Genre: TV Series      

Grade: A-

Notable People: Zahn McClarnon, Kiowa Gordon, Jessica Matten, A Martinez, Noah Emmerich, Created by: Graham Roland

Title:  Dark Winds

Review- Based on the “Leaphorn & Chee” novel series by Tony Hillerman and set in Monument Valley, Navajo country in 1971, “Dark Winds” follows the FBI investigation of a bank robbery in Gallup, N.M., and the Navajo Tribal inquiry into the local murder of two Native residents. Continuing the tradition of recent dark portraits of modern Native American reservation life, this story incorporates the horrors of forced sterilization, uranium based greed murders and the struggle to maintain traditional Tribal spiritual values in an unyielding white world. McClarnon, who has become a go-to actor for modern Native American police types, is subtly wonderful and the supporting cast is excellent. Scripts are well written, the landscape well portrayed and the music score is perfect. Hoping for more Joe Leaphorn.  

Genre: TV Series             

Grade: B

Notable People: Benedict Cumberbatch, Gaby Hoffman, McKinley Belcher, Ivan Morris Howe Created by: Abi Morgan

Title:  Eric

Review- in 1980s New York City, Vincent, a puppeteer in the Jim Henson mode, in an unhappy marriage and whose nine-year-old son, Edgar, goes missing. Vincent turns to a variety of substances and his barely held in check and increasingly volatile behavior alienates him from his friends, family, and coworkers^. In his inebriated and unbalanced state Vincent becomes convinced that he can reunite with Edgar with the help of his seven-foot-tall puppet, Eric. Like my review of “Under the Bridge”, this is another one that took a long time to watch, as it was pretty painful and not many likeable characters. That said, Cumberbatch is a virtuoso and always worth watching and young Howe is splendid. Beyond that, it got somewhat tedious, like “when will be it over” tedious. Made it to the finish line but lots of predictability. Quite fascinating portrayal of the city’s underground, beneath the subway, subterranean living environment.

Genre: TV Series       

Grade: B+

Notable People: Riley Keough, Lily Gladstone, Vritika Gupta, Alyana Goodfellow, Izzy G. Created by: Quinn Shephard

Title:  Under the Bridge

Review- Based on the highly acclaimed story of fourteen-year-old girl from Victoria, BC, who went to a party with friends but never came home. The show delves into the secret world of the young girls accused of the murder and reveals shocking facts about the improbable killer via the eyes of the local girl turned magazine writer who comes home to her troubling past and her teen best friend (likely lover), now a local police officer. This was hugely popular book and the mini-series is well cast and well-acted. It is a frightening portrait of teen angst in modern times-and of an incredibly biased and subjective justice system with echoes of alienation and bullying, as well as the trials of cultural adaptation. Though it as very powerful, it took us a long time to finish it as it was really hard to like almost any of the characters-teens or adults. Very, very dark portrayal of modern states of anomie (look it up). To be fair many people liked this a lot more than we did. Keogh and Gladstone are both very talented but seem to be getting pigeonholed in similar role ruts.

Genre: TV Series       

Grade: B+

Notable People: Liev Schreiber, Nicole Kidman, Dakota Fanning, Eve Hewson, Meghann Fahy, Created by: Jenna Lamia

Title:  The Perfect Couple

Review- I know that a lot of people really liked this mini- series from the popular 2018 novel by Erin Hillenbrand- but we found it was more of a guilty pleasure/eye candy-similar to our secret years of closet watching the shameless “Revenge”. Schreiber and Kidman (in an outstanding and complex role) make this eminently watchable and the supporting cast is good, the two police detectives are perfect as comic relief (masters of the eye roll), but in the end, it seemed pretty formulaic, though hard to figure out as a whodunnit. Hard to imagine Liev doing this after his brilliant turn as Ray Donovan, but he pulls it off, though he could sure use a shave. Hard not to watch, but not all that redeeming.

Genre: TV Series           

Grade: A-

Notable People: Joey King, Logan Lerman, Amit Rahav, Henry Hughes, Hadas Yaron, Robin Wiegert, Michael Aloni, Created by: Erika Lipez

Title:  We Were the Lucky Ones

Review- this one was recommended to me by my CUZ, and is a real sleeper. An eight episode, one-shot miniseries; it is an adaptation of the 2017 book of the same name by Georgia Hunter, inspired by the story of her own family, and depicts the perspective of the Kurc family of Polish Jews, beginning in the surreal shift in1938, as the Poles are being harassed by the Nazis, and goes through 1947and the end of this extraordinary decade. It is a story almost too hard to believe, of immense courage, fortitude, perseverance and love- pitted against tyranny, hatred, inhumanity and evil…and evil, it is… portrayed in stunning details. This is not an easy show to watch and I wept through most of the final chapter. Humbling and equilibrium challenging, and can make our daily troubles seem rather minimal. The cast is stunning and settings and cinematography magnificent. I was initially put off by the use of English with heavy Polish accents instead sub-titles of Polish, but I got used to it and it seemed genuine in these people. This is one powerful series.

