‘The Nevers’ brings fantasy to Victorian London
Aspy makes his way through a volatile pre-wall Berlin, Mark Wahlberg fans get to follow the actor through his very busy days, and a special group of women shake up Victorian London.
Dispatches: Weekly TV news
• HBO has announced a month-long “Iron Anniversary” to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the series premiere of “Game of Thrones.” It includes an interactive “Game of Thrones” spotlight page on HBO Max.
Contenders: Shows to keep on your radar
• Horror anthology series “Them” premieres on Amazon. The first season is set in the 1950s and focuses on a Black family who move to an all-white neighborhood in Los Angeles where evil forces, both next door, and supernatural, threaten to destroy them.
• Filmed over eight years, “Future People:
The Family of Donor
5114” (Discovery+) follows a group of young men and women who discover that they were conceived from the same sperm donor. The film explores the complex world of alternative conception and the shifting notions of family.
• Victorian London is shaken after a mysteri
ous supernatural event gives (mostly) women extraordinary abilities. “The Nevers” (April 11, HBO, 9 p.m. ET) focuses on this new underclass of gifted people, called “The Touched,” and the two women who vow to protect them from annihilation.
• In 2014, Peter Liang, a Chinese American police officer shot and killed an innocent, unarmed Black man named Akai Gurley in Brooklyn, New York. “Down a Dark Stairwell” (April 12, PBS “Independent Lens,” 10 p.m. ET) chronicles the shooting of Gurley and the trial and conviction of Liang. The film examines the experiences of two marginalized communities and puts a spotlight on race, policing and justice in America.
• “Our Towns” (April
13, HBO, 9 p.m. ET) highlights how civic and economic reinvention are transforming small cities and towns across the United States. Based on the bestselling book, “Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey into the Heart of America,” the documentary features local initiatives that are putting communities on new paths to the future.
• Mark Wahlberg fans get a look inside the life of the actor/entrepreneur in six-episode documentary series, “Wahl Street” (April 15, HBO Max). The series follows Wahlberg as he maintains and expands his business portfolio while juggling a film schedule and the challenges of the pandemic.
• The setting is Berlin, 1961, shortly before the construction of the Berlin Wall. The city is full of spies and double agents, as well as American, British and French troops who are separated from their Soviet and East German counterparts by an imaginary line. Into this volatile mix, an English spy (Dominic Cooper) is sent to find a traitor. “Spy City” premieres on April 15 on AMC+.
Report Card: Ratings winners and losers
Winners: “Miss Scarlet & the Duke” (PBS “Masterpiece”) will be back for another season.
Losers: “Bless the Harts” (Fox) will not return for a third season.
Melissa Crawley is the author of “Mr. Sorkin Goes to Washington: Shaping the President on Television’s ‘The West Wing.’” To comment, email staytuned@outlook.com or follow her on Twitter at @ mcstaytuned.