WandaVision (Disney+ January 15)
A show where a depressed witch and her digital boyfriend (a glorified digital assistant that was brought to life in a robot body by the powers of a magic rock!?), are trapped in a psychological thriller set in a kind of fugue state built from the settings of generational American sitcoms. Produced by Disney/Marvel. In the trailer alone there’s references to I Love Lucy, Bewitched (obviously), Mork and Mindy, The Brady Bunch, Full House, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and Modern Family. What’s actually going on isn’t really clear from the little we’ve been allowed to see so far, but it seems as if Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen), an incredibly powerful superhero with psychic abilities, has retreated to a fantasy world of her own creation in denial of the tragic loss of her romantic partner, Vision (Paul Bettany) during the events of Avengers: Infinity War.
Depending on who you ask, the Marvel Cinematic Universe could be either the height of mass market cinema, or a finger on the Disney corporations cartoon fist that is slowly squeezing pop-culture into a single homogeneous mass, or anywhere between. I fall squarely in that third category, but it has to be said that as Kevin Feige’s grand experiment reached it’s record destroying climax in Avengers: Endgame, the different tonal sensibilities and genre trappings of the separate Marvel franchises became smeared together into one same-y blur. As the first of Marvels new prestige streaming shows, and with it’s bizarre setting, WandaVision appears to signal a return to more discrete, idiosyncratic storytelling for the MCU. It looks downright weird, and rich in tasty little details for audiences to pick over, add in Marvels Hulk sized budgets and production value and we’re very keen to check this out.
Lord of the Rings (Amazon Prime)
In late 2017, before a single word of script had been written or a single actor cast, Amazon Prime paid close to $250 million dollars for the rights to make a Lord of the Rings series. Since then, very little has been forthcoming about the production. Every few months there are reports of actors being cast, but in what roles we aren’t sure. Amazon was reported to have ordered up to 5 seasons off the bat, but that’s also unconfirmed. What we do know is that the show is set in the Second Age of Middle Earth, thousand of years before the events of the the Lord of the Rings novels, so don’t expect too many of your favourite characters to pop up.
With so little detail to go on it’s difficult to say we’re truly excited for the show, but 3 years of rumors and internet conjecture combined with an iconic piece of fantasy fiction that holds such a cherished place for so many fans make this show an instant article of fascination. Like many of the shows on this list there’s no actual date attached to the series’ release, and the state of the CoVid pandemic could easily push the epic into 2022, but we’ll keep a watchful eye out in hopes of some magic on the horizon.
The unexpected tv gem of 2020, in a programming landscape of heavy, issues driven dramas and sour, cynical satire, Ted Lasso reminded us that being nice isn’t being weak. The titular Ted (Jason Sudeikis) is a college football coach from America ostensibly recruited to turn around the fortunes of a failing premiere league soccer team in London. Little does he know that his new boss Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham) has hired an entirely unsuitable coach deliberately in hopes of destroying the one thing her ex-husband loves: the football club he lost to her in their bitter divorce. Little does she know that Ted Lasso’s unflappable warmth and undeniable cheer might be exactly the things that everyone in the club need to turn their sour luck around.
Exec produced by Sudeikis and Bill Lawrence (Scrubs), it would have been easy for the chipper, aphorism spouting Ted Lasso to become annoying, but the sweetness is expertly cut by touches of acid from some of the London locals who do their best to resist the advances of the smiling assassin in a v-neck sweater, and watching them all slowly cave to his relentless assault was a tiny dose of antidote to a year that tried so hard to harden our own hearts. Ted is never played for a fool, it’s clear his attitude is a choice and the show is incredibly smart about showing the strength it takes to be decent in a world where indecency is often not just easier but expected. Renewed for 2 seasons by Apple Tv+, we hope Ted can bring us a box of his patented biscuits soon.
Breeders (Foxtel/Binge)
Breeders was one of those quiet little gems of a show that don’t make a lot of noise in the wider world, but HugTheTv loved it. With it’s personal, specific storytelling, and inappropriate sense of humour it sneakily burrows into your heart until you find yourself unexpectedly choking back tears in the final few episodes. Starring Martin Freeman as Paul Worsley and Daisy Haggard as his partner Ally, Breeders is about the aches and pains and joys of family in all it’s forms.
Freeman is charmingly sarcastic in the lead role as a middle aged father of two in suburban London who finds himself frustrated by life in general, and Haggard is refreshingly matter of fact in the mother role. As the two deal with children, parents, careers, and neighbours, it’s their quiet little urban love story that forms the backbone of the narrative, and it’s pleasantly anti-romantic. While a lot of the other shows on this list feature high stakes genre adventure or larger than life drama, Breeders sits right in that cosy pocket where you just want to hang with Paul and Ally for a slow half hour.
Succession (Foxtel, Binge)
Hailing from the fine purveyors of prestige television at HBO, Succession chronicles the internecine strife and struggle which takes place within an uber rich Roy family media dynasty. The scope of it’s familial power struggles is Wagnerian as the family patriarch Logan Roy (Brian Cox) attempts to outmaneuver his children Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Shiv (Sarah Snook), and Roman (Kieran Caulkin), and many of his longest serving colleagues to keep control of his Murdoch-ian media company, Waystar RoyCo.
With incredibly sharp writing so intelligently satirical of it’s monstrous cast, some truly jaw dropping vocal jabs, and a brace of Emmy Award deserving performances from the cast, Succession is simply one of the best shows on television and we miss it. With production on the hotly anticipated season 3 delayed by Covid shutdowns, the HBO drama has recently gotten back to work and there’s hope we could see a late 2021 release.
This is just a few of the shows we're most excited to see on screen this year, god and CoVid willing, expect updates on what's coming up as the we get into the year.
Tweet the author: Ben Jeffries @shaggedelicrex to let him know what tv you're hanging for in 2021.
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