In the US: Tuesdays, 9pm, The CW
In the UK: Not yet acquired
Given The CW’s current efforts to expand its drama provision quickly without making every show about a DC superhero, it shouldn’t be too surprising that it’s trawling through its and its predecessors’ archive of successful shows to see if it can find anything good to remake. Charmed was the first on its list and now we have a reboot of 1999 UPN/The WB series Roswell, more geographically explicitly called Roswell, New Mexico.
There’s a reason for that.
You might not remember Roswell. It was based on the Roswell High series of young adult books (not vice versa, as I discovered shortly after reviewing two of them for Dreamwatch back in the day – oops) and tried to capture the power of Buffy the Vampire Slayer‘s decision to depict relatively humdrum teenage romances as being of literally Earth-shattering importance, largely because at least one person involved is a bit supernatural or alien.
However, it never managed to hit even a tenth of the impact of Buffy, so if you remember Roswell much at all, it’s probably because you remember its rather splendid theme tune by Dido:
Alternatively, you may remember it as launching the careers of the likes of Katherine Heigl (Suits), Shiri Appleby (UnREAL), Emilie De Ravin (Lost), Adam Rodriguez (CSI: Miami) and Colin Hanks (Fargo), all of whom have gone onto much better things. And 27 Dresses in Heigl’s case.
If by chance or use of the spice Melange you can actually remember the plot of Roswell, you’ll already know what Roswell, New Mexico is going to present you with, since the first episode is a virtual remake. It sees Jeanine Mason (So You Think You CanDance) taking on Appleby’s role as Liz, now the daughter of two undocumented immigrants. A jaded biomedical researcher elsewhere, she nevertheless returns to her home town of Roswell, New Mexico, that she thought she’d left behind.
While temporarily helping out in her parents’ diner, she’s accidentally shot by anti-immigrants and is about to die. Fortunately, her former High School boyfriend turned town deputy sheriff Max (was Jason Behr but now True Blood‘s Nathan Dean Parsons) is on hand. I say fortunately, because he’s also an alien and has various supernatural powers, including the ability to heal people with his touch, which leaves a glowing palm print on Mason’s skin when he removes the bullet and heals her wound.
Despite sister Isabel (was Heigl, now Lily Cowles) and brother Michael (was Brandon Fehr but now Michael Vlamis)’s express wishes to the contrary, he’s soon revealing all to Mason. He explains that he and they are aliens, survivors of the famous UFO crash landing in Roswell in 1947. Their pods lay dormant for 50+ years, after which they emerged looking like human children and were adopted by human families – or fostered in Vlamis’ case. They’ve kept themselves to themselves to avoid being experimented upon, but he loves her so much, he had to tell her his secret. Otherwise, they just want to be left in peace to live normal lives.
Unfortunately for the aliens, there’s a secret military contingent in town who are keeping an eye out for aliens – and glowing palm prints. They don’t believe that the aliens are peaceful… and surprisingly they might have a point, since the death of Mason’s mum might have a different explanation from the one she’s always been told.
Every Friday, TMINE lets you know when the latest TV shows from around the world will air in the UK
Plenty of acquisitions this week, and all but one comes with premiere dates.
Acquisitions
Sundance Now has picked up Sjónvarp Símans (Iceland)’s Stella Blómkvist, which is based on a series of books about a hard-nosed lawyer who takes on mysterious murder cases. It’ll be available in the US from January 31, but it looks like we’ll have to hold out until April before we get it here.
Premiere dates
Star Trek: Short Treks (US: CBS All Access; UK: Netflix)
Premiere date: Available now
Cunning hidden away in the “trailers and extras” section of the Netflix menu system for season two of Star Trek: Discovery are these short movies focused on individual characters from the series, both heroes and villains. Haven’t watched them, since I’ve been saving them for Lovely Wife until now.
Four part 2018 drama set in Brisbane that revolves around a group of five friends whose sailing holiday of a lifetime to Indonesia takes an unexpected turn when they come across a boat overloaded with desperate asylum seekers.
Dull US remake of the Sky Atlantic Julia Davis comedy about a group of city friends going off camping together to celebrate a birthday. David Tennant, trialling his inadvisable American accent again, is the lucky man in question, Jennifer Garner his controlling wife, Juliette Lewis their flaky friend along for the trip.
Nightflyers (US: Syfy; UK: Netflix)
Premiere date: Friday, February 1
Nightflyers is set in the year 2093 and follows a team of scientists aboard The Nightflyer, the most advanced ship ever built, as they embark on a journey to find other life forms. Their mission takes them to the edge of the solar system, and to the edge of insanity, as they realise true horror isn’t waiting for them in outer space – it’s already on their ship.
This sci-fi horror piece based on a George RR Martin novella is a frustrating affair, that’s intermittently good and bad, with a tediously inconclusive final episode. It has some good ideas and a great cast (including Blake’s 7‘s Josette Simon), but ultimately, it proves a great big waste of time.
Rush follows the lives of members of the prestigious Tactical Response team (TR), which is based on the real life Victoria Police Critical Incident Response Team, a highly mobile unit that fills the operational gap between general duties police and the SWAT-like Special Operations Group. The team is seen responding to violent incidents such as carjackings, suicides and armed offences.
It’s a bit of an old one this (2008), so you can treat yourself watching all manner of “before they were famous actors”, such as Rodger Corser (Glitch, Doctor, Doctor) and Claire van der Boom (Hawaii Five-0).
Dirty John tells the true story of how a romance between Debra Newell and the charismatic John Meehan spiralled into secrets, denial, manipulation, and ultimately, a fight for survival for an entire family. Their fast-tracked romance creates tension between Debra and her two daughters Terra and Veronica, leaving the girls no choice but to investigate the man who has swept their mother off her feet, while the backstory of Debra and her mother Arlane (Jean Smart) provides insight into why Debra was so vulnerable.
The eight episode drama series is based on the articles and breakout true crime podcast from Los Angeles Times reporter Christopher Goffard. It stars Connie Britton, Eric Bana, Julia Garner, Juno Temple and Jean Smart.
Netflix Original written by, starring and directed by Ricky Gervais. It tells the story of Tony (Gervais), who had a perfect life. But after his wife Lisa dies, Tony changes. After contemplating taking his own life, he decides instead to live long enough to punish the world by saying and doing whatever he likes from now on. He thinks it’s like a superpower – not caring about himself or anyone else – but it turns out to be tricky when everyone is trying to save the nice guy they used to know.
It also stars Kerry Godliman, Tom Basden, Tony Way, David Bradley, Ashley Jensen, Penelope Wilton, David Earl, Joe Wilkinson, Mandeep Dhillon, Jo Hartley, Roisin Conaty, Tim Plester and Diane Morgan.
