Skip to main content

New top story from Time: The 5 Best New Shows Our TV Critic Watched in February 2021

https://ift.tt/3uJsUbt

February may be the shortest month of the year, but the 2021 edition certainly has dragged on, hasn’t it? Maybe it’s the cold and snow blanketing so much more of the country than usual, or maybe it’s our collective impatience with a slow vaccine rollout as we approach the once-unthinkable milestone of a year under varying degrees of lockdown. Whatever the reason, television can make the days pass a bit faster—and, thankfully, this month has brought a whole lot of quality programming. The rise of foreign TV remains a blessing; among February’s most worthwhile new shows are a literary adaptation set in 19th-century New Zealand, a distinctive Swedish crime drama, a delightful baking series from Britain and a must-see BBC drama that mixes the ecstasy of youthful self-discovery with the devastation of the early AIDS crisis. The final title? A quintessentially American documentary series that captures our country at its best and worst through the lens of the Black church.

For more suggestions, peruse my lists of last month’s highlights and the top 10 shows of 2020.

Beartown (HBO)

Most crime dramas open with the crime itself, front-loading the violent act that will shape the plot and developing the characters only to the extent that its exploration requires. Beartown, a Swedish HBO Europe import based on the novel by Fredrik Backman, avoids that template; writer Anders Weidemann (Interrogation) spends almost two of the miniseries’ five episodes spinning a web of conflicts within the eponymous struggling community. Recruited to salvage a hockey program that is crucial to the place’s identity and survival, retired NHL player and Beartown native Peter (Ulf Stenberg) moves his family across an ocean to take the coaching job, only to discover that the star of his new high-school team, Kevin (Oliver Dufåker), is the son of a former classmate (Tobias Zilliacus) who’s spent decades nursing a grudge against Peter. Complicating matters are the town’s hermetic insularity, the tense dynamic among the teenage teammates and a magnetic attraction that develops between Kevin and Peter’s daughter, Maya (Miriam Ingrid). By the time Beartown drops its bombshell, the scene feels both inevitable and crushing. But the show distinguishes itself much earlier—as a patient portrait of a stiflingly small place with a long memory; an investigation into the perils of masculinity; an icy Scandinavian take on Friday Night Lights; and maybe even a preemptive rejoinder to the upcoming Disney+ Mighty Ducks series, whose saccharine content is likely to be through the roof.

The Black Church (PBS)

The Harvard professor and public intellectual Henry Louis Gates, Jr. serves as executive producer, writer and host of The Black Church, which traces Black spiritual life all the way back to Africa, through slavery and civil rights, into the present. Early in the four-hour miniseries, Rev. Al Sharpton calls the church the “epicenter of Black life”—and Gates’ deeply researched retrospective goes a long way towards supporting that thesis. He explores the central role the church played in Emancipation, Black politics from Reconstruction to Dr. King to Barack Obama, and a cross-pollinating American musical tradition that took root in Sunday church services (if you don’t know about Sister Rosetta Tharpe, one of the first great rock ‘n’ roll guitarists, you’ll find out enough here to send you down a YouTube rabbit hole). Though Gates is a Christian, he acknowledges that Islam has also played a central role in the African-American community. And he’s not afraid to be critical, in segments that lament how socially conservative congregations have alienated LGBTQ community members and how religious infrastructures created by Black men have barred Black women from positions of power. Despite its traditional style, the series distinguishes itself through Gates’ candid interactions with interviewees who range from scholars and theologians to celebrities like Oprah and John Legend. He harmonizes with gospel singers, calls back to preachers and delves into his own faith. The Black Church is the kind of documentary that only someone with a personal connection to the material could make. [Read the full essay on The Black Church and two other new docuseries that dare to tell the truth about Black history. Also in TIME: read an excerpt from a book by Gates that serves as a companion to the show.]

