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Tag: what to watch (Page 5 of 10)

Watchable on FX, Prime Video, PBS, Netflix June 13 to 19, 2022

June 13, 2022 /

SHOW OF THE WEEK: The Old Man (June 16, 10 p.m., FX)

Jeff Bridges with canine co-stars Dave and Carol in “The Old Man.” PHOTO CREDIT: Prashant Gupta/FX

By all means, watch “The Old Man” to see a couple of esteemed senior actors who are still masters of their craft, but if you’re looking for a fresh take on the spy/action drama you won’t find it here.

Much of the enjoyment comes from seeing Jeff Bridges transform in the first episode from a crotchety widower who can’t sleep through the night without having to pee several times into a fugitive ex-CIA agent who can still engage in hand-to-hand combat with men many decades younger.

The other big star is John Lithgow as FBI boss Harold Harper. He’s helping hunt down former colleague Dan Chase (Bridges) after the latter kills an agent who tracked him to his Vermont home and goes rogue, although Harper has his own reasons for hoping Chase never gets found. 

Why are the FBI and the CIA suddenly so interested in Chase? It has to do with an Afghan warlord named Faraz Hamzad who was betrayed by Chase three decades earlier, when Chase was in Afghanistan helping Faraz fight Soviet invaders, against the orders of his CIA superiors.

Why Chase was so interested in helping this particular warlord rout the Soviets to the detriment of his career is pretty murky. It’s also unclear why American intelligence services would be so keen on helping Hamzad enact revenge against a U.S. citizen and former colleague, at least in the four episodes made available for review.

Also along for the ride are Amy Brenneman as a love interest for Dan, who gets drawn into his flight from the feds on a rather flimsy pretext, and Alia Shawkat as an FBI protege of Harold’s. Israeli actors Hiam Abbass and Leem Lubany play older and younger versions of Dan’s beloved wife, Abbey, who dies of Huntington’s disease five years before the series begins.

But it’s the male characters who are very much driving the plot, with a concomitant body count. Apparently the only solutions available to Dan and his pursuers are violent ones.

The series, based on the novel by Thomas Perry, seems to want to say weighty things about the differences between heroes and villains, as evidenced by the speechifying dialogue, but characters’ motivations are not overly clear or nuanced.

There are some strenuous fight scenes — if Bridges shot any of those after he returned to set from battling both cancer and COVID-19, then wow — and each episode offers up a big twist, although I suspect you’ll see most if not all of them coming.

It’s a shame that Bridges, 72, and Lithgow, 76, don’t get to share scenes beyond a phone call in the first four episodes, although future episodes will feature at least one face-to-face meeting.

Overall, “The Old Man” is lesser than the sum of its parts, but Bridges and Lithgow are pretty terrific as two of those parts.

Short Takes

Jordan Gavaris and Madison Shamoun in “The Lake.” PHOTO CREDIT: Peter H. Stranks/Amazon Studios

The Lake (June 17, Prime Video)

I only had time to screen one episode of this Amazon Canadian original, but I found it amusing and charming. It stars Jordan Gavaris (“Orphan Black”) as Justin, a gay man spending the summer with Billie (Madison Shamoun), the daughter he gave up for adoption after high school. He rents a cottage on the lake where his family spent all their summers before he had a falling out with his dad and left for Australia. To add to the awkward stew of painful memories, Billie not wanting to be there and Justin getting a crash course in parenting a teenager, he learns that the family cottage wasn’t sold as he believed but rather willed to his stepsister Maisy-May (Julia Stiles) by his father. So Justin starts scheming to get it back. The Northern Ontario-shot series also stars Terry Chen (“The Expanse,” “Jessica Jones”) as Maisy-May’s husband, Victor, and Jared Scott as their son, Killian.

Prime Video also has “The Summer I Turned Pretty” (June 17), a coming-of-age series from “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” author Jenny Han.

Natascha McElhone as proprietor Bella Ainsworth in “Hotel Portofino.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of Eagle Eye Drama

Hotel Portofino (June 19, 8 p.m., PBS/PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel)

The latest Masterpiece period drama takes us to the Italian Riviera in 1926 where
English expat Bella Ainsworth (Natascha McElhone, “Californication,” “Designated Survivor”) is running a charming hotel that caters mostly to other Brits, alongside her widowed daughter Alice (Olivia Morris) and spendthrift husband Cecil (Mark Umbers). The guests include demanding matriarch Lady Latchmere (the always wonderful Anna Chancellor) and her niece Melissa (Imogen King); Italian Count Albani (Daniele Pecci) and his son Roberto (Lorenzo Richelmy); American art dealer Jack Turner (Adam James) and his “wife” Claudine (Lily Frazer); medical student Anish Sangupta (Assad Zaman), who saved the life of Bella’s still traumatized son Lucian (Oliver Dench) in the First World War; faltering tennis pro Pelham Wingfield (Dominic Tighe) and his unhappy wife Lizzie (Bethane Cullinane); and snobby Julia Drummond-Ward (Lucy Akhurst), who’s there to marry her wallflower daughter Rose (Claude Scott-Mitchell) off to Lucian. I doubt it’s a spoiler to say there are romantic complications, particularly after new employee Constance (Louisa Binder) arrives from the north of England, but there are also political ones, with local Fascists ready to do violence to anyone who doesn’t support Mussolini and corrupt police supervisor Danioni (Pasquale Esposito) looking to line his pockets at Bella’s expense. Throw in art theft, marital discord, illicit liaisons both gay and straight, and there’s a little drama to liven up the beach excursions and glasses of Limoncello on the terrace. The setting is breathtakingly beautiful (although it was mainly shot in Croatia rather than Italy) and the characters, although not deeply sketched, grew beyond mere types in the four episodes I watched. In short, I’d recommend checking in.

Also, I’m thrilled to report that Season 8 of “Endeavour,” the prequel to beloved detective drama “Inspector Morse,” is finally here, debuting June 19 at 9 p.m. on PBS.

Odds and Ends

From left, Paula Pell, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Busy Philipps and Sara Bareilles in Season 2 of “Girls5eva.” PHOTO CREDIT: Heidi Gutman/Peacock

With apologies, it’s a light week for the Watchable list. I was on vacation last week and out of town so I did very little screening and some of what I wanted to watch wasn’t available, including the second season of musical comedy “Girls5eva” (June 16, 9 p.m., W Network/StackTV).

This week’s Netflix offerings include the anthology series “Web of Make Believe: Death, Lies and the Internet” (June 15), about the ways in which technology and crime intersect; the series “God’s Favorite Idiot” (June 15), in which creator Ben Falcone stars as a tech support worker who becomes a divine messenger, with Melissa McCarthy as his girlfriend; reality series “Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend” (June 15); and the movie “Spiderhead” (June 17), starring Miles Teller and Chris Hemsworth.

Disney+ has Season 3 of the series “Love, Victor” (June 15), with gay teen Victor (Michael Cimino) sorting out his relationship issues and what he wants to do after high school.

Apple TV+ offers the film “Cha Cha Real Smooth” (June 17), which stars creator Cooper Raiff as a bar mitzvah host who strikes up a friendship with a mother (Dakota Johnson) and her autistic daughter (Vanessa Burghardt).

Finally, CTV Comedy Channel has Season 2 of the comedy series “Roast Battle Canada” (June 13, 10:30 p.m.) with judges Russell Peters, K. Trevor Wilson and Sabrina Jalees, and host Ennis Esmer.

Watchable on Disney, Apple, Netflix June 6 to 12, 2022

June 6, 2022 /

SHOW OF THE WEEK: Under the Banner of Heaven (June 8, Disney+)

Wyatt Russell as Dan Lafferty and Daisy Edgar-Jones as Brenda Lafferty
in “Under the Banner of Heaven.” PHOTO CREDIT: Michelle Faye/FX.

The bloody murder of a young woman and her 15-month-old daughter would be horrific in any context, but this miniseries is particularly chilling in its depiction of religious men turned fundamentalist zealots and killers.

“Under the Banner of Heaven” is based on the book of the same name by Jon Krakauer about the real-life 1984 murders of Brenda Lafferty, wife of the youngest brother in a prominent Salt Lake City Mormon family, and her daughter Erica. But it’s more than just a crime procedural — and a particularly gripping one at that — it’s also about the sexism inherent in the Mormon faith (and pretty much every other organized religion); a suppressed history of violence in the early days of Mormonism; a loss of faith, as personified by the show’s fictional lead detective; and the fracturing of a family.

It was created by Dustin Lance Black (“Milk,” “Big Love,” “When We Rise”), who is himself a lapsed Mormon.

When Brenda and Erica are found dead inside their home, suspicion immediately falls on husband Allen (Billy Howle), but Mormon detective Jeb Pyre (Andrew Garfield) and his Native American partner Bill Taba (Gil Birmingham) follow the evidence to a more insidious conclusion: that Brenda was targeted for running afoul of two of Allen’s brothers and their newly fundamentalist beliefs.

At the same time, Jeb is urged by Allen to probe the untold history of their faith — in particular, the Mountain Meadows Massacre, when more than 100 members of a wagon train were slaughtered by Mormon settlers in southern Utah, who tried to blame the attack on Paiute tribesmen — which has Jeb questioning whether the founders of the religion on which his entire life has been built were following God or their own selfish desires.

The show has an embarrassment of riches in its cast, including Wyatt Russell and Sam Worthington as brothers Dan and Ron Lafferty. Russell is especially effective as Dan, who becomes increasingly unhinged as he progresses from tax scofflaw to a believer in a literal interpretation of original Mormon texts, to the point that he wants to “marry” his two teenage stepdaughters. Ron, meanwhile, goes from successful entrepreneur and local politician to someone who believes he’s a conduit for revelations that come directly from God.

Fortunately, Brenda, played by the always excellent Daisy Edgar-Jones, gets to be more than just a murder victim in the series. She’s portrayed as a loving, intelligent woman who believes in her church but is unwilling to blindly follow its more repressive patriarchal strictures.

You’ll also notice some Canadian actors in the cast, not surprising since the show was shot in Calgary, including Christopher Heyerdahl as the Lafferty family patriarch. Stratford Festival veterans Tom Rooney, Graham Abbey and Evan Buliung also appear, the first two as Mormon bishops, the latter as historical figure Major John D. Lee.

People often use the word “evil” when describing particularly heinous crimes, which plays into the idea of people’s lives being dictated by forces outside themselves. In “Under the Banner of Heaven,” the worst acts, even those committed in the name of a warped idea of God, are all too human.

Disney+ also has the new series “Ms. Marvel” (June 8), starring Canadian actor Iman Vellani as TV’s first Muslim superhero. I didn’t get to screen this one, but everybody and their brother is going to be writing about it, so you probably won’t miss my take.

