Winter TV Watch List: Olivia Colman Digs Up Some Creepiness

Winter TV Watch List: Olivia Colman Digs Up Some Creepiness No images? [Click here]( ID=167008;size=600x111;setID=491988;uid={EMAIL}5719280; [- - -] [TheWrap - SUMMER TV WATCH LIST] Week of December 4-10 It might be beginning to look at lot like Christmas, but this week’s programming eschews yuletide cheer in favor of cozy murderers, rampaging zombies and one of the most bizarre Netflix original comedies you’ll see all year. (Also: “Sex and the City” returns!) But listen, what are the holidays without a little drama? On with the television! [Premiere of the week] “Landscapers”Monday, December 6, 9 p.m. on HBO [landscapers olivia colman] Photo: HBO Originally announced in 2019, “Landscapers” is a based-on-a-true-story miniseries about Susan (Olivia Colman) and Christopher Edwards (David Thewlis), an older couple in a sleepy English hamlet who come under suspicion when a pair of bodies are discovered in their backyard. Pushed because of COVID (ever heard of it?) and a change in directorial leadership (Will Sharpe, who recently directed the Amazon movie “The Electric Life of Louis Wain,” took over for “Sideways” filmmaker Alexander Payne), “Landscapers” looks like wicked fun – darkly humorous, with strong, appropriately unhinged visual flourishes. And if we’re being honest, we’d probably watch a four-episode miniseries where Colman and Thewlis read the newspaper. Episodes of “Landscapers” will roll out weekly on HBO and HBO Max. Prune your schedule accordingly. [[REVIEW](] ID=167008;size=300x250;setID=492280;uid={EMAIL}5719280; [- - -] [Premiere of the week] “Fear the Walking Dead”Sunday, December 5, 9 p.m. on AMC [fear the walking dead ftwd season 7 premiere date] Photo: AMC This week marks the midseason finale for “Fear the Walking Dead,” a show that has, somehow, already been on the air for seven (!) seasons. This season, which followed our survivors in Texas following a nuclear fallout triggered by Teddy (John Glover), will undoubtedly be resolved without bloodshed or interpersonal conflict, and not end on a cliffhanger leaving you clamoring for the second half of Season 7. Just kidding. It’s going to be a bloodbath. Also, can we just talk about how Colman Domingo, who plays a morally nebulous “Fear the Walking Dead” character who has tipped into outright villainy this season, is a national treasure? OK, good. Glad we’re all in agreement. [[TRAILER](] [- - -] [Premiere of the week] “Back to the Outback”Friday, December 10 on Netflix [back to the outback] Photo: Netflix Last week Netflix released “The Summit of the Gods,” a foreign language, based-on-a-beloved-Japanese-comic book prestige animated feature. This week, the streamer makes a more populist play. “Back to the Outback” concerns a gang of “ugly” animals from the Sydney Zoo’s “Danger House” (a scorpion, a spider, a snake and a “thorny devil”) who kidnap the zoo’s star koala and head back to their ancestral home. The animation is springy and the characters, while being some of Australia’s most dangerous creatures, are genuinely adorable (they’re also voiced by folks like Guy Pearce and Isla Fisher). At the very least this is the only movie released this week that features Eric Bana playing a crazed, Steve Irwin-style zookeeper. [[INTERVIEW](] [- - -] [Premiere of the week] “The Forever Prisoner”Monday, December 6, 10 p.m. on HBO [The Forever Prisoner] Photo: HBO Alex Gibney, the prolific and provocative documentary director who has already released the mammoth “The Crime of the Century” doc earlier this year (it was about the opioid crisis and is also currently on HBO Max), is back for more feel-bad investigative journalism. This time, Gibney’s subject is Abu Zubaydah, a supposed al-Qaeda mastermind who has been imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay for nearly two decades without actually being charged with a crime. (Since it’s Guantanamo Bay, an installation with a casually sadistic history of off-the-books advanced interrogation techniques, it’s very possible he was subjected to torture.) The unit where he’s been placed is called “Strawberry Fields,” because prisoners wind up there “forever.” Gibney even sued the CIA to get materials that had been redacted. So, yes, this will probably be exactly like his other documentaries – infuriating, frightening and extremely well told. [[TRAILER](] ID=167008;size=300x250;setID=492280;uid={EMAIL}5719280; [- - -] [Premiere of the week] “Reservation Dogs”Hulu [Reservation Dogs] Photo: FX As we near the end of the year, it’s time to look back at the very best TV shows of the year, and if you haven’t seen FX’s brilliant “Reservation Dogs” yet, you’re missing one of the very best. Created by Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi and featuring an entirely Native American crew (and an almost entirely Native cast), “Reservation Dogs” charts the somewhat directionless lives of a bunch of teenage kids living on a reservation in rural Oklahoma. They get into trouble, steal stuff and come to terms with the death of one of their friends (you don’t find out how until much later in the season). Wildly unpredictable, “Reservation Dogs” veers