It’s “What have you been watching?”, your chance to recommend anything you’ve been watching this week
It’s the last WHYBW for a fortnight, as TMINE is off on its Easter holidays next week. Naturally, a whole bunch of new shows have been timed to coincide with this, presumably as part of some super-villain’s masterplan to give me a stress-induced heart attack.
In the past week, I’ve reviewed (and even previewed):
On top of that, I’ll be looking at ABC (US)’s Splitting Up Together and Roseanne after the jump, too. But I’ve still got Trust (US: FX; UK: Sky Atlantic) and The Terror (US: AMC; UK: AMC Global) in the viewing queue, although there’s a little time before they air in the UK, so if I don’t manage to work my way through them in the next couple of days, I’ll do my best when I get back. Let’s see how it goes.
However, Grey’s Anatomy spin-off Station 19 is never going to be my cup of tea, so I’ll give that a miss, and CTV (Canada)’s The Detail might be equally unlucky, but I’ll do my best.
Counterpart and Will & Grace were on holiday this week, so after the jump, as well as Roseanne and Splitting Up Together, I’ll be looking at the usual regulars: Black Lightning, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, The Good Fight, Harow, Instinct, The Looming Tower, TheMagicians, SEAL Team and Timeless, as well as the returning Silicon Valley.
These days, Australian comedy alternates between three genres. You have the traditional sitcom, although thanks to Patrick Brammall and Trent O’Donnell, the situation of the sitcom is now typically “stuck in a car“. You have the sketch show. And then you have the comedy of the grotesque, typically a ‘bogan’ grotesque at that. What’s a bogan? That’s Australian for ‘chav’.
Sando is such a chav-oriented comedy. It sees Sacha Horler playing Victoria “Sando” Sandringham, who took her parents’ boutique store and got rich by turning it into a cut-price furniture warehouse empire. Unfortunately, she based it all around her family and when she ends up pregnant by her daughter’s soon-to-be husband, her family aren’t that inclined to spend any time near her.
Fast forward 10 years and Sando’s about to be thrown out of her company by its board. Her only chance? Get the family back on side. Unfortunately, even if they’ve changed, Sando hasn’t.
Sacha Horler as Victoria “Sando” Sandringham
Under-Sanding
Trouble is that there’s not actually that much that’s funny about Sando, unless you happen to find any of the following intrinsically funny – screw jokes, these things have to make you laugh in hysterics just for occurring:
People being dicks to one another
Women behaving badly
Families arguing
People shagging people they shouldn’t
Failed careers
Bad music
Would-be stand-up comics with bad jokes
Women on horseback
Children being given horses as gifts
Parties
People being tasered
All of these Sando throws at us in the first episode. But not jokes. Not a one. I smiled a couple of times, but that was it.
The Cunninghams
To be fair to the cast, Sando‘s failings aren’t theirs. Horler offers a great performance as the grotesque Sando, while the others fit their low-key roles very well, Rob Carlton doing well as Sando’s ex-husband and a man perpetually framed in everyone’s minds as the other of an advertising jingle, rather than a proper musician.
But for all the effort – and horses – that the writers throw the audience’s way, the simple lack of any real jokes sinks it. It basically comes down to whether you find chavs/bogans intrinsically funny.
Every Friday, TMINE lets you know when the latest TV shows from around the world will air in the UK
After last week’s disappointingly empty slate of acquisitions and premiere dates, this week’s a whole lot more promising. Coming as part of Syfy’s spring schedule are Freeform (US)’s Siren (which hasn’t aired yet) and Stitchers (which has), but we’ve not got precise airdates at the moment. I’ll let you know when we do. What’s that, though? Maybe five actual new TV programmes airing on Syfy now. Wowzers.
We have had a good few other acquisitions as well, but they came with proper premiere dates. Let’s chat about them after this nice subheading.
