San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Summer a second chance to see 10 first-rate shows
It may not feel like it anymore, but summer is still the season when TV programming takes a bit of a breather and viewers can catch up on the shows they didn’t have time for or are only hearing about now.
Here are 10 hidden gems — smaller shows without the star power or marketing muscle of flashier competitors — that struggled to get noticed amid the content deluge.
1. ‘Angelyne’
“I am not a woman,” intones the titular buxom blonde who plastered herself, along with her signature Barbie-pink Corvette, on Los Angeles billboards in the ’80s and ’90s. “I am an icon,” she asserts, rather correctly.
For decades, Angelyne was a local legend — and a total mystery. Her billboards sometimes featured a phone number, but often just her name in huge letters. The five-part Peacock drama, about the search for the “real” Angelyne, is a deep show about surfaces, with an unrecognizable Emmy Rossum in an outstanding lead turn.
And if you’re feeling hesitant about signing up for another streaming service, just know that Peacock’s comedy lineup has seriously bulked up with the second seasons of “Girls5eva” and “Rutherford Falls” joining “We Are Lady Parts,” “Killing It” and the “Saved by the Bell” reboot. Streams on Peacock
2. ‘Dark Winds’
Based on Tony Hillerman’s mega-popular Leaphorn & Chee mystery novels, “Dark Winds” stars the incredibly versatile Zahn McClarnon (“Fargo,” “Reservation Dogs”) in his first lead role on a regular TV series as Leaphorn, a detective in the Navajo Tribal Police trying to find the common link between several disparate crimes.
Set in ’70s New Mexico and boasting an all-Native American writers room (as well as a nearly
all-Indigenous cast), the show’s lovingly crafted portrait of a Navajo community more than makes up for the occasional snags in the procedural. Airs on AMC; streams on AMC Plus
3. ‘The Deep End’
TV has no shortage of cult content, but “The Deep End” offers a unique and irresistible hook: A spiritual influencer’s team hires a private investigator to determine if their leader is, in fact, running a cult. The fourpart docuseries is uneven, and yet mesmerizing in its later episodes, as it captures the possible disintegration of selfhelp guru (and self-professed clairvoyant) Teal Swan’s inner circle, with members forced to confront the parallels between their group dynamics and those of more traditional cults.
In contrast to most other entrants of its genre, “The Deep End” filmed its subject close to her full power, producing a rare glimpse of a savvy narcissist in the act of justifying to her underlings her ludicrous expectations of their self-sacrifice. Aired on Freeform; streams on Hulu
4. ‘My Brilliant Friend’
Easily one of the best dramas currently on television, the Italian-language adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s celebrated
novels ran headlong into the
’70s and the women’s movement in its moving, decade-spanning third season. Centered on two childhood friends who can’t help comparing their lives over the years, the series suddenly finds Lila (Gaia Girace) and Elena (Margherita Mazzucco), who both grew up on the outskirts of a war-torn Naples, on the opposing sides of a class divide against a political backdrop of newly energized populist violence.
The women only ever dreamed of escaping the deprivation and indignity of their humble origins. The epic scope of the series helps illustrate that, no matter their accomplishments or circumstances, true freedom for Lila and Elena remains elusive. Aired on HBO; streams on HBO Max
5. ‘P-Valley’
The first season of “P-Valley,” the superb strip-club drama created by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Katori Hall, debuted in summer 2020. COVID-19 takes center stage in Season Two, as the Black women and queer folk who work at — and occasionally find refuge in — the show’s Mississippi club struggle to stay afloat in a pandemic economy.
An excellent ensemble, beautifully realized characters and urgent social critique continue the series’ mission to humanize sex workers and celebrate their creativity, independence and hustle while empathetically depicting their fight not to be pigeonholed by their line of work. Airs on Starz
6. ‘Single Drunk Female’
Not a scene is, uh, wasted in “Single Drunk Female,” a witty and compact sobriety journey that depicts getting dry as a second adolescence. Based on creator Simone Finch’s experiences with alcoholism, the YAcrossover comedy features a complicated mother-daughter relationship (enlivened by Ally Sheedy and Sofia Black-D’Elia, respectively), freshly drawn characters, intense charisma from its ensemble and pitchperfect sendups of pop feminism and clickbait journalism.
It avoids didacticism by portraying protagonist Sam’s journey as singularly hers — as a cynical writer who isn’t sure what she’s like or who she’s really friends with when she doesn’t have a bottle in her hand. Aired on Freeform; streams on Hulu
7. ‘Somebody Somewhere’
Bridget Everett headlines a winsome cast in this hushed yet detailed half-hour drama about a woman who returns to her hometown of Manhattan, Kan., and discovers in middle age there might be a place for her there after all. It’s not an original premise, but the show populates the “Little Apple” with such memorable (queer) characters and lived-in production choices that the mustiness instantly dissipates. Manhattan feels simultaneously like Everytown and a special oasis; small wonder the series was renewed for a second season. Aired on HBO; streams on HBO Max
8. ‘This Is Going to Hurt’
This British import starring Ben Whishaw is likely the funniest series ever made about the tragedies that arise from hospital underfunding and the hideous injustices of a two-tier medical system based on who can afford to opt out. Whishaw, who won an Emmy three years ago for his jumpy turn as the tortured target of a powerful closeted member of Parliament (played by Hugh Grant) in “A Very English Scandal,” is worthy of another one for his performance as Adam Kay, an overworked OB/GYN whose burnout leads to questionable decisions and professional negligence. Streams on AMC Plus
9. ‘Undone’
After a three-year hiatus, “Undone,” the Rotoscoped multiverse series from “BoJack Horseman” alums Raphael Bob-Waksberg and Kate Purdy, returned to little fanfare. That’s unfortunate, since the trippy yet intimate adult cartoon, about a 30-ish woman (Rosa Salazar) who learns to go back in time and prevent her father’s (Bob Odenkirk) death — or who may just be having a schizophrenic break — boasted a deliriously great sophomore outing.
An ambitious follow-up that explored family secrets, inherited trauma and strained sisterhood, “Undone” remains one of the most poignant and visually gripping shows on TV. Streams on Amazon Prime Video. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post.
10. ‘We Own This City’
It’s strange to think of an HBO series with David Simon’s imprimatur — especially one that drew copious comparisons to “The Wire” — as a neglected underdog. But “We Own This City,” which dramatizes a 2015 Baltimore police scandal and examines how law enforcement practices shifted (largely for the worse) after the death of Freddie Gray, seems to have gotten lost in the flood of prestige programming in April and May. Its singular ambitions and tragically realistic depiction of civic necrosis make the series hard to shake.