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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Short Takes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Odds and Ends

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

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

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

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

NOTE: The listings here are in Eastern Standard Time and I’ve verified the times where possible, but it’s always best to check listings for your own area. The selection of programs reviewed reflects what I’m given access to by networks and streamers, whether reviews are embargoed, how many shows I have time to watch and my own personal taste. The Odds and Ends section includes shows that I have not watched.