Every Friday, TMINE lets you know when the latest TV shows from around the world will air in the UK
As usual, it’s mostly Netflix shows announcing airdates this week, but we have a few others.
Acquisitions
The following shows have been acquired this week, but don’t yet have a premiere date:
Surprisingly, Sky1, rather than Sky Atlantic, has picked up Cinemax (US)’s Warrior. That’ll start airing in June, but no exact date yet
Less surprisingly, it’s My5 that has acquired the first season of Crackle (US)’s The Oath
Premiere dates
Phoebe Tonkin and Jacki Weaver in Stan (Australia)’s Bloom
Bloom (Australia: Stan; UK: My5) Premiere date: Wednesday, May 1
A flood devastates a remote Australian town, but a year later, a strange flower is found growing in select places that were flooded. And if you eat its buds, you’ll be restored to your youth – at least temporarily.
Bryan Brown sees his chance to restore dementing wife Jacki Weaver to her film star youth, but will she still want him when he does so? And who else might want to keep those buds to themselves?
What/If explores the ripple effects of what happens when acceptable people start doing unacceptable things. The 10-episode first season focuses on a mysterious woman’s lucrative, but dubious offer to a cash-strapped pair of San Francisco newlyweds.
Stars: Renée Zellweger, Jane Levy, Blake Jenner, Samantha Ware, Keith Powers, Daniella Pineda, Juan Castano, John Clarence Stewart and Dave Annable.
When They See Us (Netflix) Premiere date: Friday, May 31
Limited seriesWhen They See Us chronicles the notorious case of the Central Park Five, who were convicted of a rape they did not commit.
Beginning in the spring of 1989, the series spans 25 years, highlighting their exoneration in 2002 and the settlement reached with the city of New York in 2014.
Stars Michael K Williams, Vera Farmiga, John Leguizamo, Felicity Huffman, Niecy Nash, Blair Underwood, Christopher Jackson, Joshua Jackson, Omar J. Dorsey, Adepero Oduye, Famke Janssen, Aurora Perrineau, William Sadler, Jharrel Jerome, Jovan Adepo, Aunjanue Ellis, Kylie Bunbury, Marsha Stephanie Blake, Storm Reid, Dascha Polanco, Chris Chalk, Freddy Miyares, Justin Cunningham, Ethan Herisse, Caleel Harris, Marquis Rodriguez and Asante Blackk.
Mr Iglesias follows a good-natured public high school teacher who works at his alma mater. He takes on teaching gifted but misfit kids to not only save them from being “counselled out” by a bully bureaucrat assistant Ppcipal, but also to help them unlock their full potential.
Stars: Gabriel Iglesias, Sherri Shepherd, Jacob Vargas, Maggie Geha, Richard Gant, Cree Cicchino and Fabrizio Guido.
In the US: Available on Hulu In the UK: Not yet acquired
When was the last time you saw a US TV programme with a Muslim lead in a show that explored what it was like to be a Muslim in modern America? Off the top of my head – and discounting shows with supporting characters who happened to be a bit Muslim but never really ever brought it up except to point out that they weren’t all terrorists, you know? – I’d say the last one was the much missed Aliens in America.
A mere 11 years later, we now have Ramy, written by and starring Egyptian-American Muslim stand-up Ramy Youssef. It, too, is a comedy, which suggests that there are certain things in the US that can still only be broached through comedy.
In it, Ramy plays a thinly veiled version of himself, Ramy Hassan, who still lives at home with parents and still hasn’t found the right woman – right for either them or him. He’s initially dating a Jewish woman, but since he’s moderately religious, he’s been covering up most of his less party-friendly restrictions to himself – something that doesn’t please her when she finds out (“You said the other day that you couldn’t drink any more because you were up to your limit!” “Well, I was. It’s just my limit is zero.”)
Suffice it to say, he’s soon spurred on by his friends, family and people he meets at the mosque into dating a Muslim girl for the first time. Except he soon discovers that comes with its own set of issues (“Do you want her to be covered or uncovered?” his mother asks, when he suggests she set him up with a date).