Short Takes

Wrenn Schmidt and Joel Kinnaman in Season 3 of “For All Mankind.” PHOTO CREDIT: Apple TV+

For All Mankind (June 10, Apple TV+)

The question going into Season 3 of space drama “For All Mankind” was whether the series could keep up the momentum established by its superior second season and excellent season finale (if you watched it, spoiler alert, I bet you can still conjure up an image of Gordo and Tracy running across the surface of the moon wrapped in duct tape). Based on the three episodes I’ve screened so far, it’s off to a good start, beginning with a season premiere whose ending will have you on the edge of your seat. The series began in 1969 with the Soviets beating the Americans to the moon. Season 3 opens in the early ’90s, with both the U.S. and Russia planning missions to Mars in 1996. When a third player, a private company led by Kenyan-American visionary Dev Ayesa (Edi Gathegi), announces it’s heading to Mars in ’94, NASA and the Russian space agency scramble to move up their timelines. The three-way race also brings plenty of interpersonal complications. Astronauts Ed Baldwin (Joel Kinnaman) and Danielle Poole (Krys Marshall) are competing to head NASA’s mission; Ed’s ex-wife Karen (Shantel VanSanten) has joined Dev’s Helios after an aborted foray into space tourism; Johnson Space Centre director Margo (Wrenn Schmidt) is still butting heads with former astronaut Molly Cobb (Sonya Walger), who’s in charge of choosing the Mars mission commander; Gordo’s and Tracy’s son Danny (Casey W. Johnson) and Ed’s and Karen’s adopted daughter Kelly (Cynthy Wu) are also in the mix as Mars crew members. And Margo’s long-distance flirtation with Soviet engineer Sergei (Piotr Adamczyk) brings complications of its own. As always with this series, there are many threads to follow but, with all three missions to Mars lifting off by the end of Episode 3, there’s a promise of lots of juicy, action-packed drama to come.

Zahn McClarnon stars in “Dark Winds.” PHOTO CREDIT: AMC Networks

Dark Winds (June 12, 9 p.m., AMC/AMC+)

You’re sure to have seen Zahn McClarnon’s face before, whether in “Fargo,” “Westworld,” even “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman,” but here he’s the star of the show as Navajo police lieutenant Joe Leaphorn. And he gets this adaptation of the Tony Hillerman “Leaphorn & Chee” books — which I sincerely hope is just the first of several seasons to come — off to a great start. The Lakota and Irish American actor is paired with Hualapai actor Kiowa Gordon as Jim Chee, while Edmonton-born Jessica Matten, who’s of Metis-Cree descent, makes a welcome third lead as fellow officer Bernadette Manuelito. The six-episode series is mostly set on Navajo land in New Mexico, which is almost a character in its own right. It’s 1971 and Chee has been parachuted in as Leaphorn’s new deputy. Leaphorn is out to solve the murder of two Dine people, an old man and a 19-year-old girl, but it’s not a priority for the white FBI agent (Noah Emmerich) who’s taken over the file and is more interested in a bank heist that took place in the nearby city of Gallup. The twists and turns of the criminal investigation — and trust me, it’s plenty twisty — are interwoven with glimpses of Indigenous traditions and superstitions; of Joe’s family life; of Chee’s and Manuelito’s painful pasts; of the racism that colonialism has made a fact of life for Indigenous populations the world over. The series, which was created by Chickasaw producer Graham Roland and had a mostly Indigenous cast, crew and creative team, has Robert Redford and George R.R. Martin as executive producers. But it’s the relatability and chemistry of the characters that leaves you wanting more.

Odds and Ends

Cillian Murphy as Thomas Shelby in Season 6 of “Peaky Blinders.” PHOTO CREDIT: Netflix

We are big “Peaky Blinders” fans in my household so I’m particularly keen to see the sixth and final season of the period gangster drama, which comes to Netflix June 10, and would have made time for it had screeners been available. I have avoided all spoilers coming out of the U.K., where it already aired, but it’s a safe bet the Shelby family will go out with a violent bang. Sadly, Helen McCrory, who masterfully played Aunt Polly Gray and died last year of cancer, was unable to shoot the final episodes.

So much TV, too little time to take it all in and that means I didn’t get to screen the series “Irma Vep” (June 6, 9 p.m., HBO/Crave), which stars Alicia Vikander as an American actor who comes to Paris to star in a remake of the French silent film classic “Les Vampires.” HBO also has a documentary that sounds interesting, “The Janes” (June 8, 9 p.m.), about an underground network of women who helped to provide access to abortions in Chicago before the now threatened Roe vs. Wade ruling that legalized abortion in the U.S. And on June 12 at 10 p.m., the latest attempt to make history young and sexy debuts on Starz/Crave with “Becoming Elizabeth,” about the teenage years of Queen Elizabeth I (Alicia von Rittberg).

Netflix has lots of comedy specials this week, including “Bill Burr Presents: Friends Who Kill” (June 6); the series “That’s My Time With David Letterman” (June 7); “Stand Out: An LGBTQ+ Celebration” (June 9); “Dirty Daddy: The Bob Saget Tribute” (June 10); and “Amy Schumer’s Parental Advisory” (June 11). And seeing as I was talking about Mormon fundamentalism earlier, there’s also a documentary about Warren Jeffs, president of the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: “Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey” (June 8).

Speaking of comedy, Prime Video has “Backstage With Katherine Ryan” (June 9), in which the Canadian-Irish comedian offers a behind-the-scenes look at the making of a comedy special.

CBC Gem has the Icelandic serial killer drama “Black Sands” (June 10); “Check It” (June 10), an American documentary about bullied gay and transgender youth who formed their own criminal gang; and “Small Town Pride” (June 10), another doc, this one about the challenges of being queer in a small town, which follows subjects in Alberta, Nova Scotia and the Northwest Territories as they prepare for Pride celebrations.

Finally, Hollywood Suite has the German miniseries “Faking Hitler” (June 9, 9 p.m.), about the 1980s scandal involving the publication by Stern magazine of diaries purported to have been written by Adolf Hitler.

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, StackTV, Netflix May 30 to June 5, 2022

May 30, 2022 /

SHOW OF THE WEEK: Pistol (May 31, Disney+)

From left, Anson Boon as Johnny Rotten, Louis Partridge as Sid Vicious, Toby Wallace as Steve Jones
and Jacob Slater as Paul Cook in “Pistol.” PHOTO CREDIT: Rebecca Brenneman/FX

How you feel about the Sex Pistols probably depends to some extent on how old you were when the U.K. punks burst onto the music scene. I was 15 when they released the single “God Save the Queen” and, while I didn’t fully grasp the anti-establishment roots of the music, I appreciated the safety pin-adorned punk rock style, just the thing to allow a good Catholic girl to flirt with non-conformity.

This miniseries based on guitarist Steve Jones’ memoir “Lonely Boy: Tales of a Sex Pistol” takes us to the band’s roots at the forefront of a musical revolution. And dare I say, although it doesn’t shy away from Jones’ own troubled history or the band’s notorious ending tainted by drugs and death, it also makes those early days of punk seem like a helluva lot of fun.

Jones (Toby Wallace) is our way into the show, although all the band members get screen time, as does manager Malcolm McLaren (Thomas Brodie-Sangster), his partner, fashion designer Vivienne Westwood (Talulah Riley), and a young Chrissie Hynde (Sydney Chandler), Jones’ sometime romantic interest.

The top-notch cast also includes Anson Boon (“1917”), who’s particularly compelling as Johnny Rotten, Jacob Slater as drummer Paul Cook, Christian Lees as original bassist Glen Matlock, who was replaced by the doomed Sid Vicious (Louis Partridge), Emma Appleton as Nancy Spungen and Maisie Williams of “Game of Thrones” as punk fashion icon Jordan (the real Jordan, a.k.a. Pamela Rooke, died in April).

(There’s a particularly entertaining scene in which Jordan, on her way to her job at McLaren’s and Westwood’s Sex boutique, commutes wearing a see-through coat and no bra, completely unconcerned by the outraged glares of the women and lascivious stares of the men on the train.)

Creator Craig Pearce (“Moulin Rouge!” and the upcoming “Elvis”) and director Danny Boyle (“Trainspotting” and Oscar winner “Slumdog Millionaire”) attempt to ground the story of the band in the unrest of the times, so episodes are sprinkled with real footage of Britain in the 1970s, contrasting the monarchy and bowler-hatted toffs with the blue collar masses.

When Jones, Cook, Matlock and guitarist Wally Nightingale (Dylan Llewellyn of “Derry Girls”) are trying to decide on a look for their pre-Pistols band, the Swankers, Cook says they should dress like what they are: “four broke working class kids who can’t play for shit.”

We first meet Jones stealing equipment from a David Bowie gig at the Hammersmith Odeon (in real life, he reportedly stole it from a truck behind the venue, not the actual stage). A chronic thief, homeless, nearly illiterate, scarred by the verbal and sexual abuse of his stepfather, in the estimation of the manipulative McLaren, Jones has nothing to live for but his band.

McLaren sets about shaping the group, which is renamed the Sex Pistols, to fulfil his and Westwood’s dream of fomenting a revolution against the class-based stodginess of British society. So Nightingale is out and McLaren recruits live wire John Lydon, nicknamed Johnny Rotten for his bad teeth, to sing. As the series tells it, McLaren later pressures Jones to fire Matlock so he can bring in Lydon’s friend John Ritchie, nicknamed Sid Vicious after a nasty hamster. He can’t play, but he has the right punk rock look and a tendency toward self-destruction.

If you’re at all familiar with the Sex Pistols, you’ll be familiar with the band’s arc, including the infamy of their profanity-laced interview on “The Grundy Show”; being dropped by two record labels; the banning of No. 1 single “God Save the Queen” in the U.K.; the boat cruise/concert on the Thames that ended with Malcolm and Vivienne and others getting arrested; the disastrous U.S. tour that led to the band’s breakup; the subsequent filming of McLaren’s vanity project “The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle”; the arrest of Vicious for the murder of his girlfriend, Spungen, and his subsequent death by heroin overdose.

The sadness of Sid’s and Nancy’s deaths notwithstanding, the tragic bits aren’t what stuck with me after watching all six episodes; it was the initial excitement of the music.

Thank goodness Lydon wasn’t successful in his bid to prohibit “Pistol” from using the band’s songs. The young cast do their own playing and singing, and Doyle shot performances in one take, which brings fresh energy to tracks like “Bodies,” “God Save the Queen” and “Anarchy in the U.K.”

“Pistol” isn’t flawless. Boyle’s hyperkinetic directing style can be distracting. And one suspects the real punk scene was a lot messier, more sharp-edged and less attractive than what comes across onscreen.

With Jones as lead character, we learn little about the more famous members of the group, Rotten and Vicious, let alone Cook, Matlock and poor Wally Nightingale, who was more influential in the pre-Pistol days than the show lets on.

Each episode starts with a disclaimer that it’s “inspired” by true events so it’s clearly an approximation, a bit like me putting on fake leather and safety pins in high school.

