Each week, La Presse scans the TV offering to identify four titles to watch.
Posted at 8:00 am
The latest: STAT
After District 31, we were convinced that we would never again follow a daily newspaper with such zeal. We were wrong. So much so that after 116 surprisingly close half hours we even believe that we prefer the adventures of Emmanuelle and Co. to the investigations of Commander Chiasson’s squad… This thought occurred to us last winter, when we breathed a sigh of surprise when he saw today’s Episode had not yet arrived on ICI Tou.tv. The impeccable performance of the actors (particularly Suzanne Clément) partly explains our addiction, as does the modern and rhythmic writing of Marie-Andrée Labbé, who seems unable to produce one-dimensional characters, even if they’re just passages. I’m looking forward to finding the Saint Vincent gang in September.
ICI Télé, Monday to Thursday at 7 p.m
New: The Diplomat
PHOTO ALEX BAILEY SUPPLIED BY NETFLIX
Keri Russell in The Diplomat.
We’ve been following Keri Russell’s career closely since Felicity. (You could say since Bon Jovi’s Always music video in 1994, but that would be an exaggeration.) From Mission: Impossible III to Cocaine Bear, to Waitress, The Americans and Extraordinary Measures, his selection is as varied as it is interesting. The trend continues with The Diplomat, the latest series from writer/producer Debora Cahn (Homeland, The West Wing, Grey’s Anatomy). The actress portrays Kate Wyler, the new United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom, who takes up her post amid an international… and marital crisis. A political drama, rich in twists and solid through and through, that speaks of the tortuous relationships between countries and between spouses.
Netflix, starting Friday
The documentary: You are beautiful for a black woman
PHOTO PROVIDED BY RADIO-CANADA
Varda Étienne in You are beautiful for a black man
Varda Étienne tackles a hot topic in this documentary series: colorism. This word, which does not appear in any dictionary, describes a distinction in relation to the melanin content: lighter skin is considered more beautiful than darker ones. The problem can also affect the hair, the curves of the body, the nose, etc. Produced by KOTV and directed by Ky Vy Le Duc, the four episodes explore this scourge from multiple angles. In particular, at the beginning we hear the presenter Naadei Lyonnais (The Island of Love) frankly saying that she knows that she is “an easily digestible black woman” for the entire audience. A test with children and two dolls with different skin colors is also revealing.
HERE Tou.tv Extra, section Véro.tv
The return: It’s more than a garden
PHOTO PROVIDED BY UNIS TV
Bryan Audet, Véronique Claveau and Edith Cochrane in It’s More Than a Garden
This documentary series takes over the antenna from Unis TV and beautifully demystifies the adventure of self-sufficiency. In this third season, vegetable producer Dany Bouchard and actress Édith Cochrane help Véronique Claveau and Bryan Audet’s family take their vegetable garden to the next level. This week, the two artists and their children are taking part in the “May Without Mowing” movement in Terrebonne and planting clover. At the same time, we are interested in students from the Académie des Sacrés-Cœurs, a primary school in Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, who want to create a huge garden. However, the rain makes the first day of planting difficult. Therefore, they change their plans and decide to do a weed control.
UnisTV, Thursday at 8 p.m