Airdates

Every Friday, I let you know the latest announcements about what’s been acquired and when new, imported TV shows will be arriving on UK screens

Dietland
Airdates

When’s that show you mentioned starting, TMINE? Including Stan Against Evil, Brockmire, Pulsaciones, Dietland, Station 19, Barry and Siren

13 April 2018 Rob Buckley 3 Comments

Every Friday, TMINE lets you know when the latest TV shows from around the world will air in the UK

A couple of weeks’ worth of acquisitions and premiere dates to catch up on, but you’ll be delighted to hear there are at least some new shows headed to the UK in the near future. Some, in fact, are already here.

On the acquisitions front, “actor turned detective” Jerry O’Connell show Carter (AXN) has been picked up by Alibi and will air in 2018. Also airing some time this year (probably) is The Detail (Canada: CTV), which will be on Channel 5. Everything else that’s been acquired I can actually give you premiere dates for:

Premiere dates

Stan Against Evil

Stan Against Evil (US: IFC; UK: Fox UK)
Airs: Thursdays, 11.30pm (started yesterday)

Retired crotchety sheriff John C McGinley has to rejoin the action when witches and all manner of other supernatural beasts start to terrorist his town. It’s a comedy, mind.

Episode reviews: 1-4

Brockmire

Brockmire (US: IFC; UK: Fox UK)
Airs: Fridays, 12.00am (started today)

Hank Azaria plays Jim Brockmire, a famed major league baseball announcer who suffers an embarrassing and very public meltdown live on the air after discovering his beloved wife’s serial infidelity. A decade later, Jim decides to reclaim his career and love life in a small American rust belt town that has seen better days, calling minor league baseball games for the Morristown Frackers. The struggling team is led by Amanda Peet, the strong-willed, hard-drinking owner, and Tyrel Jackson Williams, the naïve but enthusiastic team intern.

Pulsaciones

Pulsaciones (Lifeline) (Spain: Antena 3; UK: Channel 4/All 4)
Premiere date: Sunday, April 15, 10pm

Heart transplant recipient (Pablo Derqui) starts getting visions of the donor’s life. To avoid going mad, he must complete the donor’s unfinished business and help to discover with the help of a journalist (Meritxell Calvo) why people are disappearing in Madrid.

Station 19

Station 19 (US: ABC; UK: Sky Living)
Premiere date: Wednesday, April 18, 10pm

Grey’s Anatomy spin-off about firefighters. Nuff said.

Henry Winkler in HBO's Barry

Barry (US: HBO; UK: Sky Atlantic)
Premiere date: Thursday, April 26, 10.45pm

Hitman Bill Hader is getting tired of his job and decides he’d like to be an actor instead, so joins Henry Winkler’s acting classes. Trouble is, the job might not let him get very far with his new career. Same tone as Grosse Pointe Blank, but not as funny.

Episode reviews: 1

Siren

Siren (US: Freeform; UK: Syfy)
Premiere date: Thursday, May 3, 9pm

Mermaid ventures onto dry land to find her missing sister – and is willing to kill anyone who gets in her way. A nice idea with a great lead that’s miles away from Splash and The Little Mermaid, but the show’s let down by the rest of its cast.

Episode reviews: 1-3

Dietland

Dietland (US: AMC; UK: Amazon)
Premiere date: Tuesday, June 5

Dark Marti Noxon comedy that follows fashion magazine writer Joy Nash as she takes ‘a journey to self-awakening’ while exploring a multitude of issues faced by women today, including patriarchy, misogyny, rape culture and unrealistic beauty standards. Julianna Margulies plays her boss.

So fresh, there’s not even a YouTube trailer yet! This might work for Americans, though:

Cloak and Dagger
Airdates

When’s that show you mentioned starting, TMINE? Including AMO, The Crossing and Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger

29 March 2018 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Every Friday, TMINE lets you know when the latest TV shows from around the world will air in the UK

Three acquisitions this week and three premiere dates, too. Some start next week!

The Crossing

The Crossing (US: ABC; UK: Amazon)
Premiere date: Tuesday, April 3

Sci-fi show about refugees from the future. Excitingly, I previewed it this week, so I won’t elaborate further here.

AMO

AMO (Philippines: TV5; UK: Netflix)
Premiere date: Monday, April 9

The first series Netflix’s has picked up from the Philippines, AMO follows a high school student who starts dealing drugs before finding himself mixed up in a dark underworld of crime.

