Every Friday, TMINE lets you know when the latest TV shows from around the world will air in the UK
One new premiere-less acquisition this week, with BBC Four picking up ARD (Germany)’s period terrorism drama Gladbeck (54 Hours) for airing “later this year“; otherwise, everything else has a date.
Premiere dates
l-r: Retta, Christina Hendricks and Mae Whitman in NBC’s Good Girls
Good Girls (US: NBC; UK: Netflix)
Premiere date: Tuesday, July 3
Christina Hendricks, Retta and Mae Whitman decide to improve their lives by robbing the local grocery store. Fortunately, it turns out to have far more money in its safe than it’s supposed to have. Unfortunately, not only does it all turn out to be a gang’s drug money, but Whitman’s boss recognises her and tries to use it to his advantage. After that, things spiral out of control.
Remake of the 70s cop drama about LA’s Special Weapons and Tactics police squad. Mostly just an excuse to give Criminal Minds‘s Shemar Moore something to do, in a Fast & Furious style shoot-up mixed with a weird attempt at social commentary on the black-American community that makes it more like Marvel’s Luke Cage than anything else.
Mr Sunshine (Korea: No idea – soz; UK: Netflix)
Premiere date: Thursday, July 19
Set in Shinmiyangyo, or the U.S. expedition to Korea in the late 19th century, Mr. Sunshine tells the story of a Korean boy born into a family of a house servant running away to board an American warship, later to return to his homeland as a US marine officer. He ironically falls in love with an aristocrat’s daughter and discovers the dark scheme to colonize the country that he once ran away from.
Obviously, I’ve not seen this one, since it doesn’t start anywhere until July 7, but it does star the hugely popular Lee Byung-hun and looks very shiny, so it stands a chance of being good.
Every Friday, TMINE lets you know when the latest TV shows from around the world will air in the UK
The LA Screenings have gone and gone. That means that a lot of UK networks are currently mulling their options about what to acquire, rather than actually buying things – where do you think we live? Canada? – which means it’s been a bit quiet this week for US pick-ups.
But we do have least have Netflix to tide us over. Oh, and although I don’t normally bother with second and third seasons airdates, it’s probably worth mentioning (via Fans of European and World TV Dramas) that season 3 of Le bureau des légendes (The Bureau) is finally now available on Amazon Prime. Unfortunately, it’s through the Sundance Now channel, which will set you back £5.99 a month, although there’s a week’s free trial. Cheaper than Blu-Ray, mind.
Premiere dates
La balada de Hugo Sánchez (The Ballad of Hugo Sánchez) (Netflix)
Premiere date: Sunday, June 17
Spin-off from Netflix’s Club de Cuervos featuring the Hugo Sánchez character, who’s taking the Cuervos to a tournament in Nicaragua called “Duelo de las Aves”. For the first time, Hugo leaves his comfort zone to take charge of a team and his own life.
Nit i Dia (Night and Day) (Spain: TV3; UK: Channel 4/All4)
Premiere date: Sunday, July 1, 10pm
Picked up all the way back in April 2017 by our Walter, this “realistic” Catalan series sees happily married forensic pathologist Sara’s life go a bit pear-shape when she starts investigating an unidentified man’s body and it turns out he has a skull tattoo, just like the one a previous one-night stand had.
All About The Washingtons (Netflix)
Premiere date: Friday, August 10
Autobiographical scripted comedy that follows Joey Washington (Rev Run aka Joseph Simmons) and his wife Justine Washington (Justine Simmons), playing fictionalised versions of themselves raising a family. After Joey decides to retire from a long career as legendary hip-hop royalty, his wife Justine, takes advantage of the opportunity to pursue a career of her own now that Joey is available to focus on raising the kids and keeping the house in order.
Feel-good procedural, from Monk creator Andy Breckman, that centres on Tony Danza, a lovable, yet not exactly honourable, former NYPD officer who never followed the rules, and his son, Josh Groban, a brilliant, straight-laced NYPD detective who makes a point of always following the rules. The ‘odd couple’ become unofficial partners as Danza offers his son blunt, street-wise advice.
Every Friday, TMINE lets you know when the latest TV shows from around the world will air in the UK
Last week, I talked about Walter (of Walter Presents)’s habit of acquiring things without telling us. Turns out he’s not alone and the BBC is getting in on the act.
For example, last week, lots of news services were reporting that BBC Two had picked up Picnic at Hanging Rock, thanks largely to the Beeb’s own press release. And it’s true that we didn’t know which channel it would air on until now. But the Beeb actually bought it back in December.
Nick Forward, Stan’s Chief Content Officer said “No Activity has made its way around the world, from Hulu in the US to the BBC in the UK. With another season of the US version to come later in the year, now feels like the right time to bring the team back to Australia for a very special production and we can’t wait to see what kind of havoc Trent, Patrick and the team wreak on Christmas 2018.”