And Boyle and Pearce give the story an unlikely happy ending of sorts, with Jones and Lydon burying the hatchet after Sid’s death, and a flashback to a feel-good Christmas Day benefit concert the band played for the children of striking firefighters in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire.

But all that being said, it’s still an entertaining look back at a band that continues to be influential despite lasting for just two and a half years.

Short Takes

Emmy Rossum as the title character in “Angelyne.” PHOTO CREDIT: Isabella Vosmikova/Peacock

Angelyne (June 1, 9 p.m., Showcase/StackTV)

Who is Angelyne? That’s the question posed in this Peacock miniseries about a real Hollywood legend, a blond, one-named bombshell who essentially became famous for being famous. Angelyne’s path to notoriety came through the provocative billboards of her that appeared all over Los Angeles in the 1980s and ’90s. There were several albums; film, TV and music video appearances; a foray into art via self-portraits; sales of merchandise and tours; even a run for California governor. Now in her 70s, she can apparently still be seen driving around town in one of her pink Corvettes. But who is the woman behind the blond hair, tight dresses and Barbie doll figure, which star and executive producer Emmy Rossum endured hours in the makeup chair to portray? This five-part series doesn’t give us any answers beyond facts already revealed in a 2017 Hollywood Reporter article: a Polish-born child of Holocaust survivors who cut ties with her past when she reinvented herself. The miniseries presents fictionalized versions of influential people in her life: her ex-husband (Michael Angarano), her fan club manager (Hamish Linklater), her boyfriend from the punk band Baby Blue (Philip Ettinger), the entrepreneur who financed her first billboards (Martin Freeman), the reporter who revealed her story (Alex Karpovsky), the student who tried to make a documentary about her (Lukas Gage). It’s an impressive roster of talent, led by Rossum, who disappears into the role, but it doesn’t get us any closer to the why of Angelyne. Given the preference of the real woman to remain a mystery — she told the Guardian newspaper in an interview she’s an alien “sitting on top of a pink cloud, sending inspiration to the world” — that probably suits her just fine. But it keeps the series from being elucidating as well as entertaining.

Odds and Ends

Norm Macdonald in the 2018 series “Norm Macdonald Has a Show.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Eddy Chen/Netflix

The title of Norm Macdonald’s posthumous comedy special, “Norm Macdonald: Nothing Special” (May 30), is of course a complete misnomer. Getting a last hour of standup from the beloved Canadian comedian, who died last September of cancer at the age of 61, is extremely special. Like his illness, Macdonald kept the program, filmed in his living room during the pandemic, a secret. And we will all discover what it contains together since screeners weren’t made available beforehand, but his producing partner told the Hollywood Reporter the material is fantastic. The Netflix show also includes tributes from other comedians filmed during the Netflix Is a Joke festival.

CBC Gem has a couple of imports for you to check out: Australian comedy “Preppers” (June 1), about an Aboriginal woman who joins a community of people prepping for the apocalypse; and Irish dramedy “The Dry” (June 3), about a woman whose newfound sobriety is tested when she moves back to Dublin.

I’m sorry, fans of “The Boys,” which returns to Prime Video for its third season June 3, but I didn’t watch the screeners on purpose because I just don’t love the show, despite the fact it’s made in Toronto. But for those of you who do, enjoy. Butcher (Karl Urban) and Hughie (Jack Quaid) are reportedly going to get up to more mayhem after they learn about an anti-superhero weapon and start a war.

Apple TV has Season 2 of “Physical” (June 3), which sees aerobics instructor hero Sheila (Rose Byrne) struggling to expand her fitness empire.

If you enjoyed the HBO Max series “Julia” — and I certainly did — you might want to check out CNN’s documentary, also called “Julia” (May 30, 8 p.m. and 10 p.m.), about celebrity chef Julia Child. It repeats June 4 at 9 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.

This post has been edited to add additional thoughts I had after a second watch of “Pistol.”

Watchable on Netflix, Apple, BritBox May 23 to 29, 2022

May 23, 2022 /

SHOW OF THE WEEK: Stranger Things (May 27, Netflix)

Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown and Noah Schnapp in Season 4 of “Stranger Things.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of Netflix © 2022

What do you do when your mega-hit of a show is coming back almost three years after it was last seen, to towering expectations? You give the fans more, a lot more.

I don’t mean just the supersized episodes in Season 4 of “Stranger Things” (the season finale reportedly clocks in at two and a half hours) but the breadth of the content in the seven episodes I’ve seen so far.

It’s not just about what’s going on in haunted Hawkins, Indiana, where Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) and Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) are navigating high school. The series also takes us to California, where Joyce (Winona Ryder), Will (Noah Schnapp), Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) and Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) moved at the end of Season 3; to Russia, where former police chief Jim Hopper (David Harbour) is being held prisoner; to the Upside Down, where a creepy humanoid monster named Vecna holds sway; even to Salt Lake City, where Dustin’s hacker girlfriend Suzie lives; and to other locations I don’t think I’m allowed to tell you about.

It’s March 1986 and a new creature is stalking the troubled teenagers of Hawkins, meaning the town is still endangered despite the defeat of the Mind Flayer at the Starcourt Mall eight months before.

The Duffer Brothers give us classic horror references here, sometimes dark and graphic ones. There’s even a haunted house and Freddie Krueger himself, Robert Englund, appears as the former homeowner, accused of murdering his family. But the scenes in which aspiring journalist Nancy (Natalia Dyer) visits him in an asylum are all “Silence of the Lambs.”

Plus all the kids are wrestling with adolescence — shades of 1980s high school movies.

Couples Mike and El, and Nancy and Jonathan are trying to keep the spark alive thousands of miles apart; Lucas and Max (Sadie Sink) have broken up and Max is in denial about the after-effects of seeing stepbrother Billy die in front of her; besties Steve (Joe Keery) and Robin (Maya Hawke) are still searching for girlfriends and keeping us entertained with their banter. And friendships are being strained: Will feels abandoned by Mike, and Lucas has chosen the high school athlete path to popularity while Mike and Dustin stay firmly in the nerd camp.

But El has it worst of all.

Stripped of her psychic abilities, still mourning her adoptive father Hopper and missing Mike, she’s preyed upon by bullies at her new high school. And once again, with her friends in Hawkins at risk, she’s asked to make tremendous personal sacrifices for the greater good.

It’s no spoiler to say that the Hawkins National Laboratories are back in play in flashback, particularly a 1979 massacre that killed all the children in Dr. Brenner’s (Matthew Modine) experimental group except Eleven, and which holds great significance to this season’s mysteries.

And I haven’t even touched on Hopper’s attempts to escape from his Russian prison with the help of a guard named Antonov (Tom Wlaschiha of “Game of Thrones”); the government agents who are hunting El; the “satanic panic” that grips Hawkins, directed at the Hellfire Club, Mike’s and Dustin’s Dungeons & Dragons team; the fact that ex-journalist Murray (Brett Gelman) teams up with Joyce when she learns that Hopper might still be alive; or any of the new characters.

British actor Joseph Quinn (“Dickensian”) joins the cast as Eddie, charismatic metalhead and leader of the Hellfire Club, and Eduardo Franco (“American Vandal”) is Jonathan’s stoner friend Argyle. Fan favourite Erica (Priah Ferguson), Lucas’s witheringly smart sister, is back as a season regular. And fans of the late, lamented “Anne With an E” will be pleased to see Amybeth McNulty in a small part as Robin’s crush, Vickie.

Sure, it’s a lot, but it’s entertaining as hell. And when the kids are working together to keep each other safe, you’ll likely feel some of those Season 1 thrills. I plan to rewatch all seven episodes and look forward to the last two of the season when they arrive July 1.

Short Takes

A swimming Tyrannosaurus rex is among the wonders in “Prehistoric Planet.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Apple TV+

Prehistoric Planet (May 23, Apple TV+)

What do you get when you combine the latest scientific research in paleontology with state-of-the-art CGI? A fascinating look at creatures that have commanded our imaginations for centuries. “Prehistoric Planet,” produced by BBC Studios, is described as a docuseries, but it’s more like a fantasy nature show. MPC, the company that did the photorealistic critters for movies “The Lion King” and “The Jungle Book,” gives us dinosaurs that look as startlingly life-like as the animals you’d see in any other nature documentary, except they haven’t roamed the Earth for 66 million years. As in regular nature docs, you’ll see dinosaurs hunting, mating, fighting, tending their young and whatever else is required to survive in five types of landscapes: coasts, deserts, freshwater, ice worlds and forests (the landscape footage is all real). Things kick off with the rock star of the dino world, Tyrannosaurus rex, but the series covers everything from lizards just a few inches long to titanosaurs 85 feet long, and lots in between, including some never before seen onscreen like the long-snouted Qianzhousaurus and the feathered Nanuqsaurus. The series also presents new information about dinosaurs that have been familiarized by popular culture. Those T-rexes, for instance, could swim and those “Jurassic Park” Velociraptors should have had feathers. The series was produced by “Mandalorian” creator Jon Favreau and Mike Gunton, and stars the eminence grise of nature docs, David Attenborough, who narrates. But the real reason you should watch is because it will give you a whole new appreciation for what was lost when that asteroid struck Earth and wiped out so many amazing animals.

Martin Freeman stars as street cop Chris Carson in “The Responder.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Screen grab/BritBox

The Responder (May 24, BritBox)

In a TV genre more often populated by detectives solving murders, creator Tony Schumacher and star Martin Freeman give us a far less glamorous side of policing. Freeman plays Chris Carson, a first responder working the night shift in Liverpool where he’s regularly confronted by the dregs of society. i.e. the people that society doesn’t give a shit about. He’s been demoted for a past transgression, his marriage is falling apart and he’s being watched by another cop (Warren Brown of “Luther”) who wants him fired. It’s a lot to shoulder on top of the human misery he’s confronted with night after night, and it’s little wonder that the cracks in Chris’s psyche are showing. Then he’s saddled with a suspicious new partner (Adelayo Adedayo), and his attempt to do a good deed by helping a young drug addict (Emily Fairn) who’s in trouble with a dealer goes spectacularly wrong. Schumacher was a Liverpool cop before he was a TV writer and it shows in the execution of “The Responder,” in which the grind that wears down officers like Carson is all too palpable. And then there’s Freeman, such a joy to watch in everything from “The Office” to “Fargo” to “Sherlock” to “A Confession.” Here he’s a decent man struggling against the pummelling of an indecent world and every bit of that struggle shows in his fine performance.

Odds and Ends

Clearly, all “Star Wars” fans will be awaiting the May 27 debut on Disney+ of the series “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” which begins 10 years after the events of “Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith,” and sees Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen reprising their roles as Obi-Wan and Darth Vader. I chose not to ask for screeners since reviews are embargoed until the day of the premiere.

Netflix this week also has Season 5 of food and travel show “Somebody Feed Phil” (May 25) and the standup special “Ricky Gervais: SuperNature” (May 24).