Premiere dates
Runaways – Every teenager thinks their parents are evil. What if you found out they actually were? Marvel’s Runaways is the story of six diverse teenagers who can barely stand each other but who must unite against a common foe – their parents. The series stars Rhenzy Feliz, Lyrica Okano, Virginia Gardner, Ariela Barer, Gregg Sulkin, Allegra Acosta, Annie Wersching, Ryan Sands, Angel Parker, Ever Carradine, James Marsters, Kevin Weisman, Brigid Brannah, James Yaegashi, Brittany Ishibashi, and Kip Pardue. From left: Gert Yorkes (Ariela Barer), Nico Minoru (Lyrica Okano), Alex Wilder (Rhenzy Feliz), Chase Stein (Gregg Sulkin), Karolina Dean (Virginia Gardner) and Molly Hernandez (Allegra Acosta), shown. (Photo by: Paul Sarkis/Hulu)
“Teenagers discover their parents are supervillains” could go in a lot of directions, particularly once those teenagers start to acquire ‘powers’ of their own, but in the hands of Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, we get something that’s only occasionally a superhero show but is mostly part Gossip Girl, part Breakfast Club, as our young heroes and heroines go on various emotional coming-of-age journeys, full of secrets, friendships and shades of grey (particularly the theme tune). A little slow in places and occasionally a bit daft, but a good cast, good plotting and Julian McMahon shows up halfway through, too.
Happy! (US: Syfy; UK: Netflix)
Premiere date: Thursday, April 26
When Happy! first started, it seemed a relatively obvious bit of Grant Morrison dadaism. “I know, let’s partner a gritty, hard-boiled killer and a cute little flying unicorn! Imagine the meta-fun and the explicit violence we can have!” But after eight episodes, the series is a shoo-in for this year’s list of TMINE’s Top Shows. How did this come to be?
The show’s has two strands. About 50% is Christopher Meloni staggering around as a Very Bad Detective, pulling faces and generally sending up the conventions of grimdark comics, all in a small-screen version of Crank – you know, the nice Jason Statham movie. Here the show is incredibly violent, profane and sexually edgy. I’m surprised it was allowed on basic cable, to be honest.
The other 50% of the show slowly evolves into Toy Story 3. It doesn’t start that way, with Happy the imaginary flying Unicorn-Donkey more irritating and Scrappy Doo-ish than genuinely cute. It doesn’t help that his CGI is a bit of a work in progress, either. But by about episode three, little Happy is a genuinely lovely character and a source of a very sweet form of humour. And better animated.
Combined, those strands give you a show that’ll have you wincing, laughing and even weeping buckets of tears for a sock (no, really). Give it a watch – give it at least three, maybe four episodes to hit its stride – and you’ll have a great time.
Monkey, Tripitaka, Sandy and Pigsy in The New Legends of Monkey
The New Legends of Monkey (Australia: ABC Me; UK: Netflix)
Premiere date: Friday, April 27
Although ostensibly an adaptation of classic Chinese novel Journey to the West, it’s as much a modern homage to previous Journey to the West adaptation and 70s UK TV favourite Monkey! Not as silly as it should have been and a bit undermined by its relocation away from Asia to a Hercules: The Legendary Journeys-style “other world”, it’s still an enjoyable watch.
SUPERSTITION — Pictured: (l-r) Brad James as Calvin Hastings, Mario Van Peebles as Isaac Hastings — (Photo by: Mitchell Galin/Xlrator Media/Syfy)
Superstition (US: Syfy; UK: Netflix)
Premiere date: Sunday, April 29
Mario van Peebles directs, writes and stars in a black, Southern, male version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, playing the owner of a funeral home and one of a long line of monster slayers. It sounds bad and it is quite bad, but it is at least impressive in a few areas. Although it’s a new show, it feels like it’s already had a pilot movie and three seasons before it. It’s got a fully formed mythology that it doesn’t always feel the need to explain. There’s a touch of smartness in its references to the likes of Glycon the snake god and there’s also a nice Southern feel to the whole thing, too – it’s filmed in Georgia, so it looks the part as well.
But it was still too rubbish for me to watch more than one episode.
Cobra Kai (YouTube Red)
Premiere date: Wednesday, May 2
Sequel to The Karate Kid (the 80s version) that reunites at least two of the original cast. The now down-and-out Johnny (William Zabka), seeking redemption, reopens the infamous Cobra Kai dojo. This reignites his rivalry with a now-successful Daniel (Ralph Macchio), who has been struggling to maintain balance in his life without the guidance of his mentor, Mr Miyagi (the late Pat Morita). The half-hour show then follows the duo as they address demons from their past and present frustrations – through karate.
A word of warning – it’s a comedy. And treasured childhood memories might be crushed.
The Rain (Netflix)
Premiere date: Friday, May 4
After a brutal virus wipes out most of the population, two young siblings embark on a perilous search for safety. It’s Danish but it’s also a dystopian young adults drama. It’s not for me. It might be for you.
