It’s been way too long since I did a FlixMix Friday (now brought to you on Monday). I’ve spent more time than usual inside this summer since I’m taking meds that make me photosensitive. So I’ve got lots of streaming stuff to put on my list of shows to recommend. As always, please feel free to add your own favorites in the comments!
Mind Over Murder (HBO)
This HBO series (six episodes) is devoted to what’s been described as the worst miscarriage of justice in Nebraska history: the conviction of six people in a small town called Beatrice, Nebraska (pronounced beeATris) for the murder of a beloved mom and grandmother, Helen Wilson. Mrs. Wilson was raped and murdered in her apartment in downtown Beatrice. It was a brutal crime that robbed a family of a loving, fun and devoted grandmother. Even all these years later, it’s difficult for Mrs. Wilson’s family to speak about her without breaking down into tears.
The crime was committed before DNA was a common procedure admissible in court. The police only had blood typing to analyze evidence, which showed an assailant with type B nonsecretor blood. None of the six defendants fit that exact blood type. The most shocking aspect of the case: five of the six defendants confessed or pled guilty. Only one continued to assert his innocence and refused a plea bargain. That man, Joe White, eventually hired an attorney to appeal his conviction. The first thing the attorney did was to ask for a DNA test now that the technology had advanced. If this case doesn’t make you furious, you don’t have a heart. P.S. If you are turned off by the weird conceit of putting on a play about the case, keep watching anyway. It actually adds a lot to the last episode.
The Most Hated Man on the Internet (Netflix)
This documentary profiles a man who started a website dedicated to “revenge porn,” posting nude photographs of (mostly) women and men without their consent. In the early days of the internet, fewer protections were available to those whose intimate photos were posted without their permission. Victims were even more traumatized by the mean, profane, and misogyst comments left by visitors to the website and the owner’s arrogance. The show traces the efforts of a victim’s mother and the FBI to take down the website and prosecute him. FYI: some of the photos and videos from the website that are shown are….not safe for work and in some cases horribly disgusting.
Virgin River (Netflix)
Virgin River is the frenemy of my streaming life. It’s often corny and soapy but I still find it addicting, even when I want to punch the tv because the plots are SO ridiculous and nonsensical (e.g., just stop by your old fertility clinic and get them to implant the extra embryos your dead husband fathered like it’s going to the drive-thru?). Maybe it’s because I like Tim Matheson and Annette O’Toole as the doctor and his wife who are one of the anchors of the rural community of Virgin River. Season 4 dropped recently and I love-hate binged it promptly. This season featured a character getting diagnosed with lupus, which is treated by the Virgin River residents (including the doctor, WHO SHOULD KNOW BETTER) as a disease which will strip the patient of all the good in their life before killing them soonish. This elicited much gnashing of teeth and uttering of profanity on my part.
The Northman (Peacock)
It’s got one of the Skarsgaards in it (or maybe two?) and Nicole Kidman, as well as Anna-Joy Taylor and Ethan Hawke, so maybe I can be forgiven for thinking this would be a good movie. Alas, it was not.
The Thing About Pam (Peacock)/The Staircase (HBO)
Both of these series are re-enactments/fictionalizations of very well-known murder cases. Renee Zellweger plays Pam Hupp, who appears to be simply a neighborhood busybody but turns out to be more — so much more. The Staircase stars Colin Firth and Toni Collette in a fictionalization of the murder of a North Carolina woman found dead on a narrow back staircase in her house. Her husband is the prime suspect given evidence from the crime scene and some of the secrets he’s been keeping.
Both of these are well-acted (it’s got to be good acting for me to find Colin Firth skeevy) and they certainly don’t have the superficiality and campiness of some cable tv movies (I’m looking at you, Lifetime). However, both of these series left me a little icked out. I find true crime to be fascinating for a lot of reasons but there also can be an exploitativeness about it that bothers me, given that real people died and were accused, with families and friends who care about them. For some reason this bothers me less in a documentary than it does in a fictionalization.
Girls5Eva (Peacock)
Season 2 of this warm-hearted comedy came out in May. This show has Tina Fey’s fingerprints on it (executive producer) and I love Sara Bareilles, one of the main characters, so it required no convincing to get me to watch. The premise: a group of women were in an 80s pop band that fizzled out. Can they make a comeback in today’s music world? Some really funny lines and a sweet besties-are-there-for-each-other vibe make this fun to watch. If, like me, you came of age in the 80s, you will cackle at the nostalgia and inside jokes. Great cast and the faux music (lol Big Pussy Energy) is both catchy and hilarious.
Operation Mincemeat (Netflix)
Have I mentioned that I loves me some Colin Firth? This is a good movie about a WW2 operation in which the British secret service must try to fool the Germans into thinking that they will invade Greece instead of the obvious target of Sicily. It’s based on a true story and it’s a fascinating look at the ingenuity of the Allies at a time when war wasn’t simply the push of a button.
Crazy Love (2007 documentary) (Prime and other places)
Not quite sure how I stumbled on this one, but it’s a true story that is almost too bizarre to be believed. Woman dates man, woman breaks up with man, man hires thugs to throw acid in the face of woman, man and woman end up married in their golden years. Yowza.
The Sandman (HBO)
Never read the comic books, knew nothing about the plot, but I really enjoyed this series which focuses on the character Dream, who is the figure responsible for every one’s, well, dreams. Fantastic casting (love Brienne of Tarth!), beautifully made, written by the great Neil Gaiman, and leaves you with some stuff to think about. We blew through the first season. Here’s hoping the HBO merger doesn’t fuck it up.
The Orville (Hulu/Disney +)
If you aren’t watching The Orville, PLEASE DO SO IMMEDIATELY. The Orville was created by and stars Seth MacFarlane and right now I know a bunch of you are thinking “I hate Family Guy, will this be all fart jokes?” (Spoiler alert: no, it will not.)
This show will change your mind about what Seth MacFarlane is capable of. MacFarlane is an unabashed lover of Star Trek TOS & TNG and the first season of the show is both homage and parody to those beloved shows. The show revolves around the adventures of a spacecraft 400 years in the future, under a Federation-like structure called The Union. Just keep going, even if the first couple of episodes seem like a weird mix of comedy and drama and sci-fi. Th show doesn’t hit its stride until the end of the first season, but the second season is really good and the third season is masterful. It may not be an official Star Trek series, but it certainly is their “spiritual successor.” If some of the newer Star Trek franchises have turned you off, please please please watch The Orville.