Cloak and Dagger

Marvel’s Cloak and Dagger (US: Freeform; UK: Amazon)
Premiere date: Friday, June 8

This is going to be airing the day after it airs in the US, so I haven’t seen it yet. Here’s Wiki’s explanation:

Tandy Bowen and Tyrone Johnson, two teenagers from different backgrounds, acquire superpowers while forming a romantic relationship. They soon realise that their powers work better when they are together, “but their feelings for each other make their already complicated world even more challenging.”

And here’s a trailer.

Marvel's Runaways
Airdates

When’s that show you mentioned starting, TMINE? Including Marvel’s Runaways, Happy!, The New Legends of Monkey, Superstition, Cobra Kai and The Rain

23 March 2018 Rob Buckley 5 Comments

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

Marvel's Runaways
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)

Marvel’s Runaways (US: Hulu; UK: Syfy)
Premiere date: Wednesday, April 18, 9pm

“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.

Episode reviews: 1-4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Happy on Syfy

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.

Episode reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

 

Monkey, Tripitaka, Sandy and Pigsy
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.

Episode reviews: season one

Superstition - Season 1
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.

Episode reviews: 1

Cobra Kai

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

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.

SEAL Team
Airdates

When’s that show you mentioned starting, TMINE? Including SEAL Team and 13 Geboden (13 Commandments)

9 March 2018 Rob Buckley 3 Comments

Every Friday, TMINE lets you know when the latest TV shows from around the world will air in the UK

A couple of acquisitions this week: Sky Living’s picked up Fox (US)’s 9-1-1, which will air later this year, while BBC One (and BBC Three) have acquired BBC America’s Phoebe Waller-Bridge spy show Killing Eve, again to air later this year.

On top of that, a few new airdates.

Premiere dates

 13 Geboden (13 Commandments)

13 Geboden (13 Commandments) (Belgium: VTM; UK: More4)
Premiere date: Sunday, March 18, 10pm

YA Belgian crime acquisition by Walter and More4. I haven’t seen this one, so let’s hand summarising over to a heady combination of Dutch Wikipedia and Google Translate:

In Aalst, a 16-year-old Turkish girl was cut over her throat. The police assume an honor killing and has a suspect for this. Nobody in the family speaks, and the case seems to be stuck, but the next day the suspect is heavily burned but still alive under a bridge. On the bridge, “Above all, one God” was sprayed as graffiti.

Someone who calls himself Moses then commits crime after crime, each time inspired by one of the ten commandments. He wants to awaken society and to think about norms and values. Violators of the rules are being punished relentlessly. It is up to two police inspectors to start the hunt for the perpetrator. The ambitious Vicky Degraeve (role played by Marie Vinck) and the older fancier Peter Devriendt (role of Dirk Van Dijck) are sitting on the case and more and more clashing with the sympathy that the series has, despite the atrocities that he commits, of the public opinion.

SEAL Team

SEAL Team (US: CBS; UK: Sky1)
Premiere date: Thursday, March 22, 9pm

A slightly more authentic look at US special forces operations than The Unit – as well as the other special forces show that hit US screens last year – SEAL Team also maintains the same mix between personal and private lives as its predecessor. Glossy, far less guns and glory than you’d think, and smarter, too, it’s never quite made the TMINE recommended list but is still regular viewing each week.

Episode reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14

The Terror

The Terror (US: AMC; UK: BT Vision)
Premiere date: Tuesday, April 24, 9pm

This hasn’t started in the US yet, which means I haven’t seen it yet. Until my delightful forthcoming review provides further enlightenment, here’s the spiel:

Story of the Royal Navy’s perilous voyage into uncharted territory as the crew attempts to discover the Northwest Passage. Faced with treacherous conditions, limited resources, dwindling hope and fear of the unknown, the crew is pushed to the brink of extinction.

The drama series, which inspired by a true story, was developed for television by David Kajganich, who serves as co-showrunner alongside Soo Hugh. It is being produced by AMC Studios, Scott Free, Emjag Productions and Entertainment 360 and stars Jared Harris, Tobias Menzies, Ciarán Hinds, Paul Ready, Adam Nagaitis, Nive Nielsen, Ian Hart and Trystan Gravelle.