Netflix debuts ‘Anne’ and ‘Comedians’
“Anne With an E” returns for a second season, streaming on Netflix. A remarkable, family-friendly Canadian series known as “Anne” north of the border, it stars young Amybeth McNulty as the character made famous by the “Anne of Green Gables” novels written by Lucy Maud Montgomery more than a century ago.
An orphan adopted by an unmarried brother and sister, Marilla (Geraldine James) and Matthew Cuthbert (R.H. Thomson), Anne’s more than a handful. An irrepressible romantic with a head full of poetry, she gushes about every butterfly and sunset, uttering the kinds of things young girls usually confine to their diaries or novelists muse about in dense purple passages.
This mingling of interior monologue and actual dialogue makes for jarring moments and comical situations between Anne and her classmates and the farmhands helping Marilla and Matthew with the harvest. For viewers, Anne continually dances on that fine line between enchanting and disturbed, precocious and annoying, romantic and absurd. A young actress playing a solitary reader and hopeless dreamer, McNulty often has to perform completely by herself, expressing wonder and awe. It’s a difficult job that she performs admirably.
In addition to its almost impossibly earnest heroine, “Anne” is radically PG-rated, but unafraid to dwell on the darker aspects of Anne’s past or society’s capacity for cruelty, particularly toward romantic souls.
NETFLIX’S NETWORK FAVES
New Yorkers Phil Rosenthal and Jerry Seinfeld both hail from just outside of Manhattan. And both used their ability to channel middle-class neurosis into the hit sitcoms “Everybody Loves Raymond” and “Seinfeld,” respectively.
So what do you do for an encore after your shows have made you famous and rich beyond measure? How do you relate to regular viewers fully aware of your status? How do you remain “normal” to them?
Both appear in Netflix series entering new seasons tonight. “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” has Seinfeld interviewing fellow funny men and women in classic cars and going to diners, restaurants and locations central to each guest’s life and reputation.
Nine seasons of “Comedians” streamed on Crackle. In this 10th season, the series’ first on Netflix, Seinfeld chats with caffeinated celebrities including “Saturday Night Live” stars Dana Carvey, Kate McKinnon and Tracy Morgan, as well as Dave Chappelle and the late Jerry Lewis.
Since “Raymond,” Rosenthal has been hit by the travel bug, appearing in the documentary “Exporting Raymond,” about the pitfalls of translating the Ray Romano sitcom for a Russian audience. He also starred in the PBS food-travel series “I’ll Have What Phil’s Having,” now slightly reworked for Netflix as “Somebody Feed Phil,” whose second season premieres today.
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
› An old acquaintance spells trouble on “Quantico” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-14).
› A single mom takes her son camping, only to find sparks flying with the dad in the cabin next door, in the 2017 romantic comedy “Campfire Kiss” (8 p.m., Hallmark, TV-G).
› John Quinones hosts “What Would You Do?” (9 p.m., ABC).
› The discovery of a shipwreck raises suspicions of hostile locals on “Cooper’s Treasures” (9 p.m., Discovery, TV-PG).
› Gang violence invades a school courtyard on “Blue Bloods” (10 p.m., CBS, repeat, TV-14).
› Jewel appears on “Undercover Boss: Celebrity Edition” (8 p.m., CBS, repeat).
› Miami qualifiers of “American Ninja Warrior” (8 p.m., NBC, repeat, TV-PG).
› On two episodes of “Masters of Illusion” (CW, TV-14), Xavier Mortimer (8 p.m.), Naathan Phan (8:30 p.m., repeat).
› A suspect’s anguish strikes a chord with Grover on “Hawaii Five-0” (9 p.m., CBS, repeat, TV-14).
› Aspiring illusionists appear on “Penn & Teller: Fool Us” (9 p.m., CW, repeat, TV-PG).