface, but this film isn’t a dry scientific treatise. Even before Spirit and Opportunity left Earth, the various scientists and mission specialists involved imbued them with human characteristics, which only intensified once the robots had begun their lonely, perilous journeys on the planet’s surface. It gives the doc an emotional resonance that very well might have you reaching for the tissues.

The Hip Hop Nutcracker (Nov. 25, Disney+)

If you find the idea of mixing Tchaikovsky with hip-hop beats heretical then avert your eyes from this update of the classic holiday story. But if you’re a fan of dance competition shows, particularly “So You Think You Can Dance,” you might like this. Like a ballet, the tale is told through dance without dialogue, other than Rev Run’s rapping. Actor-dancer Cache Melvin is Maria-Clara, an older version of the usual “Nutcracker” protagonist, and “SYTYCD” winner “Fik-Shun” Stegall is her Nutcracker/Prince. Also in starring roles are “SYTYCD” alumni and spouses Stephen “tWitch” Boss and Allison Holker as Maria-Clara’s parents, and Comfort Fedoke as sorcerer Drosselmeyer. And keep your eyes peeled for other alum like Alex Wong and recent winner Bailey Munoz. Ballet legend Mikhail Baryshnikov even makes a cameo. The story — about Maria-Clara trying to get her folks to rekindle their romance — is as thin as the New York City sets are fake, but the dancing makes it seem like an extended “SYTYCD” holiday episode, minus the judging the competition.

Disney+ also has the “Dancing With the Stars” Season 31 finale on Nov. 21; “The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special” on Nov. 25; and the sequel series “Criminal Minds: Evolution” (Nov. 25), with original stars Joe Mantegna, A.J. Cook, Kirsten Vangsness, Aisha Tyler, Adam Rodriguez and Paget Brewster reprising their roles.

Odds and Ends

Crave has two documentaries that illuminate stars of music and sports. First up is the four-part “Shaq” (Nov. 23, 9 p.m., HBO), about basketball great Shaquille O’Neal. On Nov. 24, the doc “Love, Lizzo” drops, about the one-named singer, musician and champion of body positivity. Crave via HBO also has Season 3 of “We’re Here” (Nov. 25, 10 p.m.), which follows drag artists Bob the Drag Queen, Eureka O’Hara and Shangela as they journey through small-town America preaching drag, self-love and acceptance of differences.

If you missed it at the Toronto International Film Festival or on Crave, “American Masters” has the documentary “Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On” (Nov. 22, 9 p.m., PBS) about Cree, American and Canadian singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie. PBS also has “Tutankhamun: Allies & Enemies” (Nov. 23, 9 p.m.), which takes a fresh look at the story of King Tut on the 100th anniversary of the opening of his tomb in Egypt.

Season 1 of “The Pact” gained favourable reviews for its story of four middle-aged female friends implicated in a murder. Actor Rakie Ayola, who played a detective in the first season, returns in Season 2 (Nov. 22, 9 p.m., Super Channel Fuse) as a social worker whose family is thrown into turmoil by a stranger (Jordan Wilks) claiming a connection.

W Network has the TV series sequel to the “Pitch Perfect” movie franchise, “Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin” (Nov. 24, 9 p.m.), starring Adam Devine as singer Bumper Allen.

BritBox has the original — and many would say superior — version of dystopian series “Utopia” debuting Nov. 23.

Finally, Apple TV+ has the new drama “Echo 3” (Nov. 23), written by Oscar winner Mark Boal (“The Hurt Locker”), about the search for a missing American woman along the Colombian-Venezuelan border.

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.

Watchable on CBC, Disney, Crave Nov. 14 to 20, 2022

November 14, 2022 /

SHOW OF THE WEEK: Sort Of (Nov. 15, 9 p.m., CBC and CBC Gem)

Bilal Baig, right, as Sabi and Dhirendra as their father, Imran, in Season 2 of “Sort Of.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Jasper Savage

I spent a Saturday night earlier this month in the Hot Docs Bloor Cinema, which was packed with adoring fans of “Sort Of,” people of all ages, cultures, gender identities and sexualities who were there for a preview of its first three Season 2 episodes.

If star and co-creator Bilal Baig was nervous at all they didn’t show it, but there’s got to be some pressure involved when you’re putting out a sophomore season of such a critical darling. The first season won a Peabody Award, was named Program of the Year at the Banff World Media Festival Rockie Awards and Best Comedy Series at the Canadian Screen Awards.

The good news is that Baig, co-creator Fab Filippo and the other people who make “Sort Of” haven’t let all that attention interfere with the secret sauce that turned it into a hit in the first place.

The show, like its lead character Sabi (Baig), is still true to itself: a heartfelt, clever, witty, slice-of-life dramedy that doesn’t pander to its characters or its audience.

As Season 2 begins, Sabi is dreading the arrival of their father, Imran (Dhirendra), from Dubai; they’re in a situationship with Olympia (Cassandra James); their friend and employer Bessy (Grace Lynn Kung) has awoken from her coma but is not the person she was before her bike accident; and things are dire financially for Deenzie (Becca Blackwell), owner of the bar from which Sabi derives part of their income. Lack of said income has created tension with Sabi’s sister, Aqsa (Supinder Wraich), from whom they rent a room.

All Sabi wants, they confide to Bessy, is the kind of easy, uncomplicated love that actor Rachel McAdams undoubtedly has. It’s clear from the three of eight episodes made available for review that love in its various forms will continue to be complicated, not just for Sabi but for their family, their best friend 7ven (Amanda Cordner), their employer Paul (Gray Powell) and the kids they nanny, Violet (Kay Kanashiro) and Henry (Aden Bedard).

But the beauty of the series lies in those complications and the fact it doesn’t indulge in stereotypes or cliches.

Imran, for instance, rather than being the strict, macho Pakistani father you might expect, is a man struggling to adjust to the fact that his son has transitioned into someone else, but not in a deliberately hurtful way. And Sabi’s mother, Raffo (Ellora Patnaik), is making noticeable progress in learning to accept Sabi as they are.

Where the characters will all end up in relationship to each other remains to be seen, but the journey, based on what I’ve seen so far, is still an engaging and meaningful one.

Fleishman Is in Trouble (Nov. 17, Disney+)

Meara Mahoney Gross, Jesse Eisenberg and Maxim Swinton in “Fleishman Is in Trouble.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Linda Kallerus/FX

Fleishman is in trouble and he’s not the only one in this TV adaptation of the bestselling Taffy Brodesser-Akner novel.

Indeed, Toby Fleishman (Jesse Eisenberg), his ex-wife Rachel (Claire Danes), and friends Libby (Lizzy Caplan) and Seth (Adam Brody) are essentially avatars for anyone who’s struggled with divorce, aging, identity and just relating to their fellow human beings.

Lead character Toby is a hepatologist (a doctor who specializes in the liver) newly divorced from Rachel, a highly successful talent agent. He has recently reconnected with his best friends from college, stay-at-home mom Libby and single finance bro Seth.

When we first meet 40-something Toby he has recently discovered dating apps and the smorgasbord of horny women available to him, a distraction from the unease he feels now that he’s no longer married to Rachel. But then Rachel drops their two kids off at his new apartment in the middle of the night so she can attend a yoga retreat.

When her absence goes from days to weeks, without so much as a text or a phone call, Toby writes it off as just Rachel being selfish, which aligns with his view of her as a woman who prioritizes moneymaking and social climbing over her own children.

That’s also the view that we have initially of Rachel, whom we see in flashbacks of the marriage, while Toby comes off as a man more interested in helping people than in materialism, disdainful of the rich friends Rachel has collected.

But just as the characters’ perceptions shift as they go from young adulthood to middle age, so do ours as the eight episodes progress.

A chance meeting between Rachel and Libby offers a drastically different explanation for the weeks that she disappeared and why the marriage fell apart, and it doesn’t paint Toby in the most flattering of lights.

Libby, meanwhile, is having a crisis of her own, one exacerbated by reconnecting with Toby. She struggles to reconcile the aspiring writer she was, working for a men’s magazine in Manhattan, with the New Jersey housewife she’s become, which leads to her pulling a mini-disappearing act of her own on her husband and children.

Quite honestly, I wasn’t sure I was going to like “Fleishman Is in Trouble” after the first episode, assuming I was in for endless skewering of entitled New Yorkers and the male ego. But I got sucked into this tale of unsated desire and insecurity, and settling and compromising, and the picture it paints of our flawed humanity.

Libby, our narrator, who’s so appealingly played by Lizzy Caplan, says at one point there are no real villains in life. There are no real villains in “Fleishman Is in Trouble” either, just relatably imperfect people coming to terms with the vagaries of imperfect lives.

Disney+ also has new series “The Santa Clauses” (Nov. 16), in which reigning Santa Scott Calvin (Tim Allen) searches for a replacement Kris Kringle; musical comedy “Disenchanted” (Nov. 18), a sequel to the 2007 film starring Amy Adams and Susan Sarandon, with Adams and Patrick Dempsey returning, and Maya Rudolph taking up the mantle of evil queen bee; holiday special “Best in Snow” (Nov. 18), hosted by Tituss Burgess; and “Elton John Live: Farewell from Dodger Stadium” (Nov. 20), a livestream of the singer’s last concert from Los Angeles.

