Telekinetic teen hits small screen

At desperate times like these, it’s good to be reminded that one person can make a difference. A telekinetic high schooler, grieving lover, ambitious law firm, frantic father and spiritual climber offer a variety of inspiring lessons in this new offering of TV recommendations.

Carrie (series premières Wednesday, Oct. 7 on Prime Video)

Famously over-the-top filmmaker Brian De Palma (Phantom of the Paradise, Dressed to Kill, Scarface) directed the 1976 Carrie into its status as one of the scariest films of the time and beyond. It became better known than the debut horror novel by Stephen King from which it was adapted. It even trumped the three adaptations that followed. This new TV series looks ready to challenge that supremacy. Taking the title role made famous by Sissy Spacek, Manitoba actress Summer H. Howell (see Randall King’s interview at wfp.to/carrie) plays a homeschooler thrilled to finally be allowed to attend public high school. But when the mean girls begin circling and blood manifests in scary new ways, the new girl’s telekinetic potential blossoms in spectacular fashion. Also of horrific note as Halloween approaches: Below (Netflix miniseries premièring Thursday) stars Josh Hartnett as a fisherman trying to protect his family and town from a mysterious sea creature; Eternally Yours (sitcom premièring Thursday, Oct. 8, on CBS/Global) is a new vampire comedy; and Crystal Lake (thriller series premières Oct. 15 on Crave) stars Linda Cardellini (DTF St. Louis) as Pam Voorhees, single mom of a tormented kid named Jason, in this Friday the 13th origin story. Boo!

 

Small Prophets (series Canadian première Wednesday, Oct. 7, on Apple TV)

Canadian fans of British TV have been champing at the bit for this quirky series since its acclaimed U.K. première in February. It’s a shaggy, quietly hilarious character study in the vein of Detectorists (2014-22, AcornTV), both of which were created by Mackenzie Crook (Pirates of the Caribbean), who also starred in Detectorists and plays a supporting role in Small Prophets. When the new story opens, Michael Sleep (Detectorists’ Pearce Quigley) is living a life of quiet desperation, visiting his father (Sir Michael Palin) and pining for the return of his disappeared beloved, Clea. Until, that is, Dad shares a loony alchemical recipe that sparks hope in Michael that he might be able to summon spirits to then summon Clea to … the garden shed? Not as creepy as it sounds? A tale of hope, frustratingly indirect action, meddlesome and ineffectual neighbours and, of course, true, true love.

 

Cupertino (series premières Thursday on CBS/Global)

Creators Robert and Michelle King (The Good Wife, Elsbeth) have created a new legal drama about a firm defending the brilliant nobodies exploited by tech billionaires. It will be fun to see Mike Colter, who plays lead counsel, have more fun than he was allowed in the likes of Evil and Luke Cage.

 

Animals (movie premières Friday, Oct. 9, on Netflix)

Ben Affleck is tough to bet on. He and his projects can be great (Good Will Hunting, The Tender Bar), especially when he is both star and director (Argo, The Town). Or his stuff can be a little shaky (Gigli, Pearl Harbor). He does double duty in this new story of a politician trying to retrieve his kidnapped son. Based on early peeks, it looks like it could lean badly, but co-stars Kerry Washington and Gillian Anderson are two reasons to give it a try.

 

Tenzing (film premières Friday, Oct. 16, on Apple TV+ )

In 1953, Nepalese Tenzing Norgay and New Zealander Edmund Hillary became the first to summit Mount Everest — at 8,849 metres, the world’s highest peak above sea level. For Norgay, played by Genden Phuntsok, it was a pilgrimage to the peak he called Chomolungma. For Hillary (The Night Manager’s Tom Hiddleston) and the British team commander Col. John Hunt (Willem Dafoe), it was about bragging rights for the empire. Promises stunning photography, dramatic climbs, a warm love story between Norgay and wife Dawa (Thinley Lhamo) and dramatically competing personal narratives.

As is increasingly the case in this world of media mergers and cross-border rights squabbles, broadcast details are subject to change. All questions, comments and suggestions gratefully accepted at denise.duguay@winnipegfreepress.com.