For some good craic — check out Irish TV 🍀
Hopefully, this will give you the escapism you need ❤️
Hi All!
I’ve got some fun news to share with all of you… for the next four weeks, I’m working for CBC Music on a visual research project for the Junos! It’s the 50th anniversary of the awards this year and I’m helping them go through their archives. Today is my first day and I’m really excited to get started.
On a serious note. I’ve been outraged by the rise of anti-Asian hate crimes and racism and was heartbroken to see the attack in Atlanta. It just makes me so angry. This isn’t a political newsletter — but what I can do is direct you to much smarter and more articulate people. I’m a huge fan of Hannah Sung’s At the End of the Day and I always learn something from The Supplement. This Twitter thread from Mo Ryan was fantastic. The Daily had a good episode about what’s going on as did Front Burner.
On top of it all, that I know my British friends have been very concerned and rightly upset about Sarah Everard. AND it’s the one-year anniversary of Covid. So really everything sucks. It’s been a hard week, so take care of yourselves.
I’ve got some fun things for you to watch this week. Hopefully, this will give you the escapism you need. Let’s get to it.
This week on the blog:
It was St. Patrick’s Day this week so in honour of the Irish, I’ve pulled together a list of the best Irish TV shows and movies you can watch in Canada. For my international friends, the broadcaster might be different but the list still stands.
One of the shows on my list is Jarlath Regan’s comedy special, Notions Eleven. I watched it on Wednesday and it was craic. I forgot how much I love the word “fecking.” It’s a 10/10. Just laughed the whole time. Also, he thinks I’m a legend so trust my judgment on this one.
Pour a pint of Guinness and read the whole list here.
Things to watch this week:
I’m starting with Gem this week. We’ve got a few things worth noting coming out today.
We’ve got a really cute new show called The Communist's Daughter all about a teen girl living in Toronto in 1989. Check out the trailer here.
I sometimes wish I could move out of Toronto and the show Escape to the Country encourages this dream. The 24th season starts streaming on Gem today and is well worth your time if you want a relaxing Sunday afternoon show.
Also starting today, the movie Mary Goes Round makes its streaming debut on Gem. I have a lot of respect for director Molly McGlynn. I worked on one of her short films years ago and I was really impressed with how she led the project. This movie is her feature debut and she deserves all the streams.
Over on Crave, you need to check out Ex On The Beach UK. This is an iconic reality show. Seasons 1-3, 5-7, and 9 are now streaming (random numbers, but go with it). Highly recommend. Watch the trailer here.
On Netflix, I’ve got one of my top watches of the week: Sky Rojo starts streaming today. This is Álex Pina’s new show. You know him as the creator of La Casa de Papel (Money Heist) — so you know he can make a great TV show. I’m really excited to watch this. Watch the trailer here.
Also on Netflix, Katherine McPhee’s new musical sitcom Country Comfort starts streaming today. It’s about a woman, who “after her career and personal life is de-railed,” becomes a nanny for a cowboy’s family. It looks very cheesy.
For the Marvel nerds, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier starts today on Disney+. If this is your thing you’ve already seen the trailer but here it is anyway.
On Monday we’ve got a new period drama. Victoria will explore Queen Victoria’s reign from her coronation at eighteen to her courtship and marriage to Prince Albert. Starring Jenna Coleman, this series first aired in the UK in 2016 but it’s worth checking out today. Gem will start uploading a new episode every week after it airs on CBC. Check out the trailer here.
On Wednesday (the 24th) check out Seaspiracy. This is Netflix’s newest documentary about oceans, but it gets into the dark side of fishing. It looks intense and I can’t wait to watch it. Watch the trailer here.
Other things to check out:
The Bachelor ended this week — it was terrible. Like a car crash — I didn’t want to watch, but you can’t look away. I have a lot of thoughts on the end of the Matt James era but really it’s not even worth my time. If you want to talk bach let me know. We’ll set up a Zoom. In the meantime, Trey Kennedy has a great parody of every finale ever.
I watched Yes Day last week. It was very cute. If you have kids or want to tap into your inner child watch it. Jennifer Garner is out and about doing press to promote the movie and the Hollywood Reporter had a great article about her last week. It’s worth a read. She was also on Hot Ones and it was also fantastic.
Variety wrote up a piece about how the To All The Boys I Loved Before series revitalized the rom-com for the streaming age. It goes into the details of how the series was developed and why the choice to stream it on Netflix worked. Read it here.
I love NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts and this week Justin Bieber had a Tiny Desk: At Home show. It’s fantastic. He’s out promoting his new single Peaches with Daniel Caesar and Giveon.
Last Sunday’s Grammys were fantastic. Produced by Ben Winston, this was one of the best shows in years.Taylor Swift won Album of the Year and I was thrilled. Folklore got me through the summer and I’m just so glad it won. She performed a wonderful mashup from Folklore and Evermore that is worth your time. If you want to catch up on all the highlights James Corden had a good recap, but most importantly Taylor Swift and Harry Styleschatted. I’m secretly hoping they were talking about re-recording “Style” together. A girl can dream.
There is a guy on the internet named Lubalin. He’s a music producer from Montreal who creates songs out of internet drama. This week he put out part five and I have had the song stuck in my head all week. If it makes you laugh — make sure you check out parts one, two, three, and four ft. Jimmy Fallon and Alison Brie.
The Bonus Jonas aka the fourth and youngest Jonas Brother, Frankie Jonas, did an hour-long interview on The Zack Sang Show. The kid has been all over TikTok and has really created his own brand. You don’t need to like or know who the Jonas Brothers are to watch this, it’s just fascinating to see how the Bonus Jonas became his own person. I personally am loving all the “Frankie’s brothers have a band?!” comments on the JoBro accounts. Watch the whole thing here.
Speaking of TikTok, shout out to my friend and fellow King’s alumni Jasmine Hare for going viral this week with her Save the Tree TikTok. It’s always fun when you see your friends blow up and she’s currently at 52k views and 18k likes and growing! Go give her and the tree some support.
For readers in Toronto, I found out that the Toronto Public Library has a local book map. Honestly, it’s perfect.
Have a great weekend,
-Paula
📝📝📝 This newsletter was graciously edited by Emma Sakamoto 📝📝📝
Editor’s Pick:
I low-key enjoy a good geography video (there’s a whole wild world of people streaming Geoguessr that I won’t get into). This Map Men video from Jay Foreman talks about who owns Antarctica. Come for the geography lesson, stay for the goofy British dudes.