This is a big, big night for new stuff on HBO and PBS. I hope your DVR is up to the task. Let's dive right in.
• True Detective, 8 p.m. today, HBO. The highly anticipated second season of writer/creator Nic Pizzolatto's True Detective is upon us. I've seen the first three episodes and you'll either be fascinated or frustrated. Or both.
The 39-year-old Pizzolatto, a New Orleans native who received his master of fine arts degree from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, had a daunting challenge -- how to follow the brilliance of his first season that starred Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson.
Don't forget -- True Detective is an anthology and Season 2 has new stars, a new crime and a new locale.
The swamps and bayous of Louisiana are traded for soulless urban Southern California with its chemical refineries, endless interstates and lifeless bungalows.
Viewers will need to be patient and maintain focus. Pizzolatto has eight episodes to dazzle us and the dazzling does not begin early in the gritty and gloomy premiere. Remember, it's as much about the journey as the destination with True Detective.
This season, Pizzolatto has doubled down on the major characters he has to serve. Perhaps that's part of the problem. Instead of the magical dynamic between McConaughey and Harrelson, the action is carried by Colin Farrell, Taylor Kitsch, Rachel McAdams and Vince Vaughn (who steals the show).
They play, in order, three troubled cops and a career criminal who is struggling to go legit. Here's a character overview just to give you someplace to begin.
Farrell (Minority Report) plays Ray Velcoro, a burned-out, divorced, alcoholic detective whose allegiances are torn between his superiors in a corrupt police department and the mobster who owns him.
Vaughn (Wedding Crashers) portrays Frank Semyon, the mobster who has Velcoro in his hip pocket. Semyon is in danger of losing everything when his attempt to move into legitimate businesses dead ends with the gruesome murder of a city manager who was his business partner.
McAdams (Wedding Crashers) plays Ani Bezzerides, a sheriff's detective who survived her New Age commune upbringing and whose uncompromising ethics put her at odds with those around her.
Taylor Kitsch (Friday Night Lights) is Paul Woodrugh, a military veteran and highway patrol motorcycle officer running from a difficult past and a tabloid scandal with an actress that (probably) never happened.
In the first episode, "The Western Book of the Dead," the murder of the (fictional) Vinci, Calif., city manager launches an investigation involving a team of three officers put together from different units. It will take almost the entire hour for the team to come together.
"Aesthetically, it's very different," Farrell told Variety about Season 2. "But it's a lot of the same sensibilities, and a lot of the characters are struggling with the same kind of existential quandaries and questions that are related to meaning and purpose and the burying of the darkness that may be in your past. It's more to do with what's happening with the characters than the solving of a murder."
Pizzolatto is a talented writer who aims high and respects his audience's intelligence. Viewers who appreciate nuanced drama will be rewarded.
• Ballers, 9 p.m. today, HBO. This is a new half-hour comedy starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as retired pro football superstar Spencer Strassmore. Now he mentors current and former players through the business of football. Rob Corddry plays Spencer's boss at a financial firm.
Johnson is surprisingly entertaining and believable in the adult (sex, drugs, the usual) series. There will be 10 episodes.
• The Brink, 9:30 p.m today, HBO. Of the two new comedies, The Brink is by far the more entertaining -- and darker. Credit series co-stars Jack Black, who plays a low-ranking foreign service officer, and Tim Robbins as the secretary of state.
There's a geopolitical crisis and the threat of World War III. In spite of all that, it's funny.
• Poldark, 8 p.m. today on AETN and PBS. Here's the next great Masterpiece period drama. And, yes, it's a remake of the series that thrilled audiences almost 40 years ago.
Aidan Turner (The Hobbit) stars as the dashing Capt. Ross Poldark, a British officer who returns home after the American Revolutionary War only to discover that his father is dead, his lands are ruined, and his true love is about to marry his first cousin. Adventure and drama ensue.
Also starring is Eleanor Tomlinson (Death Comes to Pemberley) as the spitfire servant Demelza, a miner's daughter who runs away from home and finds refuge in Poldark's household.
Added bonus for us old-timers: Robin Ellis, who starred as the original Poldark, plays Reverend Halse, the village's sin-obsessed parson.
There will be eight episodes in the series.
The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email:
mstorey@arkansasonline.com
Style on 06/21/2015