Home-shelter in style with these May shows
So your shelter-in-place routine has had you mainlining televised fare at a world-record pace. And now you’re convinced that you’ll soon run low on mustsee shows.
No worries. Unlike toilet paper and hand sanitizer, engaging TV programs remain in ample supply. Here are some of the May shows that have us the most intrigued, in order of their airdates.
“GEORGE W. BUSH” >> The latest installment of the documentary series “American Experience” looks back on the life of the 43rd U.S. president and his tumultuous years in the White House. The two-parter features insights from historians, journalists and members of the president’s inner circle, including chiefs of staff Andy Card and Joshua Bolten, speechwriter David Frum, press secretary Ari Fleischer, senior adviser Karl Rove and others. (9 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, PBS)
“THE EDDY” >> From “La La Land” director Damien Chazelle, this music-infused drama series is set in modern-day Paris. Once a celebrated jazz pianist, Elliot Udo (André Holland) is now the co-owner of struggling club The Eddy, where he manages the house band fronted by lead singer and on-again, off-again girlfriend Maja (Joanna Kulig). His life becomes much more complicated when he gets tangled up with dangerous criminals while fighting to protect his business, his band and his teenage daughter. (May 8, Netflix)
“I KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE” >>
Mark Ruffalo doubles his pleasure and puts on an acting clinic in this six-part miniseries based on Wally Lamb’s bestselling novel. The 1990s-set story focuses on identical twin brothers Dominick and Thomas Birdsey
(both played by Ruffalo), whose lives take very different paths, due to Thomas’ struggles with paranoid schizophrenia. (9 p.m. May 10, HBO)
“CALL YOUR MOTHER” >> Hearty laughs mix with warm memories in this timely documentary featuring interviews with comedians who discuss the bond they share with the parent they credit with being their greatest inspiration. Among the jokesters appearing in the film are Louie Anderson, Awkwafina, Jimmy Carr, Bridget Everett, Rachel Feinstein, Judah Friedlander, Jim Gaffigan, Judy Gold, Norm Macdonald, Jim Norton, Tig Notaro, Yvonne Orji, Kristen Schaal, David Spade and others. (10 p.m. May 10, Comedy Central)
“ASIAN AMERICANS” >> Producers are heralding this five-hour documentary series as “the most ambitious television chronicle of the Asian American story to
date.” Starting in 1850 and moving into present day, it examines the contributions and challenges they have faced. Included: Interviews with politicians, historians, celebrities and other prominent members of the Asian American community. (8 p.m. May 11, PBS)
“UNBREAKABLE KIMMY SCHMIDT: KIMMY VS. THE REVEREND” >>
Yes, Ellie Kemper’s goofy sitcom ended more than a year ago, but Kimmy returns for more adventures in this interactive special. The story follows Kimmy, along with Titus (Tituss Burgess), Jacqueline (Jane Krakowski) and Lillian (Carol Kane), as they hunt down the man (Jon Hamm) who held Kimmy captive in a bunker for 15 years. With your remote, you can choose how the storylines play out. (May 12, Netflix)
“BASKETBALL COUNTY: IN THE
WATER” >> Former Golden State Warriors Kevin Durant and
Quinn Cook are among the executive producers of this documentary that examines how and why Durant’s birthplace of Prince George’s County, Maryland, has become a hotbed for elite hoop stars. Since 2000, the county just outside the nation’s capital has spawned some 25 NBA players, more than a dozen WNBA players and countless others who have competed at top universities. (9 p.m. May 15, Showtime)
“SNOWPIERCER” >> Daveed Diggs and Jennifer Connelly lead the cast in this post-apocalyptic sci-fi saga inspired by the film directed by Oscar-winner Bong Joon Ho (“Parasite”). Set more than seven years after the world has become a frozen wasteland, the series focuses on the remnants of humanity who inhabit a perpetually moving train, with 1,001 cars, that circles the globe. Class warfare, social injustice and the politics of survival play out along the way. (9 p.m. May 17, TNT)
“HIGHTOWN” >> Set on Cape Cod, this eight-part drama series follows a hard-partying National Marine Fisheries Service agent (Monica Raymund) who has her freewheeling life thrown into disarray when she discovers a body on the beach — another casualty of the region’s opioid epidemic. The ensuing trauma pushes Jackie to take the first steps toward sobriety — until she becomes convinced that it’s up to her to solve the murder. (8 p.m. May 17, Starz)
“HOMECOMING” >> Julia Roberts isn’t back for Season 2, but the stylish thriller returns with a fresh mystery and a new star in Janelle Monáe. She plays a military veteran who wakes up in a rowboat adrift on a lake, with no memory of how she got there — or even who she is. Her ensuing search for identity leads her to Walter (Stephan James), who, when last seen, had escaped a very unconventional transition facility for soldiers run by the insidious Geist Group. (May 22, Amazon Prime)
“SPACE FORCE” >> Steve Carell cocreated, and stars in, this cosmic comedy. He plays a four-star general who reluctantly teams up with an eccentric scientist (John Malkovich) to get the U.S. military’s newest agency ready for liftoff. The cast also includes Lisa Kudrow, Jimmy O. Yang, Ben Schwartz and Jane Lynch. (May 29, Netflix)
“LAUREL CANYON” >> Music lovers won’t want to miss this fascinating documentary series that pulls back the curtain on a mythical Southern California community and provides an intimate look at the lives of the musicians who inhabited it. Included: interviews with Jackson Browne, Don Henley, Michelle Phillips, Graham Nash, Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt, Roger McGuinn and more. (9 p.m. May 31, Epix)