Odds and Ends

If you can’t get enough “Drag Race,” there’s a new series, “Canada’s Drag Race: Canada vs. the World” (Nov. 18), in which Canadian alumni Icesis Couture, Kendall Gender, Rita Baga and Stephanie Prince compete against drag artists from New Zealand, England, Wales and the U.S. to become “Queen of the Mother-Pucking World.” The judges are Canucks Brooke Lynn Hytes, Brad Goreski and Traci Melchor, and apparently Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will make a guest appearance. Crave also has “A Christmas Story Christmas” (Nov. 17), a sequel to the holiday classic “A Christmas Story,” with Peter Billingsley reprising his role as Ralphie; Season 2 of “The Sex Lives of College Girls” (Nov. 17); Season 3 of “The L Word: Generation Q” (Nov. 18); and the 37th annual “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony” (Nov. 19 at 8 p.m., HBO), featuring Pat Benatar, Duran Duran, Eminem, Eurythmics, Dolly Parton, Lionel Richie and more.

Speaking of music, PBS has “Next at the Kennedy Center: A Joni Mitchell Songbook” (Nov. 18, 9 p.m.), in which various artists pay tribute to the Canadian legend by performing adaptations of her songs with the National Symphony Orchestra, led by Vince Mendoza. PBS also has a special episode of “American Experience” called “Taken Hostage” (Nov. 14 and 15, 9 p.m.), a two-part documentary about the Iran hostage crisis of 1979 that features Canadians Hilary Brown and Carole Jerome among other interviewees.

The weekly Netflix haul (and I’m only including the stuff that sounds interesting to me) includes the documentary “In Her Hands” (Nov. 16), about one of Afghanistan’s first female mayors; etiquette series “Mind Your Manners” (Nov. 16); movie “The Wonder” (Nov. 16), based on Emma Donoghue’s novel about a seemingly miraculous child in rural Ireland; German horror series “1899” (Nov. 17), set aboard a migrant vessel en route to the new world; Season 3 of the dark comedy series “Dead to Me” (Nov. 17); and documentary “Pepsi, Where’s My Jet?” (Nov. 17), about an advertising campaign gone awry and the kid who sued the pop-maker for a fighter jet.

CBC’s “The Passionate Eye” has “Wall Street Blues” (Nov. 18, 9 p.m.), a look at the GameStop saga and whether it was truly a turning point in the democratization of money.

Prime Video’s offerings include two Amazon Original films, “Sugar” (Nov. 18), based on the true story of the so-called “Cocaine Cowgirls,” and “The People We Hate at the Wedding” (Nov. 18), a comedy starring Kristen Bell and Ben Platt; as well as “Where the Crawdads Sing” (Nov. 18), the movie adaptation of the bestselling novel starring Daisy Edgar-Jones.

Apple TV+ has a new film of its own, the musical “Spirited” (Nov. 18), starring Will Ferrell as the Ghost of Christmas Present and Ryan Reynolds as the “Scrooge” he tries to reform.

Anything starring Keeley Hawes usually deserves consideration in my book, although I wasn’t able to preview “Crossfire” (Nov. 15, BritBox), in which she plays an ex-cop caught up in a hostage situation at a Canary Islands hotel.

Finally, if you have made it through all 11 seasons of “The Walking Dead” — which I have, but just barely, so badly has the quality declined — the whole thing wraps up Nov. 20 at 9 p.m. on AMC and AMC+. AMC+ also has Season 2 of the violent “Gangs of London” on Nov. 17.

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.

Watchable on Netflix, Crave, StackTV Nov. 7 to 13, 2022

November 7, 2022 /

SHOW OF THE WEEK: The Crown (Nov. 9, Netflix)

Elizabeth Debicki as Diana, Imelda Staunton as Queen Elizabeth and Dominic West as Prince Charles
in Season 5 of “The Crown.” PHOTO CREDIT: Netflix

This Netflix drama — emphasis on the word “drama” — debuts its fifth season amid criticism from people who should know better that it’s in danger of being confused with historical fact. I’m looking at you, Judi Dench.

Hackles have evidently been raised since the series has now advanced to covering subjects within living memory, particularly the breakdown of the marriage of Prince, now King, Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales.

Here’s the thing: acting is make-believe, even when real people are being portrayed. While I can’t imagine it’s pleasant for members of the Royal Family to have selected bits of their dirty laundry dramatized for other people’s entertainment I also don’t think the series is damaging the monarchy.

Besides, I found Season 5 relatively balanced in its portrayal of Charles’ and Diana’s marriage failure. It includes well-known events — the Andrew Morton biography of Diana, Charles’ and Camilla’s “Tampongate” tape, the 1994 interview in which Charles admitted to being unfaithful, Diana’s incendiary “Panorama” interview — but doesn’t paint either side as wholly villain or victim.

If there’s a criticism to be made it’s that — despite terrific acting, beautiful sets and costumes, and other attention to detail — this season doesn’t live up to Season 4, which was one of the best, if not the best since the show began.

Imelda Staunton, ostensibly the star of the series as wearer of “The Crown,” doesn’t get all that much to do here besides keeping a stiff upper lip through her children’s divorces (Andrew’s and Anne’s marriages also imploded in the ’90s), the fire at Windsor Castle and other tribulations. She does, however, imbue Elizabeth with dignity and a staunch devotion to duty that seems of a piece with the real queen. (Staunton’s best scene is one in which she has a frank talk with Diana, well played by Elizabeth Debicki, just ahead of the airing of the Panorama interview.)

The series’ attention seems scattered this season with diversions that detract from its overall cohesiveness: one entire episode is devoted to Mohamed Al-Fayed, father of Diana’s eventual boyfriend Dodi; another, in large part, to the thawing of relations between Britain and Russia and the fate of royal cousins the Romanovs.

Diana and Charles, played less convincingly by Dominic West, remain much of the focus of the season, although the spotlight is also ceded to Prince Philip, given a sympathetic portrayal by Jonathan Pryce, and Princess Margaret, played by Lesley Manville as a woman coming to terms with life’s disappointments.

In fact, there’s a melancholy throughout the episodes that touches all of the characters. It’s not just the events portrayed — the divorces, the bad publicity, the “annus horribilis,” the queen’s distress over the decommissioning of the royal yacht — it’s that we as viewers know what’s coming next: the death of Diana (producers, mercifully, have said they will not portray the car crash that killed her).

There is also tenderness and love, between Elizabeth and Philip; Elizabeth and Margaret; Elizabeth and Anne (Claudia Harrison); Diana and sons William and Harry; Charles and Camilla (Olivia Williams); even between Charles and Diana in a post-divorce attempt at detente.

The show also posits a fond, respectful relationship between Prime Minister John Major (a nice turn by Jonny Lee Miller) and the queen.

The real John Major has blasted the show for imagining a meeting between him and Charles that he says never took place, in which Charles floats the idea of acceding to the throne sooner than later. But as I said earlier, this is make-believe. TV shows and movies routinely play with facts in the name of storytelling.

And, despite all the criticisms and the shortcomings, I still find “The Crown” worth watching.

In its portrayal of the royals as fallible humans — ones that even immense wealth and privilege cannot spare from heartache and other ordinary emotions — “The Crown” makes me like them more, not less.

Netflix also debuts the soccer doc “FIFA Uncovered” and “The Soccer Football Movie” (Nov. 9); the docs “State of Alabama vs. Brittany Smith” (Nov. 10), “Capturing the Killer Nurse” and “Is That Black Enough for You?!?” (Nov. 11); and second seasons of “Warrior Nun” (Nov. 10) and “Down to Earth With Zac Efron” (Nov. 11).

Short Takes

Dunie Ryan, former leader of Montreal’s West End Gang. PHOTO CREDIT: Cineflix Media

Kings of Coke (Nov. 7, Crave)

Amid the flood of true crime content from the U.S. comes this worthy Canadian entry. The Crave original, directed by former “Fifth Estate” journalist Julian Sher, tells a fascinating story that would be right at home in a film noir. While it’s no secret that Montreal has long had a thriving underworld dominated by bikers and the Mafia, this film tells the story of the West End Gang, a group of Irish Canadian criminals that was once just as powerful as the Hells Angels and the mob. A cast of colourful characters — ex-gang members Melvin Mingo and Jimmy Holt, ex-homicide and holdup squad cop Andre Savard, former crime journalists Dan Burke and D’Arcy O’Connor, on whose book “Montreal’s Irish Mafia” the doc is based, to name just a handful — trace the gang’s rise from highly proficient bank robbers to murderers and drug lords. As the conduit through which cocaine flowed into Montreal’s port and to others parts of North America, the gang had direct connections to Colombian cartels as well as sources in the legal system that helped keep leaders Dunie Ryan, Allan Ross and Gerry Matticks out of jail. All eventually met their downfalls, either at the hands of law enforcement or fellow gang members. With the use of news footage and animation, the film takes us to the scenes of the various shootings and bombings that marked the West End Gang’s increasingly violent path. It also gives us a glimpse of the Montreal of the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s when the West End Gang thrived. The gang is gone, felled by greed and hubris and violence, but the doc reminds us that organized crime and the drug trade still flourish in Montreal.