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 Prime Video, Crave, Netflix May 16-22, 2022

May 16, 2022 /

SHOW OF THE WEEK: Night Sky (May 20, Prime Video)

J.K. Simmons and Sissy Spacek in “Night Sky.” PHOTO CREDIT: Chuck Hodes/Amazon Studios

The pleasure of watching “Night Sky” comes as much from excavating the layers of its well played characters as the mysterious extraterrestrial portal buried in its lead couple’s backyard.

In fact, there are few answers to be had in this sci-fi drama — yet, anyway, it’s clearly begging for a second season — and I’m forbidden from sharing the answers we do get thanks to a long list of “do not reveals” from Amazon.

It’s a good thing then that the people at the heart of the story are so compelling to watch.

Married 70-somethings Franklin and Irene York (Oscar winners J.K. Simmons and Sissy Spacek) are living a seemingly mundane life in Farnsworth, Illinois. But hidden beneath their garden shed is a portal that transports them to another planet.

Over and over again, for 20-odd years, Frank and Irene have ventured along the passageway hidden beneath a trap door in the shed to sit and stare through a window at the beautiful and deserted planet — it’s too dangerous to venture outside the chamber.

But Frank is starting to tire of the routine whereas Irene hungers to know more about the other world. When she ventures to the portal without Frank one night, a young man suddenly appears, physically ill and covered in blood.

Over Frank’s objections, Irene installs him in their late son’s bedroom, nurses him back to health and begins to form a bond with him, testing her relationship with Franklin.

Added to the mix is their granddaughter Denise (Kiah McKirnan), who’s worried about her grandparents and suspicious of the stranger posing as their caregiver, whose name is Jude (Chai Hansen); and nosy neighbour Byron (Adam Bartley), who wants to know what Frank and Irene have been doing in the garden shed in the middle of the night. And then there are the dangerous people who are hunting for Jude, or so he tells Irene.

There’s also a parallel plot set in Argentina involving llama farmer Stella (Argentinian actor Julieta Zylberberg) and her teenage daughter Toni (Rocio Hernandez). Their story eventually intersects with Frank’s, Irene’s and Jude’s, but I’m afraid I’m not allowed to tell you how.

The main thing to know is that you will care about the central trio and you will want to watch all eight episodes to find out what happens to them.

Simmons and Spacek do a masterful job of portraying the deep, abiding love between Franklin and Irene, but it’s an imperfect love, just like in a real-life marriage, one complicated by the suicide of their son, which happened around the same time they found the portal.

Hansen, a Thai-Australian actor, holds his own against the two titans, making Jude sympathetic even though we’re not sure he can be trusted.

Even Byron, at first glance a mere busybody and thorn in Franklin’s side, turns out to have some levels to him.

Building sci-fi mythology can be tricky. The season ends with several cliffhangers, and it remains to be seen if writers Holden Miller and Daniel C. Connolly can make the resolutions as satisfying as the human storytelling, assuming they get more episodes.

In the meantime, “Night Sky” will likely bring pleasure to those for whom the journey is as important as the destination.

Short Takes

Alison Oliver and Joe Alwyn in “Conversations With Friends.” PHOTO CREDIT: Enda Bowe/Hulu

Conversations With Friends (May 16, Prime Video)

Your enjoyment of “Conversations With Friends,” the latest adaptation of a Sally Rooney novel, will depend in part on your tolerance for awkward characters who lack communication skills. Main protagonist Frances (newcomer Alison Oliver) is a Dublin university student and spoken word poet who, under the influence of ex-girlfriend turned best friend Bobbi (Sasha Lane, “American Honey,” “Utopia”), gets pulled into the orbit of 30-something author Melissa (Jemima Kirke, “Girls”) and her actor husband Nick (Joe Alwyn, “The Favourite”). Awkwardness attracts, and Frances and the also conversationally challenged Nick begin an affair while the outspoken Bobbi, a New York import, is attracted to the more extroverted Melissa. The entanglement has implications not only for the marriage but for Frances’s and Bobbi’s friendship. As you’ll know if you’ve watched the much lauded “Normal People,” these kinds of complications aren’t tied up in neat linear bows in a Rooney adaptation. But Nick and Alison are no Connell and Marianne; there’s less of an emotional pull to this coupling. It’s also hard to see what makes Bobbi so indispensable to Frances given that she’s not particularly nice to her. That being said, the cast makes the most of what they’ve been given to work with, and Oliver’s expressive face helps us decipher what the often silent Frances is thinking.

Prime Video also has Season 2 of the dark comedy “Made for Love,” starring Cristin Milioti, Billy Magnussen and Ray Romano; French-made Cold War romance drama “Totems”; and the documentary “The Kids in the Hall: Comedy Punks,” all on May 20.

Ryan and Kiki survey the house full of detritus they’ve just bought on “Hoarder House Flippers.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Screen grab/HGTV

Hoarder House Flippers (May 19, 8 p.m., HGTV)

I’m no real estate TV aficionado, but this Canadian show appears to up the ante on the renovation genre by featuring properties so full of junk it’s hard to tell where the renos need to begin. But that can mean an extra frisson of appreciation once the garbage-strewn rooms are transformed. In the episode I screened, married couple Ryan and Kiki tackled a filthy bungalow in Springbrook, Ontario (the dead mouse in a kitchen drawer was a particularly nice touch). Other episodes feature Quebec brothers Mactar, Issa and Khadim, and Manitobans Heather and Nathan. I’m not sure where future instalments will take the house flippers, but it’s probably a good thing they stayed out of Toronto, where real estate is something of a dirty word, for at least the first one.

George Carlin as seen in “George Carlin’s American Dream.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of George Carlin’s Estate/HBO

George Carlin’s American Dream (May 20, 8 p.m., HBO/Crave)

The jokes that George Carlin tells as this documentary opens, about Americans’ obsession with their rights and talent for warmongering, among other things, sound so relevant to the present day that you might have to remind yourself that the comedian died in 2008. And that’s partly the point of this two-part film, directed by Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio, that Carlin was in some ways a comedian ahead of his time. The doc delves deeply into the life and career of a man considered one of the greatest standups of all time, and it doesn’t leave out the bad parts: his dysfunctional upbringing, his cocaine use, his wife’s alcoholism, the career slumps. Even if you were already a fan, you might learn some new things and develop a new appreciation for a man who was as funny as he was — and is — politically and culturally relevant.

Crave also has the documentary “Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain”; the Sesame Street shows “Cookie Monster’s Foodie Truck” and “Elmo’s World”; and Season 7 of “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars.” all on May 20.

Odds and Ends

Emma and James in “Love on the Spectrum U.S.” PHOTO CREDIT: David Scott Holloway/Netflix

I can’t blame lack of screeners for my lack of Netflix reviews this week, just lack of time. Once again, the streamer has a lot of stuff coming out, including “Love on the Spectrum U.S.” (May 18), the American remake of the heartwarming Australian docuseries about people on the autism spectrum navigating dating and relationships. Also debuting: Season 2 of Japanese reality series “The Future Diary” (May 17); the Korean documentary “Cyber Hell: Exposing an Internet Horror” (May 18); Season 3 of Mexican crime drama “Who Killed Sara?” (May 18); comedy docuseries “The G Word With Adam Conover” (May 19); Season 2 of Spanish reality series “Insiders” (May 19); true-crime doc “The Photographer: Murder in Pinamar” (May 19); Season 3 of animated anthology series “Love, Death & Robots” (May 20); and Spanish revenge drama “Wrong Side of the Tracks” (May 20).

Apple TV Plus has the bilingual thriller series “Now and Then” (May 20), shot in English and Spanish, about the aftermath of a celebratory weekend that left one of a group of college friends dead.

Finally, Super Channel Fuse has the original series “Forgotten Frontlines” (May 16, 8 p.m.), about lesser known stories of World War II. The first episode covers the same topic as the Netflix movie “Operation Mincemeat,” when a corpse was floated off the coast of southern Spain to convince the Germans that the Allies planned to invade Greece instead of their real target, Sicily.

Watchable on Crave, Disney Plus May 9 to 15, 2022

May 9, 2022 /

SHOW OF THE WEEK: Hacks (May 12, 11 p.m., Crave)

Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder in Season 2 of “Hacks.” PHOTO CREDIT: Karen Ballard/HBO Max

What a relief when a show that you loved in its first season returns for its second and you find out that you still love it.

Such is the case with “Hacks,” the HBO Max comedy about an entitled Las Vegas comedian and the entitled young comedy writer she hires to try to freshen up her act.

When Season 1 ended, Deborah Vance (Emmy winner Jean Smart) had been cut loose from her cushy Las Vegas residency and, with the encouragement of writer Ava (Emmy nominee Hannah Einbinder), was experimenting with a more autobiographical style of comedy, with mixed results.

Season 2 opens where Season 1 left off, with Deborah and Ava flying back from Ava’s father’s funeral with a secret hanging like a Sword of Damocles over Ava’s head: after an argument with Deborah, a drunk and high Ava spilled Deborah’s worst traits in an email to two TV producers looking for dirt for a TV show character.

It’s only a matter of time until the secret comes out and when it does, Deborah doesn’t react the way Ava expects, by firing her.

Deborah’s cross-country tour — and Ava’s role in it — must go on, which is not at all the same as Deborah forgiving and forgetting. The ways in which she punishes Ava are as funny as they are mean-spirited.

But the revelation also means we can get on with the business at hand: Deborah and Ava renegotiating their place in comedy and with each other, two “selfish and cruel” women, in Deborah’s words, for whom the work is everything.

Getting the cards out on the table, unflattering though they may be, means that work can continue in an authentic way. There’s something to be said for examining the shitty parts of yourself, acknowledging them, then using them to your advantage.

Before long, Deborah has a new goal in mind, one that doesn’t involve getting upstaged by the birth of a cow at a state fair, and Ava will be along for the ride.

Speaking of being along for the ride, Carl Clemons-Hopkins returns as Marcus, Deborah’s chief operating officer, whose carefully controlled life starts to unravel in the wake of his breakup with Wilson.

Series co-creator Paul W. Downs (with Lucia Aniello and Jen Statsky) is back as Deborah’s and Ava’s hapless agent Jimmy, as is Megan Stalter as his completely inappropriate assistant Kayla.

Kaitlin Olson and Poppy Liu get some brief screen time as Deborah’s daughter DJ and favourite blackjack dealer Kiki.

And Laurie Metcalf steals scenes in a guest role as a tour manager nicknamed Weed.

Short Takes

A kitty gets some TLC from staff at RAPS Animal Hospital in “Pets & Pickers.” PHOTO CREDIT: Bell Media

Pets & Pickers (May 12, 9 p.m., Discovery)

This show is kind of like the TV equivalent of putting chocolate and peanut butter together, mashing up a couple of popular reality genres: shows about people hunting for treasure in piles of junk and shows about animals. It focuses on the RAPS Animal Hospital in Richmond, B.C. (RAPS stands for Regional Animal Protection Society). Its services include providing free and subsidized care to pet owners who can’t afford the treatment, which is where the picking part comes in. The staff of its RAPS Animal Hospital Thrift Store sort through the donated contents of abandoned storage lockers, hoping for big ticket items to sell, with 100 per cent of the proceeds helping sick animals. It’s standard reality TV fare, but if you like animals and/or thrifting you might enjoy it.

