TV — Churning Up the New and No Longer New

It’s tough to keep on top of all the new series premiering on television, what with the seemingly infinite number of streamers and the content that is, in a manner of speaking (or watching), thrown against the wall to see what will stick. On top of that, shows seem to disappear into an abyss of older product, making it impossible to find anything other than the newest of the new. Case in point? I had to do a search on Netflix to find “Emilia Perez,” recent winner of multiple Golden Globes and certain Oscar nominee in several categories. This is to point out that some of the following television series premiered before the holidays and may be more difficult to find. On with the show and let’s play catch up, keeping in mind that more new and tantalizing series will be premiering at the end of this month and on into February and March.

“Black Doves” is a slam-bam spy thriller set in the London of today with the unlikely premise that there is a non-sanctioned sub rosa agency, unallied with any government, gathering highly confidential British security information for sale to the highest bidder. Agents who have been groomed for decades have been placed within governmental departments or, in the case of the agent we will follow closest, married to a ministerial official.

 

Helen (Keira Knightly), one of the Black Doves most valued assets, learns that her extramarital lover has been killed and she risks everything, her family, her friends and her secret identity as a spy to learn who is behind this murder. Nothing and no one is who they appear to be, but Reed (Sarah Lancashire), head of the secret Black Doves group, will stop at nothing to protect her organization. She calls Sam (Ben Whishaw) back from retirement to protect Helen, but mostly to protect Reed’s consortium.

The storylines are complex, some with giant holes, but it doesn’t matter because these are actors you would follow anywhere playing complex and interesting individuals who are put in or put themselves in dangerous situations from which they will need help extricating themselves. While rooting for the protagonists, you forget that in many ways, they are the bad guys subject to elimination at the drop of a hat, or rather the drop of a Glock or stiletto. Oh, and the good guys aren’t necessarily good guys. “Black Doves” rarely goes where you think it will.

Streaming now on Netflix.

“The Sticky,” a take on the audacious theft in 2011-2012 of more than 9,500 barrels of maple syrup from the main storage facility in Quebec, plays fast and loose with the actual facts in an attempt to put a humorous spin on this bizarre but lucrative heist that was worth more than $18 million CAD.

 

Ruth Landry is a distressed maple syrup farmer under siege by the mayor, who wants her property and will go to any extreme to force her to sell. Remy, the syrup repository security guard, is treated by all as a dullard, but it is he, and he alone, who sees that a single security guard at the regional syrup storage facility is not enough. When his suggestions fall on the deaf ears of his cheap employers, he makes mention of this vulnerability to Mike, a local collector for the Montreal mob. Mike sees this as his ticket to the big time. Ruth, in desperate need of money, is recruited to work out the details, and it’s a good thing because there are more deficits to this team than assets, primarily the volatile and dimwitted Mike.

They don’t have to break into the depository because Remy is their inside man, but getting the syrup out and finding another place to store it is the real dilemma. Mike leans toward guns; Ruth leans toward brains and a well-thought-out execution with a fence for the goods. Keeping Mike under control will be the trick because his meltdowns come more and more frequently as the day of the robbery approaches.

I wish that this series had been better because its bones were great. The “based on a true story” aspect only goes as far as the idea of the heist itself, but I would watch Margo Martindale (Ruth) read the phone book (I don’t know what the tech equivalent to that would be) and she is the reason to see this meandering series. Guillaume Cyr as Remy is fine and Guy Nadon as Leonard, the greedy bureaucrat, has his moments of hilarity as a black-hatted villain. Unfortunately, Chris Diamantopoulos, Mike, plays his character completely over-the-top and is more of a distraction than a fully developed character. The directors and writers must have decided that more was never enough with Mike and more was the pity. Watch for a special surprise guest at the end when Mike’s mob boss makes an appearance, almost single-handedly pulling the show back on track.

Now streaming on Amazon Prime.

