Between streaming and cable, there is a seemingly endless variety of things to watch. Here is a selection of TV shows and specials that air or stream this week, April 28-May 4. Details and times are subject to change.
Friendship, courtship.
“The Four Seasons,” a comedy series starring Tina Fey and Steve Carell, is based on the 1981 Alan Alda movie of the same name. Fey and Carell play Kate and Jack, whose decades-long friendship with three other couples (Marco Calvani, Colman Domingo, Will Forte, Erika Henningsen and Kerri Kenney-Silver also star) is tested when one divorces, complicating their tradition of quarterly weekend getaways. Streaming Thursday on Netflix.
With the 20th anniversary of the Keira Knightley-Matthew MacFadyen “Pride and Prejudice” movie upon us, Jane Austen has been top of mind lately. And right on topic, the BBC series “Miss Austen” is making its U.S. debut this week. The series follows, of course, Jane Austen (Patsy Ferran) and her sister Cassandra (Keeley Hawes) through their lives, romances and friendships. Though the characters are all based on real life people in Austen’s life, the actual story lines here are mostly fictional. Sunday at 9 p.m. on PBS.
Fashion, faith.
After 10 years of “What Not to Wear,” a public falling out and a rebrand, Stacy London and Clinton Kelly are back with their new show “Wear Whatever the F You Want.” The show still features fashion advice but now takes a different approach: It’s less about giving people hard-and-fast fashion rules and more about figuring out their ideal styles (punk rock, boho chic, glam queen) and what they feel confident in. I’m just happy to have the charming banter between Stacy and Clinton back on my TV screen. Streaming Tuesday on Prime Video.
We used to have Walton Goggins on our screens twice a week with “White Lotus,” which recently wrapped up, and “The Righteous Gemstones,” which is ending this week, so now it will sadly be zero times. The series, which follows the Gemstones, a family of wealthy televangelists who run a megachurch, has been a bit tame for its fourth and final season. But there are still plenty of shenanigans, ridiculous but catchy songs and strange family bonding. The series finale airs Sunday at 10 p.m. on HBO and is available to stream on Max.
A pair of troubling documentaries.
The Netflix series “Turning Point” has previously featured deep dives into the Sept. 11th attacks and the Cold War. This season, the focus is on the Vietnam War, with the five-part series airing in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of fall of Saigon. Through archived footage and declassified government documents, the show aims to explore the impact that the war had on the American identity. Streaming Wednesday on Netflix.
The murder of Ana Páez in 2008 is a particularly grizzly case, and was called “the perfect crime” by the Spanish media. María Ángeles Molina, known as Angi, was sentenced to 22 years in prison after a court concluded she had murdered Páez for financial gain and tried to make the murder look like a sexual assault gone wrong. The two-part Spanish language series “Angi: Fake Life True Crime,” explores the crime and the court case that followed. Streaming Thursday on Netflix.
Celebrity chefs, then and now.
Nowadays, celebrity chefs are not uncommon: think Bobby Flay, Ina Garten and Guy Fieri. But back in Napoleon-era France? Maybe not so much — that is until we meet Antonin Carême (a real person played by Benjamin Voisin). The French series “Carême” follows the life of the young patisserie chef whose newfound celebrity puts him on the radar of politicians who want to use him as a spy against France. His desire to escape poverty might just tempt him to do so. Streaming Wednesday on AppleTV+.
The “Chef’s Table” franchise, which has been running for 10 years, has featured the cooking and personal stories of some of the most talented chefs in the world. The new spinoff “Chef’s Table: Legends” ups the ante, this time devoting one episode to a celebrity chef who has made the world fall in love with their food: Alice Waters, who helped begin the farm-to-table movement; Thomas Keller, who has the most Michelin stars of any American chef; Jamie Oliver, the British author and host of the popular cooking show “The Naked Chef”; and José Andrés, the Spanish Michelin-starred chef. I’m hungry and intrigued. Streaming Monday on Netflix.