Yep, apparently, the Beeb has bought the original Australian version of No Activity. It just hasn’t told anyone yet.
Meanwhile, it was announced today that Sky Living is going to rebrand as Sky Witness (ooh, puntastic). Tucked away in that announcement was the fact that it’s bought up not just ABC (US)’s For the People but also Epix (US)’s forthcoming ten-part, Patrick Dempsey-fronted The Truth About The Harry Quebert Affair.
No word on airdates for any of those, of course, but at least we know Sky has them. In fact, we have but one new airdate to focus our attention on this week.
Premiere dates
Thanks to TV Wise for this week’s no longer closely guarded secret.
Girl with a brain disorder is able to enter the memories of newly dead people to find out why they were killed and solve the crime. Trouble is, it’s hard to deal with her newfound empathy and on top of that, it’s all part of a top secret government project run by young science nerds who may not know what the Powers That Be are really up to…
Basically, it’s Inception but “as stupid as a bag full of spanners wearing toupees”, to quote myself, so this is good scheduling by Syfy, since it’s a great summer show, breezy, silly and full of fun (each week, a fun game: guess the science-fiction TV show or movie the head nerd is quoting).
However, Freeform messed up by running the second season in the winter and nobody bothered tuning in, so it was cancelled. Equally, its summer scheduling and breeziness were a two-edged sword for me – it was fun enough to watch episodically, but I missed some episodes when I went on vacation and I didn’t care enough about it to play catch up when I came back.
Still, at least it’s better than NBC (US)’s rather similar Reverie…
Every Friday, TMINE lets you know when the latest TV shows from around the world will air in the UK
Only one acquisition of note this week – Netflix has picked up Cinco (Spain)’s Costa del Sol Brigade, which doesn’t even start filming until next week – although the Beeb has at least confirmed it’ll be airing Picnic at Hanging Rock (Australia: Foxtel) on BBC Two later this year. But we do have lots of new premiere dates. Many are for last week’s acquisitions, but then we have Walter Presents. As we all know, when it comes to acquisitions, Walter has two basic philosophies:
Buy it then stick it in a box for 18 months
Buy it then make it available to watch the same day
And this week, option number 2 seems to have become his preferred option, with three shows being slotted into Walter Presents this very day. More on them in a moment.
Harry (New Zealand: TV3; UK: Walter Presents)
Premiere date: Today
A six-part series about a widowed cop with a teenage daughter and who’s doing his best to hunt down some violent robbers in a poor community. He has to work against the higher-ups, who are more concerned by headlines that the communities they police and against the demands of his job in raising his daughter. So far, so ordinary, you might think, and largely it is, despite the presence of Sam Neill (Jurassic Park) as Harry’s boss, complete with his normal NZ/Australian accent. What’s more interesting is that Harry is co-written by the star, Oscar Kightley, a MaoriSamoan actor, and the show is bilingual and set largely in the MaoriSamoan community. It’s got more in common with UK police shows than with US shows, although there are interesting differences, but beyond the cultural issues and twists, there’s not much here that you won’t have seen before.
Tannbach (Line of Separation) (Germany: ZDF; UK: Walter Presents)
Premiere date: Today
Fictional story inspired by a village that was divided by the Iron Curtain along a brook known as the Tannbach. The series explores the traumatic period of German history between the end of World War II and 1952. For the people of the village, the end of the war does not mean the end of hardship – soon the Cold War takes over and the village as well as the people become divided.
Pocivali u miru (Rest in Peace) (Croatia: HRT; UK: Walter Presents)
Premiere date: Today
When investigative journalist Lucia stumbles across a cemetery of unclaimed bodies at a prison, a wealth of secrets that have been suppressed for decades are unearthed…
Paula Patton in ABC’s Somewhere Between
Somewhere Between (US: ABC; UK: Netflix)
Premiere date: Today
Adaptation of a Korean show in which TV journo Paula Patton unwisely promises to catch a notorious serial killer, said killer than deciding to kill her daughter in return for all that hubris. Patton kills herself, but wakes up to find it’s 10 days earlier, all the bad things haven’t happened yet and she has a chance to stop everything before it starts.
I watched the first episode and couldn’t be bothered to watch any more.
Champions (US: NBC; UK: Netflix)
Premiere date: Tuesday, June 12
Aimless sitcom in which Cleveland-based Mindy Kaling takes her flamboyant son (JJ Totah) to audition at an exclusive New York performing arts school. However, due to various administrative issues, the audition is postponed so while she’s in town, she takes him to visit the father he’s never met – Anders Holm (Workaholics, The Intern), a disillusioned quitter who runs a gym with his much beefy, much stupider, much nicer younger brother Andy Favreau. Everyone gets to know each other and Holm takes him to his audition as Mindy has to go to work. Totah gets into the school, so I think he’s now staying with Holm and Favreau, while Mindy’s gone back to Cleveland.