It’s a Sin (HBO Max)

It’s one of the oldest stories of modern times: after growing up in a place that makes them feel like a freak or an abomination or a space alien, a young person lights out for the big city, in search of their people. But what happens if you arrive, find precisely the community you’ve spent years longing for, start living the liberated life of your dreams—and then it’s over just as quickly as it started? The party becomes a nightmare. Everything fun is suddenly dangerous. Your chosen family starts dying. It’s almost as though the universe is doubling down on the 18 years’ worth of shame you absorbed on your way to freedom.

That is the predicament facing the group of friends at the center of HBO Max’s deeply humane, richly observed, frequently funny and fully devastating It’s a Sin. The miniseries, which broke viewership records when it aired in the UK, spans ten years at the outset of the AIDS crisis in London. Creator Russell T. Davies—the prolific TV producer who previously chronicled aspects of British gay life in Cucumber, A Very English Scandal and the groundbreaking Queer as Folk—wrote all five episodes, anchoring his scripts in real history that has haunted him for decades and deploying rage, empathy and humor in just the right places. [Read the full review.]

The Luminaries (Starz)

An enchanting, enthralling miniseries based on Eleanor Catton’s Booker-winning 2013 novel, The Luminaries is set amid the New Zealand gold rush, and opens with two very different portraits of its protagonist, a young woman named Anna Wetherell. The first time she appears onscreen, it’s 1866, and Anna (a guileless but bright Eve Hewson, from The Knick) is a mud-caked, almost spectral figure darting through the night in a tattered dress and coat. A flash of gold dust briefly illuminates the forest when her hem catches on a log. Nearby, a gun fires, a man falls to the ground and she keeps running until she collapses at the door to a cabin. Quickly discovered by two men on horseback, Anna—known locally as a prostitute and an opium addict—is imprisoned on charges of vagrancy, public intoxication and attempted suicide. [Read the full review.]

Nadiya Bakes (Netflix)

The Great British Baking Show has, over the course of 11 seasons, introduced dozens of lovable and talented UK home cooks to fans around the world. Its brightest star to date is 2015 champion Nadiya Hussain, a British Bangladeshi mother of three whose culinary skills and infectious enthusiasm have earned her a thriving career as an author and TV personality. That television work is finally starting to trickle across the Atlantic, via Baking Show‘s stateside platform Netflix. Last year we got the enjoyable Nadiya’s Time to Eat, but this past month brought an even more delightful sequel: Nadiya Bakes. In each of eight themed half-hours (“Savory Bakes,” “Baking on a Budget,” etc.) the ebullient Hussain keeps up a brisk pace, zooming through a handful of delicious-looking creations, with time left over to profile a relevant professional baker. If you don’t find at least one recipe per episode that you absolutely need to make, then baking will probably never be your thing. But, especially in these isolated times, the pleasure of Hussain’s upbeat company might be an even bigger draw.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

New top story from Time: House Passes President Biden’s $1.9 Trillion COVID-19 Relief Bill

https://ift.tt/2ZVMCSX WASHINGTON — The House approved a $1.9 trillion pandemic relief bill in a win for President Joe Biden, even as top Democrats tried assuring agitated progressives that they’d revive their derailed drive to boost the minimum wage. The new president’s vision for flushing cash to individuals, businesses, states and cities battered by COVID-19 passed on a near party-line 219-212 vote early Saturday. That ships the massive measure to the Senate, where Democrats seem bent on resuscitating their minimum wage push and fights could erupt over state aid and other issues. Democrats said the still-faltering economy and the half-million American lives lost demanded quick, decisive action. GOP lawmakers, they said, were out of step with a public that polling shows largely views the bill favorably. “I am a happy camper tonight,” Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., said Friday. “This is what America needs. Republicans, you ought to be a part of this. But if you’re not,

