Watch It TV: Demons, spooks and Sopranos

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This article was published 31/08/2024 (722 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Back to school still, even in this streaming age, also means a return to too many television choices, which is a good problem to have. But allow a brief diversion before the usual array of new arrivals that look worthy of checking out.

There is no justice in the world that finally delivers the classic 1990s Baltimore police procedural, Homicide: Life on the Street, but on the U.S.-only Peacock app. Some of you will be accessing it via VPN, but we protest: unfair, universe, unfair. The late Richard Belzer and Andre Braugher are among the stars of this sweaty, brilliant snapshot of life in and outside a Baltimore squadroom based on the razor-sharp non-fiction book of the same name.

There is justice, however, in the arrival Sunday, Sept. 1 of the complete coming-of-age comedy series Reservation Dogs, Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi’s tag-along with four Indigenous teens with big dreams and heavy losses. Previously available only on Disney+ in Canada, it is now available on Crave. This show deserves to be seen by as many people as possible. Good and good for your heart.

Now then:

● The Deliverance

(Movie streaming as of Aug. 30 on Netflix)

Don’t you hate it when you move into a new place and the previous tenant leaves behind a dirty bathroom? Or worse, an infestation of evil? Apostle Bernice James arrives to help a single mom who must “face down her demons to save her children’s souls.” Lee Daniels’ latest is based on a true story and stars Andra Day, Mo’Nique, Omar Epps, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor and Glenn Close in one of her more creepy roles.

 

●Slow Horses

(Season 4 premières Wednesday, Sept. 4, on Apple TV+)

Of course the threat levels are critical, this being the world of the dishevelled British “intelligence” agents of Slough House a.k.a. Slow Horses, as created in the novels of Mick Herron. But this time, ripped from the pages of book No. 4, Spook Street, Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman) and company are facing the very stylish “monster” danger of Frank Harkness (Hugo Weaving, regrettably labouring under an awkward accent). Throw in a terror bombing, a very clumsy chase scene and, for those in the audience new to the franchise, some brand new derision for flatulent old Lamb via Agent Emma Flyte (Ruth Bradley). Oh and what’s this about “one of my team just died,” as uttered by Lamb in the trailer? New episodes weekly through Oct. 9.

 

●Wise Guy: David Chase and the Sopranos

(Two-part documentary premières Saturday, Sept. 7, on HBO Crave)

If not for mobster Tony and The Sopranos (1999-2007), would we have the antiheroes we’ve since grown to love, hate and demand, from Breaking Bad’s Saul Goodman and Villanelle in Killing Eve to every single character in the late, great Succession? Also consider that no studio but the then-nondescript cable channel HBO wanted David Chase’s bullet-riddled and compassionate portrait of a New Jersey family in the sanitation business. Chase, Michael Imperioli, Lorraine Bracco, Edie Falco et al. tell all to documentarian Alex Gibney. Then go rewatch the six-season series on Crave. Still my favourite series finale. Fight me.

 

● The Old Man

(Season 2 premières with a double episode on Thursday, Sept. 12, on FX, next day on Disney+)

In the first season, two years ago, part of the appeal of this series was in watching slowpoke old man Dan Chase (Jeff Bridges) uncoil, however reluctantly, into the ferocious ex-CIA agent he once was. That freshman season wobbled before righting itself in the end as Chase and friend/foe Harold Harper (John Lithgow) panicked at the fate of young Emily Chase (Alia Shawkat). Season 2 finds Emily in the hands of a powerful Afghan tribal leader. And let’s just say she’s buying in bulk ahead of Father’s Day. Amy Brenneman returns as the old man’s girlfriend, but with a few new moves of her own. Oh and is that Bridges on a horse in FX’s poster for the show? No matter how ridiculous the story required to get us there, please.

 

● How to Die Alone

(Series premières with the first four episodes on Friday, Sept. 13, on Disney+)

“Sometimes the things that hold you back and slow you down are actually the things you need to take off.” However much this looks like a peek inside my Instagram feed, it is the challenge that desperately unhappy Mel (Natasha Rothwell) embarks on after “an accidental brush with death.” Looking forward to more from the actor we loved in Insecure and The White Lotus in what appears to be a gentle, comic skewering of self-help culture.

 

Broadcast dates subject to change. Questions, comments to denise.duguay@winnipegfreepress.com.