Every Friday, TMINE lets you know when the latest TV shows from around the world will air in the UK
What a busy week! So many acquisitions, so many premiere dates, mostly thanks to StarzPlay, so about five of you are going to be able to watch them.
All the same, after the jump, all the deets about Le Bazar de la Charité, Doom Patrol, Ragnarok, AJ And The Queen, V Wars and Himmelsdalen.
But a quiet word about Starz (US)’s The Rook, first. Remember how I said it was going to be coming to StarzPlay in the UK on July 1? Turns out it didn’t and that was only on StarzPlay Arabia or something.
But it’s definitely going to be hitting StarzPlay UK on Thursday, November 28. Okay?
It’s “What have you been watching?”, your chance to recommend to fellow TMINE readers anything you’ve been watching this week
Netflix’s Stranger Things 3
This week’s reviews
It was less sunny this weekend, so TMINE returned to its traditional activity of skulking in the dark, doing the ironing and watching lots of TV. As a result, Boxset Monday featured Stranger Things 3.
Meanwhile, last week’s Orange Thursday was a double-punch combo of Shaft (2019) and The Lego Movie 2 (2019).
The CW’s Pandora
What’s coming this week
Orange Thursday is a big unknown at the moment, since I didn’t make it to the cinema to watch the latest Spider-man as planned and I haven’t yet watched any other movies. Hopefully, I’ll watch at least one by tomorrow – I suspect it’ll be Atomic Blonde.
Canadian show Departure starts tonight in Canada, so I might review that, although given it’s on Universal in the UK tonight as well, there might not be much point – after all, y’all can watch it, too.
Pandora starts in the US next Tuesday, so I might do a separate review for that, or I might just roll it into the next WHYBW, depending on my workload.
Netflix also rolled out Family Reunion today, although multi-camera comedies are a bit of a turn-off, so I’ll probably be skipping it. Plus I’m off to a wedding on Friday, so I won’t have time to watch any boxsets.
Basically, it’s all going to be surprises, all the way down, but probably not that many.
DC Universe’s Swamp Thing
The regulars
As TMINE’s summer vacation gets ever closer, it’s time to start winnowing down the viewing queue. Next week, I’ll be using the tried and tested “Can I be arsed to catch up with this when I get back from my holidays?”, but this week I’ve used its close relative: “Can I be arsed to watch the next episode of this?”
As predicted, I gave up on The InBetween last week, so that was a good start that left this little list of regulars, all of which I’ll cover after the jump: City on a Hill, Harrow, Jett, Krypton, Legion, Perpetual Grace LTD, The Rook and Swamp Thing.
But no fewer than three of those are for the chop this week because they’ve failed the test – yes, I can’t even be arsed to watch the next episode.
Which ones? Obvious clue for one them: there are only 10 episodes in season 2 of Harrow, and I’ve watched nine of them already…
There is a known phenomenon in TV, in which producers assume that they can get away with inaccuracies because while some people might notice there’s a problem, anyone without their local or specialist knowledge won’t notice because they won’t know any better.
What then to make of episode 2 of Starz (US)’s super-powered spy show The Rook, which is available on Virgin Ultra HD in the UK? Last week, I queried where US agent Olivia Munn had come from when she arrived on an East Midlands line train in St Pancras. You could tell it was an East Midlands line train not through any spoddy trainspottery knowledge about train types but because it said “East Midlands” on the side.
However, this week it was revealed she wasn’t coming from the American Embassy in Beeston, but had actually come in from the continent “on the Eurostar”.
Which brings us to an interesting question: would a US viewership with enough cash to watch premium cable channel Starz not know what a Eurostar looks like – or at the very least, to know that the East Midlands isn’t somewhere near Paris?
In the US: Sundays, 8pm ET/PT, Starz In the UK: Mondays, 10pm, Virgin TV Ultra HD. Starts tonight
I can’t tell if Starz is a bit limited or has a David Cameron-esque ‘one in, one out’ approach to TV series. If you recall, until quite recently, it had a sci-fi spy thriller set in a major European capital: the rather good Counterpart. It cancelled that before the end of the second season for no really good reason.
But could the explanation for this insanity have nothing to do with quality or ratings? Could it simply be because Starz had The Rook coming and it didn’t want two very similar shows on at the same time? One clearly a lot, lot better than the other?
Joely Richardson in The Rook
Rookie mistake
Adapted from Daniel O’Malley’s novel of the same name, The Rook is set in frequently rainy London and sees Emma Greenwell (Shameless US) waking up next to the Millennium Bridge, surrounded by a host of internally exploded dead bodies. She doesn’t remember how she got there or even what her name is, let alone how everyone died, so legs it.
In her pocket, she discovers a letter – from herself. In it are two keys to a safety deposit: one red, one blue. If she uses the blue key, she can start a new life with a new identity; if she uses the red key, she can re-enter her old life. Be warned, her previous self warns her, your old life is dangerous.
Guess which one she picks.
By hook or by rook
Soon, ‘Myfanwy’ is learning that she works for a secret branch of British Intelligence called the Checquy that deals with people with special powers. Everyone in Checquy is given a rank based on chess and she’s a ‘rook’ and works for ‘queen’ Joely Richardson.
All she’s got to do is find out what happened to her and not get found out –and not let guest American agent Olivia Munn (The Newsroom) learn that she’s the one who exploded her boyfriend by the bridge. Oops.