New top story from Time: Latest Tests Bring Israel a Step Closer to Commercial Drones

https://ift.tt/3lyZxGe TEL AVIV, Israel — Dozens of drones floated through the skies of Tel Aviv on Monday, ferrying cartons of ice cream and sushi across the city in an experiment that officials hope provided a glimpse of the not-too-distant future. Israel’s National Drone Initiative, a government program, carried out the drill to prepare for a world in which large quantities of commercial deliveries will be made by drones to take pressure off highly congested urban roads. The two-year program aims to apply the capabilities of Israeli drone companies to establish a nationwide network where customers can order goods and have them delivered to pick up spots. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The project, now in the third of eight stages, is still in its infancy and faces many questions about security and logistics. “We had 700 test flights at the start of this year and now we are close to 9,000 flights,” said Daniella Partem, from Israel Innovation Authority, a partner in th

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J सिद्धार्थ रॉय कपूर फिल्म्स कि अगली सीरीज़ विलियम डेलरिम्पल कि बेस्टसेलर, 'द एनार्की: पर आधारित होगी

सिद्धार्थ रॉय कपूर के प्रोडक्शन 'रॉय कपूर फिल्म्स' ने हालही में अवार्ड विनिंग इतिहासकार और लेखक विलियम डेलरिम्पल की बेस्ट सेलिंग हिस्टोरिकल बुक ‘द अनार्की: द रिलेंटलेस राइज़ ऑफ़ द ईस्ट इंडिया कंपनी' के आधिकारिक राइट्स हासिल कर इसे सीरीज़ के from टेलीविजन की खबरें | Television News in Hindi | TV Serials Update in Hindi – FilmiBeat Hindi http:/hindi.filmibeat.com/television/siddharth-roy-kapoor-next-web-series-will-be-based-on-anarchy-090499.html?utm_source=/rss/filmibeat-hindi-television-fb.xml&utm_medium=23.11.231.156&utm_campaign=client-rss

New top story from Time: Japan’s Prime Minister Abe Reportedly Stepping Down Over Health Concerns

https://ift.tt/32yNoGh (TOKYO) — Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has expressed his intention to step down due to his declining health, according to reports Friday by NHK and other Japanese media. The Prime Minister’s Office said the report could not be immediately confirmed, but that Abe was believed to be meeting top ruling officials at the party headquarters. The Liberal Democratic Party spokesman did not answer the phone. Concerns about Abe’s chronic health issues, simmering since earlier this summer, intensified this month when he visited a Tokyo hospital two weeks in a row for unspecified health checkups. Abe, whose term ends in September 2021, is expected to stay on until a new party leader is elected and formally approved by the parliament. He had abruptly resigned from his first stint in office in 2007 due to his health, which was fueling concerns about his recent condition. Abe on Monday became Japan’s longest serving prime minister by consecutive days in of

New top story from Time: Justice Department Charges 8 in Chinese Harassment Plot in U.S.

https://ift.tt/37P9856 (WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department has charged eight people with working on behalf of the Chinese government in a pressure campaign aimed at coercing a New Jersey man who was wanted by Beijing into returning to China to face charges, officials said Wednesday. The prosecution, which Justice Department officials said was the first of its kind, accuses the defendants of participating in a Chinese government operation known as “Fox Hunt” that was ostensibly created to help Beijing locate fugitives abroad but that U.S. officials say in practice relied on intimidation and bullying to go after dissidents and political opponents. Five of the eight, including an American private investigator who was hired as part of the effort, were arrested Wednesday. The other three are believed to be in China. All eight were charged with conspiring to act as illegal agents for China in a case filed in federal court in Brooklyn. “Without coordination with our governmen

New top story from Time: The Reopening of Springsteen on Broadway Brought Broadway Out of Hibernation—and One Packed Theater Into a Brighter Future

https://ift.tt/3A6wS0a The city that never sleeps is still a little sleepy, unsure of how to move its joints and muscles as it awakens from its forced hibernation . Although Times Square is now almost as brightly lit as ever, it’s remarkably hard to find a bar that will serve a drink after 11 p.m. On a late-June Saturday night, Eighth Ave. around 42nd Street was vibrating with young people: guys imported from the outer boroughs and beyond in their baggy, rumpled shorts, young women in elastic spangled mini-dresses making their first outing after a year lying in a drawer, men in mardi gras beads and the tiniest of tank tops ready to make the most of the final days of Pride month . Yet it was hard to know exactly what all these people were doing there, other than taking their place in a kind of Brownian-movement minuet under the cheerfully garish lights. Because Times Square cannot be itself while Broadway—meaning not the actual street but the constellation of live shows around