“Man on the Inside” had the inside track from the beginning. Starring Ted Danson as Charles, recently widowed and retired, he is, as his daughter Emily suggests, in need of a project. Looking through the classifieds, he spots an ad from a private investigation firm looking for a senior citizen. Julie, a private investigator, needs someone to go undercover at a retirement home. There have been recent thefts and an outsider who can blend in is the likely choice to investigate on the sly. Charles jumps at this adventure and arrives at the Pacific View Retirement Home with his “daughter” Julie. As a single man, he is immediately accosted by all the women and disdained by the few men. Didi, the smart and compassionate director, is both suspicious and under suspicion.

There will be conflict, there will be more thefts, there will be mistaken identities, but mostly there will be a connection back to life and to his somewhat estranged daughter Emily, who is none too pleased with this new endeavor. And this, dear friends, will only be the beginning because “A Man on the Inside” has already been renewed for a second season.

Created by comedy wizard Mike Schur, the primary reason to watch this is Ted Danson who has lost none of his appeal or ease in front of a camera. There are plenty of familiar faces doing cameos as the “inmates.” No new ground is broken and the comedy is soft, not laugh-out-loud, but there are worse ways to spend an evening and it finds its footing after about the fourth episode of the eight.

Now streaming on Netflix.

“Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action” is a rock ‘em sock ‘em take on the television career of a man who started out high as the mayor of Cincinnati and ended up low, but very, very rich and changed the landscape of daytime TV.

Starting as just another mundane afternoon talk show competing against the behemoth that was “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” a new producer was found for the “Jerry Springer Show” to shake things up. Richard Dominick cut his teeth in the tabloids devising can’t-miss headlines like “I was Bigfoot’s love slave.” He knew what a headline could do and was determined to turn the talk show genre upside down. He loved chaos and encouraged it. Real people, some with real problems, were booked, not knowing that the most salacious aspects of their stories would be milked for audiences who were not unlike those watching the games in the Roman Colosseum, lusting for blood. Some of his shows were “I Married a Horse,” which was, literally, about a man in love with his miniature horse. Most notorious was the episode called “Secret Mistresses Confronted.” It resulted in the murder of one of the women by the other.

Weighing in at two episodes, this docuseries flies by, giving you an up-close and personal look at a complicated man who didn’t know when enough was enough.

Now streaming on Netflix.

 

“No Good Deed” is something of a kitchen sink drama that takes several episodes before finding its footing. Lydia (Lisa Kudrow) and Paul (Ray Romano) have decided to sell their home in Los Feliz. There is a troubling secret that inhabits this home where their son died under mysterious circumstances that will be revealed bit by bit, morphing from one thing to another. His death has paralyzed their relationship and Lydia’s career.

It is a very desirable house in a highly sought-after neighborhood. “No Good Deed” tracks the four different families interested in the home, each with a different motivation. Margo (Linda Cardellini) and her husband, ex-Soap star JD (Luke Wilson) live next door but crave this one. Dennis (O-T Fagbenle) and his pregnant wife Carla (Tenyoah Parris) think this is the perfect home for their expanding family. Unfortunately, without his mother (Anna Maria Horsford) contributing a substantial amount to the down payment, it’s out of their range. And finally, Leslie (Abbi Jacobson) and Sara (Poppy Liu) believe this is the dream home where they can start a family.

It takes too long to engage in the story but with the entrance of Lydia’s brother Mikey (Denis Leary), a shady sort, the mystery starts to be revealed. It’s all a bit over the top, but over the top is the point. No one is who you think they are and everyone has secrets.

Now streaming on Netflix. 

Neely Swanson spent most of her professional career in the television industry, almost all of it working for David E. Kelley. In her last full-time position as Executive Vice President of Development, she reviewed writer submissions and targeted content for adaptation. As she has often said, she did book reports for a living. For several years she was a freelance writer for “Written By,” the magazine of the WGA West, and was adjunct faculty at USC in the writing division of the School of Cinematic Arts. Neely has been writing film and television reviews for the “Easy Reader” for more than 10 years. Her past reviews can be read on Rotten Tomatoes where she is a tomatometer-approved critic.