Champaign ILL
International TV

What have you been watching? Including Champaign ILL, Timeless and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina

It’s “What have you been watching?”, your chance to recommend to fellow TMINE readers anything you’ve been watching this week

Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas! Yes, just before TMINE goes off on its week-and-a-half-long Christmas break, I thought I’d leave you with one final present – a second WHYBW! Yes, it’s a Christmas miracle.


This week’s reviews

There was a decent release of new boxsets this week, but season 3 of Travelers was the only thing I managed to both watch and review, as I was away at a wedding last weekend. I do hope to catch up with season 2 of 4 Blocks, the rest of Plan Cœur and a few other shows at some point, but I’m not 100% sure that’ll be over the Christmas break, seeing as I’m not a member of the Royle Family. But we’ll see.

There’s also some good stuff out today on Netflix, including The Protector, so I might end up watching something surprising. And Hulu’s just boxsetted the entire second season of Marvel’s Runaways, so I’ll probably watch at least a few episodes of that before we’re reunited in 2019.

Plus Syfy (US) has just released a preview of the first episode of Deadly Class, so I’ll have that to talk about when I get back. It’s US only, but it’s here, if you want to watch it, too, and can:

The Timeless finale
The Timeless finale

New shows

But that doesn’t mean I’ve watched nothing else but Travelers. YouTube Premium’s Chicago ILL came out recently and I’ll be talking about that after the jump. Oddly, this year, US TV has been taking a leaf out of UK TV’s book and has given us some Christmas specials. Timeless came back for a feature-length conclusion and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina also gave us a suitably festive tale of cannibalism and ritual sacrifice for the solstice. Praise Satan. We can talk about that after the jump, too.

Happy Together

And the regulars… sorry, regular…

Most shows have already had their mid-season finales, but there are a few stragglers left. Frustratingly, Titans‘s final episode is tonight, so that’ll have to wait until 2019 before I talk about the final arrival of Batman to the programme. That means, I’ll be talking about Happy Together… and that’s it. Huh.

And no, I’ve still not watched the final two episodes of Doctor Who.

Continue reading “What have you been watching? Including Champaign ILL, Timeless and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina”

Travelers - Season 3
Internet TV

Boxset Friday: Travelers (season 3) (Netflix)

Available on Netflix

I foresee a future where ultimately, only Netflix makes TV. All TV you want to watch will be on Netflix and that will be the only TV you get to watch.

How can we stop this? More importantly, should we stop this or is the alternative future so much worse?

Gosh, what a smooth segue into this review of season 3 of Travelers. You barely noticed the bump, did you?

When Travelers started, it was a surprisingly decent, low-key Canadian series on that country’s Showcase channel. Yes, it had some funding from Netflix, but as the show’s star and producer Eric McCormack (Will & Grace) pointed out when interviewed at the time, it was still a show that was proudly Canadian and “Canadian first”. Sure, the rest of the world would get to watch it on Netflix sooner or later, but everyone in Canada would get the chance to watch it first.

However, here we are hitting season 3 and it’s now Netflix-only. No initial Canadian airing first any more. Netflix has assimilated Travelers and made it a true original, rather than a ‘Netflix Original’.

Soon, all TV will be like this. But should this future be avoided? Is season 3 of Travelers any different or worse from the previous two seasons?

Travelers - season 3

Well traveled

Season 3 of Travelers picks up where the previous season left off, more or less. There’s a bit of a time jump but not a huge one and the gaps are filled in pretty quickly.

If you recall, when last we left Travelers, our gang of time travellers had been outed by the very first of their number, Traveler 001: they had been forced to confess to camera that their consciousnesses had been sent back in time by an AI called ‘The Director’ to replace those of present day people who were about to die, in order to prevent the terrible future they’d all come from. Yes, they themselves were about to do what they’d tried to avoid for two seasons and expose their mission to the world – and their new, present-day loved ones. What would happen next, could they stop it and how would it affect their mission? And how would being on Netflix affect the storytelling?

Well, there’s more swearing…

Spoilers after this trailer and the jump.

Continue reading “Boxset Friday: Travelers (season 3) (Netflix)”


What’s the collective noun for a group of Shafts?

Because here’s three of them:

Yep, there’s a new Shaft movie out soon, featuring the original Shaft, Richard Roundtree, his nephew from the 2000 Shaft, Samuel L Jackson and Jackson’s son Jessie T Usher. No trailer yet for the new Shaft, sadly, but you can have these for the previous two Shafts to tide you over.


