The various networks and streaming services are releasing a great deal of new material and, in some cases, are cutting prices on their premium channels.
The Yes satellite network announced that Sting TV and several of its premium channels will be free to Yes customers as the situation continues, including – most importantly – its children’s channels (including its Children’s Movie Channel, which will expand its broadcasting hours), as well as some of the lifestyle channels, including the DIY Channel, which could be good if you get the urge to do some home improvement.
If you want something so light it’s almost, well, not stupid but outlandish, try Danny Boyle’s Yesterday on Netflix. It’s a strange story – a storm shuts down electricity all over the world and it erases the existence of the Beatles from world history. One unsuccessful British musician does remember them and is able to pass off all their songs as his own compositions, but this means deceiving his best friend and manager, a young woman who has believed in his talent since they were in school together.
While the odd premise may put you off, Yesterday ends up being a really nice love story, and it’s very funny.
Hamefakedet (known in English as Dismissed, which will soon be available around the world) is another comedy, which is running Monday nights on KAN 11, and the early episodes of which are available on the KAN website.
It’s the story of an awkward female soldier who is ill-advisedly put in charge of an unruly group of recruits, and while that may sound like a formulaic sitcom, it’s very well done and enjoyable.
Although the most famous depiction of female soldiers is Talya Lavie’s Zero Motivation, this series takes its inspiration more from the prison comedy-drama Orange is the New Black, and like that show, it introduces antagonist after antagonist, only to delve deeper into their stories gradually.
The more you know about the Israeli military, the better you will understand all the acronyms the characters throw around, but anyone who has ever dealt with a huge, unwieldy bureaucracy – and haven’t we all? – will get the gist of the humor.
Alona Saar, who happens to be the daughter of politician Gideon Sa’ar, is a gem in the title role. Her quiet presence will win you over, even as her rule-oriented, stubborn character may drive you crazy at times, as she does to everyone around her.
At one time, the name Halston was synonymous with chic and decadence. The designer’s clothes were worn by the world’s most famous women in the 1970s and he, always wearing sunglasses, was a fixture at Studio 54.
The new Netflix drama series about him, Halston, will be fun for those who have an interest in fashion or that era. It’s entertaining to watch how this kid from a poor family with an abusive father became a milliner to the likes of Jackie Kennedy and then moved into haute couture. It demonstrates how attitude and ego are required to push any would-be designer into the stratosphere.
Ewan McGregor (Trainspotting) gives one of his best performances in the title role, and the actors playing other real people, including Krysta Rodriguez as his friend and muse, Liza Minnelli, and Rebecca Dayan as jewelry designer and model Elsa Peretti, are appealing and lively.
But the real escapism here is the clothes, and the ultra-suede shirt dresses and the flowing gowns are beautiful eye candy, as are the incredible apartments and beach houses he lived in. It’s fun to worry about such plot turns as whether Liza will choose to wear the new gown he has designed for her, rather than what is going on in the real world now.
IF SOMETHING darker would better match your mood, you can try Netflix’s The Sons of Sam: A Descent into Darkness, a documentary series based on the crusade of a journalist, Maury Terry, to prove that the Son of Sam killer, David Berkowitz, who terrorized New York in the ’70s, did not act alone.
Of course, it seems to be an absurd premise, but I came out of it thinking there might be something to the theory, although clearly it cannot be proved. But whether or not it’s true, Terry is a flawed, interesting character, and if you have ever known anyone whose life became warped by an obsession, you will relate to him.
The documentary also paints a compelling portrait of crime-ridden New York in that era. It features interviews with some cops and journalists involved with the case, including my former colleagues at the New York Post, Dick Belsky (who writes fine crime novels, most of which feature protagonists who are journalists, under the name, R.G. Belsky) and Wayne Darwen (a legendary New York Post headline writer, who moved into tabloid TV and is believed to have been the inspiration for the journalist character played by Robert Downey Jr. in Natural Born Killers).
Another even darker documentary is the HBO two-part series Crime of the Century, by the master documentary director Alex Gibney, about the opioid crisis in America and how the pharmaceutical company owned by the Sackler family allegedly inflamed the problem.
In the view that Gibney presents, the Sacklers’ company interfered with the regulatory process politically to push the FDA to approve oxycontin, a painkiller that is highly addictive and set off an epidemic of drug abuse in the US. It’s a fascinating story that will make you think twice about taking anything your doctor hands you for pain. It’s showing on Cellcom TV and YesVOD.
Never Rarely Sometimes Always is a very effective movie that dramatizes what the US laws that limit access to abortion mean for one teenage girl from Pennsylvania, and it is available on Cellcom TV and HOT4 on May 20 at 10 p.m., and starting on May 23 on CinemaTime. The film, which won awards all over the world, including at the Berlin and Sundance film festivals, feels like a documentary as it tells a sad and moving story.
If none of this is escapist enough for you, you can go to YouTube and find multiple episodes of classic comedies from decades gone by, including gems such as The Dick Van Dyke Show and Taxi.