We’re in the eye of the Stranger Things storm this week. It looks like every other TV network and streaming service were keen to give it a wide berth this week as it is tumbleweeds galore.
And it’s not just a Thanksgiving week issue either. Last year for Thanksgiving week there was the very good HBO show Get Millie Brown, along with the also very good Paramount+ show The Agency. A number of other shows and Christmas-themed TV movies also debuted the same week.
But this week, unless you’re really into Stranger Things, new viewing options are scant.
Playing on CBS is the new Christmas special A PAW Patrol Christmas. In Australia, enthusiastic PAW Patrol fans can see it on weekend mornings at the cinema. Last weekend, the future heir to the ABW empire and I got along to the cinema to see it and, look… it’s not good. But she loved it.
Okay, so lets talk Stranger Things. So far, I have only seen the first two of the four episodes released. I have two, completely non-spoilery thoughts. Neither are especially original:
These kids are too old for this. Every season of the show takes place around one year later, which means we are now in 1987, having been with these kids for four years. If they’re 12 years-old in season one’s 1983, they should be around 16 now. But thanks to the extended production time, the youngest of them, Millie Bobby Brown and Noah Schnapp, look every bit their 21 years of age. Meanwhile the older kids are pushing into their 30’s. Joe Keery (Steve) at 33 isn’t just too-old - he’s Andrea Zuckerman too-old.
I’ve felt this way from the first season, but after they dealt with the trauma of that first season, I’ve always felt like I’d just be happy to see them not deal with any supernatural business anymore - if from season 2 onwards this was just a Freaks & Geeks style show with a really weird first season, I’d be very happy. I don’t like seeing Dustin in danger.
Also, maybe it’s just that thing of being a dad nowadays, but I really don’t like seeing any of the kids in mortal danger.
Returning TV
Bel-Air (s04), WondLa (s03), Stranger Things (s05), It’s Florida, Man (s02)
New TV
A PAW Patrol Christmas — CBS
Top cast: Luke Dietz, Lucien Duncan-Reid
What it’s about: When Santa gets ill, Christmas is cancelled in Adventure Bay. Mayor Humdinger goes to the North Pole to take all the gifts for himself.
New Movies
Jingle Bell Heist — Netflix
Top cast: Olivia Holt and Connor Swindells
What it’s about: Two down-on-their-luck, hourly workers team up to rob a posh London department store on Christmas Eve. Will they steal each other’s hearts along the way?
Prep & Landing: The Snowball Protocol — Disney+ (short film)
Top cast: Dave Foley, Derek Richardson, Sarah Chalke
What it’s about: When their holiday missions go awry, Wayne thinks he is in BIG trouble with Santa, which opens a vault of merry mishaps from the past.
Left-Handed Girl — Netflix
Top cast: Janel Tsai, Shih-Yuan Ma, Nina Ye [zh]
What it’s about: A single mother and her two daughters arrive in Taipei to open a small restaurant in the heart of a night market in the Taiwanese capital. Each of them must find a way to adapt.
That’s the newsletter for this week.
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