Lexi Underwood and Chosen Jacobs in “Sneakerella.” PHOTO CREDIT: Disney

Sneakerella (May 13, Disney Plus)

Sneaker culture forms the basis of an update of hoary old fairy tale Cinderella. Writers George Gore II, Mindy Stern, Tamara Chestna, David Light and Toronto-born Joseph Raso have turned the mistreated young woman who wins the heart of a prince into a young man living in Queens, New York (the movie was actually shot in Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario), with a talent for designing sneakers. But El (Chosen Jacobs, “It”) is kept toiling in the stockroom of his late mother’s shoe store by his stepfather (Bryan Terrell Clark) and selfish stepbrothers (Kolton Stewart and Hayward Leach). After a chance meeting with “sneaker royalty” Kira King (Lexi Underwood, “Little Fires Everywhere”), daughter of a basketball star turned sneaker tycoon, El creates a special pair of kicks to wear to the King company’s charity gala. His talent is the talk of the ballroom and presents Kira with a chance to impress her father and make her mark in the family business. But, you know, the clock strikes midnight, El and best friend Sami (Brantford native Devyn Nekoda) have to run, and Kira is left with one of El’s colourful shoes, lost in his flight. You can probably figure out how it goes from there without any spoilers from me. The movie’s on the saccharine side, with earnest lessons about being yourself and appreciating people for who they are, but it’s colourful and vibrant; the young cast gives it their all; and there are songs (albeit none that really stuck with me) and entertaining dance numbers. And if you’re a Toronto or Stratford theatre fan you’ll enjoy seeing Juan Chioran in the role of Gustavo, the gardener/fairy godfather.

Disney Plus also has the fantasy competition series “The Quest” (May 11), in which eight teenagers are dropped into a fictional world called Everealm and have to work together to defeat an evil sorceress and save the kingdom.

Harlan Blayne Kytwayhat and Jared Keeso in “Shoresy.” PHOTO CREDIT: Bell Media

Shoresy (May 13, Crave)

If you thought “Letterkenny” was the most idiosyncratic Canadian comedy you’d ever seen, get a load of “Shoresy.” Hatched, like the former, from the brain of Canadian actor Jared Keeso, it transplants the irreverent style honed on “Letterkenny” to an even more Canadian setting: a Northern Ontario hockey rink. The hapless Sudbury Bulldogs senior hockey team is about to fold when potty-mouthed Shoresy (Keeso) — known from his “Letterkenny” appearances for his prolific bowel movements and sexual chirps about other players’ mothers — brings in some ringers to try to keep the team afloat. The new recruits are Quebecers JJ Frankie JJ (Max Bouffard) and Dolo (Jonathan-Ismael Diaby), Newfoundlander Hitch (Terry Ryan) and Six Nations member Goody (Andrew Antsanen), plus three “tough natives” all named Jim (Jordan Nolan, Brandon Nolan, Jon Mirasty) to act as enforcers. I’ll be honest: I was a little worried this show would be all fart noises and crude jokes, but I should have known better than to doubt Keeso. Shoresy is but one part of a funny, quirky ensemble that includes Tasya Teles (“The 100”) as team manager Nat, Keilani Elizabeth Rose and Blair Lamora as Shoresy-baiting sisters Miigwan and Ziigwan, Harlan Blayne Kytwayhat as coach Sanguinet and Ryan McDonell as ex-coach Michaels. Plus, Canadian actors who’ve made names for themselves on other shows both comedic and dramatic make guest appearances, but I don’t want to spoil the fun by naming names. If you’ve developed a taste for F-bombs, fisticuffs and characters whose mouths are foul but hearts are in the right place, give your balls a tug and give “Shoresy” a shot.

Crave via HBO also has the new TV adaptation of the novel “The Time Traveler’s Wife” (May 15, 9 p.m.), written by “Doctor Who” and “Sherlock” mastermind Steven Moffat, and starring Theo James of “Downton Abbey” and “Sanditon” and Rose Leslie of “Game of Thrones” but — all together now — reviews were embargoed.

Odds and Ends

From left, Dave Foley, Bruce McCulloch, Kevin McDonald, Mark McKinney and Scott Thompson
in “The Kids in the Hall.” PHOTO CREDIT: Jackie Brown/Amazon Studios

The big news for Canadian comedy fans this week is that “The Kids in the Hall” sketch comedy show is back after a 28-year absence. It streams on Prime Video May 13, but reviews are embargoed until May 11.

The key Apple TV Plus debut this week is period drama “The Essex Serpent” (May 13), starring Claire Danes (“Homeland”) as a widow who travels from London to Aldwinter in Essex after hearing a mythical sea creature might be on the loose there, and Tom Hiddleston (“Loki,” “The Night Manager”) as a minister trying to tamp down the superstition. Reviews are under “strict embargo” until the evening of May 12, so I’m not even sure whether I can tell you I liked it. Apple also has Season 2 of sports series “Greatness Code” (May 13).

So Netflix has another crapload of stuff out this week. Only two shows were on my screeners list, Season 2 of “Bling Empire” and “The Lincoln Lawyer,” both out May 13. I watched the latter, but reviews are embargoed so, once again, not sure if I can say whether I liked it. And I’m not kidding about that. Also on tap: Chilean missing person drama “42 Days of Darkness” (May 10); Season 2 of gangster drama “Brotherhood” (May 10); the documentary “Our Father” (May 10); South African revenge drama “Savage Beauty” (May 12); Turkish comedy “The Life and Movies of Ersan Kuneri” (May 13); and Swiss family drama “New Heights” (May 13).

Finally, if you have a taste for the supernatural, APTN Lumi has “Shadow of the Rougarou” (May 9) based on Metis myths of a werewolf-like creature and set in the days before the 1885 North-West Resistance. It stars Morgan Holmstrom and Cody Kearsley, and features dialogue in English, Michif, Cree and Chinook Wawa.

Watchable on Crave, Prime Video May 2 to 8, 2022

May 2, 2022 /

SHOW OF THE WEEK: The Staircase (May 5, 9:50 p.m., Crave)

Colin Firth and Toni Collette as Michael and Kathleen Peterson in “The Staircase.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of HBO Max

Such is the imperative to feed the TV machine — an estimated 559 scripted series in 2021 and counting — that the medium has started cannibalizing itself, turning one of its most popular nonfiction forms, the true crime documentary, into drama.

There have been hits (“The Girl From Plainville”) and misses (“Joe vs. Carole”). Now comes “The Staircase,” which revisits the story told in the 2004 documentary of the same name about the 2001 death of Kathleen Peterson and subsequent murder conviction of her husband, Michael Peterson.

What makes this HBO Max series mostly work is that it’s as much a family as a crime drama, one that elucidates the human toll when the criminal justice system turns lives inside out and upside down.

Michael, in an excellent performance by Colin Firth, is very much the lead character here as he was in the docuseries, but the miniseries makes space for other members of the family, particularly Kathleen, played by the ever reliable Tony Collette, whom we see in flashback as the warm, energetic but stressed matriarch of an incredibly close blended brood.

The brood, as in real life, splinters after Michael goes on trial for first-degree murder. Kathleen’s daughter Caitlin (Olivia DeJonge) changes her mind about Michael’s innocence and sides with Kathleen’s sisters (Rosemarie DeWitt and Maria Dizzia) against him. His sons Todd (Patrick Schwarzenegger) and Clayton (Dane DeHaan), and adopted daughters Margaret (Sophie Turner) and Martha (Odessa Young) continue to support him, although not without an emotional cost.

Creator Antonio Campos, who also directed six of the nine episodes, doesn’t draw a conclusion as to Michael’s guilt or innocence. Indeed, in the five episodes made available for review, we see two versions of Kathleen’s death recreated: one in which she does indeed fall down the stairs, as Michael claimed; one in which Michael kills her after an argument over gay porn and emails to other men she discovers on his computer.

You will likely find your own opinion changing from episode to episode and scene to scene, not only as the prosecution (Cullen Moss as DA Jim Hardin and Parker Posey as assistant DA Freda Black) and defence (Michael Stuhlbarg as defence lawyer David Rudolf) lay out their cases but as you ponder what appears to be a close, loving relationship between Michael and Kathleen.

“The Staircase” also portrays the shifting, clashing viewpoints of the makers of the 2004 docuseries, including director Jean-Xavier de Lestrade (Vincent Vermignon), editor Sophie Brunet (Juliette Binoche) and producer Denis Poncet (Frank Feys). And it moves the action forward to 2017, when Michael pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in Kathleen’s death while maintaining his innocence (a circumstance known as an Alford plea) and was released from jail for time served, a development also covered by the doc makers in an addendum to their series.

Therein lies the weakness of “The Staircase,” that almost everything we see here has been extensively covered before. At the same time, a dramatization by a skilled cast can give a story resonance in ways a documentary telling can’t. You might feel you know it all, but Firth and his co-stars give you a reason to keep watching.

Short Takes

Giovanni Cirfiera as Capitano Riva and Emilia Fox as Sylvia Fox in “Signora Volpe.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Moris Puccio/AcornTV

Signora Volpe (May 2, Acorn)

It should be no surprise, given its appeal to an older, female demographic, that the Acorn streaming service features a subset of programming that could be described as “female detectives of a certain age.” This latest entry stars 47-year-old Emilia Fox (“Silent Witness”) as former MI6 agent Sylvia Fox (volpe means fox in Italian) who takes a work sabbatical and buys a house in Italy after a visit to her sister (Tara Fitzgerald, “Game of Thrones”) in the Umbrian town of Panicale. Naturally, Sylvia ends up getting drawn into local crimes, which she helps solve with a combination of smarts and nosiness. It doesn’t hurt that she’s caught the eye of handsome police captain Riva (Giovanni Cirfiera). This is escapist fare with an amiable lead, a beautiful setting and mysteries that are interesting but not overly demanding.

John Gallagher Jr., Jonathan Groff and Lea Michele at the 2021 “Spring Awakening” reunion concert. PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of HBO

Spring Awakening: Those You’ve Known (May 3, 9 p.m., HBO/Crave)

You should watch this one if you’re a fan of the Tony Award-winning 2006 musical “Spring Awakening,” of musical theatre in general or just shows that make you feel feelings. The documentary lets us be flies on the wall as the original cast reunites in 2021 for a one-night-only fundraising concert for the Actors Fund charity. Footage from the concert is interwoven with rehearsal footage, interviews and original performances of the musical’s rock songs. The show by Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik was a hit off-Broadway but was bombing on Broadway until its 11 Tony nominations in 2007 (it won eight, including Best Musical), after which it became a pop culture sensation. The cast — with a special emphasis on its two biggest stars, Jonathan Groff (“Hamilton”) and Lea Michele (“Glee”) — recall the joys and hardships of performing in a show that tackled adolescent sexuality, sexual molestation, abortion and suicide while many were still teenagers themselves. It was clearly a profound, life-changing experience, one that feels rewarding to revisit.

