Get ready for time travel and the return of Kutcher
This week’s new TV options present us with a tale of two timebending dramas and a bunch of other stuff. So let’s go.
MONDAY, OCT. 3 Timeless (10 p.m., Global, NBC)
The first show that messes with time is an old-school time-travel show, in which a trio are tapped to jump into a barely functional backup time machine to chase a bad guy who is messing with the past and altering the future — dramatic pause — of America! Or is the bad guy, played by Goran Visnjic (ER), really the good guy? For the next time-altering show, jump to Wednesday.
TUESDAY, OCT. 4 Kim’s Convenience (9 p.m., CBC)
The CBC press site describes this sitcom, about a Toronto convenience store run by a Korean-Canadian family, as “heartfelt” and focused on a father-son estrangement. The trailers, however, are frustratingly short, quippy oneliners. We shall see.
WEDNESDAY, OCT. 5 Frequency (9 p.m., CW and WPIX)
The second new time-altering show this week doesn’t use a time machine, or not exactly. Based on the movie of the same name from 2000, it features a ham radio that magically connects Det. Raimy Sullivan (Peyton List, Mad Men) to her dad (Riley Smith, Nashville) on the day of his death 20 years earlier. Can she save him? And what about the collateral rips that all close film and TV watchers know are certain to follow?
THURSDAY, OCT. 6 Firsthand (9 p.m., CBC)
Season 2 of this documentary series begins with Road to Mercy, profiling a handful of patients and doctors navigating medically assisted death in Canada and Belgium, including Quebec City doctor Louis Roy, who once opposed the now legal process.
FRIDAY, OCT. 7 13th (Netflix.com, after midnight)
This documentary takes its name from the U.S.’s 13th Constitutional Amendment, which forbids slavery “except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.” Those words are the lens through which producer/director Ava DuVernay (Selma, Queen Sugar) explores the African-American experience of a justice system long stacked against them. The trailer alone took my breath away.
SATURDAY, OCT. 8 The Ranch (Netflix.com, as of Oct. 7)
As of press time, there’s not much more than the info gleaned from Ashton Kutcher’s July 27 tweet, confirming rumours of new episodes of his modern Western sitcom, a Netflix original that debuted six months ago. But simple confirmation is good enough for me to look forward to a Saturday devoted to more stories of the Colorado ranching clan. Is mom (Debra Winger) gone for good? Will dad (Sam Elliott) resist falling apart this time? And how will the adult sons (co-producers Kutcher and Danny Masterson, from That ‘70s Show) navigate this latest Bennett implosion? I mean, other than by drinking and engaging in one-night stands? The first 10 episodes were a refreshing mix of seriocomic character sketches and startling tenderness played out in a traditional sitcom frame.
SUNDAY, OCT. 9 Divorce and Insecure (10-11 p.m., HBO)
Two new half-hour comedies deserve your attention tonight. The first pairs familiar TV faces Sarah Jessica Parker (Sex and the City) and Thomas Haden Church (Wings, Sideways) as a couple in mid-breakup. Molly Shannon (SNL) also stars. The second, from creator/writer/star Issa Rae, follows the careers and love lives of a wannabe rapper and a successful lawyer.
That’s it for me this week. Got a question? Spot an error? Find me, tell me. And remember, we do our best but times and dates are subject to change. See you in two weeks.