Crave also has “Don’t Worry Darling” (Nov. 7), if you didn’t get enough of Harry Styles last week with the streaming release of “My Policeman,” or you want to parse the film for signs of antipathy between star Florence Pugh and director Olivia Wilde. And Daniel Levy’s latest TV venture, “The Big Brunch,” a made-in-Hollywood food competition — so maybe “Schitt’s Creek” was a Canadian content one-off for him — debuts Nov. 10.

Samuel Watts, centre, a World War I veteran featured in “Our War.” PHOTO CREDIT: History

Our War (Nov. 11, 9 p.m., History/StackTV)

On my personal list of regrets is the fact I never asked my grandfathers — one of whom fought in the First World War and one in the Second — about their wartime experiences. It’s entirely possible they wouldn’t have wanted to talk about it, but I still feel a loss of valuable family history nonetheless. This series features Canadians who, likewise, know very little about their relatives’ war service but are able to piece it together with the help of military historians and others, thanks to the show. In the two episodes I watched, the histories uncovered included that of Samuel Watts, a Black World War I soldier who died of wounds suffered in the Battle of Hill 70; Edward Drost, a member of the elite WWII First Special Service Force who survived but was haunted all his life by the fighting in Anzio; famous Indigenous marathon runner Tom Longboat, who took on the dangerous but vital job of dispatch runner in WWI ; and Harry Symes, a WWI vet who survived the Battle of the Somme but came home in ruined health and died not long after. Their family members’ journeys are emotional ones, even in instances where they never met the veteran whose story they’re researching. I suppose people who have no direct connection to the two — and hopefully last — world wars might wonder why shows like this are necessary. I would argue that knowledge of our history is never a bad thing and particularly war history at a time when anti-Semitism is on the rise and Vladimir Putin, like Hitler before him, has invaded a sovereign country with complete disregard for international law.

Chaske Spencer and Emily Blunt in “The English.” PHOTO CREDIT: BBC/Amazon Studios

The English (Nov. 11, Prime Video)

I don’t usually include embargoed titles in the Short Takes and, as far as I can tell, I’m not allowed to review this until 3 p.m. on Monday, but since I watched two episodes and found it had merit I’m including it here. It stars Emily Blunt, who also executive produces, as Englishwoman Lady Cornelia Locke, come to America to find the man who killed her son, who crosses paths with Eli Whipp (Chaske Spencer), a Pawnee ex-Cavalry scout who just wants to ride north and claim a few acres of land. I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that Cornelia and Eli will find themselves enmeshed in this western created by Hugo Blick (“The Honourable Woman”).

Prime also has the series “Mammals” (Nov. 11), described as a darkly comic drama about marriage, which was written by Tony-winning playwright Jez Butterworth (“The Ferryman,” “Jerusalem”); and Rihanna’s fashion extravaganza “Savage X Fenty Show” (Nov. 9), which is drawing heat for including Johnny Depp.

Odds and Ends

If you’re in the mood for more Remembrance Day programming, CBC Gem has Season 2 of “My Grandparents’ War” (Nov. 11), in which stars Keira Knightley, Kit Harington, Toby Jones and Emeli Sandé explore their ancestors’ wartime experiences; as well as Season 2 of “Sorry for Your Loss” (Nov. 11), starring Elizabeth Olsen. CBC has the comedy special “Just for Laughs 40” (Nov. 8, 9 p.m.), celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Just for Laughs festival.

If you’re a movie aficionado, Hollywood Suite has a 4K restoration of “Tales From the Gimli Hospital” (Nov. 9), the feature film debut of Winnipeg auteur Guy Maddin.

Disney+ has “Save Our Squad With David Beckham” (Nov. 9), in which the soccer great tries to turn around the fortunes of an underachieving boys’ team in East London.

Apple TV+ has Season 3 of the workplace comedy “Mythic Quest” on Nov. 11.

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.

Watchable on documentary, Crave, Prime Oct. 31-Nov. 6

October 31, 2022 /

SHOW OF THE WEEK: Scrap (Nov. 6, 9 p.m., documentary Channel)

Old Car City USA in the documentary “Scrap.” PHOTO CREDIT: Parker Lewis

Beauty and meaning can sometimes be found in the most unlikely of places. That’s certainly part of the takeaway from “Scrap, ” a documentary by Stacey Tenenbaum about what happens to everyday objects that have outlived their usefulness in the eyes of society.

The answer is quite a lot.

The film, gorgeously visualized by director of photography Katerine Giguére and edited by Howard Goldberg, takes us to places around the world to where people with a passion for the past are bringing everything from massive ships to old phone boxes back to life.

Even in cases where the scrap isn’t being reused — like the Old Car City USA in White, Georgia, where venerable old vehicles are being reclaimed by the forest around them — the caretakers of all this discarded metal have a reverence for its place in history and the lives of the people it once served.

In that way, “Scrap” is a profoundly human film.

Take John Lopez, a sculptor and rancher in Lemmon, South Dakota. His vocation for creating striking works of art out of discarded farm machinery and other bits of metal grew from his desire to create a memorial to a beloved aunt who died in a car crash by sculpting an angel from found objects.

To him, the things he uses to create tigers, bison, horses and other majestic animals are indivisible from the people who once used them.

“I’m hoping my sculpture can honour those people who worked so hard,” he says. “They worked their fingers to the bone.”

Then there’s Tchely Hyung-Chul Shin, principal of French and South Korean company Shinslab Architecture, who creates buildings out of the remains of junked ships. In “Scrap,” we watch him oversee the dismantling of a massive cargo ship in Gijon, Spain, the hunks of its hull to be turned into a church in Seoul.

“Something that was dead comes back to life in another form, like a type of resurrection,” Shin says in the film.

He’s not the only one to speak of scrap as if it were an animate object.

Tony Inglis of Unicorn Restorations in Merstham, England, describes the old phone boxes he restores as soldiers or sentries who stood on street corners in all kinds of weather. “To see it go, it’s like seeing an old servant go,” he says.

For Ed Metka, who maintains about 30 rusting trolley cars in a secret U.S. location in the hopes of seeing them ride the rails again, the old cars are a reminder of his childhood and the beloved wife he recently lost.

And then there are some for whom scrap has a more practical meaning.

Fah Boonsoong in Bangkok, Thailand, lives in part of the fuselage of an old jumbo jet with her family of seven adults and eight children, providing for them with the money she makes from tourists who come to take photographs of themselves with the plane.

And in Delhi, India, for the people who toil at Namo eWaste, taking apart old phones, TVs and other consumer goods, the scrap is an unsentimental source of sustenance.

Saumya Khandelwal, who photographs the Namo workers, hopes the pictures that result convince people to engage more with the objects in their lives and perhaps even reject our current culture of using things and throwing them away.

It’s a message echoed by director Tenenbaum, who says in a news release that she hopes people “will be compelled to buy more things that are built to last and can be easily repaired, reused and restored.”

But please don’t make the mistake of thinking that “Scrap” is merely a message film. It has a meditative, even spiritual quality at times, finding art in unlikely places.

Short Takes

Spector (Nov. 4, Crave)

With the absolute glut of true crime docuseries out there — remember the days when shows like “The Jinx” and “Making a Murderer” felt like events and not just same old, same old? — anything that’s just an overhyped repetition of the facts of a case isn’t going to get my attention. Luckily, based on the two episodes I watched, “Spector” rises above by going beyond the morning in February 2003 that famed music producer Phil Spector shot and killed actor Lana Clarkson inside his Alhambra, Calif., mansion. Directed by Sheena M. Joyce and Don Argott, the series gives us a good grasp of Spector’s significance to the music industry before he descended into paranoid seclusion in his California castle, with a warts-and-all portrait of a disturbed genius. More importantly, it also gives a sense of who Clarkson was, certainly more than the “B-list actress” label affixed to her in the days after her murder.

Dangerous Liaisons (Nov. 6, 9 p.m., Starz/Crave)

Anyone who saw the 1988 movie version of “Dangerous Liaisons” would come away with an impression of the ruthlessness of French aristocrats the Vicomte de Valmont (John Malkovich) and, especially, the Marquise de Merteuil (Glenn Close). This prequel, also inspired by the 18th-century novel, purports to show how Valmont and Merteuil, here played by Alice Englert and Nicholas Denton, became the vain, manipulative older versions of themselves. Part of the answer is supposedly that they were once passionately in love, but we’re thrown into the love story of Camille and Pascal, as they were then known, rather abruptly and disorientingly in the first episode and, to be honest, I found it less than thrilling. Things don’t really get interesting until Lesley Manville, playing a different Marquise de Merteuil, shows up to coach Camille in the deceitful ways of the French aristocratic world. Camille, a reluctant prostitute, has thrown herself on the mercy of the first marquise after learning that she is just one of Pascal’s many lovers, most of them rich older women able to keep him in a style befitting his social climbing ways. Camille, to me, is more interesting as a woman figuring out how to bend society to her will than as the devoted lover of Valmont. Whether that interest can be maintained through eight episodes, I can’t say, since I was given access to only two. Carice van Houten of “Game of Thrones” also appears as someone from Camille’s past.

Also debuting on Crave this week, its Ho-Ho-Holiday Hub (Nov. 1), featuring Christmas and Hanukkah episodes of TV series and holiday movies; the David Cronenberg film “Crimes of the Future” (Nov. 4); and the special “Broken: The Toxic Culture of Canadian Gymnastics” (Nov. 5).