Rebecca Romijn as Number One, Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike and Ethan Peck as Spock in “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.” PHOTO CREDIT: Marni Grossman/Paramount Plus/ViacomCBS

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (May 5, 9 p.m., CTV Sci-Fi Channel/Crave)

If you’re feeling a little bewildered by all the “Star Trek” spinoffs, know that this is the one that feels the most like the original series. After becoming a fan favourite on “Star Trek: Discovery,” Anson Mount’s Captain Pike is in full command of the starship Enterprise, backed by faces and names you’ll recognize, including Spock (Ethan Peck), Number One, a.k.a. Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn), Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) and nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush). But because this is airing in 2022 and not 1966, there are plenty of regular characters who aren’t white, human males, including Christina Chong as security officer La’an Noonien-Singh, Melissa Navia as pilot Erica Ortegas, Babs Olusanmokun as Dr. M’Benga (whose character appeared in two episodes of the original series), Andre Dae Kim as transporter chief Kyle and Bruce Horak as Aenar engineer Hemmer. The series picks up after the events of Season 2 of “Discovery” when that ship and its crew jumped 930 years into the future but doesn’t dwell on that. “Strange New Worlds” mostly adopts a planet and/or alien of the week format, based on the five episodes that were made available for review. I’m not gonna lie: both “Discovery” and “Picard” became slogs after their first seasons. “Strange New Worlds” has the potential to become the most enjoyable of the new crop of shows if it can balance its earnestness with humour and camaraderie.

Murder victim Beverly Lynn Smith. PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of Prime Video

The Unsolved Murder of Beverly Lynn Smith (May 6, Prime Video)

Toronto Star reporter Wendy Gillis, one of the interview subjects in this four-part docuseries, nails what makes it compelling when she says, “There’s so much human emotion involved in this story.” It’s impossible not to feel the tragedy of the loss of Beverly Lynn Smith, who was 22 and the mother of a 10-month-old daughter when she was shot in the back of the head in her kitchen in Raglan, Ont., in 1974. The pain of it is still clearly very real for her family all these years later, particularly her twin sister, Barbra Brown. But the series, directed by Nathalie Bibeau (“The Walrus and the Whistleblower”), also devotes time to the main suspect in the case and the controversial tactics used in the police investigation. Having seen just two episodes, I can’t say what conclusion the series reaches, if any, but the case remains unsolved to this day.

Prime Video also has Season 2 of the teen girls stranded after a plane crash series “The Wilds” (May 6).

Odds and Ends

Mike Myers as Ken Scarborough and Richard McCabe as Exalted Pikeman Higgins in “The Pentaverate.” PHOTO CREDIT: Zoe Midford/Netflix

The Netflix premiere that’s bound to inspire the most curiosity if you’re a fan of Canadian comedian Mike Myers is “The Pentaverate” (May 5), his six-part series in which he plays multiple roles, including that of a Toronto reporter named Ken Scarborough who’s out to expose a secret society that’s been influencing world events since 1347. I didn’t get a preview so I can’t tell you if this is “Austin Powers” level stuff or another “The Love Guru.” Netflix also has the documentary “Hold Your Breath: The Ice Dive” (May 3); Season 4 of “The Circle” (May 4); Season 5 of Spanish prison drama “El Marginal” (May 4); docuseries “Meltdown: Three Mile Island” (May 4); Season 3 of Italian drama “Summertime” (May 4); its first Nigerian original series, “Blood Sisters” (May 5); “Clark” (May 5), about the criminal who inspired the term “Stockholm syndrome”; cute animal series “Wild Babies” (May 5); South Korean drama series “The Sound of Magic” (May 6) and Spanish drama “Welcome to Eden” (May 6), about a party on a remote island that goes bad.

I didn’t get a chance to screen Season 2 episodes of “Tehran” (May 6, Apple TV Plus), the Israeli spy drama about a Mossad agent (Niv Sultan) trying to carry out a dangerous mission in Iran, but I will definitely watch, having been a fan of the first season. Apple also has “The Big Conn” (May 6), a docuseries about a half-a-billion-dollar social security fraud in Kentucky, and “To Mom (and Dad) With Love” (May 6), its latest Peanuts special.

If you were a fan of the Prime Video detective drama “Bosch” you’ll want to follow Harry Bosch (Titus Welliver) in “Bosch: Legacy” (May 6, IMDb TV), in which the former LAPD cop is now a private detective working with his former enemy Honey Chandler (Mimi Rogers).

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 April 25 to May 1, 2022

April 25, 2022 /

SHOW OF THE WEEK: Ozark (April 29, Netflix)

From left, Skylar Gaertner, Sofia Hublitz, Laura Linney and Jason Bateman in “Ozark” Season 4.
PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of Netflix

SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers for the first part of Season 4 of “Ozark.”

Keep an eye on the women in the final heartbreaking episodes of “Ozark.”

The things they do for love of their families drive the twists and turns that make the show’s last seven episodes such an exhilarating ride.

Keep your eye in particular on Laura Linney, who is stupendous as Wendy Byrde, who we’ve watched over four seasons transform from disgruntled wife, mother and money launderer to ruthless criminal mastermind.

The key question is whether the Byrde family, including Marty (Jason Bateman), daughter Charlotte (Sofia Hublitz) and son Jonah (Skylar Gaertner), can free themselves from doing business with a Mexican drug cartel without getting killed, and resume a non-criminal life back in Chicago.

I won’t answer that question because it would be a major spoiler and I’m not allowed to discuss anything that happens in the series finale.

As Season 4 resumes, the Byrdes are trying to maintain the precarious deal they’ve struck with Javi (Alfonso Herrera), psychotic nephew of jailed cartel leader Omar Navarro (Felix Solis), and medical company CEO Claire Shaw (Katrina Lenk): Javi supplies the raw material for Shaw Medical’s opioids and Claire funds Wendy’s pet project, a family foundation that will give Wendy major political influence.

But everything is threatened by Ruth (Julia Garner), who’s out for revenge against Javi for murdering her cousin Wyatt and his heroin dealer bride Darlene. Ruth’s actions in Episode 8 tip the dominos that fall throughout the remaining six episodes.

There are other complications: Jonah is still furious with Wendy over the cartel hit on her brother Ben (Tom Pelphrey) and refusing to return to the family business; Ruth enlists old enemies of the Byrdes (and familiar faces from past seasons) to make a play for the Missouri Belle casino, imperilling their main means of laundering money for the cartel; a dangerous new player emerges in Omar’s sister and Javi’s mother, Camila (Veronica Falcon); and private detective Mel Sattem (Adam Rothenberg) is still poking around the Byrdes’ past, this time while investigating the disappearance of Ben.

That last complication brings Wendy’s estranged father, Nathan Davis, to town, a nasty, misogynistic, sanctimonious drunk ably played by Richard Thomas. Nathan is not only bankrolling the search for Ben; he’s threatening Wendy’s relationship with Jonah and Charlotte.

How Wendy responds to that threat allows Linney to do some of her finest acting in the entire series. It also allows a partial rapprochement with Ruth, who knows from horrible fathers, which only makes future developments all the sadder.

In its own twisted way, “Ozark” has always been about family and that continues to drive the plot, whether it’s Ruth trying to avenge a beloved cousin, Camila trying to do right by her son, or Marty and Wendy doing dangerous and morally reprehensible things to keep their children safe.

Those things continue to exact a terrible toll on the people around the Byrdes as well as on Marty’s and Wendy’s psyches. In these last episodes the masks slip: there are still vulnerable human beings behind Wendy’s coldly rational machinations and Marty’s bland efficiency.

It’s a welcome revelation and a reminder of where this all started: with a husband and wife navigating an impossible situation as best they could to keep their family alive. As to where they end up, you’ll have to watch to find out and it’s a wild ride.,

Short Takes

Jon Bernthal, right, as Sgt. Wayne Jenkins in “We Own This City.” PHOTO CREDIT: HBO

We Own This City (April 25, 9 p.m., HBO/Crave)

When “The Wire” debuted 20 years ago, it posited that the institution of policing, in one American city at least, was broken. Now its creator, David Simon, and his producing partner George Pelecanos are back to tell us nothing has changed. “We Own This City,” based on the book by journalist Justin Fenton, portrays the activities of corrupt officers in Baltimore’s Gun Trace Task Force, who in real life were jailed for stealing cash and drugs, planting evidence and claiming overtime they hadn’t worked. Jon Bernthal stars as Sgt. Wayne Jenkins, ringleader of the dirty cops but a hero to the brass for all the arrests his unit racks up — this at a time when many officers were refusing to even get out of their cruisers after charges were laid against the cops involved in the death of Freddie Gray. The series jumps around between showing the corrupt task force members in action between 2003 and 2017; the drug investigation that cracks open the task force case; the FBI investigation of the task force members; the efforts of one ill-fated homicide detective (Jamie Hector of “The Wire” and “Bosch”) to distance himself from his time with the task force; and the ultimately fruitless efforts of a civil rights lawyer from the justice department (Wunmi Mosaku) to have troublesome officers held to account. With all that ground to cover over just six episodes, “We Own This City” is not well suited to those with short attention spans, or a distaste for dense, complicated plotting and dialogue. It also occasionally gives way to speechifying, particularly in the segments involving Treat Williams as a police college instructor decrying the futility of the war on drugs. But it hits home when it turns it focus away from the preening, swaggering cops to the mostly poor and Black citizens hurt by their actions, like the father of three whose wrongful arrest and theft of that week’s pay leads to the loss of his job and a hole he might not be able to dig his way out of.

Sophie Rundle and Suranne Jones in Season 2 of “Gentleman Jack.” PHOTO CREDIT Aimee Spinks/HBO

Gentleman Jack (April 25, 10 p.m., HBO/Crave)

Good news for fans of this period drama based on the life of 19th-century diarist Anne Lister: Suranne Jones brings the same mix of humour and vivacity that made her portrayal of Anne such a delight in Season 1. In fact, the gusto with which Anne approaches her various activities is intensified, whether it’s overseeing renovations at family estate Shibden Hall, getting her coal mining business in order or running interference with the relatives of heiress Ann Walker (Sophie Rundle), who are scandalized by the fact she’s about to move in with Lister. Ann and Anne are also navigating their way through some bumps in their unofficial marriage, with Anne pushing for legal changes that will allow them to alter their wills and Ann coming to terms with Lister’s romantic past. I got to speak with Jones, Rundle and “Gentleman Jack” creator Sally Wainwright for the Toronto Star. You can read the story here.

