Billy Campbell in title role in Hulu’s ‘Cardinal’
The official start of summer is still five days off. But some viewers may take refuge in the frozen North with “Cardinal,” streaming today on Hulu.
Billy Campbell (“Once and Again”) stars in the title role as detective John Cardinal. Like so many television detectives, he’s been dragged back into the fold after the discovery of a long-missing girl whose remains are found frozen in a block of ice.
He and his not-quite trusting Quebecois partner, detective Lise Delorme (Karine Vanasse), begin entertaining notions that the girl’s death may not have been an isolated event. A search for a serial killer or killers sets “Cardinal” in motion for its six-episode arc.
Canada’s CTV has already renewed this series for a second and third season. Based on Giles Blunt’s novel “Forty Words for Sorrow,” “Cardinal” hardly reinvents the detective genre, but Campbell slides easily into the role of a brooding cop of few words. Watch this with the air-conditioning turned way up.
NOW ON NETFLIX
Now streaming on Netflix, the documentary “Counterpunch” (TV-MA) follows three amateur boxers eager to make their mark in a sport that has fallen in esteem in the eyes of many sports buffs. They look to return boxing to its more prestigious past.
Netflix also begins streaming the third season of “The Ranch” (TV-MA), a multicamera family comedy with an enviable cast that includes Ashton Kutcher, Danny Masterson, Sam Elliott and Debra Winger.
The tale of a talented but undisciplined football washout (Kutcher) returning to the family farm, his overlooked brother (Masterson) and his disappointed dad (Elliott) has moments of dramatic pathos frequently interrupted by sitcom-worthy gags and patter. It’s a series worth watching for its potential and for the talent on-screen. But that’s not to say it’s worth following.
‘REIGN’ ENDS
War divides Mary and Elizabeth on the series finale of “Reign” (9 p.m., CW, TV-14). I’m hardly shocked that this series is ending. I’m more surprised that it lasted for four seasons. A doomed hybrid of a prettyyoung-teen melodrama, “real” history and the production values of a costume drama “gravel cruncher,” this was often too complicated to follow and too shallow to care about.
Folks in search of something similarly misbegotten can find it in ABC’s “Still Star Crossed.” Try to catch it while you still can. It debuted to historically low ratings.
WATERGATE REVISITED
“20/20” (9 p.m., ABC) recalls the Watergate scandal on the eve of the 45th anniversary of the June 17, 1972, break-in that inspired the cover-up that unraveled a presidency.
This retrospective also arrives after two Senate hearings over the past two weeks have revealed a large television audience for live gavel-to-gavel coverage of breaking news about alleged Oval Office transgressions.
The parallels, real and imagined, between recent events and Watergate recall Karl Marx’s oft-cited remark, “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce.”
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
› Coverage of the second round of the U.S. Open Golf Tournament (6 p.m., Fox).
› Auditions continue on “America’s Got Talent” (8 p.m., NBC, repeat, TV-PG).
› Lodgings and small portions on “Shark Tank” (8 p.m., ABC, repeat, TV-PG).
› An undercover FBI agent (Johnny Depp) gains the trust of a mobster (Al Pacino) to infiltrate a New York mob family in the 1997 drama “Donnie Brasco” (8:30 p.m., Viceland). Based on a true story.
› Little cakes loom large on the seventh-season premiere of “The Great British Baking Show” (9 p.m., PBS, TV-PG). A second episode (10 p.m., TV-PG) follows.
› A vow of secrecy may prevent vital evidence from emerging on “Blue Bloods” (10 p.m., CBS, repeat, TV-14).
› On the trail of a fugitive on “MacGyver” (8 p.m., CBS, repeat, TV-PG).
› The season premiere of “So You Think You Can Dance” (9 p.m., Fox, repeat, TV-14).
› Klaus needs Vincent’s help on “The Originals” (8 p.m., CW, TV-14).
› Chin’s niece falls into the
wrong hands on “Hawaii Five-0” (9 p.m., CBS, repeat, TV-14).
› “Dateline” (10 p.m., NBC). Contact Kevin McDonough at kevin.tvguy@gmail.com.