Odds and Ends

David Dawson, Emma Corrin and Harry Styles in “My Policeman.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Parisa Taghizadeh/Amazon Content Services

It’s hard to have missed the hype over the film “My Policeman,” one of a couple of recent movie starring roles for pop star Harry Styles. Here, he plays a police officer married to a teacher (Emma Corrin) but having an affair with a museum curator (David Dawson) in 1950s Britain, when homosexuality was considered a crime. The movie makes its streaming debut on Prime Video on Nov. 4.

Among the usual overabundance of new Netflix content is the movie “The Takeover” (Nov. 1); sports/true crime series “The Final Score” (Nov. 2), about murdered Colombian soccer player Andres Escobar; true-crime docuseries “Killer Sally” (Nov. 2); comedy series “Blockbuster” (Nov. 3), about the last Blockbuster Video store in America; Season 2 of “Enola Holmes” (Nov. 4), starring Millie Bobby Brown of “Stranger Things”; new luxury real estate reality show “Buying Beverly Hills” (Nov. 4); and the documentary “Orgasm Inc.: The story of OneTaste” (Nov. 5).

Apple TV Plus offerings include the documentary “Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me”; the Jennifer Lawrence film “Causeway” and Season 2 of the series “The Mosquito Coast,” all debuting Nov. 4.

Pamela Anderson takes a break from Hollywood to return to Vancouver and restore the waterfront property she bought from her grandmother in “Pamela’s Garden of Eden” (Nov. 3, 10 p.m., HGTV).

Last but not least, CBC Gem has the docuseries “My Life as a Rolling Stone” (Nov. 4), with each episode described as an intimate portrait of one of the core band members: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and the late Charlie Watts.

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.

Watchable on Crave, Netflix, CBC Gem Oct. 24 to 30, 2022

October 24, 2022 /

SHOW OF THE WEEK: The White Lotus (Oct. 30, HBO/Crave)

Haley Lu Richardson and Jennifer Coolidge with Sabrina Impacciatore in “The White Lotus.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Fabio Lovino/HBO

Leave it to Tanya McQuoid, the rich tourist brought to absurdly funny life by Jennifer Coolidge, to voice two lines that perfectly encapsulate the satire in Mike White’s Emmy-winning anthology series “The White Lotus.”

“Whenever I stay at a White Lotus I always have a memorable time,” she tells Valentina (Sabrina Impacciatore), the tightly wound manager welcoming another boatload of self-absorbed Americans to a White Lotus resort, this one in Sicily. It’s a line that’s a masterpiece of understatement if you remember the events of the Hawaii-set first season.

Later, while lamenting the departure of now-husband Greg (Jon Gries) — remember him? — who has flown home for what may or may not be a business emergency, Tanya asks her bored assistant Portia (Haley Lu Richardson), “Do you think I’m oblivious?”

“No,” Portia lies.

“I sometimes think I should have started that spa for poor women with that girl from Maui. She was a real healer, the real deal,” Tanya says, referencing the resort employee she screwed over in Season 1. But then the obliviousness kicks back in as Tanya ventures that healers are witchy and that one might have put a curse on her.

For this latest lot of spoiled, blinkered travellers, everything that goes wrong is always someone else’s fault.

The boat also brings grandfather Bert (F. Murray Abraham), father Dominic (Michael Imperioli) and son Albie (Canadian Adam DiMarco), ostensibly there to explore their Sicilian roots although what they end up laying bare is a family history of womanizing.

Newly rich guy Ethan (Will Sharpe) and his judgmental wife Harper (Aubrey Plaza) are travelling with his former college roommate, finance bro Cameron (Theo James), and wife Daphne (Meghann Fahy). Harper considers Cameron’s and Daphne’s frequent PDAs to be fake and Cameron finds Harper emasculating, but neither marriage stands up to close scrutiny.

Throw in gay expat Quentin (Tom Hollander), who takes Tanya under his wing after Greg’s desertion; his “nephew” Jack (Leo Woodall), a bad boy for whom Portia abandons a budding romance with sweetly idealistic Albie; and a couple of young Italian women, Lucia (Simona Tabasco) and Mia (Beatrice Granno), who troll the hotel for rich Americans to finance their ambitions and let the games begin.

Like Season 1, Season 2 of “The White Lotus” begins with a dead body. Whether that person’s identity and cause of death will be as momentous as the first season’s remains to be seen (I screened five of the seven episodes).

Other familiar beats include the Cristobal Tapia de Veer music; the creepy opening credits (although the lush images in this instance turn more sexual than menacing); and footage of water as a metaphor for the turmoil in the guests’ lives.

But this time around, the tourists’ casual destructiveness wreaks havoc on each rather than the staff. Themes of class, conspicuous consumption and environmental degradation are superseded by ones of sexism, gender conflict and toxic masculinity.

One thing that hasn’t changed are the ever blurring lines between heroes and villains.

Albie, for instance, accuses his father and grandfather of being nostalgic for “the salad days of the patriarchy,” and defends escorts Mia and Lucia as “victims of a fucked up system,” which doesn’t stop him from paying for sex.

For me, this season took a little longer to find its footing and I missed Murray Bartlett’s Armond and his epic grudge match with guest-from-hell Shane (Jake Lacy). But there’s still pleasure to be had watching this particular group of self-deluded visitors and waiting for their inevitable unravelling.

Odds and Ends

Daphne Hoskins and Rupert Grint in “Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Ken Woroner/Netflix © 2022

I didn’t have time to screen it, but I’d say your best bet on Netflix this week would be “Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities” (Oct. 25), an anthology series of eight horror stories, each handled by a director hand-picked by del Toro with what looks to be an impressive cast. Netflix also has the documentary “Fugitive: The Curious Case of Carlos Ghosn” (Oct. 26); the thriller film “The Good Nurse” (Oct. 26), starring Jessica Chastain and Eddie Redmayne; the new competition series “Drink Masters” (Oct. 28); true crime docuseries “I Am a Stalker” (Oct. 28); and animated film “Wendell & Wild” (Oct. 28), which reunites Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele.

If you’re a fan of crossword puzzles, you’ll probably enjoy the documentary “Across and Down,” airing on CBC’s “The Passionate Eye” Oct. 28 at 9 p.m. and on CBC Gem. It might surprise you to consider that something as innocuous seeming as a crossword clue can be loaded with gender and racial bias. The doc checks in with various people who love crosswords and their efforts to open up their creation to a more diverse group of cruciverbalists. CBC and CBC Gem also have “Ridley Road” (Oct. 24, 9 p.m.), a British period drama about a young Jewish woman going undercover with members of the neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement in the 1960s.

Disney Plus offerings this week include Season 2 of “The Mysterious Benedict Society” (Oct. 26) and yet another “Star Wars” spinoff, “Tales of the Jedi” (Oct. 26), six animated shorts featuring Jedi parables.

Finally, Prime Video has “High School” (Oct. 28), based on the memoir by Canadian twin sisters and singer/songwriters Tegan and Sara about growing up in Calgary in the 1990s; and “The Devil’s Hour” (Oct. 28), starring Jessica Raine as a woman woken every night at exactly 3:33 a.m. by terrifying visions and Peter Capaldi as the sinister target of a police manhunt.

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.

Watchable on History, Acorn, TVO Sept. 26 to Oct. 2, 2022

September 26, 2022 /

Please note: This is the last Watchable post until Oct. 24. I am on vacation starting next week and will not be screening anything until I return on Oct. 17.

SHOW OF THE WEEK: True Story (Sept. 30, 9 p.m., History and StackTV)

“True Story” explores the relationship between Indigenous and settler people, according to History.

I have a rather shameful confession to make: there was a time when I bristled at the use of the word “settler” as a name for non-Indigenous Canadians. How could I be a settler when I had been born in Canada, as were my parents and one of my grandparents, the other three being emigrants from England and Scotland?

Well, I’ve learned some stuff since then. In fact, the history of Canada cannot be extricated from colonialism, which means that even those of who were born here are descendants of that colonialism.

That point is made even more convincingly in the original documentary “True Story,” being released on Friday, the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation in Canada, a.k.a. Orange Shirt Day.

But please don’t think you’re in for an hour and a half of browbeating if you watch this doc.

It’s narrated with a touch of playful irreverence by Kaniehtiio Horn, whose voice you’ll recognize if you’ve watched “Letterkenny” or “Rutherford Falls” or numerous other TV shows and films.

Serious information is imparted by Indigenous people with deep knowledge of Indigenous and Canadian history, but humour — even cheekiness — is part of the approach. Think, for instance, of three British redcoats putting up a for sale sign under the banner of “Columbus Stolen Realty”: “Call now . . . We’ll steal your land . . . with a smile!”

The film starts with Indigenous creation stories — and they are varied, Indigenous people are not a monolith — and details the ways in which various peoples shared their histories and cultures, as well as what those cultures offered.

The point is that there were thriving human communities in Canada before white Europeans came along to “discover” them.

You can’t help but wonder what Canada would have looked like if those early settlers had respected the treaties they signed with various Indigenous nations — and much of Canada, by the way, sits on land that was never ceded to the colonizers — rather than reneging on them and forcing the original inhabitants off their territories as white settlement expanded. (It’s worth noting that not all of those treaties were about handing over land but simply obligated the Indigenous and settlers to keep the peace.)

Attempts to assimilate or eradicate the Indigenous were already going on before the British North America Act of 1867 and the Indian Act of 1876 gave these campaigns the weight of white people’s law.

