‘Strange Angel’ to debut
Subscription streaming service CBS All Access began with more familiar titles — “Star Trek: Discovery,” the excellent “Good Wife” spinoff, “The Good Fight” — but now it’s branching out with original series not based on any pre-existing properties.
That includes “$1,” about characters in a small town connected by a $1 bill, which began production a few months ago and will film in Western Pennsylvania through the summer. “$1” is expected to debut late this year.
On Thursday, CBS All Access debuts “Strange Angel,” based
on the book by George Pendle and inspired by the real-life story of Jack Parsons (Jack Reynor), a chemical factory worker in 1930s Los Angeles who dreams of building rockets capable of ferrying humans to the moon.
The show’s setting and scientific testing milieu bring to mind the canceled WGN America drama “Manhattan,” but “Strange Angel” gets off to a slow, grinding start.
Jack partners with Cal Tech professor Richard Onsted (Peter Mark Kendall) to begin his rocketry experiments when a new neighbor moves in next door to Jack and his wife, Susan (Bella Heathcoate).
Neighbor Ernest Donovan (Rupert Friend, “Homeland”) is odd, mysterious and seductive — and he turns out to be a member of a religious cult that Jack eventually gets pulled into, but that doesn’t really start to happen until episode three.
Susan was raised a devout Catholic so surely that will bring some conflict eventually, particularly because her father, whom she works for, doesn’t really like Jack and mocks his rocketry hobby that drains their funds rather than helping to pay the mortgage.
There’s a potentially interesting story at play in “Strange Angel,” but it sure doesn’t reveal itself quickly. And in today’s 500-scripted TV series environment, it’s too big an ask for producers to insist on viewer patience. In its early going, “Strange Angel” just isn’t strange enough to warrant sustainedviewer interest.
Of local note
Turtle Creek native Jonathan Olshefski’s documentary film “Quest,” about the joys and challenges of a North Philadelphia family, makes its television debut at 10 p.m. June 18 on PBS’s “POV.”
Kept/canceled
TV Land renewed the just-returned “Younger” for a sixth season.
Netflix will bring back “13 Reasons Why” for a third season in 2019.
E! canceled serial “The Arrangement” after two seasons.
Bravo canceled “Imposters” after two seasons.
After moving the premiere of “Heathers” from April to July, Paramount Network has canceled the series altogether, although it is being shoppedto other outlets.
Freeform canceled “Shadowhunters,” which will conclude with a final batch of episodes and a two-hour series finale in 2019.
Channel surfing
Netflix’s “Orange Is the New Black” returns for its sixth season on July 27. … Comcast added 42 international channels available via Xfinity X1 available starting at $6.99 per month. Details at xfinity.com/international. … The “Harry Potter” films segue from Freeform to Syfy, which will air all eight movies fromJuly 13 to July 16.
Tuned In online
This week’s podcast includes conversation about “Pose,” “C.B. Strike” and the Roseanne Barr and Samantha Bee controversies. Subscribe or listen to Pittsburgh Post-Gazette podcasts at iTunes or at https://soundcloud.com/ pittsburghpg.