So many shows have tried and failed to be the next Big Little Lies but now there is Nine Perfect Strangers (Amazon Prime) from the same creative team – Aussie writer Lianne Moriarty, creator David E. Kelley and executive producer and star with the best part, Nicole Kidman.
Nine Perfect Strangers the novel was set in Australia, TV relocated it to California, then it was filmed in Byron Bay because of the pandemic. Top cast but maybe it’s easier for Aussie actors like Asher Keddie and Samara Weaving to do American accents than Melissa McCarthy, Bobby Canavale and Michael Shannon trying an Aussie dialect.
The accent that stands out though is Russian wellness retreat guru Masha Dmitrichenko. Nicole Kidman drips with passive aggression and mysterious malevolence and I can’t wait to see what happens next.
Horror is big right now for everyone who thinks endless lockdowns aren’t scary enough. Evil (Paramount+) is, according to EW, “the best show on network TV”, and a cross between The X-Files and The Exorcist. There’s a priest in training (Luke Cage’s Mike Colter), a creepy villain (Lost’s Michael Emerson) and a rock n’ roll grandma (Christine Lahti).
Recurring is Aussie actor Patrick Brammall as the mountain climbing husband of dubious psychologist lead (Katja Herbers). Evil, which drops its second season on Tuesday, comes from The Good Wife and The Good Fight team of Michelle and Robert King.
They have also made satirical coronavirus horror series The Bite (Paramount+), which stars Taylor Schilling and Leslie Uggams. At just six episodes, starting from “The First Wave” and ending with “The Sixth Wave”, but now with zombies, there is lots of blood, lots of fun, plus Thing turns up from The Addams Family.
American Horror Story: Double Feature (Thursday on FoxShowcase) is divided into two parts for its tenth season and opens with sea monsters before moving into the desert for aliens. All the Ryan Murphy regulars are back, and there will be some interest in comeback kid Macaulay Culkin.
This interminable series usually starts well before descending into incoherent madness. A better bet would be waiting for Murphy’s other anthology series, the one that’s actually watchable, American Crime Story: Impeachment (next month on Foxtel).
Back To Nature (Tuesday on ABC) is one of the best shows of 2021. This stunning series soars with minimal dialogue and stunning camerawork. Let Aaron Pedersen and Holly Ringland take you on a hike that is something like Meditation TV. Beautiful.
Read more Mercado on TV here.