Genre: TV Series             

Grade: A

Notable People: Ken Burns; narrated by David McCullough  

Title:  The Civil War

Review I’ve said before that Burns is the greatest documentarian in film history, and watching this epic (latest for me, old hat for him) does nothing to alter that. I sometimes think we should chuck the one-sided garbage we teach kids in school history classes and just have them watch all of Burns’ films. An absolute master if the craft, who his able to provide a rapturous experience, even for a time period, that prevents any actual any action footage. You can feel the schism that rocked this country viscerally as the story unfolds, and the characters come to life through anecdotes and historical narrative. It takes about 25 hours to watch this thing, which we do in short increments, but well, well worth the time. Brilliance.  

Stu’s Reviews      

Genre: TV Series           

Grade: A

Notable People: Amalie Dollerup, Lars Ranthe, Anne Louise Hassing, Annette Steffelbaek, Jens Jacob Tythsen, Created by: Hanna Lundblad, Stig Thorsboe  

Title: Seaside Hotel

Review: Update: I stand by my original review (below)of the first eight seasons from 2022. This is a superb show that only got better with time. The final season was a complex wrap up of character themes from a 12-year run often amusing always relevant. The last two seasons picked up after the war years and pointed out the tenuous nature of Danish (occupied)- German (occupier) relations. Extraordinary ensemble cast-masters of Danish theater and television. This is a sleeper-not to be dismissed.

This compelling combined drama and subtle comedy “Badehotellet” in remote, NW Denmark opens for its wealthy guests each summer. We follow the guests and staff at the hotel from 1928 and into the 1940s. What starts out as a lighthearted comedy turns darker with each year as Demark is overtaken by the Depression and then Fascism and the Nazis. The show becomes overly political out of seemingly nowhere- a fascinating turn of events. The ensemble cast has many of Denmark’s’ top actors and is wonderful. This is a place we’d all like to spend our summers.

Genre: TV Series             

Grade: A-

Notable People: Ben Miller, Emma Naomi, Barney White, Sarah Woodward, Frances de la Tour, Created by: Matt Baker

Title: Professor T

Review: the brilliant Ben Miller (Death in Paradise) plays Professor Jasper Tempest, a genius criminologist at Cambridge who has major OCD (wears gloves at all times) and an overbearing mother. He reluctantly (and often hilariously) assists the police in solving bizarre crimes. It is an adaptation from a Belgian TV series of the same name – but the original is not nearly as good without the eccentric Miller. Season 3 went even deeper on defining the origins of our hero’s over-the-moon angst, and Miller just gets quirkier and quirkier. This season also feature a greater role for his possibly even more eccentric mother, played most appropriately over-the-top by de la Tour.  A fourth season is already in the works. Miller makes it worth watching.

Genre: TV Series     

Grade: B+

Notable People: Matt Smith, Eve Best, Paddy Considine, Olivia Cooke…and cast of thousands Created by: George RR Martin, Ryan Condal

Title: House of the Dragon

Review: well, I don’t think the breathlessly awaited second season managed to hold on to the standard set by Thrones or from its own Season 1. I struggled at times with keeping up  with the plot swings and myriad of scheming characters; many of whom look and sound alike (is that prejudicial to say?) Not aa crisp as season one, but still…..What’s not to like? Dragons, deceit, drama, cuckoldry, heads falling left and right, mystical medicine men, bloodletting, children with big swords……set 200 years before Game of Thrones, the show is the origin story for all the families and the history of the coveted Iron Throne that we became acquainted with the groundbreaking GOT show. The cinematography is magnificent, the sets and costumes beyond compare and the acting almost Shakespearian. The hour is over before you know it. Feeling certain there is a next version to come in this veritable goldmine for HBO. And, man, how about them dragons?

Genre: TV Series                     

Grade: B+/B

Notable People: Hoa Xuande, Robert Downey Jr., Fred Nguyen Kahn, Created by: Jez Scharf

Title: The Sympathizer

Grade: an historical black comedy drama miniseries based on the 2015 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Viet Thanh Nguye. The series is based on the story of the Captain, a North Vietnam spy in the South Vietnam army. He is forced to flee to the United States with his general near the end of the Vietnam War. While living within a community of South Vietnamese refugees, he continues to secretly spy on the community and report back to the Viet Cong, struggling between his original loyalties and his new life. I really liked the book, but the series is pretty hard to follow and bizarre, to say the least. Black comedy does not quite fully describe this. The era described, and the portrayal of Vietnamese refugees to America, it interesting and its alternating sunny 70s LA and the jungles of Vietnam is compelling. The acting is good. Downy is thoroughly out of control, playing four distinctly different, and equally crazy- person roles.