You’d have to be living under a rock not to have heard of residential schools and the ongoing intergenerational harm they inflicted on Indigenous people, but did you know about the slaughter of bison in the Prairies in the late 1800s as a tool for starving Metis and other Indigenous off their lands?

“The slogan at the time was ‘Every dead buffalo is an Indian gone,'” notes Horn.

All those dead buffalos are a reminder that you can’t think of Canada’s “colonial project” without reflecting on its effects on the environment and all the creatures, human and non-human, within it.

Watching “True Story,” I couldn’t help but think that colonialism has been harmful for all Canadians, with its patriarchal rigidity and its emphasis, as enshrined in the Catholic Doctrine of Discovery, on exploiting lands and their non-Christian inhabitants in the mistaken belief that some people are superior to others and that humans are superior to other other species. Are not climate change, capitalism with its haves and have-nots, and gender discrimination and violence the natural results of colonialism?

I’m well aware of how difficult it is to tear Canadian viewers away from their “NCIS’s” and “CSI’s” and “FBI’s” and all the other American content out there to watch something Canadian, let alone something Canadian that’s meant to educate as well as entertain.

But as Horn says early in “True Story”: “Is there any hope of reconciliation? Not without the truth.”

We’ve been taught one version of the truth for so long in this country; now it’s time for the truth of those whose ancestors predated white settlement to be heard.

Short Takes

Mark Coles Smith as Jay Swan in “Mystery Road: Origin.” PHOTO CREDIT: David Dare Parker/AcornTV

Mystery Road: Origin (Sept. 26, Acorn)

If you have enjoyed the Australian crime drama “Mystery Road” and its lead, Jay Swan (Aaron Pedersen), I can recommend this prequel series, in which we see a young Jay (Mark Coles Smith, “Hard Rock Medical,” “Picnic at Hanging Rock”) begin his career as a police detective. Jay has moved back to his hometown of Jardine in the outback of Queensland, where his self-absorbed father Jack (Kelton Pell) and drunkard of a brother Sputty (Clarence Ryan) still live. The familial complications — including a tragedy in the second episode — are entangled with the professional ones as Swan and fellow cops Max (Hayley McElhinney) and Cindy (Grace Chow) investigate a series of violent robberies that might have a white supremacist connection. Meanwhile, legal aid lawyer Anousha (Salme Geransar) is digging into a cold case involving the brother of Jay’s new love interest, Mary (Tuuli Narkle), that nobody seems to want exposed. As with the other seasons of “Mystery Road,” the outback setting and prominent presence of Aboriginal characters and actors gives it a flavour all its own. But, as with any good show, the specificity only adds to the enjoyment.

Waves crash in one of the Great Lakes. PHOTO CREDIT: Christian Malbec

Great Lakes Untamed (Sept. 26, 9 p.m., TVO, TVO Today and YouTube)

We sometimes forget about the natural marvels that exist within our own national boundaries. That was my thought as I screened part of this docuseries about the Great Lakes that intersect Canada and the United States. For the record, Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario contain a fifth of the world’s fresh water supply, both a fascinating and alarming fact with that supply under threat. Directed by Jeff Morales, biologist Ted Oakes and Nicholas de Pencier, known for co-directing the award-winning “Anthropocene: The Human Epoch,” the series is a trove of information about water bodies that many of us likely take for granted and the varied species that call them home. Did you know, for instance, that a drop of water that entered Lake Superior in 1715 still wouldn’t have made the 3,000-kilometre journey to the Atlantic Ocean by now, via the other Great Lakes, the rivers that connect them and the St. Lawrence Seaway? The series is really a life story of the lakes, beginning with their formation in the last ice age. But the real star of the show is the stunning cinematography by de Pencier, Morales and Hugo Kitching that rivals anything you’d see in one of the myriad nature documentaries that highlight far-away places. Episode 2 airs at 9 p.m. and Episode 3 at 10 p.m. on Sept. 27, with all three repeated beginning at 8 p.m. Oct. 1.

Drew Hayden Taylor with investigative journalist Francesca Fionda. PHOTO CREDIT: Sara Cornthwaite

The Predentians (Sept. 30, 9 p.m., CBC and CBC Gem)

Indigenous documentarian and playwright Drew Hayden Taylor, along with producer Paul Kemp, brings his usual wit and insight to the subject of “pretend Indians,” to use his words. In the doc, commissioned by CBC’s “The Passionate Eye” for the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, Hayden Taylor explores topics like fake Indigenous souvenirs and forged totem poles in B.C.; the explosion in questionable Indigenous ancestry claims in Quebec and the Atlantic provinces; the purchase of faux status cards by non-Indigenous people trying to avoid paying taxes on gas and other items; the granting of Indigenous status to white women who marry Indigenous men; and the question of how much Indigenous blood is enough to be able to claim status. Two of the most notorious Canadian cases of disputed claims of Indigenous heritage — author Joseph Boyden and filmmaker Michelle Latimer — are referenced but not examined in detail. The doc does take aim at a Queen’s University professor named Robert Lovelace who has claimed to have Cherokee ancestry and even established a fake First Nation known as Ardoch. Unlike Carrie Bourassa, a predentian professor who resigned from the University of Saskatchewan, Lovelace was still teaching Indigenous studies at Queen’s at the time “The Predentians” was made.

CBC Gem also has the animated shorts series “Dreams in Vantablack” (Sept. 29), directed by Ian Keteku. Each of its 12 four-minute films is based on a poem by a young Black person grappling with identity. Also coming to CBC Gem on Sept. 27 are the web comedy “Virgins!” by Aden Abebe, about four young Toronto women from East African immigrant homes navigating experiences they are unprepared for; and “Bimibatoo-Win: Where I Ran,” about Charlie Bittern, a 75-year-old residential school survivor, who recreates the 80-kilometre journey he made when he fled from the school in a Manitoba blizzard. On Oct. 2 at 8 p.m., CBC and CBC Gem debut Season 6 of “The Great Canadian Baking Show.”

Odds and Ends

Ana de Armas as Marilyn Monroe and Adrien Brody as the Arthur Miller-esque “Playwright” in “Blonde.” PHOTO CREDIT:  Netflix © 2022

Andrew Dominik’s movie “Blonde” (Sept. 28, Netflix) has been slammed by critics for making a victim, and not much else, out of Marilyn Monroe. But I’ve heard that Ana de Armas is fantastic in the role, which means that as a longtime Marilyn fan I’ll probably watch it anyway. Netflix also has the math and physics doc “A Trip to Infinity” (Sept. 26); the comedy special “Nick Kroll: Little Big Boy” (Sept. 27); the docuseries “Eat the Rich: The GameStop Saga” (Sept. 28); period drama “The Empress” (Sept. 29), about the love affair between Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria and Elisabeth von Wittelsbach; the animated special “Entergalactic” (Sept. 30), from Kid Cudi and Kenya Barris (“Black-ish”); and the docuseries “Human Playground” (Sept. 30), narrated and executive produced by Idris Elba.

I never did finish the first Season 1 of the spinoff series “The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers” but, if you’re a fan, Season 2 debuts on Disney+ on Sept. 28 with a new coach, played by Josh Duhamel, stepping in for the absent Emilio Estevez. Disney also has the Kerry Washington-produced drama “Reasonable Doubt” (Sept. 27), about a rebel defence lawyer played by Emayatzy Corinealdi; and the film “Hocus Pocus 2” (Sept. 30), a followup to the 1993 movie about a trio of reawakened 17th-century witches.

I would have liked to get a look at detective series “Suspect,” given that it stars James Nesbitt (“Jekyll,” “Murphy’s Law,” “The Missing”) and features Richard E. Grant and Sam Heughan of “Outlander.” It debuts Sept. 27 on BritBox.

Hard to believe, but the tween series “The Next Step,” about students competing on and off the floor at a dance studio, begins its eighth season on Sept. 26 at 6 p.m. on YTV.

It’s pretty quiet on the Crave front, but the streamer does have Season 3 of Peabody-winning “Ramy” via Starz on Sept. 30, as well as the comedy special “Chris Locke: Captain Bones.”

Finally, Hollywood Suite has the broadcast premiere of the documentary “The Long Ride Home” (Sept. 30, 9 p.m.), about a group of Indigenous riders on a two-week-long horseback journey to highlight colonial ills. It’s part of a day of National Day for Truth and Reconciliation programming that also includes the films “The Corruption of Divine Providence,” “Indian Horse” and “Falls Around Her,” and the TV special “Remembering the Children: National Day for Truth and Reconciliation” at 8 p.m.

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.

Watchable on CBC, CTV, Netflix Sept. 19 to 25, 2022

September 19, 2022 /

SHOW OF THE WEEK: Lido TV (Sept. 23, CBC Gem)

Lido Pimienta in her variety show “Lido TV.” PHOTO CREDIT: CBC Gem

Think of “Lido TV” as a heaping spoonful of sugar helping creator and star Lido Pimienta get her medicine down.

It’s a described as a variety show, although it also has the outward appearance of a children’s show with its colourful sets and costumes and puppets, but that whimsy belies a serious mission: to share information and stimulate discussion about social and political ills and systems of oppression.

