Top picks for TIFF’s Primetime program
Festival programmer Michael Lerman sifts through peak TV for festival section
Michael Lerman has, arguably, the toughest job in the golden age of television.
He has to figure out what TV shows to present as part of the Toronto International Film Festival’s Primetime program.
This is the second year the Toronto film festival has chosen to honour TV as an art form with its own curated section.
Lerman’s problem is that there are 419 new and original scripted English-language series to choose from in 2015. That’s not including returning series or reality TV, which would more than triple that figure. Then add in the best of TV from the rest of the world.
“My partner jokes that when she goes to bed I’m watching TV and when she wakes up I’m still watching TV,” says Lerman, Primetime programmer and also acting head of programming for the festival. (The first Primetime presentation, Czech miniseries Wasteland, is on Friday at 10:15 a.m.)
Peak TV means that there is more to watch than ever, which means, as FX network president John Landgraf has said, that some of the good stuff ends up crowding out the great stuff. But Lerman says that’s not a bad problem to have.
“If those are our only two options, then we’re in great shape,” says Lerman.
“I wish I did have space for all the good stuff as well as the great stuff. There are people out there making some really great art in the world of television.”
The 2016 works chosen by Lerman include series from Canada, the Czech Republic, Kenya, South Africa, the United States and the U.K., featuring creators and showrunners such as Jill Soloway, Charlie Brooker, Jim Chuchu, Stepan Hulik, Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol. Here are a few of Lerman’s picks with his comments. Black Mirror (Created by Charlie Brooker; U.K./ South Africa; world premiere; two episodes presented)
“Black Mirror is a very popular, almost underground show in the U.K. that moved to Netflix. This season is bigger and bolder. It’s Twilight Zone for the technological age. The cast is fantastic. Some of the stuff is very unique and even nastier in a different way.” Transparent (Created by Jill Soloway; U.S.A.; world premiere; three Season 3 episodes presented)
“Lots of people have said many things about Transparent already. But having had the privilege of seeing Season 3 in its entirety, I can say with absolute certainty that this is the best season by far. It’s really incredible, emotional and just brilliant.” Wasteland (Created by Stepan Hulik; Czech Republic; world premiere)
“It’s a really wonderful miniseries from the team behind (critically acclaimed Czech miniseries) Burning Bush. What’s really great is that it’s got a mystery edge to it. It’s more social realism, less mystical in a way, but manages to blend those two elements brilliantly. And it’s full of great performances.” nirvanna the band the show (Created by Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol; Canada; world premiere; three Season 1 episodes presented)
“Matt Johnson turned his web series into a show for VICE. It’s somewhat absurdist, it plays with structure, each episode is very different in many ways and it showcases what they can do with the show.
“And it also interacts with the real world. It uses the rules set up by Borat and Jackass interacting with real people blended in. It mocks the real world in a really interesting way.” Tuko Macho (Created by Jim Chuchu; Kenya; two episodes presented)
“This is a web series created by some really brilliant Kenyans. What they do is shoot an episode and have an audience interact with the episode in the way you would have an audience interact with the show like American Idol, but with fictional characters.
“In this case, the society decides whether these criminals which are snatched from the streets of Nairobi live or die. It also lets the public that’s watching the show decide what will happen to the criminal in the next episode. It has the creepiness of Big Brother, but with really genius political and social commentary. What’s also cool is that we are going to do a live vote with the audience at TIFF at one of the shows.”