Better Things

When’s that show you mentioned starting, TMINE? Including Better Things, Russian Doll, Elven and Les rivières pourpres

Every Friday, TMINE lets you know when the latest TV shows from around the world will air in the UK

Not a huge number of new shows or premiere dates, but Walter, Netflix and the Beebs do have a few New Year’s presents for us all.

Premiere dates

Better Things

Better Things (US: FX; UK: BBC Two)
Premiere date: Thursday, January 10, 9pm

A semi-autobiographical piece written by and starring Pamela Adlon and co-written by Louis CK, there are good things in Better Things, although that’s more to do with some creative choices than the subject matter or anything especially interesting or funny that happens.

Ever wanted to know what life is like for a 50-something single mother with three daughters, who’s the daughter of a TV producer and who’s an actress living in LA who goes to a lot of auditions and has to deliver a lot of bad dialogue in a lot of bad TV shows? I can’t say I feel a desperate need to know myself, but maybe you’re different, in which case Better Things will be a big help bridging that empathy gap.

Maybe if you’re facing similar issues, you’ll find this funny in a gallows humour kind of way. Personally, I found it just a little bit too self-involved, a bit too much a female Californication but without much joy.

Episode reviews: 1

Les rivières pourpres (The Crimson Rivers)

Les rivières pourpres (The Crimson Rivers) (France: France 2; UK: Channel 4)
Premiere date: Friday, January 11, 10.30pm

Based on the 2000 blockbuster of the same name, The Crimson Rivers follows conflicted cop duo Camille Delauney and Pierre Niémans. Niémans and Camille are called out all over rural France to solve complex cases which all involve a weird brutality far beyond the capacity of local police departments. The protagonists find themselves infiltrating folktale-like crimes with strong moral and mystic themes, dealing with cults, murder based on family tradition and human sacrifice. An unlikely match, Niémans is a reserved, pragmatic and pessimistic old school sleuth, whereas Camille is bold, brave and not afraid of over-stepping the mark, yet together they make a charismatic and driven duo who will stop at nothing to catch a killer.

The River

The River (Elven) (Norway: TV3 ; UK: Channel 4)
Premiere date: Monday, January 14

Based on true events from the region bordering Russia, in northern Scandinavia, The River stars Espen Reboli Bjerke (Mammon), Ingeborg Raustøl and Dennis Storhøi (Mammon).

In the small village of Djupelv, which straddles the Norwegian/Russian border well within the Arctic Circle, the winters are long and dark. Everyone knows everyone and there are no secrets in this close-knit community, or so it seems. During one of NATO’S winter exercises a dismembered hand is discovered in the river by a local Sami girl.

Thomas, the local police officer starts investigating the grisly discovery, despite firm warnings from his superiors. When the girl disappears and is later found murdered by army officer Mia Holt he becomes even more suspicious that something sinister is afoot. Mia and Thomas continue together in their search for the truth and are forced to look at this small community in a new light. Why are the authorities passive? Why are the locals staying so tight-lipped? And what is hidden up there in the mountains?

Russian Doll

Russian Doll (Netflix)
Premiere date: Friday, February 1

Created by Natasha Lyonne, Amy Poehler and Leslye Headland, Russian Doll follows a young woman named Nadia (Lyonne) on her journey as the guest of honour at a seemingly inescapable party one night in New York City. Greta Lee, Yul Vazquez, Elizabeth Ashley, Rebecca Henderson and Charlie Barnett.

Ray Donovan

Ray Donovan renewed; Cardinal, Medici trailers; + more

Every weekday, TMINE brings you the latest TV news from around the world

The Daily News will return in January. Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Internet TV

  • Trailer for season 2 of Netflix’s Medici
  • Sivan Alyra Rose, Lilliya Reid, Nicholas Galitzine et al join Netflix’s Chambers
  • Johnny Weir, Sarah Wright Olsen, Will Kemp et al join Netflix’s Spinning Out
  • Clara Wong to recur on Netflix’s The I-Land

International TV

Canadian TV

  • Trailer for season 3 of CTV’s Cardinal


US TV show casting

New US TV shows

New US TV show casting

  • Joy Osmanski, Neil Hopkins and Nelson Lee join DC Universe’s Stargirl