The first episode, for instance, deals with colonialism. There are conversations on the subject between Lido and puppets Sunnyflower (Ali Eisner), Tomato (Sarah Ashby) and Tomàto (Adam Francis Proulx); a mini-documentary shot in Pimienta’s hometown of Barranquilla, Colombia, about the expropriation of Indigenous music; and a sketch in which virtue-signalling white people compete on a reality show to be named “Canada’s Top Land Acknowledger,” among other segments.

It’s not angry or strident — in fact, it’s often funny — but the point is very clearly made.

The other three episodes I screened dealt with beauty standards, hate and feminism, all combining chats with the puppets; mini-docs shot in Barranquilla; guest stars (Nelly Furtado, Bear Witness from the Halluci Nation and members of Canadian heavy metal band Kittie, for example); and wittily biting sketches.

Think: a woman agreeing to be turned into a vampire only if she can forever keep her blond dye job, fake boobs and Brazilian butt lift; or a hate shopping network on which you can buy “a genuine Indigenous friend” who’ll shield you from criticisms of racism and “pairs well with stolen land.”

Pimienta, a Polaris Prize-winning, Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter and visual artist, has walked the talk as a self-described Black, brown and Indigenous immigrant to Canada, as have her writers Tim Fontaine, who is Anishinaabe, and Sarah Hagi, who is Black and Muslim.

And with “Lido TV,” this energetic and ambitious creator is just getting started; she sees films as the next frontier (you can read my Toronto Star interview with her here).

Variety is the spice of life, the old saying goes, and there’s certainly nothing bland about Pimienta’s version of a variety show.

Short Takes

From left, Logan Nicholson, Meaghan Rath, Aaron Abrams and Mikayla SwamiNathan
in “Children Ruin Everything.” PHOTO CREDIT: Bell Media

Children Ruin Everything (Sept. 19, 8 p.m., CTV/CTV.ca)

I’m a big believer in celebrating Canadian shows that manage to hold Canadians’ attention amid the onslaught of content from the U.S., and this show is one of them. As it returns for its second season, James (Aaron Abrams) and Astrid (Meaghan Rath) have upped the ante by having a third child, baby Andrew, and the season opener does an entertaining job of poking fun at their sleep deprivation. Astrid has gone back to work, to discover that her new boss is a hipster bro and she’s now the oldest one in her office, and James is yearning to move out of the city, even though it would mean severing ties to the last remnants of his and Astrid’s child-free life. Supporting cast members Ennis Esmer, Nazneen Contractor, Dmitry Chepovetsky and Lisa Codrington are all back, adding to the amusement.

Keegan-Michael Key, Johnny Knoxville, Calum Worthy and Judy Greer in “Reboot.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Michael Desmond/Hulu

Reboot (Sept. 20, Disney+)

This comedy from “Modern Family” co-creator Steve Levitan has its moments. It lampoons the TV industry via the phenomenon of reboots. A cheesy early 2000s comedy about a step-family called “Step Right Up” is getting what’s supposed to be an edgy, cable-worthy update for Hulu from writer Hannah (Rachel Bloom of “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend”) — until original showrunner Gordon (Paul Reiser) muscles his way back in with his corny jokes. But cast members Reed (Keegan-Michael Key), Bree (Judy Greer), Clay (Johnny Knoxville) and Zack (Calum Worthy) really need the gig, having all seen their careers tank since leaving the original show. They’re joined by reality TV star Timberly (Alyah Chanelle Scott), who can’t act but has a built-in audience of 20-somethings. And a real-life family drama involving Hannah and Gordon forms the backdrop of the new show. It’s not exactly comedy gold but, like I said, it has its moments.

Disney also has the “Star Wars” spinoff “Andor” (Sept. 21), starring Diego Luna as Cassian Andor from the movie “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” (reviews are embargoed for this one); the new season of “Dancing With the Stars” (Sept. 19); and Season 2 of “The Kardashians” (Sept. 22).

Alexis Haines (formerly Neiers) and Nicholas Prugo in “The Real Bling Ring: Hollywood Heist.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of Netflix © 2022

The Real Bling Ring: Hollywood Heist (Sept. 21, Netflix)

I went into this docuseries expecting it to be a trashy waste of time but have to admit I found it fascinating. It tells the story of the teenagers who burgled the homes of celebrities like Paris Hilton, Audrina Patridge, Orlando Bloom, Rachel Bilson and Lindsay Lohan in 2008 and 2009, making away with millions of dollars in designer clothing, jewelry, cash and other items. As ringleader Nick Prugo tells it, he and best friend Rachel Lee started out robbing unlocked cars in rich L.A. neighbourhoods and got addicted to the lifestyle that the proceeds of their crimes funded. When they ran out of neighbourhoods to hit and, hence, money they moved on to bigger game: celebrities’ homes, using a website that listed stars’ addresses, Google Maps and gossip sites that reported on celebs’ every move to pick their targets. It’s astonishing how easy it was to gain access to the homes of the famous, whether through unlocked doors or open windows or, in the case of Hilton — whose home Prugo and Lee hit several times, “like our personal ATM” — a key left under a mat. Given that and the excess of stuff inside these houses it’s tempting to see the Bling Ring crimes as essentially victimless, but I can tell you from personal experience having your home burgled feels like a violation no matter who you are. Patridge and Lohan, for instance, were unable to live in their houses again after the burglaries and, in some cases, treasured family heirlooms were among the loot taken. Patridge recounts hiding in a closet, terrified, thinking the robbers were still in the house upon coming home to discover the burglary. Prugo and Alexis Neiers — who, despite being portrayed as a ringleader in the thefts, took part in only one robbery — claim to regret the crimes but seem to also want to blame burgeoning social media culture and its glorification of conspicuous consumption for their downfall. Ironically, one of the reasons they and their co-defendants got off with so little and, in some cases no, jail time was because a detective compromised himself by acting as a paid consultant on Sofia Coppola’s “Bling Ring” movie. It truly was, as deputy district attorney Christine Kee says, like “a fucked up L.A. Greek tragedy.”

Netflix also has the comedy special “Patton Oswalt: We All Scream” (Sept. 20); reality series “Designing Miami” (Sept. 21); “A Jazzman’s Blues” (Sept. 22), a rare foray into film drama by Tyler Perry; and “Thai Cave Rescue” (Sept. 22), a dramatization of the 2018 rescue of 12 soccer players and their coach from a flooded cave in Thailand.

From left, Jim Watson, Laurence Leboeuf, Hamza Haq and Ayisha Issa in Season 3 of “Transplant.” PHOTO CREDIT: Bell Media

Transplant (Sept. 23, 10 p.m., CTV/CTV.ca)

This Canadian medical drama doesn’t reinvent the wheel, aside from the fact that its lead doctor, Bashir Hamed (two-time Canadian Screen Award winner Hamza Haq), is a Syrian refugee who gets a second chance to practise medicine. But given the hold that medical shows continue to exert on audiences it doesn’t really have to. The main thing is that it has a talented cast, including Canadian Screen Award winner Laurence Leboeuf as Mags, Ayisha Issa as June and Jim Watson as Theo, who make us care about the characters. As Season 2 opens, Mags has transferred out of the ER to cardiology; June is still trying to figure out her path as a surgeon while grappling with having her half sister living in her home; and Theo is struggling with the after-effects of last season’s plane crash, which saw him spend nine (mainly unseen) days alone in the woods of Northern Ontario. And of course, there are medical cases of the week to keep the docs engaged. I suspect what a lot of viewers will want to know is what’s going on between Bash and Mags, but I’m not telling. You’ll have to watch.

Odds and Ends

If you’re a fan of a certain Canadian canine TV star, the good news is that there’ll be even more Rex (a.k.a. German shepherd Diesel vom Burgimwald) in the fifth season of “Hudson & Rex,” returning to Citytv Sept. 25 at 8 p.m. Rex’s humans will also return, including most notably detective Charlie Hudson (John Reardon) and forensic scientist Sarah Truong (Mayko Nguyen), and new cast member Bridget Wareham as a forensic pathologist.

Your best bet on Apple TV+ is “Sidney” (Sept. 23), the documentary about Oscar-winning actor Sidney Poitier produced by Oprah Winfrey and directed by Reginald Hudlin. It features the reflections of the rightfully celebrated man himself, who died in January at the age of 94.

I don’t usually talk up American sitcoms in this space, but I do when they’re funny, like Abbott Elementary. The mockumentary comedy about a group of public school teachers in Philadelphia begins its sophomore season (Sept. 21, 10 p.m., Global TV) coming off three Emmy wins, including Outstanding Writing for creator Quinta Brunson.

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.

Watchable on CBC Gem, Prime Video, StackTV Sept. 12-18, 2022

September 12, 2022 /

SHOW OF THE WEEK: Summit ’72 (Sept. 14, 8 p.m., CBC/CBC Gem)

The aftermath of Team Canada’s series-winning goal in 1972.
PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy Hockey Hall of Fame

The death of Queen Elizabeth II last week inspired news articles dissecting the Canadian identity vis-a-vis the monarchy. For an examination of another traditional aspect of the Canadian identity there’s this docuseries about the eight-game “Summit Series” in September 1972 between the Soviet national hockey team and a Canadian team made up of NHL players.

If you know nothing about it or your memories are getting fuzzy, this four-part show revisits the series game by game, with plenty of interviews to fill in the context of what the contest meant to both the Canadians and the Russians. It was seen not just as a string of hockey games, but as a test of national pride and of capitalism vs. communism.

