The TV Column

Drugs, divas reign in USA's Queen of the South

On Queen of the South, Teresa and Guero (Alice Braga, Jon-Michael Ecker) are shown in happier times. The series returns to USA today.
On Queen of the South, Teresa and Guero (Alice Braga, Jon-Michael Ecker) are shown in happier times. The series returns to USA today.

The telenovela adaptation Queen of the South returns for Season 2 at 9 p.m. today on USA. Think of it as a sort of Breaking Bad with a Spanish accent.

Well, at least there are lots of drugs, deals, thugs, lackeys, minions, murder, explosions and dueling empires. If you missed the first season, here's what you need to know.

The series is based on the huge global best-seller La Reina Del Sur by Spanish novelist Arturo Perez-Reverte and follows the adventures of beautiful, street-smart Teresa Mendoza, a major player in the international drug trade.

Alice Braga (City of God) stars as Teresa. Her journey takes her from being a poor Mexican drug mule to the rarefied heights of the rich and powerful in Dallas.

The tale begins in the slums of Jalisco, Mexico, where Teresa falls in love with Guero Davila (Jon-Michael Ecker), a handsome young drug cartel member on the rise.

Alas, Guero gets himself murdered (but not really, it turns out) and Teresa flees to America where she sets about getting her revenge.

Through shady deals and convoluted machinations, Teresa ends up heading her own drug empire and becoming one of the world's wealthiest women.

Tonight's episode, "El Cuerpo de Cristo," translates to "The Body of Christ" and finds Teresa brokering a deal with an eccentric smuggler. Meanwhile, Camila Vargas (Veronica Falcon) struggles to rebuild her drug empire.

Braga (who pronounces her first name of Alice as ee-LEE-say) said in a USA interview, "In Season 2, Teresa has more control of her life. She decides to partner with Camila and you'll see a lot of rivalry, action and passion."

Let the sparks fly. As you might suspect, Queen of the South is not for the kiddies. It's rated TV-14 for adult dialogue, language and violence.

Adventure TV. Two reality series on the edge of the wilderness also return with new seasons at 8 p.m. today.

Alaska: The Last Frontier: The Frozen Edge kicks off Season 4 on Animal Planet with the Kilcher family dealing with the aftermath of an unusually warm winter.

And Season 6 for Mountain Men on History Channel continues its look at several rugged he-man guys who prefer to live off the grid.

Dark Matter, 7 p.m. Friday, Syfy. There will be 13 episodes this summer for this Canadian import. The series revolves around six people who wake up on the starship Raza with no memory of who they are or how they got there. Adventure ensues.

Wynonna Earp, 9 p.m. Friday, Syfy. Season 2 unfolds for our favorite demon hunter whose job it is to send back to hell the Revenants, the resurrected souls of the criminals originally dispatched by her great-grandfather Wyatt.

She has to take them out before they escape her hometown of Purgatory into the world.

Melanie Scrofano stars as Wynonna. Dominique Provost-Chalkley plays her feisty sister, Waverly, and Tim Rozon returns as the immortality-cursed Doc Holliday.

Orphan Black, 9 p.m. Saturday on BBC America. It's the fifth and final season for the acclaimed Canadian science fiction series. It's too complicated to explain to newcomers here. I'll just say the show is a tour de force for Tatiana Maslany, who plays con artist Sarah Manning. Sarah discovers she is a clone with many sister clones scattered all over the place. Maslany plays them all.

There will be 10 episodes.

CBS shakeup. In case you missed the memo and don't watch the CBS Evening News the network has removed Scott Pelley from the anchor chair and temporarily installed veteran Anthony Mason until a permanent successor is chosen.

Pelley will return full time to 60 Minutes. He has divided his duties between the two jobs since he replaced Katie Couric six years ago.

CBS Evening News is a distant third behind ABC World News Tonight and NBC Nightly News, so it's all about the ratings. Collectively, the three networks reach 24.2 million viewers each night, down 4 percent from last year, according to Nielsen.

Huckabee returning. Former Republican presidential candidate and Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is resurrecting his erstwhile talk show on cable's religious Trinity Broadcasting Network this fall.

The weekly hourlong program, titled Huckabee, will be filmed before a live audience in Nashville, Tenn., and be similar in format to what Huckabee used on Fox News Channel from 2008 to 2015.

In a TBN news release, Huckabee says he'll talk "with news makers and celebrities and some not-so-famous people whose stories remind us that the greatness of our nation is about the people who love God, raise their families, and serve their neighbors."

The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email:

mstorey@arkansasonline.com

Weekend on 06/08/2017

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