Selena takes a bow, James Marsden takes The Stand, and Shonda Rhimes comes to Netflix this December on TV
TV Features Preview
Clockwise from upper left: The Stand (Photo: Robert Falconer/CBS), Bridgerton (Photo: Liam Daniel/Netflix), Selena: The Series (Photo: Netflix), Small Axe: Red, White And Blue (Photo: Will Robson-Scott/Amazon Studios), The Hardy Boys (Photo: Brooke Palmer/Hulu) Graphic: Natalie Peeples
Even in this most unusual year, the December TV lineup features several stand-bys, including an annual viewing of A Charlie Brown Christmas, a Mariah Carey holiday special, and NBC’s tradition of airing a bewildering musical (this year, it’s Matthew Morrison as The Grinch). But if you’re looking to unwrap something new, December’s offerings also include two teen-centered dramas with life-or-death stakes, a biographical drama about Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, the latest adaptation of Stephen King’s The Stand, the final three installments of Steve McQueen’s film anthology series, Small Axe, and Shonda Rhimes’ Netflix debut. So grab some eggnog and don your viewing apparel—it’s time for the final A.V. Club TV preview of 2020.
19 Comments
STOP THESE F***ING SLIDESHOWS
Agreed, they make me 80% more likely to realize I don’t care that much about a story in the first place. It’ll be diminishing returns for the nickels or whatever its generating. I can’t speak for others but it just makes me begin to think of avclub like it’s one of the clickbait trash sites like business insider or some shit.
On Android, this presents as one long list. I didn’t realize it was a slideshow until your comment!
They are super annoying, but did you know there’s a trick to getting the content all on one scroll? At least if you’re in Chrome, just narrow the window down and at a certain point, the slides all collapse into one page. It’s a bother to have to do that work-around, but makes actually reading the article tolerable.
That also works in Firefox.
You are a Hero my friend.
Tolerable, but still a garbage experience. The comment section mechanics sometimes just refuses to load more than a couple comments.
Also works in Safari.
“We’re at least lucky that COVID-19 isn’t accompanied by a charismatic antichrist figure”I have some bad news about the president
hey, cbs.im not going to subscribe to you.
The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend A Broken Heart?SO in.
I’m very interested to see if they can pull off The Stand. Does anyone know if the Expanse is going to drop all at once or week to week like with The Boys?Finally, can’t believe you missed the greatest Xmas present of all – the 9th season of Letterkenny dropping.
I’ve updated the post to include Letterkenny, because we actually have a piece on season nine running mid-December!
That’s what I appreciates about ‘cha
So with The Hardy Boys… I don’t know what the show will actually be about, but I can’t be the only one thinking, “CW just lost Supernatural… quick! We need a new show about brothers trying to solve the mystery of their mother’s death to grab that audience!”
I’m curious with Bridgerton, is racism not a thing in this version of Regency era England? Enola Holmes was inclusive in this way too, and it was a little…off? It’s a thing that bugs me, if only because it feels like a bit of having your cake and eating it too. I mean I think it’s fair to say that there was a lot of struggle (even if there was more social mobility, and frankly just MORE, people of colour than people think through most of western European history, but it was far from equal) and I dunno presenting these fantasy scenarios in real historical settings feels a little…disrespectful to those who lived through it. Then again I’m sure modern audiences and actors want to play around in those spaces without being relegated to the roles and story lines history might restrict them too. It just feels slightly at odds when in the same list as the Small Axe entries (which all look good, Alex Wheatle and Education in particular seem like good involving stuff that will probably leave me a bit wrecked, but I’m sensitive to the plight of kids, and people who take it upon themselves to rise up always kind of fuck me up (cause they don’t have to, but they can’t not, and that just pierces any kind of walls I have up and cuts me deep.)) which are examining the sort of ramifications of that world, in the future of that same country.I dunno, it’s probably fine, and maybe I’m interpreting the trailer wrong, it just kind of felt like “Here’s romance in the Regency Era, stay for the dresses and the stratified society trappings, peek in at the bed chamber drama, ooh sexy upstairs downstairs scandals, ignore the racial politics and horrible mistreatment of whole swathes of people this society was built upon…it’s fine, i-it’s fine!”Then again this is the person behind Grey’s Anatomy, and that show was (IS?! GOOD GAWD IT’S STILL GOING!) fucking bonkers.
I’ve always wondered that when watching Doctor Who. On very rare occasions, it gets some lip service but mostly race is ignored, just like their clothing. I honestly don’t know whether it wasn’t as significant in England as it was in the US through the 18th and 19th centuries or whether they’re just pretending that it wasn’t so they can get on with the ripping yarn.
From my research it was different than America, but still bad enough that by modern standards it would be an egregious and evidently a racist society, furthermore the things we would consider terribly offensive were just common place, not even rude. Remember this is the height of “Orientalism” the British Raj, and the British Empire. Society was just far more stratified in general compared to now, and Race was a big part of that. We’re still talking about the period where clothes make the man, as it were, where talking to someone of the wrong social class could go very badly for you, and being of the wrong colour or creed, means even if you’re as wealthy, you’re not the same (unless, and sometimes even withstanding this, you have the right power backing you) as appearances would suggest. It’s partly out of this era, and the one following it (early 20th century) that we get the ideas of Eugenics and the “Master Race”. Long story short, it’s super fucked up by modern standards lol. But again, I do get that a realistic depiction of history doesn’t always make for the best entertainment. Frankly trips into History have to be curtailed or we’d just be disgusted and alienated instead of entertained. Sometimes I just think glossing over where we come from makes people forget the huge strides we’ve made, and how far we still have to go. It’s a bit of what inspires the “well it wasn’t sooo bad, right?” line of thinking. Then again, y’know Doctor Who is only so interested in reckoning with those issues, and I’m not sure the show with the Sonic Screwdriver and the Tardis is really the place to examine them, so maybe it’s for the best lol.
Right, I don’t actually expect accuracy from Doctor Who, but it does make you wonder how people would really be reacting.