(The whole thing is definitely fuzzy to me. I have vague recollections, as a 10-year-old, of a TV being wheeled into the school gym and the eruption when Paul Henderson scored the winning goal in the final game.)

Episode 1 lays out the, as it turned out, unfounded arrogance on the Canadian side, the belief that hockey was a Canadian game and that our players were going to wipe the ice with the Soviets. Even the Russian players were intimidated at first, according to Soviet team member Boris Mikhailov, who recalls sweat running down his back as he and his teammates gathered on the blue line for the first game.

But despite the Canadians coming out “like hungry animals who hadn’t eaten in weeks,” according to Soviet goalie Vladislav Tretiak, the Russians stunned them — and much of the country — with a 7-3 victory in that game at the Montreal Forum on Sept. 2, 1972.

It turns out the Canadian players, who had spent much of training camp drinking and having fun, were ill-matched against the discipline of Soviet training and teamwork. Legendary hockey commentator Howie Meeker described them as “fat and lazy, physically and mentally.”

The Canucks knew they were in trouble, which I suppose just adds to the mythology of their victory in the final three games of the series.

Part of the fun of watching the TV series — at least the two episodes made available for review — is being reminded of what Canada looked like back then, as the games moved from Montreal to Toronto to Winnipeg to Vancouver. There’s even an old Labatt 50 commercial in the middle of the first episode. So odd to see those stubby brown beer bottles again.

And yes, the series does address the Canadian fans booing the Canadian players in Vancouver and Phil Esposito’s impassioned reaction to that. He’s among the Summit Series players interviewed, both Canadians and Russians, including Ken Dryden, Bob Clarke and lots more.

Canada has changed hugely since 1972. I’m not even certain hockey holds the same stranglehold on the national imagination that it did back then. But that doesn’t mean there’s no value in looking back to a time when the Summit Series gave millions of people something to cheer about.

CBC Gem has the standup series “Comedy Night With Rick Mercer” (Sept. 13, 9 p.m., also on CBC TV); “The History of Comedy” (Sept. 16), which explores the art form in archival footage and interviews with everyone from Carol Burnett to Jimmy Kimmel; Season 3 of family dramedy “Casual” (Sept. 14); and the documentary “Burnout: The Truth About Work” (Sept. 16), about the perils of overwork and what to do about it.

Short Takes

Anna Friel and Susan Sarandon in “Monarch.” PHOTO CREDIT: Fox © 2022 FoxMedia LLC.

Monarch (Sept. 14, 9 p.m., Global/StackTV)

“Monarch” is so soapy you can practically see the bubbles on your screen, which would be fine if it was also really good. But this drama about a feuding country music family promises more than it delivers. Let’s start with the first shortcoming, the much-vaunted starring role of Oscar winner Susan Sarandon as matriarch Dottie Roman who, for reasons I can’t get into, is really more of a guest star than a lead. It’s Dottie’s kids — “Queen of Country” heir apparent Nicky (Anna Friel), her sidelined sister Gigi (Beth Ditto) and business-savvy brother Luke (Joshua Sasse) — who are the real stars of the show, with real-life country singer Trace Adkins providing backup as their father, Albie. We’re supposed to believe that the Romans are the “monarchs” of the country music scene, although we have to take that on faith since there’s precious little in the way of back story. The actors certainly can sing (Ditto has a particularly appealing voice), but the concert scenes in the first three episodes (the only ones I watched) don’t make a convincing case for these folks being country superstars. As well, most of what they sing are covers of well-known songs with some originals sprinkled in. Friel and Ditto are very good, but these characters don’t exactly go deep. With hokey dialogue, heavy-handed musical cues and twists you can see coming a mile away, “Monarch” is a by-the-numbers tale of a lying, cheating, scheming family that supposedly will stop at nothing to stay on top, including murder, apparently. If you’re a country fan you might groove on cameos from stars like Tanya Tucker and Shania Twain, though.

Also under the Corus umbrella, Showcase has the new series “Tom Swift” (Sept. 13, 8 p.m.), about a rich chum of Nancy Drew’s; and W Network has “Vampire Academy” (Sept. 18, 9 p.m.) about two best friends at vampire school.

Elisabeth Moss as June in Season 5 of “The Handmaid’s Tale.” PHOTO CREDIT: Hulu

The Handmaid’s Tale (Sept. 14, Prime Video)

I don’t normally include shows in this section that I have not screened — and I did not get advance access to Season 5 of “The Handmaid’s Tale” — but it’s a show I will continue to watch to the end, even when it bothers me. And the end of Season 4 did bother me — spoiler alert if you’re not caught up — when June (Elisabeth Moss) and her fellow former handmaids savagely beat Commander Waterford (Joseph Fiennes) to death with the connivance of Commander Lawrence (Bradley Whitford) and Nick (Max Minghella). I realize it’s just a TV show, but I’m still wrestling with my distaste for seeing June sink to the level of those who enslaved her while, at the same time, feeling like I should support the character’s need for revenge. In any event, that act of violence is obviously going to have repercussions this season for everyone involved, and will put the enmity between June and Serena (Yvonne Strahovski), the commander’s widow, centre stage. It looks like June and husband Luke (O-T Fagbenle) are even going back into Gilead.

Prime Video also has “The Grand Tour Presents: A Scandi Flick” (Sept. 16), in which Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May head to the Scandinavian Arctic Circle for Season 5 of the driving show.

A German policeman checks the IDs of Jewish people in the Krakow ghetto in Poland, circa 1941. PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of National Archives in Krakow

The U.S. and the Holocaust (Sept. 18, 8 p.m., PBS)

This latest exhaustive documentary series from Ken Burns, Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein examines the failure of the United States to aid more than a fraction of the Jewish refugees desperately trying to escape Hitler and the Holocaust before and during the Second World War. (Canada, for the record, did even worse than the U.S. or any other Western country, taking in just 5,000 Jewish refugees between 1933 and 1947, according to the Canadian Encyclopedia.) The episode I watched (there are three of two hours apiece, with the others airing Monday and Tuesday at 8 p.m.) painstakingly lays out the political and social situation in the U.S. and elsewhere, with the rise of the discredited theory of eugenics, positing that only people of supposedly superior gene pools should be allowed to breed, and anti-immigrant and anti-refugee sentiment in the wake of the Great War and the Great Depression. It also traces the rise of Hitler in Germany, and his and his party’s stealthy and systematic demonization and dehumanization of Jewish people. If this all seems too far removed from the present to be bothered about, I urge you to go to a Holocaust museum someday and look at the photos of people killed in the Nazi death camps or the countless possessions they left behind. In fact, what struck me as most chilling about “The U.S. and the Holocaust” were the echoes of the political climate of the 1930s in the world of today, including the anti-immigration sentiment, the rise of anti-Semitism and other kinds of racial bigotry, and the fact that another madman is currently trying to expand his empire with an invasion of Ukraine, with limited interference from the rest of the world.

Odds and Ends

Julio Torres and Ana Fabrega in Season 2 of “Los Espookys.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Pablo Arellano Spataro/HBO

I have not yet got into the HBO comedy “Los Espookys,” which given what I’ve read about it seems like a failing on my part but, if you’re already a fan, Season 2 debuts Sept. 16 at 11 p.m. on HBO and Crave.

I will definitely be watching when Season 7 of “Shetland” debuts Sept. 13 on BritBox. It’s always a treat to see Jimmy Perez (Douglas Henshall) and his sidekick Tosh (Alison O’Donnell) solve crimes in the northernmost part of Scotland.

I’m behind on “Atlanta,” but Season 4, which is also the final season, debuts Sept. 15 at 10 p.m. on FX.

Netflix, as usual, has several offerings, including yet another true crime docuseries, “Sins of Our Mother” (Sept. 14), about a woman who is charged alongside her husband with killing two of her children; Season 2 of the YA series about a supernatural boarding school, “Fate: The Winx Saga” (Sept. 16); Season 2 of the reunion show “Love Is Blind: After the Altar” (Sept. 16); and the movie “Do Revenge” (Sept. 16), about teenagers fighting back against bullies.

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.

Watchable on Disney, Prime Video, Crave Sept. 5 to 11, 2022

September 5, 2022 /

SHOW OF THE WEEK: Reservation Dogs (Sept. 7, Disney+)

From left, Paulina Alexis, D’Pharaoh Woo-A-Tai, Lane Factor, Devery Jacobs
and Elva Guerra in Season 2 of “Reservation Dogs.” PHOTO CREDIT: Shane Brown/FX.

If I had to choose one word to describe Season 2 of “Reservation Dogs,” it would be “reconciliation” — but not in a “truth and” kind of way, although some truths are revealed. Rather, its characters begin to come to terms with hurts they have endured — or handed out — as the season progresses.

As it opens, our diehard quartet of friends on the rez is still splintered. Last season, Elora Danan (Devery Jacobs) ditched the other three to drive to California with their enemy Jackie (Elva Guerra), which leaves Bear (D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai) unmoored and bitter.

Willie Jack (the hilarious Paulina Alexis) figures that the curse she put on Jackie is to blame for the group’s troubles and sets out to reverse it with the help of Uncle Brownie (Gary Farmer) and his frenemy Bucky (Wes Studi). Shit-talking and Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin'” are involved.