Marilyn Monroe after her wedding to Arthur Miller, right, in “The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes. PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of Netflix

The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes (April 27, Netflix)

If you stream this documentary expecting a murder mystery involving transcendent but tragic movie star Marilyn Monroe you’ll be disappointed. Irish author Anthony Summers, on whose research the doc is based, has been clear that he doesn’t believe Marilyn was murdered and that she voluntarily ingested the pills that killed her on Aug. 4, 1962; whether it was suicide or a misjudgment of the dose is still open to interpretation. What the doc does explore is a potential coverup the night of her death due to her romantic relationships with both President John F. Kennedy and his brother, Attorney-General Robert Kennedy. Based on interviews conducted by Summers for his book “Goddess: The Secret Lives of Marilyn Monroe” — the audio of which, lip-synced by actors, constitutes the bulk of the film — it’s suggested that Bobby Kennedy visited her home and argued with Marilyn the day she died; that she was still alive when an ambulance got to her Brentwood house and that her body was returned there after she died on the way to hospital, and that members of the FBI scoured the house of any evidence of her connection to the Kennedys before the death was officially reported. The doc also touches briefly on Monroe’s life: a troubled childhood involving sexual abuse, spent in foster homes and an orphanage; her incredible fame and aspirations to be a serious actor; her unhappy marriages to baseball player Joe DiMaggio and playwright Arthur Miller. None of this will be new to people who are fans of Monroe, but at the very least it’s a reminder of how much was lost that night in 1962.

Netflix also has comedy special “David Spade: Nothing Personal” (April 26); “Bullsh*t The Game Show” (April 27), hosted by Howie Mandel; and the final episodes of “Grace and Frankie” (April 29).

Elisabeth Moss as Kirby Mazrachi in “Shining Girls.” PHOTO CREDIT: Apple TV Plus

Shining Girls (April 29, Apple TV Plus)

If you have no knowledge of the novel on which this series is based, you’ll think at first you’re getting a standard crime drama. Newspaper archivist Kirby (Elisabeth Moss, who also executive produced and directed at least one episode) gets pulled into a murder investigation in 1990s Chicago when it appears the victim has the same cross-shaped cuts on her stomach that Kirby suffered when she was attacked six years before. Working with reporter Dan (Wagner Moura in a sympathetic performance), Kirby discovers multiple potential victims of the same killer whose cases have been ignored by the police. But strange things are happening: Kirby has a cat one moment, a dog the next; her apartment number changes; she lives with her mom Rachel (Amy Brenneman) then suddenly has a husband, photographer Marcus (Chris Chalk). Then we see another woman murdered near the end of Episode 1, but she’s still alive in Episode 3. And there’s a killer (a creepy Jamie Bell) who doesn’t age and appears to be able to predict the future. All is eventually revealed, including the mysterious house that gives the killer his ability to play with time. With its shifting realities, the drama can sometimes feel a little unmoored, but Moss keeps us moving forward and interested in Kirby’s fate. The supporting cast includes Phillipa Soo, Christopher Denham and Moss’s “Handmaid’s Tale” cast mate Madeline Brewer.

Jay Baruchel is host and chief worrywart in the docuseries “We’re All Gonna Die.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Bell Media

We’re All Gonna Die (April 30, Crave)

If it’s possible to be cheerful while discussing the prospect of humanity’s annihilation then Jay Baruchel is your man. The actor and comedian hosts this six-part docuseries that examines various ways that humans could be wiped off the face of the Earth with humour and a sprinkling of f-bombs (as opposed to nuclear bombs, which are the subject of Episode 2). There are things here to give you pause — paleontologist David Evans’ description in Episode 1 of what happened the day a Manhattan-sized asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs is not for the faint of heart — but the point is made that fear of a thing is sometimes worse than the thing itself. Fearful or not, there’s no harm in giving a listen to what we might be in for. Other episodes deal with pandemics, alien invasion, volcanoes and climate change.

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. 

Watchable on Crave, W, Netflix, AMC April 18 to 24, 2022

April 18, 2022 /

SHOW OF THE WEEK: The Man Who Fell to Earth (April 24, 10 p.m., Crave)

Chiwetel Ejiofor as Faraday and Naomie Harris as Justin Falls in “The Man Who Fell to Earth.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Rico Torres/Showtime

The science fiction in this series sequel to the cult film “The Man Who Fell to Earth,” based on the Walter Tevis novel, can feel uncomfortably close to science fact.

It might be difficult for all but the most ardent UFOlogists to imagine beings from other planets walking among us, but when Anthean alien Faraday (Chiwetel Ejiofor) tells his reluctant human collaborator Justin Falls (Naomi Harris) that Earth has until 2030 before temperatures hit extinction level, it doesn’t feel all that far-fetched.

It also feels fitting that the extraterrestrial who represents Earth’s best hope presents as a Black man and his human companion is a Black woman. It’s a smart casting choice that gives a couple of terrific actors a chance to shine and there’s an implicit analogy in the fact that Black American men and women are often treated as aliens in their own country. (Although I’m not sure what it says that Faraday belongs to his planet’s drone or working class and his fellow ET, Thomas Newton, who is white, is an adept or teacher.)

When we first meet Faraday, we see him as the polished imitation of a human he has become, a self-described “tech god Willy Wonka” holding a theatre full of acolytes rapt, before cutting back to his crash landing as a yellow-eyed alien in the oil fields of Los Alamos, New Mexico.

He has answered the summons, 45 years later, sent out by Newton (played by David Bowie in the movie and Bill Nighy in the series). You’ll recall that Newton was originally sent to Earth to find water for his planet but never made it home, having been corrupted and abused by the earthlings he encountered. Now Anthea is on the brink of oblivion and only a few thousand inhabitants remain.

To save his world, and possibly Earth along with it, Faraday needs to access technology that Newton created and he needs to convince Justin, a disgraced former MIT scientist, to help him do it.

Meanwhile, the CIA, led by an agent named Spencer Clay (Jimmi Simpson), knows that someone new has fallen to Earth and is out to capture him.

And there are other complications. Faraday and Halls recruit a risk specialist named Hatch Flood (Rob Delaney) who lays out what would happen if alien technology allowed the world to quit its oil dependency cold turkey: complete chaos essentially.

That’s about as far as things get in the four episodes made available for review. In those episodes, Faraday begins to shift from wide-eyed, water-guzzling alien — his continual thirst is a source of humour along with his early attempts to learn English— to besuited visitor with a dazzling new energy technology to offer, while Justin begins to break free from the self-imposed prison in which she’s put her brilliant mind.

Obviously, TV and film productions about aliens are really about the human condition. “The Man Who Fell to Earth” posits both hope and threat in its initial episodes, which are driven by the charismatic performance of Ejiofor.

There’s also a strong supporting cast, which besides Harris, Nighy, Delaney and Simpson includes Clarke Peters, Kate Mulgrew and Sonya Cassidy.

It remains to be seen how far along the remaining six episodes take Faraday to fulfilling his mission and the series to fulfilling its promise, but it’s off to a good start.

Crave also has the well reviewed Robert Pattinson movie “The Batman” (April 18); the documentary “Cypress Hill: Insane in the Brain” (April 20); Season 2 of “The Flight Attendant” (April 21, 9 p.m.) with Cassie (Kaley Cuoco), sober and moonlighting as a civilian CIA asset; “Gaslit” (April 24, 9 p.m., Starz), a look at the Watergate scandal that focuses mainly on John Mitchell (Sean Penn) and his wife Martha (Julia Roberts); Season 3 of hitman comedy “Barry” (April 24, 10 p.m., HBO); and horror comedy “The Baby” (April 24, 10:30 p.m., HBO).

Short Takes

Brooklyn Letexier-Hart and Elle-Maija Tailfeathers in “Night Raiders.”

National Canadian Film Day (April 20, Crave, Super Channel, Hollywood Suite)

Although it’s a speck compared to the Hollywood behemoth to the south, Canada does have a national film industry, and some of the country’s broadcasters and streamers are celebrating it. The selection on Crave ranges from recently acclaimed Indigenous films such as Tracey Deer’s “Beans” and Danis Goulet’s “Night Raiders” to movies from internationally recognized auteurs like David Cronenberg (“Eastern Promises”) and Denis Villeneuve (“Incendies”). Super Channel has films on three of its channels — Fuse, Vault and Heart & Home — ranging from classics like the 1981 comedy “Porky’s” to 2020’s “Jasmine Road,” about a Syrian family taken in by an Alberta rancher, and 2007’s “The Stone Angel,” based on the Margaret Laurence novel about a cantankerous old woman who refuses to go gentle into that good night. Hollywood Suite, meanwhile, is focusing on Indigenous filmmakers with titles like Jeremy Torrie’s “The Corruption of Divine Providence” and “Indian Horse,” based on the Richard Wagamese novel about a residential school survivor. Check with the channels for times and to see the full selection.

Elle Fanning as Michelle Carter and Chloë Sevigny as Lynn Roy in “The Girl From Plainville.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Steve Dietl/Hulu

The Girl From Plainville (April 21, 9 p.m., W Network/StackTV)

This series is less a crime drama than a tragedy involving two broken young people. Over eight episodes it tells the story of the real-life case involving the suicide of 18-year-old Conrad Roy III, known as Coco to his family, and his 17-year-old girlfriend Michelle Carter, convicted of involuntary manslaughter for sending him texts encouraging him to kill himself. That Michelle sent the texts is not in dispute, but the drama — aided greatly by the excellent performance of Elle Fanning — makes a convincing argument that she was just as troubled as Conrad. Fanning portrays Michelle as a socially awkward, immature teen with no real friends and a tendency to lie or exaggerate to make herself seem interesting, And for a short period following Conrad’s death, Michelle is the centre of attention as the grieving girlfriend, practising a particularly performative type of grief. The show traces how she and Conrad (Colton Ryan) met in Florida while vacationing with their families and developed an intense two-year relationship founded almost entirely on texts, with the pair living about an hour apart in Massachusetts. Both were prescribed medication for their mental health issues; her for eating disorders, him for depression and anxiety after a previous suicide attempt. Would Conrad have eventually killed himself without Michelle egging him on? Impossible to say. His death is clearly a heartbreaking tragedy, both for the loss of his potential and the grief of his family (Chloe Sevigny is also excellent as his mother, Lynn Roy). Only the real Michelle Carter can say why she told Conrad to get back in his carbon monoxide-filled truck in July 2014 after he started to lose his nerve, and she never testified at her trial and has stayed out of the public eye since her release from jail in January 2020. But the drama makes it possible to see Michelle as a troubled human being rather than just a monster.

