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: Louisiana Congressman-Elect Luke Letlow, 41, Dies After Contracting COVID-19

https://ift.tt/3aTJqOA (BATON ROUGE, La.) — Luke Letlow, Louisiana’s incoming Republican member of the U.S. House, died Tuesday night from complications related to COVID-19 only days before he would have been sworn into office. He was 41. Letlow spokesman Andrew Bautsch confirmed the congressman-elect’s death at Ochsner-LSU Health Shreveport. “The family appreciates the numerous prayers and support over the past days but asks for privacy during this difficult and unexpected time,” Bautsch said in a statement. “A statement from the family along with funeral arrangements will be announced at a later time.” Louisiana’s eight-member congressional delegation called Letlow’s death devastating. “Luke had such a positive spirit, and a tremendously bright future ahead of him. He was looking forward to serving the people of Louisiana in Congress, and we were excited to welcome him to our delegation where he was ready to make an even greater impact on our state and our nation,” th...

New Sculptures Light up Van Ness Avenue

New Sculptures Light up Van Ness Avenue By Luis “Loui” Apolonio Light sculpture at Van Ness Avenue and O'Farrell Street Spectators gathered both online and in person to watch new lighting sculptures on Van Ness turned on for the first time on March 31, 2022. The whimsical and brightly colored sculptures located on the new Van Ness BRT boarding platform between Geary and O’Farrell are made of steel with LED lights inside on a timer set to illuminate at night.  The lighting event was kicked off with SFMTA Director Jeff Tumlin and MTAB Chair Gwyneth Borden serving as emcees. Mary Chou, Director of Public Arts and Collections at the San Francisco Arts Commission, spoke about the art installation itself, as well as the process for selecting the artist who would be awarded the project. In addition, Maddy Ruvolo, a member of the SFMTA’s Accessible Services team and a recently appointed member of President Biden’s U.S. Access Board, shared the importance of having accessibility as a ...

Gene Henderson: Honoring Muni’s First Black Division Manager

Gene Henderson: Honoring Muni’s First Black Division Manager By Jeremy Menzies In recognition of Black History Month, we bring you the story of Gene Henderson, the first Black man to become the head of a Muni bus division, Muni’s Kirkland Division. Henderson’s Background Gene Henderson was born in Houston, Texas, in 1916. He married his wife Naomi in 1939 and then served in the U.S. Army during World War II. Following the war, Gene and his family moved to San Francisco where he began his career at the San Francisco Municipal Railway. Early Career On February 1, 1946, Henderson was hired as a streetcar motorman out of Sutro Division, which was located on the corner of 32nd Ave. and Clement St. He was hired just five years after Muni’s first Black transit operator, Audley Cole, had successfully fought to integrate the carmen’s union in 1941. In his early days at Muni, Gene worked one of the three lines running out of Sutro Division from the Ferry Building to the Richmond District o...

Youth Voices for Vision Zero SF

Youth Voices for Vision Zero SF By Christine Osorio Starting in the month of February, Muni buses and transit shelters will feature youth artwork illustrating Vision Zero traffic safety messages. The students are part of Youth Art Exchange (YAX), an arts-education non-profit based whose mission is to support San Francisco’s public high school students in becoming leaders, thinkers, and artists by sharing creative practices with professional artists. As part of Supervisor Norman Yee’s District 7 participatory budget process, YAX students consulted with SFMTA staff to develop traffic safety messages and artwork that reflect their experiences around traffic safety. Themes highlighted through Youth Voices for Vision Zero SF include general traffic safety such as: Yielding to pedestrians in the crosswalk. Slowing down. Understanding that traffic deaths are preventable. Watching for people biking. Not blocking the sidewalk with a scooter. The student artwork also included Covid-...

New Customer Information System Signs Coming to a Transit Shelter Near You!

New Customer Information System Signs Coming to a Transit Shelter Near You! By Kharima Mohamed As part of the Next Generation Customer Information System project, over 700 new Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) signs will display real-time information at Muni transit shelters. Approximately one-third of these signs will be double-sided to provide additional visibility at the highest-ridership stops and major transfer points. This week we installed a single-sided prototype at Eddy and Larkin streets. Serving the Tenderloin, an Equity Neighborhood , this sign will feature real-time predictions for the 19 Polk and 31 Balboa routes. The primary purpose for installing this prototype is to conduct in-field hardware testing, especially with rain, wind and colder temperatures.    We know there is an urgent need for more effective signage and are excited to roll out the new customer information system later this year.  The new LCD signs will eventually replace all existing Next...