The affable Cheese (Lane Factor), meanwhile, is spending more time with his weed-growing Uncle Charley, which has consequences in a later episode.

Even their shrine to their dead friend Daniel has been destroyed to make way for a megachurch for white people.

The fact that Elora and Jackie have escaped Oklahoma’s Indian Territory doesn’t mean they are any freer than Bear, Willie or Cheese — particularly of grief over the suicides of Daniel and Jackie’s unnamed brother.

Meanwhile, the girls face dangers on the road. The words “missing and murdered Indigenous women” are never uttered, but they’re top of mind after encounters with a sleazeball who picks them up hitchhiking when their car breaks down and a pickup truck full of shotgun-toting crackers who chase Elora and Jackie when they try to steal another vehicle.

The genius of the show — aside from the fact it’s funny as hell — is the subtle way it tackles the ills that have befallen Indigenous communities after centuries of colonialism. Its humorous approach means you’re still laughing when you feel the sharp end of the stick. And fun is poked at Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike.

For instance, the Indigi-hipster facilitators at a colonization symposium the teens are forced to attend — MissM8tri@rch and Augusto Firekeeper — acknowledge not only the tribes that have safeguarded the land, but Neanderthals, dinosaurs, star people and their reptilian relatives.

With Elora and Jackie back in town — forced to abandon their cursed trip by the death of Elora’s grandmother — the symposium allows some baby steps toward reconciliation with Bear, Willie and Cheese, although progress is just as quickly undone.

It takes a crisis involving Cheese to bring the five of them together in an episode that made me fall even more in love with Cheese and with Factor’s acting.

And the kids aren’t the only ones with reconciling to do. Bear’s mom Rita (Sarah Podemski) and her cousin Teenie (her real-life sister Tamara Podemski) have beefs to resolve when they attend an Indian Health Services conference; and in a hilarious and heartfelt episode, tribal officer Big (Zahn McClarnon) wrestles with the part he played in the death of Elora’s mother, Cookie.

There are so many gems this season. I haven’t even touched on things like spirit William Knifeman (Dallas Goldtooth) dispensing wisdom from a Porta Potty; Dr. Kang being initiated into “snagging” at the IHS conference (“Wear socks, medicine comes up through your feet”); or Marc Maron as a group home counsellor whose oddball back-story I won’t spoil by disclosing it here.

Just know that after screening eight of the season’s 10 episodes I’m even more enamoured of this wonderful show.

Disney also has several premieres on Sept. 8, so-called Disney+ Day, including the live action and CGI remake of “Pinocchio” (reviews are embargoed till the day it releases); Brie Larson’s coming-of-age docuseries “Growing Up”; animated series “Cars on the Road”; and nature docuseries “Epic Adventures With Bertie Gregory.”

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (Now on Prime Video)

Robert Aramayo and Morfydd Clark as Elron and Galadriel. PHOTO CREDIT: Ben Rothstein/Prime Video

I don’t recall whether it was Patrick McKay or J.D. Payne who advised watching this grand series on the largest screen possible, but he was absolutely correct. I first saw the first two episodes in a screening room in a Toronto hotel and was blown away by them.

They seemed slightly less grand when I watched them again on my computer monitor, which doesn’t mean my enthusiasm was extinguished.

With apologies to co-creator McKay — who, at a virtual Television Critics Association panel, tried to differentiate “The Rings of Power” from other fantasy series, including “Game of Thrones” — this is the first TV show that has really reminded me of “Thrones” in its scope and ambition, including its geographic reach, its myriad plot lines and characters.

It’s also the most cinematic TV series I can recall seeing. Considering the money that Amazon has reportedly splashed out on this, it damn well should be.

It’s beautifully, expansively shot, from the golden glades of the elves’ Lindon to the cosy encampments of the Harfoot to the rough-hewn villages of men in the mountainous Southlands to the vast cave palace of the dwarves in Khazad-dum, and that’s just a small sampling of the places the show takes us and will take us as its first season rolls out.

Add in the lovingly detailed sets and costumes, the CGI, the dramatic score by Bear McCreary, and it’s a visual and aural feast.

But what struck me most after that initial screening was an appreciation for the characters.

Morfydd Clark is compelling as a younger version of the elf Galadriel, even when she’s being pigheaded and foolhardy in her quest to find and destroy Sauron. Robert Aramayo seems to exude the golden light of Lindon as the kind-hearted half-elf Elrond. The harfoot, including notables Markella Kavenagh, Dylan Smith, Lenny Henry and Megan Richards, are the most endearing of the characters. Elf prince Durin (Owain Arthur) and wife Disa (Sophia Nomvete) give us a portrait of a enviably loving marriage. And then there’s the brooding Arondir (Ismael Cruz Cordova) and his forbidden human love, healer Bronwyn (Nazanin Boniadi), among the standouts in the first two episodes.

I can’t speak to how the show stacks up to the “Lord of the Rings” and “Hobbit” movies. I’m a bit embarrassed to admit I never watched them, being something of a snob about fantasy adaptations until I got sucked in by “Game of Thrones.”

It’s too soon to judge whether “The Rings of Power,” which reportedly has a five-season commitment, will bring Amazon the bang for its considerable bucks that it’s seeking, but I’m suitably captivated and intrigued by what I’ve seen so far.

Short Takes

Samantha Morton as Catherine de Medici in “The Serpent Queen.” PHOTO CREDIT: Starz

The Serpent Queen (Sept. 11, Star on Crave)

If you’re a historical purist avert your eyes from “The Serpent Queen.” If you like your history with a little protofeminist revisionism and cheeky fourth wall-breaking then step right up. Oscar nominee Samantha Morton (“Sweet and Lowdown,” “In America”) portrays Catherine de Medici (or de’ Medici), an orphaned Italian noblewoman who became queen of France and mother of three French kings in the 16th century. The series plays up Catherine’s reputation for ruthlessness — hence the series title — while purporting to explain her actions (“Tell me what you would have done differently” is the tag line). The conceit is that an adult Catherine (Morton) is telling her new maid Rahima (Sennia Nanua) the story of how she came to the French court as a 14-year-old (played by Liv Hill) to marry Henry (Alex Heath), second son of the king of France (Colm Meaney). As troubles pile up — including the death of her uncle the pope (Charles Dance), the shortchanging of her dowry, her inability to provide an heir and her husband’s besottedness with his older mistress, Diane de Poitiers (Ludivine Sagnier) — Catherine finds ways to thwart her enemies. Sure, the series takes liberties with the facts, but the three episodes I watched were very entertaining.

William Jackson Harper as Noah and Cristin Milioti as Emma in “The Resort.” PHOTO CREDIT: Peacock

The Resort (Sept. 11, 9 p.m., Showcase/StackTV)

You have to suspend a lot of disbelief in this series about an American couple who take an anniversary trip to a Mexican resort and stumble on a mystery involving a pair of 20-something tourists who disappeared from a different resort 15 years before. William Jackson Harper (“The Good Place,” “The Underground Railroad”) and Cristin Milioti (“How I Met Your Mother,” “Made for Love”) play Noah and Emma, whose 10-year marriage appears to be in a precarious state by the time they arrive at Bahia del Paraiso. They begin to rekindle their relationship after Emma tumbles off an ATV in the jungle and conveniently finds a phone that belonged to Sam (Skyler Gisondo), the young man who vanished from the now derelict Oceana Vista resort. Noah and Emma start unravelling the mystery of what happened to Sam and Violet (Nina Bloomgarden) and how it might connect to the wealthy Frias family, despite suggestions they’re putting themselves in danger. “The Resort” appears to have pretensions to be a commentary on time and love, and how the past relates to the present, but based on the two episodes I watched, it’s mostly just about a couple of bored, booze-swilling tourists having an adventure.

Odds and Ends

Hillary Rodham Clinton, Amy Schumer and Chelsea Clinton in “Gutsy.” PHOTO CREDIT: Apple TV+

I screened only one episode of “Gutsy” (Sept. 9, Apple TV+), the docuseries based on “The Book of Gutsy Women” by former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and her daughter, Chelsea Clinton. That’s not enough to do a proper review, but you won’t find me complaining about any show that puts a spotlight on women who are making a mark in an increasingly hostile world.

Speaking of gutsy woman, fictional lawyer Diane Lockhart (Christine Baranski) struggles with a deteriorating political reality in the sixth and final season of “The Good Fight” (Sept. 8, 9 p.m., W Network/StackTV).

Netflix has way more stuff than I care to list here, but a sampling includes South Korean drama “Once Upon a Small Town” (Sept. 5), about a big city doctor who strikes up a romance with a policewoman after reluctantly moving to the countryside; another “Untold” documentary, “The Race of the Century” (Sept. 6), about the 1983 America’s Cup contest; food series “Chef’s Table: Pizza” (Sept. 7); true crime doc “Indian Predator: The Diary of a Serial Killer” (Sept. 7); and Season 5 of “Cobra Kai” (Sept. 9).

Finally, Acorn has a new mystery series with a woman of a certain age in the lead (and I am always down with that, being of a certain age myself). In “Recipes for Love and Murder” (Sept. 5), Maria Doyle Kennedy (“Outlander,” “Orphan Black”) is a recipe and advice columnist investigating a killing in a small South African town with the help of a rookie journalist (Kylie Fisher) and a reluctant police detective (Tony Kgoroge).

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.

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