More 20 MPH Streets Coming Soon Near You

More 20 MPH Streets Coming Soon Near You By Christine Osorio Last October when California Assembly Bill 43 (Friedman) was signed into law, we posted a blog about which gave cities new flexibility in setting speed limits—specifically reducing them. “Speed Management,” a reference that is still in development, focused on reducing speed limits in key business activity districts where at least 50% are dining or retail. Since the bill went into effect last month, we’ve already started lowering speed limits by 5 MPH (from 25 MPH to 20 MPH) in the first phase of approved corridors, four of which have been implemented:  San Bruno Avenue, from Silver to Paul avenues (Completed January 2022)  Polk Street, from Filbert to Sutter streets (Completed January 2022)  Haight Street, from Stanyan Street to Central Avenue and from Webster to Steiner streets (Completed February 2022)  24th Street, from Diamond to Chattanooga streets and from Valencia Street to San Bruno Avenue (Completed

New top story from Time: Department of Homeland Security Warns of Politically Motivated Violence

https://ift.tt/2NINiIA WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security issued a national terrorism bulletin Wednesday warning of the lingering potential for violence from people motivated by antigovernment sentiment after President Joe Biden’s election, suggesting the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol may embolden extremists and set the stage for additional attacks. The department did not cite any specific plots, but pointed to “a heightened threat environment across the United States” that it believes “will persist” for weeks after Biden’s Jan. 20 inauguration. It is not uncommon for the federal government to warn local law enforcement through bulletins about the prospect for violence tied to a particular event or date, such as July 4. But this particular bulletin, issued through the department’s National Terrorism Advisory System, is notable because it effectively places the Biden administration into the politically charged debate over how to describe or characterize acts

In-Person Pride Parade & Celebrations Return This Month!

In-Person Pride Parade & Celebrations Return This Month! By Pamela Johnson The SFMTA is happy to join San Francisco Pride celebrations when they return to in-person events this month as the city continues its recovery from the pandemic. This year’s theme is “Love will Keep Us Together.” The Trans March is happening on Friday, June 24 and the Pride Parade is on Sunday, June 26. SFMTA staff are, of course, an important part of the LGBTQIA+ community that keeps SF moving with Pride. Pride is an opportunity for us to demonstrate our continued support of the LGBTQIA+ community, promoting our core values of respect, inclusivity and integrity.  History/Background of SF Pride   San Francisco had its first Pride celebration in 1970. For more than three decades the LGBTQIA+ community and their allies have been moving San Francisco forward to become a better, safer, and more equitable world for the LGBTQIA+ community and the city a better place for people to live, work and enjoy.    His

New top story from Time: ‘Do Not Hold Grudges.’ Joe Biden’s Notes Reveal Talking Points About Kamala Harris

https://ift.tt/2X4natB (WILMINGTON, Del.) — Joe Biden was uncharacteristically tight-lipped on Tuesday about the final stretch of his search for a vice president. But the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee seemed prepared to talk about at least one leading contender: California Sen. Kamala Harris. As he took questions from reporters on Tuesday, Biden held notes that were captured by an Associated Press photographer. Harris’ name was scrawled across the top, followed by five talking points. “Do not hold grudges.” “Campaigned with me & Jill.” “Talented.” “Great help to campaign.” “Great respect for her.” Those are all observations Biden has made about Harris before. But they take on new significance following a recent Politico report that one of Biden’s closest friends and a co-chair of his vice presidential vetting committee, former Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd, still harbors concerns about Harris’ tough debate stage performance and that she hasn’t expressed reg