Like AC for your brain

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This article was published 30/07/2016 (3597 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s the August long weekend — the unofficial midpoint of an always-too-short summer, which means it’s time to grab onto all the sunshine and heat we can before the hard meteorological truth of our unfortunate geographical reality forces us inside for another eight months of blanket-warmed binge-watching.

So maybe — and nobody would blame you if this is the case — television is the last thing on your mind. But even during our fleetingly flurry-less four-month break from winter, there will be times when it’s too hot, too wet, too cool, too muggy or too buggy to be outside. And that’s where our semi-regular feature Life Is But a Stream comes in, with another six-pack of binge-worthy titles that can be found on this country’s streaming-content services.

Here’s what’s worth watching when you’re not wearing sunglasses:

 

Happy Valley

(Netflix) 

Considered by many to be the best of the current crop of imported British cop dramas, this BBC series focuses on West Yorkshire police Sgt. Catherine Cawood (played by Sarah Lancashire), a former detective who has returned to uniform duty in order to spend more time with her young grandson after the boy’s mother, Cawood’s daughter, committed suicide.

The world-weary approach she brings to her job is partly rooted in her years of hard-knocks experience but also influenced by a difficult personal life that includes a live-in sister (Siobhan Finneran) who’s a recovering alcoholic and drug addict. In the first of two seasons available on Netflix, Cawood becomes involved in a case that forces her to directly confront the issues that have broken her family apart.

 

Catastrophe

(Shomi) 

Another U.K. import, this time from Britain’s Channel 4, this clever comedy was created and written by its two lead actors, Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney. The premise is simple: after a brief but intense fling between an Irish woman and a travelling American businessman results in a decidedly unplanned pregnancy, the otherwise disconnected pair makes the unlikely decision to try to make a go of it as couple. The execution is brilliantly funny and touching.

 wfpyoutube:https://youtu.be/xpkKn0_h3jk:wfpyoutbe

 

Weeds

(Crave TV/Netflix) 

Mary-Louise Parker stars in this offbeat and often-inspired comedy drama, which aired for eight seasons (2005-2012) on U.S. cable’s Showtime network, portraying widowed single mom Nancy Botwin, whose desperate effort to support her family in the wake of her husband’s sudden heart-attack death leads her ever deeper into the world of drug-dealing. The storyline spins out of control during the show’s later seasons, but the first few, thanks in large part to Parker’s wide-eyed-innocent portrayal of Nancy, are quite spectacular.

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Archer

(Shomi) 

The first cartoon to earn a spot in our Life Is But a Stream roster, this decidedly adult animated comedy has quietly become one of FX Network’s most reliable long-running performers. The series focuses on the espionage activities of international secret agent Sterling Archer (voiced by H. Jon Benjamin), who is as self-impressed as he is smoothly stylish. He’s very good at his job, despite focusing mostly on how best to turn every mission into an opportunity for jet-setting sexual conquests and lavish lifestyle indulgences.

https://youtu.be/bfQkIuMQBkc

 

Family Tree

(Crave TV) 

If you’re a fan of Christopher Guest’s unique brand of comedy — loosely scripted but largely improvised, as showcased in such gems as This Is Spinal Tap, Waiting for Guffman, A Mighty Wind and Best in Show — this short-lived and largely unheralded HBO series is a must-see. Chris O’Dowd plays a young man who inherits a box of seemingly pointless odds and ends and decides to use it as the jumping-off point for an exploration of his family’s history. The search takes him around Britain and then, in the final four of the series’ eight episodes, across the pond to the U.S., with weirdly hilarious results.

 

Huff

(Crave TV) 

Hank Azaria, best known as the voice of pretty much every secondary character on The Simpsons, stars in this critically acclaimed comedy/drama that aired for two seasons (2004-06) on Showtime. The title character, Dr. Craig (Huff) Huffstodt, is a psychiatrist who believes he can help anyone, until a tragedy in his office shows him in no uncertain terms that he can’t.

Paget Brewster co-stars as Huff’s supportive but somewhat flighty party-planner wife, Beth, and Oliver Platt is particularly brilliant as his best friend and ethically challenged attorney, Russell.

 

 

brad.oswald@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @BradOswald