from broad comedy to deep tragedy and back again, in a way that feels genuinely new and different. Beautifully directed (episode 5, “Come and Get Your Love,” is the standout), “Reservation Dogs” is a show unlike anything else on television. Watch it now and fall in love. And don’t worry, it’s coming back for a season 2. [[TRAILER](] [- - -] [Premiere of the week] “VOIR”Monday, December 6, Netflix “Film lovers examine the cinematic moments that thrilled, perplexed, challenged and forever changed them in this collection of visual essays.” Thus reads the official synopsis of “VOIR,” a mini-documentary series executive produced by David Fincher and his longtime collaborator David Prior (whose 2020 feature “The Empty Man” became a COVID-era cult classic). It’ll be interesting to see what films the essayists (including Tony Zhou, Taylor Ramos and Drew McWeeny) tackle and how the show will differ from, say, a YouTube documentary (some of which are incredibly sophisticated). Talk about intriguing! [[TRAILER](] “Centaurworld”Tuesday, December 7, Netflix “Centaurworld” is one of the best animated original series of the year, a thrilling combination of high drama, serialized fantasy and absurd comedy, following a warhorse (voiced by Kimiko Glenn) who is sucked into an alternate dimension of freaky, “My Little Pony”-style centaurs. Oh, we should probably mention that it’s a full-on musical. And since we live in a brave new world of binge-watching and shortened wait times, we get the second season less than six months after the first season debuts. If you’ve never seen “Centaurworld,” definitely catch up – it’s the kind of fun-for-the-whole-family series that won’t make the adults in the room roll their eyes. [[TRAILER](] “And Just Like That … “Thursday, December 9, HBO Max The “Sex and the City” gals are back. Well, most of them. Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon return to ultra-glamorous (and super horny) New York City, this time tackling stories about getting older and maintaining the spark of marriage. New cast members include Nicole Ari Parker, Sarita Choudhury, Karen Pittman, Sara Ramirez and Isaac Cole Powell. (The last time we saw them was in “Sex and the City 2,” which was released theatrically way back in 2010.) Michael Patrick King, who was an executive producer, writer, and director on “Sex and the City” (and wrote and directed both features), returns for the new show as well, ensuring that it maintains the look and feel of the beloved original series. [[TRAILER](] “Encounter”Friday, December 10, Amazon Prime VideoWith roles in gritty independent features like “The Sound of Metal” and “Mogul Mowgli,” as well as in miniseries like “The Night Of” and “The OA,” Riz Ahmed has proven himself as one of the most exciting, fully committed character actors of his generation. (Yes, he was also in “Venom.”) In “Encounter,” he plays a Marine Corps veteran trying to protect his family from an alien invasion. But is there actually an alien invasion? Or is it all in his head? Ahmed is the perfect performer to bring this kind of character to life and bring you on that emotional journey, and the film has a stellar supporting cast including Octavia Spencer and Rory Cochrane. (The film debuted at the Telluride Film Festival where it played alongside “Belfast” and “King Richard.”) Sure to be a true psychological thriller. [[REVIEW](] “Saturday Morning All-Star Hits”Friday, December 10, Netflix This is definitely the most bizarre show debuting this week but also one of the funniest, especially if you’re into the kind of surreal-leaning humor of Netflix’s breakout “I Think You Should Leave.” “Saturday Morning All-Star Hits” (or “S.M.A.S.H.”) is a send-up of ’80s and ’90s Saturday morning programming blocks, complete with a pair of “extreme” hosts, twins Skip and Treybor (both played by co-creator Kyle Mooney), and an assortment of animated segments, including one that is a riff on marginal 1988 animated series “Denver the Last Dinosaur” (this time the dinosaur, also voiced by Mooney, is going through an existential crisis), and another where Paul Rudd voices an advertising executive who is aided by some perverse, “Care Bears”-tyle creatures called the Crittles. It may sound horribly one-note, but “S.M.A.S.H.” (produced by “SNL” godhead Lorne Michaels) is actually brilliant – the animated segments actually tell a continuing story, Mooney is hilarious in every role and there are some unexpected twists, especially with interstitial material that follows a pop star (also played by Mooney) and his girlfriend, a sitcom star (Geraldine Viswanathan). It’s a lot. But it’s also one of the funniest shows of the year. [[TRAILER](] [- - -] That does it for this week’s edition of The Wrap’s Winter TV Watch List. If you aren’t a subscriber, you can fix that by [signing up here](. Any suggestions for an upcoming premiere, finale or re-watch? [Drop us a line!](mailto:inquiries@thewrap.com) [- - -] [Update your profile]( | [View our privacy policy]( | [Unsubscribe]( [TheWrap]( ID=167008;size=600x111;setID=491989;uid={EMAIL}5719280; This email was sent to {EMAIL}. If you are no longer interested you can [unsubscribe instantly](.