And that’s the set-up. I’m not sure that really counts as a ‘situation’ for a sitcom, does it? It’s amiable enough, but I watched an episode then gave up, as it seemed to have used up its entire idea.
Marlon (US: NBC; UK: Netflix)
Premiere date: Thursday, June 14
Despite their inability to coexist, divorced couple Marlon Wayne and his ex-wife Ashley try to stay friends for the sake of their two children, Marley and Zack.
It started in the US while I was on holiday last year, so I haven’t watched it. It’s been renewed for a second season.
Knightfall (US: History; UK: History UK)
Premiere date: Tuesday, July 17, 9pm
Bargain basement Vikings, but about the Knights Templar. Not totally awful and the throwing in of a quest for the lost Holy Grail gives the knights lots to do, but as soon as the action slows down, it all goes to pot.
Every Friday, TMINE lets you know when the latest TV shows from around the world will air in the UK
Gosh, I was expecting a lot of acquisitions and airdates this week thanks to the LA screenings, but maybe not quite so many and so many countries that aren’t the US. On the acquisitions side, Netflix picked up a whole slew that don’t yet have premiere dates: Northern Rescue (CBC Canada); Ultraviolet (AXN Poland); Champions (NBC US); Marlon (NBC US); and Somewhere Between (ABC US). In fact, some of those haven’t even been made yet.
On top of that, Starz only went and launched a UK version of its network today called Starzplay. As well as a whole bunch of old shows, Sweetbitter and Vida (maybe I will get round to reviewing it one day…) are on there , I noticed. No sign of Counterpart, unfortunately, which suggests that maybe they’re holding out for a buyer for that, although the press release does say Starzplay is going to host all future Starz shows, so maybe there are some rights things going on behind the scenes. Whatever the case, with that catalogue, I’m not sure it’s worth the £4.99 a month price tag, though.
Get Shorty (US: Epix; UK: Sky Atlantic)
Premiere date: Wednesday, June 6, 9pm
Started in the US while I was on holiday, so I’ve no idea if it’s any good, although given it’s based on an Elmore Leonard novel, you’d hope. Here’s the spiel:
Get Shorty follows Miles Daly (Chris O’Dowd), muscle for a Nevada crime ring who tries to become a movie producer in Hollywood as a means to leave his criminal past behind and win back his recently-estranged family. There, he meets Rick Moreweather (Ray Romano), a washed up producer of low quality films who is desperately hanging on to the rungs of Hollywood relevancy and begrudgingly becomes Miles’ partner and guide through the maze of show business. Along with his criminal associate Louis (Sean Bridgers), Miles attempts to keep his worlds from colliding as he balances the demands of filmmaking while keeping the suspicions of the crime ring’s chief – and production bankroll – Amara (Lidia Porto) and her dangerous nephew, Yago (Goya Robles) at bay.
Also involved in the production is ambitious studio executive April Quinn (Megan Stevenson), who started in the business as Rick’s assistant, as well as Miles’ beloved daughter Emma (Carolyn Dodd) – despite objections from Miles’ estranged wife, Katie (Lucy Walters). The ten episode, which is in part based on the Leonard Elmore novel, was developed for television by Davey Holmes and is produced by MGM Television. Holmes also serves as an executive producer alongside Allen Coulter (The Sopranos, Damages) who also directed the first episode. Adam Arkin (The Americans, Billions) directed three episodes of the series and is also a co-executive producer. Epix has already ordered a ten episode second season.
Secret City (Australia: Foxtel; UK: Netflix)
Premiere date: Tuesday, June 26
Anna Torv is a star Australian reporter who uncovers a top secret cover-up that suggests there may even be a Chinese mole in the government. This was one of TMINE’s top shows of 2016 and has been renewed for a second season, so give it a watch (after having read the reviews, first, obviously)
La Forêt (The Forest) (France: France 3; UK: Netflix)
Premiere date: Friday, June 29
Not seen it, but it’s France 3 so could go either way:
In a small and quiet village in the Ardennes, a 16-year-old girl disappears in the forest in the middle of the night. Captain Gaspard Deker, former military and freshly arrived, leads the investigation with Virginie Musso, the local police officer. Soon enough, the leads multiply and one after another the villagers are listed as suspects. Stars Samuel Labarthe and Suzanne Clément.
Wales’ own Ioan Gruffudd plays a brilliant forensic pathologist who with family issues, as well as quite a (surprisingly) deep dark secret of his own, which may or may not involve murder – will his colleagues ever find out and be able to pin it on him? A good combination of serial and episodic mystery that’s usually quirky good fun, sometimes all out comedic, sometimes serious, sometimes just plain silly. But ultimately, it’s really all about Ioan Gruffudd and his performance – which is great. Renewed for a second season.
