I’m listing seven shows here to add to your queue, ranging from crime thrillers, dramatized true stories, to fantasy and, thank goodness, comedy.
The Patient. A psychotherapist (the wonderful Steve Carell) who recently lost his wife, finds himself held prisoner by a serial killer with an unusual request to curb his homicidal urges. The power and limits of introspection and therapy, the bittersweet pangs of grief—it’s all here. Elegaic and suspenseful. The acting is superb. Hulu.
A number of television series I’ve watched lately are docudramas, based on real events. Case in point: The Dropout, which tells the story of the rise and fall of former Silicon Valley darling Elizabeth Holmes (played by the terrific Amanda Seyfried), the youngest self-made female billionaire and a helluva con artist. Hulu.
Inventing Anna, a true-crime series starring the enormously talented Julia Garner, tells the wild true story of fraudster Anna Sorokin, who posed as a wealthy German heiress named Anna Delvey while living in New York. She doesn’t have a penny to her name, but with crazy audacity Anne Delvey manages to convince everyone around her to pay for her lavish lifestyle. Fascinating. Netflix.
Black Bird A true-crime series, this one created by crime novelist Dennis Lehane. Jimmy Keene (Taron Egerton) is sentenced to 10 years in a minimum security prison for trafficking drugs but he cuts a deal with the FBI to befriend a suspected serial killer. Keene, in a prison for the criminally insane, has to elicit a confession from Larry Hall (Paul Walter Hauser who deserves an Emmy) to find the bodies of as many as eighteen women. Yes, it happened. Apple TV.
The Staircase Another true story, The Staircase is a biographical drama is about Michael Peterson, a crime novelist accused of killing his wife Kathleen after she is found dead at the bottom of a staircase in their home, and the 16-year judicial battle that followed. Starring Colin Firth and Toni Collette. HBO Max. Note: a documentary covering the same subject is available on Netflix.
House of Dragon This fantasy drama, a prequel to Game of Thrones, is based on the prolific fantasy writer George R.R. Martin's Fire & Blood. Palace intrigue with dragons. Yay! But there’s a contemporary theme: Men who can’t handle the thought of bending the knee to women leaders. HBO.
Sheng Wang: Sweet and Juicy How about some comic relief? I tuned into an hour of a stand-up comedian who provided some well-needed chuckles about mammograms and snoring, and the existential angst of buying pants from Costco. Sheng Wang will tickle your funny bone. Netflix.