The barrage of content produced for the profusion of networks, cable channels, and streamers means that there will inevitably be some hits and some misses. While conventional television programs courting mass appeal are to be expected, here are three current shows that buck the norm, each one successfully shifting between genres and deserving as wide an audience as possible.
‘Widow’s Bay’
Comedy and horror can go together like the sweet and savory ingredients in an entree, as unexpected as the combination might sound. Discounting obvious parodies like the Scary Movie franchise, it’s quite an accomplishment for a film or television series to simultaneously generate genuine laughs and down-to-the-bone terror and not come off as silly. That may be why the 10-episode run of Widow’s Bay — equal parts funny and frightening — has become appointment viewing. Set in the small town of Widow’s Bay on a New England coastal island, the show gets its narrative spark from a campaign by the mayor to boost tourism in the area. Only he doesn’t reckon with the supernatural doings that have plagued Widow’s Bay for centuries. As the paranormal past catches up with the residents, they must navigate the presence of fearsome otherworldly entities and rise to the challenge of a tourist influx that may end in tragedy. (A standout episode titled “Our History” takes a break from the modern storyline to clarify the cursed back story of the town.)
Widow’s Bay needed actors able to sell the uncanny aspects of the situation and play it straight when predicaments bedevil their characters in a comical way. The cast is up to the task, starting with Matthew Rhys (The Americans, Perry Mason) as hapless mayor and single father Tom Loftis, whose constituents are skeptical of his well-meaning but dangerously haphazard plans and whose wayward teenage son resents him. Rhys is well-served by a pair of expert foils: Stephen Root (Barry, NewsRadio, No Country for Old Men) as local crank Wyck, who knows the real nature of Widow’s Bay, and Kate O’Flynn (Happy-Go-Lucky, Bridget Jones’s Baby) as Mayor Tom’s socially awkward assistant Patricia, whose desperation to be accepted by the other townies has made her the butt of their jokes. Although the New England location and the gallows humor bring to mind the books of Stephen King, Widow’s Bay has its own quirky charm. Despite the comedic spice sprinkled throughout, it will get your spine tingling.
Widow’s Bay is available for streaming on Apple TV.
‘Spider-Noir’
Making good use of their longtime rights to Spider-Man, Sony Pictures has teamed up with Spidey’s parent company, Marvel, to provide Nic Cage with a dream role: the lead in the miniseries Spider-Noir. Cage plays Ben “The Spider” Reilly, an alternate universe version of Spider-Man who lives in a noir-ish 1930s New York City populated by tweaked versions of his comic book friends and a few newbies. Reilly is an older, grizzled, gun-toting private eye (making Cage age-appropriate in the part). He has the usual spider powers, but The Spider has a different origin than the original Spider-Man. Reilly’s “gifts” are the result of a gruesome encounter he experienced on the front lines of World War I. Prior to the events of Spider-Noir, he fought crime with his extra-normal skills until he endured a loss that convinced him to give up wall-crawling and web-spinning. He’s only forced back into superheroism by a number of weirdly enhanced troublemakers who start to crop up in the Big Apple at the same time that a formidable crime boss is increasing his considerable control of the city government.
Cage is his typically idiosyncratic self in Spider-Noir. For instance, he has a scene where Reilly is in a movie theater to watch one of tough-guy actor James Cagney’s classic crime dramas. It’s revealed that Reilly needs to counter the inhuman arachnid pull of his genetic alteration, and to help him do so, he studies and willfully mimicks Cagney’s voice. There’s a Jekyll & Hyde quality to it, and Cage clearly relishes the opportunity to perform the attitude swings. True to the film noir model, Spider-Noir has a femme fatale in the form of nightclub singer Cat Hardy (Li Jun Li) — a temptress designed to turn Reilly’s head and potentially distract him from his mission. The Spider’s adversaries include Flint “Sandman” Marko (Jack Huston) and cruel ganglord Silvermane (Brendan Gleeson), both of whom are also entranced by the sultry Hardy. For allies, Reilly can rely on his secretary and fellow investigator Janet Ruiz (Karen Rodriguez) and the fearless freelance journalist Robbie Robertson (Lamorne Morris). Spider-Noir achieves a nice balance between hard-boiled detective fiction and superhero action. With a click of the remote, Prime Video subscribers can watch the eight highly stylized, Art Deco-infused episodes of the show in either eye-popping Technicolor or silvery black and white. Purists might prefer the latter, because it is, after all, Spider-Noir.
Spider-Noir is available for streaming on Prime Video.
‘Rivals’
The second season of the British TV series Rivals continues to have a grand time with its tongue-in-cheek evisceration of aristocratic country life in the Cotswolds and its satire of regional television channels in England during the 1980s. Adapted from Dame Jilly Cooper’s Rutshire Chronicles book series, the show pits the ruthless, nouveau riche Lord Tony Baddingham (David Tennant), managing director of Corinium Television, against nobleman Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell), a retired Olympian horseman, Conservative member of Parliament, and womanizer. Baddingham hates Campbell-Black, so it’s nothing short of war when the latter teams up with Declan O’Hara (Aidan Turner), a former BBC on-air personality, and Freddie Jones (Danny Dyer), a wealthy, self-made businessman in the electronics field, to start Venturer, a television channel in direct competition with Corinium. Family members, employees, paramours, and even Prime Minister Maggie Thatcher are drawn into the conflict between the two companies. There’s abundant adultery, fancy society gatherings, and even political intrigue. The ensemble — which also features Nafessa Williams, Katherine Parkinson, Bella Maclean, Victoria Smurfit, and Luke Pasqualino in noteworthy roles — is overflowing with charm. For all of its soap opera aspects (the contention, the back-stabbing, the bed-hopping, etc.), Rivals is executed with wit and dash, and it’s as addictive as a good TV show should be.
Courtesy of Hulu
Rivals is available for streaming on Hulu.
