FROM ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION
FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, AUGUST 10, 2018
TUNE IN TONIGHT by Kevin McDonough
A NEW AGATHA CHRISTIE MYSTERY; 'INSATIABLE' IS DISMISSIBLE
Agatha Christie fans are in luck. Amazon Prime will be streaming a series of whodunits from the BBC, beginning today with "Ordeal by Innocence," which aired to critical acclaim in the United Kingdom in April. While many of Christie's best-known works take place between World Wars I and II, "Ordeal" is set in the mid-1950s, and fears of nuclear war loom in the background.
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The cast includes Bill Nighy ("Love Actually") as Leo Argyll, the kind of bloodless British upper-class character he has played throughout his career. He's an amateur Egyptologist and writer of unread books, kept in a posh lifestyle by his late wife, Rachel, played by Anna Chancellor ("The Hour"). She's seen frequently in flashbacks as we learn more about Rachel and Leo's marriage and their adoption of a houseful of good-looking children. In classic Christie fashion, Leo, the children, the maid and Leo's love interest, Gwenda (Alice Eve), all become suspects after Rachel is bludgeoned to death on Christmas Eve.
Beautifully produced, this three-part period piece has everything you want in a melodramatic mystery, including murder, betrayal, secret pregnancies and wayward affections that tiptoe close to the taboo. "Ordeal" faced criticism in the U.K. from Christie purists for changing some elements of the story.
-- The new Netflix comedy series "Insatiable" (TV-MA) begins streaming 13 hourlong episodes today. It stars Debby Ryan as Patty, an overweight teen who faced years of abuse and invisibility in her high school's clique-ridden corridors. After a violent incident and a hospitalization, she suddenly becomes thin and a subject of interest to Bob Armstrong (Dallas Roberts), a disgraced lawyer with a passion for the beauty pageant world.
Set in a fairy tale version of Southern high society, "Insatiable" leaves no cliche unturned. The story is obvious, the tone brittle and the humor sophomoric. Bob's big charity event is for "anal cancer." If you find that hilarious, perhaps "Insatiable" is for you. Look for Alyssa Milano as Bob's wife.
Sight unseen, "Insatiable" inspired online petitions to protest its purported "fat shaming." The dissent only provided this dreadful series with attention it little deserves. Originally commissioned by the CW, that network passed after seeing the pilot. Smart move.
-- Also streaming today on Netflix is the 2018 romantic period comedy "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" (TV-14), adapted from the 2008 novel by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Truth be told, when I first heard of this title, I thought it was a spoof of vaguely literary British rom-coms. Lily James stars.
-- Unavailable for review, Disney debuts the fourth incarnation of "Freaky Friday" (7 p.m., Disney, TV-G), a fantasy about a spirited teen (Cozi Zuehlsdorff) who magically switches bodies with her mother (Heidi Blickenstaff).
Jodie Foster and Barbara Harris starred in the 1976 original, remade in 1995 as a TV movie starring Gaby Hoffmann and Shelley Long and as a 2003 theatrical release starring Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis.
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TONIGHT'S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
-- Five years before her role in "Freaky Friday," Lindsay Lohan starred in the 1998 remake of "The Parent Trap" (6:50 p.m., Freeform, TV-PG).
-- Conrad suffers a sprain on "The Resident" (7 p.m., Fox, r, TV-14).
-- Ed's crew finds a vessel dangerously adrift on "The Orville" (8 p.m., Fox, r, TV-14).
-- John Quinones hosts "What Would You Do?" (8 p.m., ABC).
-- A gunman silences a detective on the verge of offering crucial testimony on "Blue Bloods" (9 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14).
CULT CHOICE
TCM spends the day with the films of actress Dorothy Malone (1924-2018). She won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance as an alcoholic tramp in the Technicolor 1956 melodrama "Written on the Wind" (9 p.m.), directed by Douglas Sirk and co-starring Rock Hudson, Robert Stack and Lauren Bacall. Malone later starred on the ABC prime-time soap opera adaptation of "Peyton Place."
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SERIES NOTES
Obstacle courses and more on "American Ninja Warrior" (7 p.m., NBC, r, TV-PG) ... Football fever on "Fresh Off the Boat" (7 p.m., ABC, r, TV-PG) ... Kevin Hart hosts "TKO: Total Knockout" (7 p.m., CBS, TV-PG) ... On two episodes of "Masters of Illusion" (CW), Nathan Burton (7 p.m., TV-14), Chris Funk (7:30 p.m., r, TV-PG) ... A hot ticket on "Speechless" (7:30 p.m., ABC, r, TV-PG) ... Employees take the moral high ground on "Whistleblower" (8 p.m., CBS) ... Illusionists audition on "Penn & Teller: Fool Us" (8 p.m., CW, r, TV-PG) ... "Dateline" (9 p.m., NBC) ... "20/20" (9 p.m., ABC).
LATE NIGHT
Kim Kardashian West, Hayley Atwell and Train appear on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" (10:35 p.m., ABC, r) ... Michael Moore, Eric Andre, Derrick Beckles and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are scheduled on "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert" (10:35 p.m., CBS, r) ... Amy Adams, Henry Winkler, Simon Rich and Taylor Gordon visit "Late Night With Seth Meyers" (11:37 p.m., NBC, r) ... Bill Hader, Gabrielle Union and X Ambassadors sit down on "The Late, Late Show With James Corden" (12:05 p.m., CBS, r).
(Kevin McDonough can be reached at kevin.tvguy@gmail.com.)
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EDITORS: For editorial questions, please contact Gillian Titus at gtitus@amuniversal.com.
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