Anonymous paternity issues explored
Tales of mysterious paternity are as old as time. And as frightening as science fiction. The responsibility and anonymity of sperm donors has been a theme explored in several recent documentaries as well as on the short-lived Fox series “Almost Family,” itself a remake (don’t call it a clone) of an Australian series.
Produced by Jason Momoa, “Future People: The Family of Donor 5114” begins streaming Saturday on Discovery+. Filmed over eight years, it finds more than 37 half-siblings fathered by the same sperm donor. Many of the children, now teens, have curiosity about their biological dad, and some display similar attributes. We also meet a group of the mothers who bore children with 5114’s sperm. As you can expect, whenever you put a bunch of teens together with a documentary film crew, you’re going to get high emotions, tears and drama. Not to mention a need for a reveal in the third act. Teenage histrionics aside, just what are the responsibilities of Mr. 5114? He helped make their lives possible, but some of those interviewed think he should have thought about the consequences of his anonymity. Just what does he owe them?
› Is America ready for a serial killer channel? Probably yes. But so many outlets want a piece of that particular brand of grim action, it will probably never happen. Just this weekend, you can watch “Rifkin on Rifkin: Private Confessions of a Serial Killer” (7 p.m. Saturday, Oxygen, TV-14). Also on Oxygen, there’s “Catching a Serial Killer: Bruce McArthur” (7 p.m. Sunday, TV-PG). Oxygen is part of NBC Universal’s cable universe and is largely invested in true-crime series aimed at women addicted to being scared.
Also in the NBC wheelhouse, Peacock, the new(ish) streaming app, offers a whole series based on America’s most notorious killer clown — “John Wayne Gacy: Devil in Disguise.” Over on Netflix, “Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer” is only one of its many series dedicated to that grim genre. It also streams “Hannibal,” originally broadcast on NBC. CBS has revived the “Silence of the Lambs” character for its new series
“Clarice.” Over on Fox, “Prodigal Son” plays with the Clarice/Hannibal relationship but keeps it in a family way. The long-running CBS series “Criminal Minds” was dedicated to the hunt for serial killers. Even one of its stars (Mandy Patinkin) thought the show was too sick. A revival has been announced and will stream on Paramount+.
Help yourself!
› Making TV dramas is hard. But there are certain rules. Create situations that make sense and characters that people care about, and establish consequences for their actions. You can watch the whole first episode of “The Nevers” (9 p.m. Sunday, HBO, TV-MA), a new limited series created by Joss Whedon, and never quite figure out what the heck is going on.
A slow, belabored and stylized opening scene sets the action in Victorian London, or somewhere. Then something cosmically weird happens, and people are changed. Somehow.
Some emerge as bold women with super(ish) powers and a knack for steampunk gadgetry.
“The Nevers” is what you get when you sacrifice storytelling on the altar of comic book sensibility and digital effects. It’s a ghastly bore. It’s embarrassing to see something this stupid on HBO.
› Using a wealth of period news footage, archived and contemporary interviews, the four-part series “The People v. the Klan” (9 p.m. Sunday, CNN) looks at the case of a young Black man lynched in Mobile, Alabama, in 1981. In addition to recalling the painfully slow process of achieving justice in a city with a history of racial oppression, a KKK underground and a police force implicated in earlier incidents, “People” looks both backward and forward, showing parallels between the 1981 case, the 1955 murder of Emmett Till and the killing of George Floyd in 2020.