Families should feast on Netflix’s ‘Anne With an E’
Netflix launches a new adaptation of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s 1908 novel “Anne of Green Gables,” an eight-part limited series from Canada, titled “Anne With an E.” It’s darker and grittier than some fans might expect. But, like its main character, it’s also frequently funny in strange, unexpected and even enchanting ways.
Young actress Amybeth McNulty makes an indelible impression as the 13-yearold Anne, an orphan adopted entirely by mistake by unmarried brother and sister Marilla (Geraldine James) and Matthew Cuthbert (R.H. Thomson). They had wanted to get a boy to help with farm chores and do some of the heavy lifting for the pair, well into middle age and entirely too set in their ways. The arrival of the dreamy and irrepressibly talkative Anne turns their quiet lives upside down.
Anne simply chatters on, regardless of the gravity of any situation. She’s besotted with moody historical romances and addicted to stories and powerful flights of fancy. As she states early on, she would “rather imagine than remember.” And dark flashbacks to her life as an orphan and hired hand show that she has much to forget.
In lesser hands, Anne’s precocious behavior and fountains of flowery rhetoric, combined with her backstory as an abused orphan, would lead viewers to believe that the young character might be emotionally disturbed. But this Anne is simply hard not to love. The dark flashbacks add depth to a pleasant character who might otherwise seem insipid or overbearing.
The stoic and pious Marilla makes a show of resisting Anne’s charms, but Matthew is smitten from the get-go. And I think viewers will be as well.
MACHO MAGNETISM
Amazon launches the dark comedy “I Love Dick,” based on a 1997 novel by Chris Kraus. Kathryn Hahn stars as Chris, a frustrated filmmaker marooned with her pretentious author husband, Sylvere (Griffin Dunne), at an academic conference in a dusty Texas town. Chris seems on the verge of a nervous breakdown after a film festival rejects her latest effort, but then falls under the spell of the art colony’s enigmatic leader, Dick (Kevin Bacon).
A fierce New York feminist, Chris is strangely attracted to this macho man of few words, most of them hostile, or at least passive-aggressive. Created by the team behind “Transparent,” this has the feel of a serialized “indie” movie, filled with self-involved characters who are hard to love, or even like.
CELEBRATED ‘MASTER’
Also launching today on Netflix, the second season of Aziz Ansari’s comedy “Master of None,” following the life of a sporadically employed 30-ish actor, often cast and typecast because of his Indian-American identity. The winner of a Critics’ Choice, Peabody and Emmy Award.
HISTORY DOC
Netflix also begins streaming the documentary “Get Me Roger Stone” a profile of a controversial political consultant whose career goes back decades to his work for President Nixon. Stone and the former host of “The Celebrity Apprentice” were mentored by Roy Cohn, a ruthless counsel for Sen. Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s and a lawyer for several New York Mafia families in the 1970s.
TONIGHT’S SEASON FINALES
› The squad breaks up a sex-trafficking ring on “Hawaii Five-O” (9 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
› An entrepreneur proposes franchised art studios on “Shark Tank” (9 p.m., ABC, TV-14).
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
› Baseball fans click on “First Dates” (8 p.m., NBC, TV-PG).
› “Motherboard” (9 p.m., Viceland, TV-14) looks at smart gun technology.
› Charles Barkley hosts “American Race” (9 p.m. and 10 p.m., TNT, TV-14) concluding tonight.
› Real-life cases on “48 Hours: NCIS” (10 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
› A rock star travels with his roadies on “Undercover Boss” (8 p.m., CBS, TV-PG).
› Bottled-up feelings on “Lucifer” (8 p.m., Fox, repeat, TV-14).
› A doll celebrates curly hair on “The Toy Box” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-PG).
› Voodoo on “The Originals” (8 p.m., CW, TV-PG).
› “Dateline” (9 p.m., NBC,
TV-PG).
› A shady lawyer’s last case on “Lethal Weapon” (9 p.m., Fox, repeat, TV-14).
› A disaster has aftershocks for Mary on “Reign” (9 p.m., CW, TV-14).
› “20/20” (10 p.m., ABC). Contact Kevin McDonough at kevin.tvguy@gmail.com.