"Mrs America," "I May Destroy You," "Eurovision: Fire Saga" and more...
It's your latest "Worth Watching" email.
Hello,
Welcome to your Worth Watching newsletter, telling you what shows are worth watching at the moment.
Mrs America (BBC Two / iPlayer) - At first look I was a bit doubtful that I would get into this glossy US drama looking at the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s. This was simply because I didn’t know that much about the topic and I was unsure whether British viewers would be that absorbed by it either. But I was mistaken: this drama is worth your time because of the cast and their performances. Seriously, it is Big Little Lies level of casting. Sarah Paulson ✅ Tracey Ullman ✅ Elizabeth Banks ✅ Uzo Aduba ✅ and of course, Cate Blanchett ✅✅✅, who is absolutely electrifying in every scene she’s in.
BBC Two are showing two episodes a week, but you can binge the whole thing already. Perfect for these damp July days.
I May Destroy You (BBC One / iPlayer / twice a week) - I mentioned this show written, created, starring and directed by Michaela Coel in an earlier edition of this newsletter. Having watched more episodes, I firmly believe that it is one of my favourite shows of the year so far, because of its originality. Each character is so wonderfully complex. I don’t want it to end. The final two episodes air on Monday, so now is the perfect time to binge it if you haven’t done it already.
Make sure you read this profile about Michaela Coel in Vulture too. There’s many interesting stories. One that stood out for me is how, according to Coel, Netflix wouldn’t allow her to retain 5% of the copyright of the show when she was in negotiations with the streaming service. She walked despite a seven figure offer and signed up to the BBC instead. The BBC gave her “total” creative control and she owns the rights to the show too.
Eurovision: The Story of Fire Saga (Netflix) - This Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams film is an enjoyable romp through the ridiculous singing competition, whilst somehow not offending the community that love it so dearly. Arguably, the film is just that little bit too long (some of the bits should have ended on the cutting room floor), but there many entertaining sequences too. And heck, what is half an hour these days?
A joy is that there are many cameos and references to Eurovision in the film, which will go over most casual viewer’s heads. In case you are interested, I have written a guide to all of these references in The New York Times.
Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind (Sky Documentaries) - This is a reminder that the Sky Documentaries channel (which is now available on-demand Now TV for no extra cost) is always worth a look.
A recent favourite for me is a biographical film looking at the life of the late and great Robin Williams, with the voiceover being clips of Williams from previous interviews.
Here’s some tidbits:
The Olympics are being repeated on the BBC, seeing that Tokyo 2020 isn’t happening this year. It’ll start with sporting highlights of the last three Olympics every afternoon on BBC Two, including a Directors Cut of the London 2012 Opening Ceremony on Friday 17th July.
The fantastic Imagine documentary, the story of the Opening Ceremony told by the volunteers who participated in it, will also be available to watch on the 17th.
The Crown on Netflix will have a sixth season after all. The show was set to end after the fifth season (we are currently awaiting the fourth), but creator Peter Morgan has changed his mind on how many more storylines the show can contain.
All of the major broadcasters in Britain (that’s all BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 owned channels) aired a short film last night highlighting how television brings us all together and the value of public service broadcasting. Why? Well, they haven’t really explained this clearly well, but it can be viewed as a subtle dig at streaming services, like Netflix, who do not feel obligated in telling the same stories as they do. It could also be seen as a reminder to the government to mess with these channels at their peril.
TV Burp fans, you are in luck. The BBC has announced a new series where Harry Hill does a *sideways glance* at different TV genres. It’ll air later this year.
Things to look out for on TV soon:
Rise of the Murdoch Empire, a BBC documentary series that delves into the phone hacking scandal, starts on BBC Two next week.
The Umbrella Academy, which had an uneven yet entertaining first season on Netflix, is back for a second season on July 31st.
Also… I did a thread on Twitter asking for the shows you have started but have never bothered or forgot to finish. There were a lot of interesting and rather surprising responses from people: The Americans, Mindhunter, Hollywood, Killing Eve, Mr Robot, The Good Place, Fleabag and His Dark Materials. Don’t ever get guilty if you ever drop out of a show, though. Life is simply too short.
On the latest episode of Must Watch on BBC Sounds we interviewed Gary Kemp about The Kemps: All True and reviewed Penny Dreadful.
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Have a great weekend and will be back with another newsletter soon.
Scotty / @scottygb