An excellent Holocaust drama, a new queer Jewish comedy and Rhea Perlman as a glamorous bubbe
All the Jewish TV news of the week.
Happy mid-June. The world has me oy vey-ing hard, but quality Jewish TV has me kvelling this week. Let’s talk about it.
“The Jewish Council,” a powerful Holocaust drama, is coming this month.
An excellent five-episode Dutch miniseries is coming to new streaming service The Network. It’s called “The Jewish Council” and it tells the story of David Cohen, a Jew in WWII Netherlands who has to liaison with the Nazis in hopes of mitigating the harm done to his community. His daughter Virrie thinks there are better ways to save lives and joins the Dutch resistance. The show already got rave reviews in its home country, and it will be streaming for free stateside on thenetwork.stream starting June 22. Bookmark it now!
An Owen Thiele comedy is coming and I’m excited.
Owen Thiele, one of the best things about both “Adults” and “Overcompensating,” is getting his own show, “Off Color,” coming to Amazon at a yet-to-be-determined date. I’m already obsessed with this logline: “He’s gay and Black, they’re all Jewish, his mom should be on ‘Real Housewives’ and his cousin’s a former party girl turned rabbi-in-training. The comedy is about a son who doesn’t want to grow up, a mother who has no intention of letting him, and a dad who’s probably faking a nap in the other room so he doesn’t have to engage.”
Give it to me now please.
Rhea Perlman is the best thing about the first trailer of Lena Dunham’s “Too Much.”
“Too Much,” the new show helmed by Jewish “Girls” creator Lean Dunham, is coming to Netflix on July 10. This week, the first trailer dropped and let me just say: Rhea Perlman has never looked so regal. She plays the bubbe of Meg Stalter’s Jessica, who moves across the pond after a bad breakup with her Jewish ex Zev (played by “Maisel” star Michael Zegen). Rhea’s character seems pretty devastated about the two parting ways, because, well, she seems to have quite a crush on Zev (and who could blame her after Joel Maisel’s redemption arc? We all have a crush on Michael Zegen!!).
Orna Guralnik nation, report!
I’m finally caught up on the reality TV masterpiece “Couples Therapy,” and this half-season’s villain seems to be Jewish author Boris Fishman. Honestly, I have so many thoughts, and it does seem like couples therapy just wasn’t quite right for him and his wife Jessica, but I also feel like he has Nice Jewish Boy syndrome (that’s a syndrome I made up, BTW) where he really wants to be seen as an NJB but that very desire makes him a little too focused on perception and not focused enough on the emotional impact of what he’s actually doing. But that’s just my quick two cents.
ANYWAY, the stories of the couples in this half season are heavy, and I think Orna Guralnik, the Israeli-American therapist helming the series, navigates them with compassion and grace. I hope this show is never ever cancelled, pu pu pu kinehora.
Jewish dad TV:
Father’s Day is coming up on Sunday, so I will take a moment to appreciate all the TV the Jewish dads in my life love. I think the cutest thing about my dad is how game he is to watch whatever TV series my mom wants to watch on Netflix, especially period dramas. Most recently they’ve both been raving about “The Empress,” the German show about Empress Elisabeth of Austria, which I truly can’t wait to watch.
I also asked my kids’ Jewish dad aka my husband about what the ultimate Jewish father show is to him, and he barely hesitated before saying “Mr. Show.” It honestly made me realize I’ve never written about the Bob Odenkirk and David Cross show which is befuddling. It’s a great Father’s Day watch, for sure, and yes, it’s streaming on Max (soon to be HBO Max once more).
What are you watching this week? Let me know in the comments below!