Alan Doyle gives Griff Rhys Jones a lesson in preparing cod tongue in “Griff’s Canadian Adventure.” PHOTO CREDIT: Blue Ant Media

Griff’s Canadian Adventure (April 21, 8 p.m., BBC First)

Welsh comedian Griff Rhys Jones would be the first to admit he can but scratch the surface in a travel series about “one of the largest slabs of the inhabited world,” but that doesn’t make his attempt to encapsulate Canada in these six episodes less entertaining. Only the first one was made available for review, in which Jones starts his almost 8,000-kilometre journey in Newfoundland, visiting spots like Conception Bay, St. John’s, Petty Harbour and Bell Island. The greatest hits are here — Signal Hill, the Jellybean Row Houses, moose, fish, kitchen parties — but also attractions that might not be top of mind, like the Bell Island iron ore mines, targeted by Hitler’s submarines in the Second World War. Jones is an engaging visitor, with an itinerary that includes Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, and British Columbia. (Sorry, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon, you didn’t make the cut.) At least he’s focused on Canada rather than “those noisy people in the basement,” as he calls Americans.

Odds and Ends

Bob Odenkirk as Saul Goodman in Season 6 of ” Better Call Saul.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Greg Lewis/AMC/Sony Pictures Television

“Better Call Saul” is the show I most wanted to preview this week, but the screener gods were not smiling on me. Nonetheless I have every confidence that the sixth and final season, which debuts April 18 at 9 p.m. on AMC and AMC Plus, is going to be worth the wait.

Another highly anticipated debut this week is Season 2 of “Russian Doll” on Netflix on April 20. The streamer also has the documentary “White Hot: The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch” (April 19); Spanish-language drama “The Marked Heart” (April 20); the Turkish thriller series “Yakamoz S-245” (April 20); the Japanese comedy series “He’s Expecting” (April 21); Season 5 of real estate reality show “Selling Sunset” (April 22); gay coming-of-age series “Heartstopper” (April 22); and French body-swapping drama “The 7 Lives of Lea” (April 22).

I didn’t screen the documentary film “Polar Bear” (April 22, Disney Plus) because reviews were embargoed until the debut, but I imagine it will be both beautiful and heartrending.

Prime Video has “A Very British Scandal” (April 22), companion to the Emmy-winning “A Very English Scandal.” Two-time Emmy winner Claire Foy (“The Crown”) stars as Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll, who was the subject of a vicious smear campaign during her 1963 divorce from the duke (Paul Bettany).

Apple TV Plus’s offerings this week include the docuseries “They Call Me Magic” (April 22) about basketball great Magic Johnson and “The Long Game: Bigger Than Basketball” (April 22) about player Makur Maker.

Finally, OMNI TV has “Abroad” (April 24, 8:30 p.m.), a new sketch comedy series starring Filipina comedian Isabel Kanaan.

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, BritBox April 11-17, 2022

April 11, 2022 /

SHOW OF THE WEEK: The First Lady (April 17, 9 p.m., Crave)

Viola Davis as Michelle Obama and O-T Fagbenle as Barack Obama, with Kathleen Garrett
as Laura Bush, in “The First Lady.” PHOTO CREDIT: Jackson Lee Davis/Showtime

“The First Lady” is the kind of show you really want to like. What could be more admirable than shining a light on the women behind the most powerful men in the United States, arguably the world, women who contribute to that power even if their contributions are largely unsung?

And to be sure, there are things to like here, beginning with the fact that three very capable actors, Viola Davis, Michelle Pfeiffer and Gillian Anderson, are portraying Michelle Obama, Betty Ford and Eleanor Roosevelt, respectively. All three women have clearly brought great care and attention to their roles.

Of the three, Pfeiffer’s performance is the one that seems the least like imitation.

Over the five (of 10) episodes I watched, I was often distracted by how Davis and, to a lesser extent, Anderson held their mouths; the former to sound like Obama; the latter to approximate Roosevelt’s overbite.

There’s also the fact that Betty Ford’s story is such a relatably human one, what with her breast cancer diagnosis and addiction to alcohol and pain pills. Pfeiffer does full justice to both the character’s vulnerabilities and strengths, bringing to life her grace, her warmth, her determination and also her frustration at the burdens of being a political wife. But her marriage to Gerald Ford (played by Aaron Eckhart) is portrayed as a loving partnership.

Alas, warmth isn’t a trait that comes through in the portrait of Obama, aside from depictions of the younger Michelle’s (Jayme Lawson) relationship with her parents. I’m not saying that women have to be warm and fuzzy, but Obama’s default in her interactions with Barack (O-T Fagbenle), his staff and her daughters seems to be stuck on formidable and fierce.

Anderson gives us Roosevelt’s great intelligence and energy, her insecurity about her “plain” appearance, her deep hurt over the discovery that Franklin (Kiefer Sutherland) was having an affair with her secretary, which shifted their marriage from a romantic to a platonic one.

Though it may be hard to see what these three women have in common, the show presents them as sharing a reluctance to be first ladies and pushing back against the expectation that, as such, they would content themselves with ladylike activities like decorating and gardening. It probably should be a shock that kind of sexism has persisted from 1932 through 2008 (and beyond), except it isn’t.

As I said, “The First Lady” is a show you want to like and it’s likeable enough as a standard sort of biopic treatment of three worthy women, but it never reaches the depths of really well done biographical fiction like “The Crown.”

Crave also has Season 4 of the “Things We Do in the Shadows” movie spinoff “Wellington Paranormal” on April 15.

Short Takes

Lucy Boynton, Jonathan Jules, Will  Poulter and Joshua James in “Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?”
PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of BriBox

Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? (April 12, BritBox)

Looking for something fun to watch? How about an Agatha Christie mystery in which a handsome young ex-naval officer and his aristocratic female friend try to answer the question of the title: “Why didn’t they ask Evans?” Those are the last words of a man whom Bobby Jones (Will Poulter, “Dopesick”) tries to help after he finds him dying at the foot of some cliffs in the Welsh seaside town of Marchbolt. It seems to be an open and shut case of accidental death, but then Bobby is poisoned and the photo he saw in the dead man’s pocket doesn’t match the one published in the local paper. He and his childhood friend Lady Frances Derwent (Lucy Boynton), a.k.a. Frankie, concoct a scheme to get inside the English countryside home of a man they suspect of switching the photos and possibly even pushing the victim off the cliffs. Along the way to a solution, there are more dead bodies and an attempt on the life of “Knocker” Beadon (Jonathan Jules), Bobby’s business partner in a used car dealership. The production has the distinction of being written and directed by actor Hugh Laurie, who also plays a small role as the director of a local asylum and a potential villain. Published in 1934, “Evans” is perhaps not one of Christie’s most revered books, but it makes for a lively three-part series with characters who are easy to root for and lovingly rendered period details.

Rupert Friend and Sienna Miller in “Anatomy of a Scandal.” PHOTO CREDIT: Netflix

Anatomy of a Scandal (April 15, Netflix)

This series is essentially a potboiler dressed up to look like prestige drama. Coming from prolific producer David E. Kelley and with a cast that includes Sienna Miller, Michelle Dockery of “Downton Abbey” and Rupert Friend (whom I so identify with “Homeland” that I kept referring to his character as Peter in my notes), it has style but falls short on substance. Friend plays James Whitehouse, a government minister caught cheating on his wife Sophie (Sienna Miller) with an underling who then accuses him of rape. Dockery plays Kate Woodcroft, the lawyer who prosecutes the rape case. “Scandal” has nothing enlightening to say about sexual assault or the liberties taken by powerful men. In fact, the victim in the rape case, Olivia (Naomi Scott), is a cipher, there mainly so the show can probe James’ and Sophie’s shared past as privileged Oxford students, a past that has relevance to Kate. James and his friend the prime minister (Geoffrey Streatfeild) were part of a nasty group of toffs back then called the Libertines, whose main purpose seemed to be drinking to excess and sexually harassing female students. The group’s activities take on added significance in the somewhat ridiculous ending to the show’s six episodes. By that point, however, you might not give a toss about what happens to James or Sophie.

There is a ton of other Netflix content out this week, including the women’s prison comedy “Hard Cell” (April 12); docuseries “Our Great National Parks” (April 13), narrated by former president Barack Obama; Season 2 of Argentinian comedy series “Almost Happy” (April 13); Brazilian comedy series “Smother-in-Law” (April 13); Spanish series “Heirs to the Land” (April 15) and the Indian crime drama “Mai” (April 15).

Kiernan Shipka in “Swimming With Sharks.” PHOTO CREDIT: Roku/YouTubbe

Swimming With Sharks (April 15, Roku)

This Hollywood drama is like a modern-day “All About Eve” in which the wide-eyed newbie is less interested in undermining the Hollywood star than in worshipping her. Kiernan Shipka (“Mad Men,” “The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina”) is Lou, who becomes an intern in the office of studio exec Joyce (Diane Kruger) and soon makes herself indispensable, albeit through sometimes drastic means. It becomes clear that Lou didn’t land in Joyce’s office by accident. It also becomes clear that Lou isn’t who she says she is. Joyce, meanwhile, is experiencing both personal and professional turmoil behind the icy demeanour: she’s battling to get a prestige literary film adaptation made while the racist and misogynist head of the studio (Donald Sutherland in a particularly unsavoury role) keeps a tight hold on the purse strings; and she’s trying to get pregnant with her philandering artist boyfriend (Gerardo Celasco). Meanwhile there’s psychosexual tension building between her and Lou, which culminates in them spending the weekend together at Joyce’s beach house, where Lou indulges a sexual fantasy of Joyce’s. It’s one of a number of lurid scenes that pop up in “Sharks,” some of which seem more like kinky window dressing than integral to the plot. In fact, the series as a whole, based on the 1994 film of the same name, can feel like empty calories. To make a show that posits Hollywood as a cutthroat place full of backstabbers and sycophants is nothing new. Though Shipka makes Lou extremely watchable, her twisted tale doesn’t add anything revelatory to that narrative.

Odds and Ends

Paul Rabliauskas and Darcy Waite in “DJ Burnt Bannock.” PHOTO CREDIT: APTN

You can get a double dose of comedian Paul Rabliauskas this week. The performer from Poplar River First Nation has a comedy special debuting on Crave, “Paul Rabliauskas: Uncle” (April 15), shot during the 2021 Just for Laughs festival in Montreal. He also co-stars in the web series “DJ Burnt Bannock” (April 11, APTN lumi). The comedy stars creator Darcy Waite as would-be DJ Kevin Cardinal, with Rablliauskas as his cousin Allan and Joy Keeper as his Kookum.

Prime Video seems quite bullish on its new neo-western/supernatural mystery “Outer Range” (April 15), which stars Josh Brolin and Canadians Tamara Podemski and Noah Reid of “Schitt’s Creek.” Reviews are embargoed until Wednesday.

I didn’t have time to screen more than one episode of “Roar” (April 15, Apple TV Plus), not enough to give it a fair review.

Sorry, but even if I’d had the time I wouldn’t have screened “The Kardashians” (April 14) on Disney Plus. Disney also has “Scrat Tales” (April 13), animated shorts starring Scrat from the “Ice Age” movies.

Finally, Global and StackTV have the new CBS competition series “Come Dance With Me” (April 15, 8 p.m.), in which young contestants partner with an untrained family member.

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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