Los Angeles Times television critics Robert Lloyd and Lorraine Ali have viewing suggestions from the ever-replenishing thicket that is modern TV.
ROBERT LLOYD
AND LORRAINE ALI
Los Angeles Times (TNS)
• Black Monday (Showtime, today)
A volatile stock market in uncertain times. Black Monday is a comedy series set around the worst stock market crash in Wall Street history. But it's what caused the Oct. 19, 1987, implosion that launches this story starring Don Cheadle, Regina Hall, Andrew Rannells and a slew of regrettable fashion trends. The unlikely group of outsiders dare to challenge the institutionalized corruption and greed of Wall Street. Chaos, augmented by cocaine, cassette tapes and Lamborghinis, ensues. No matter the decade, this series, executive produced by Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen, will at least make us laugh about the clowns who toy with our financial future.
• I Am the Night (TNT, Jan. 28)
The thrill of true crime meets the gritty glamour of old Hollywood in this limited original series directed by Patty Jenkins (Wonder Woman). Based on true events, it follows Fauna Hodel (India Eisley) on her journey to reconnect with her biological mother, but instead of finding the woman whom she believes gave her away at birth, she becomes entangled in a dangerous cover-up connected to the still-unsolved Black Dahlia murder. This six-episode series starring Chris Pine also promises to address Los Angeles' often overlooked and troubled history with race and class. Hollywood lore, a strong female lead and the bygone era of traffic-free L.A. What's not to love?
• Russian Doll (Netflix, Feb. 1)
The engine that ran Groundhog Day has been fitted into this downtown New York chassis, souped up and blown out into extra, darker dimensions. Natasha Lyonne, co-creating with Amy Poehler and Leslye Headland, plays Nadia, who keeps dying and returning to a bathroom at a party she's not thrilled to be at. (It's her 36th birthday, close enough to midlife for a crisis.) Saying more would be saying too much, but this is a great showcase for Lyonne, who gives a performance that manages to be bullish and delicate, flip and flipped out. Also stars Elizabeth Ashley.
• American Soul (BET, Feb. 5) and Fosse/Verdon (FX, April)
Bio-pics and docudramas are the lowest form of narrative, but we drawn in all the same. Here are two dance-theme series sure to come with lots of drama. American Soul tells the story of Soul Train, the TV show that funkified, discofied and otherwise brought the beat to TV from the 1970s onward; the cast includes Sinqua Walls (Power) as host Don Cornelius and Destiny's Child performers Kelly Rowland as Gladys Knight, and Michelle Williams as Diana Ross. Fosse/Verdon, which looks at the tumultuous collaboration and marriage of Bob and Gwen, stars Sam Rockwell and Michelle Williams (the Michelle Williams who wasn't in Destiny's Child). A recently released trailer looks promising.
• Miracle Workers (TBS, Feb. 12)
If The Good Place doesn't wholly satisfy your need for celestial comedy series, here's a sitcom set in heaven -- or Heaven, Inc. -- created by ex-SNL writer and player Simon Rich from his novel What in God's Name? Steve Buscemi plays God, ready to end a troubled Earth; Daniel Radcliffe is the low-level angel, in the beleaguered Department of Answered Prayers, hell-bent on saving it. Watch for Angela Kinsey, from The Office, lending workplace comedy cred.
• Now Apocalypse (Starz, March 10)
This series comes from indie filmmaker Gregg Araki (The Doom Generation, The Living End), a maker of distinctive, L.A.-set, often gay teen melodramas; and when outside sensibilities mix the medium, interesting things can happen -- good or bad hardly come into it. (Araki has also directed episodes of Riverdale, Red Oaks and 13 Reasons Why). Written with Vogue sex columnist Karley Sciortino, the series promises four friends searching variously for love, sex and fame, some drugs and a hint, real or imagined, of dark conspiracy.
• Shrill (Hulu, March 15)
This brilliantly titled streaming series challenges TV's plus-size, female stereotypes -- the wacky sidekick, the sad bullied girl, the desperate man-chaser -- with protagonist Annie (SNL's Aidy Bryant). She has goals and dreams that aren't tied to losing weight, such as becoming a successful journalist and navigating the dating game with her self-respect intact. Jesse Peretz (Girls, GLOW, Divorce) reportedly directs the first episode and Carrie Brownstein (Portlandia) helms the second, so expect clever, snark mixed with close-to-the-bone realism. Based on Lindy West's memoir Shrill: Notes From a Loud Woman.
Style on 01/20/2019