Top 25,000 defaulting taxpayers to be persuaded to file GST returns by Nov 30, tax officers to send reminders https://ift.tt/3mm19Rt

The Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) along with tax officials have decided to persuade 25,000 taxpayers, who have defaulted to file their GSTR-3B returns by the November 20 due date for the month of October, to file the same.

Omicron Surge Impact on Muni Routes and Schedules

Omicron Surge Impact on Muni Routes and Schedules By Julie Kirschbaum As has been reported widely in the media, the highly contagious Omicron variant has led to rapid and unprecedented spread of the COVID-19 virus in San Francisco. More than 100 SFMTA staff have contracted COVID since late last month. Combined with pre-existing staffing shortages, this has led to an increase in missed Muni service. We’re also experiencing staffing impacts in other job classifications, including mechanics, car cleaners and transit supervisors.  Currently, we are missing up to 15% of scheduled Muni service , which means that riders may need to wait longer than usual for their bus or train. Our hope is that this will be the extent of our impacts. However, the situation is fluid, and we are monitoring staffing levels on a daily basis. As part of our contingency planning, we are preparing for what might happen if our overall staffing levels drop significantly or if a small, but vital group—s...

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J बिग बॉस 14: सलमान का फार्महाउस, 16 प्रतिभागी, देखिए धमाकेदार लिस्ट

सलमान खान के शो बिग बॉस के नए सीज़न को लेकर काफी समय से अटकलें चल रही हैं और अब इस सीज़न को लेकर काफी खबरें बाहर आ चुकी हैं। सबसे पहली बात तो ये कि ये सीज़न सलमान खान अपने from टेलीविजन की खबरें | Television News in Hindi | TV Serials Update in Hindi – FilmiBeat Hindi http:/hindi.filmibeat.com/television/bigg-boss-14-details-salman-khan-s-panvel-farmhouse-16-contestants-see-list-090656.html?utm_source=/rss/filmibeat-hindi-television-fb.xml&utm_medium=104.71.130.47&utm_campaign=client-rss

4th and King Overhead Line Installation Starts November 17, 2021

4th and King Overhead Line Installation Starts November 17, 2021 By Enrique Aguilar Heads up! Installation of overhead line equipment at 4th and King streets starts Nov. 17. Consider taking an alternative route if driving through the area as work for the Central Subway will require detouring traffic. N Judah and T Third rail service will be served by buses starting at approximately 9 p.m. each night that work is performed. Crews are scheduled to work during nighttime to reduce traffic and Muni service disruption while overhead lines and accessories are installed that will tie the new Central Subway system to the existing T Third Street line. A test train will verify Overhead Catenary System (OCS) installation, which is how zero-emissions electrical power is supplied to light rail vehicles. Electrical work will start at approximately 9 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 17, and should conclude Saturday, Nov. 20. Rail service will resume on schedule Thursday and Friday mornings. Saturday and Su...

New top story from Time: Hurricane Isaias Bears Down on Bahamas and Florida After Battering Puerto Rico

https://ift.tt/2Din2zF (SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico) — New Hurricane Isaias kept on a path early Friday expected to take it to the U.S. East Coast by the weekend as it approached the Bahamas, parts of which are still recovering from the devastation of last year’s Hurricane Dorian. Isaias had maximum sustained winds of 80 mph (130 kph) late Thursday and was centered about 70 miles (110 kilometers) east-southeast of Great Inagua Island in the Bahamas, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. It was moving northwest at 18 mph (30 kph). It was forecast to pass over the southeastern Bahamas during the night, be near the central Bahamas late Friday and move near or over the northwestern Bahamas and near South Florida on Saturday. On Thursday while still a tropical storm, Isaias knocked out power, toppled trees and caused widespread flooding and small landslides in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, where at least 35 people were rescued from floodwaters and one person remained m...