Watchable July 5 to 11, 2021

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Short Takes

Monsters at Work (July 7, Disney Plus)

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

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

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

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

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

Odds and Ends

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

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

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

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

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

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

NOTE: The dates and times listed here reflect information provided to me and cross-checked where possible against broadcast and streaming schedules, but it’s always best to check listings for your own area. The selection of programs reviewed reflects what I’m given access to by networks and streamers, whether reviews are embargoed, how many shows I have time to watch and my own personal taste.