May’s small-screen highlights
Edie Falco is a police chief and Elle Fanning’s Catherine the Great in shows debuting next month. James Croot looks at some small-screen highlights.
If the lockdown has seen you run through all your favourite viewing options, never fear, May has a range of tempting new treats for you to binge on. Amazon Prime Video boasts the second season of the critically acclaimed psychological thriller Homecoming (May 22, with Janelle Monae taking over from Julia Roberts), and also debuts a documentary series about DEA agent Enrique ‘‘Kiki’’ Camarena, The Last Narc (May 15).
Netflix’s vast lineup of new stuff includes Steve Carell comedy Space Force (May 29), the second season of the Christina Applegate-starring Dead to Me (May 8), true crime documentary series Trial By Media (May 11) and Australian comedian Hannah Gadsby’s latest standup show, Douglas (May 26).
Over at Sky TV, the delayed Mark Ruffalo drama I Know This Much is True (May 11, SoHo) finally arrives and US comedian Rob Riggle tracks down some of the world’s greatest legends and mysteries in Rob Riggle: Global Investigator (May
12, Discovery).
Meanwhile, on free-to-air TV, Prime is offering Griff Rhys Jones’ latest adventures on Griff’s Great Australian Rail Trip (May 3) and TVNZ2 has a ‘‘Rivals’’ season of My Kitchen Rules (TBC) and will broadcast the best entries from the recent
VF48Hours Lockdown Film Competition (May 8). Sister channel TVNZ1 will have the second season of Race Across the World (TBC), Lucy Lawless’ new Australian mystery series, My Life is Murder (May 1). TVNZ OnDemand’s new highlights include Kiwi improv comedy show Snort: Live (May 21) and new, local reality series Survive the 80s (May 28).
However, after looking through May’s schedules, Stuff has come up with a list of a dozen shows well worth checking out.
Billions (SoHo, May 7)
The Good Wife’s Julianna Margulies and House of Cards’ Corey Stoll join the cast for the fifth season of this critically acclaimed and popular New Yorkbased drama.
Expect plenty more fireworks between Damian Lewis’ financial titan Bobby Axelrod and Paul Giamatti’s political high flier Chuck Rhoades.
Central Park (Apple TV+, May 29)
New, animated musical series that tells the story of how a family of caretakers, who live and work in the New York landmark, end up saving the park, and basically the world.
The impressive vocal cast includes Kristen Bell, Tituss Burgess, Josh Gad, Stanley Tucci, and Kathryn Hahn.
Dispatches From Elsewhere (Amazon Prime Video, May 8)
The lives of four seemingly ordinary people are changed forever when they stumble on to a puzzle hidden behind the veil of everyday life, in this 10-part anthology drama.
Creator Jason Segel also stars alongside Andre Benjamin, Sally Field and Richard E Grant.
The Eddy (Netflix, May 8)
La La Land writer-director Damien Chazelle is one of the producers and directors of this musical drama about a club owner struggling to deal with the everyday chaos of running a live music venue in the heart of Paris.
Featuring dialogue in English, French and Arabic, it will also showcase music by Glen Ballard and Randy Kerber.
Evil (Lightbox, May 6)
Luke Cage’s Mike Colter plays a former journalist studying to be a Catholic priest in this new series from the creators of The Good Wife. His character teams up with a sceptical forensic psychologist (Westworld’s Katja Herbers) to investigate supposed supernatural incidents.
‘‘Offering thoughtful debates about religion and more, Evil could be a new kind of TV animal: the philosophical procedural,’’ wrote Entertainment Weekly’s Kristen Baldwin.
Flesh and Blood (TVNZ1, May 3)
Four-part British drama that revolves around three siblings whose lives are disrupted when their recently widowed mother declares she’s in love with a new man. Imelda Staunton, Francesca Annis, Stephen Rea and Russell Tovey are among the actors involved.
‘‘Envy, turmoil and resentment make for the perfect recipe,’’ wrote The Guardian’s Lucy Mangan.
The Great (SoHo2, May 18)
Oscar-nominated The Favourite screenwriter Tony McNamara takes on a very different royal family in this satirical series that focuses on the rise of Russia’s Catherine the Great.
Elle Fanning plays the young woman hoping for love and sunshine, who instead finds a dangerous, depraved, backward world that she resolves to change. All she has to do is kill her husband, beat the church, baffle the military, and get the court onside.
Hollywood (Netflix, May 1)
American Horror Story and Pose creator Ryan Murphy’s latest series follows a group of aspiring actors and film-makers in post-World War II Hollywood as they try to make it in Tinseltown – no matter what the price.
The cast includes Darren Criss, Samara
Weaving, Mira Sorvino, Dylan McDermott, Rob Reiner, Jim Parsons, and Queen Latifah.
Normal People (TVNZ OnDemand, April 30)
Daisy Mescal-Jones and Paul Jones team up for this 12-part adaptation of Sally Rooney’s much loved and critically acclaimed 2018 novel about the complex friendship and relationship between two Irish teenagers, Connell and Marianne. ‘‘Captures the beauty and brutality of first love perfectly,’’ wrote The Guardian’s Lucy Mangan.
Tommy (Lightbox, May 8)
The Sopranos’ and Nurse Betty’s Edie Falco returns to TV in this drama about a former high-ranking NYPD officer who becomes Los Angeles’ first female Chief of Police. ‘‘Falco presides over all of this with aplomb,’’ wrote Paste magazine’s Amy Amatangelo. ‘‘She’s instantly believable, instantly real. You’ll root for her take-no-prisoners Tommy, be frustrated for her, question her decisions, and admire her decisiveness.’’
Trying (Apple TV+, May 1)
Rafe Spall and Esther Smith join forces for this eight-part sitcom about a couple who decide to adopt a baby when they are unable to conceive themselves. However, between their dysfunctional friends, screwball family and chaotic lives, do they really stand a chance of being approved to become parents?
Upload (Amazon Prime Video, May 1)
Former The Simpsons, King of the Hill, Parks and Recreation and The Office US writer Greg Daniels’ latest project is a science-fiction comedy set in a future where humans are able to ‘‘upload’’ themselves into their preferred choice of afterlife.
‘‘Despite being a story tackling themes of capitalism and loss of privacy, Upload is at heart deeply human and deeply funny,’’ wrote Collider’s Adam Chitwood.