On TV in November: The return of Sort Of and The Crown, plus a reincarnated Wednesday Addams

The modern television of environment is an embarrassment of choice. There is more television available now, from more places, than we could have imagined even a decade ago. TV from around the globe is available to you all the time.

And yet in spite of that, or possibly because of that, we too often find ourselves mindlessly flipping through menus for 45 minutes before deciding, "To hell with it, I'll just re-watch Season 7 of Law & Order again, because at least I know what I'm getting and Rey Curtis is a snack." 

Don't do that. You've watched enough Law & Order to last a thousand lifetimes. Here's a list of what to watch instead.

Blockbuster

Back when Netflix was sending DVDs in the mail, its co-founders Marc Randolph and Reed Hastings walked into Blockbuster's offices and tried to sell their company. The meeting was a bust, according to Randolph, who told The Guardian that the Blockbuster CEO struggled not to laugh at the proposed $50 million price tag. Blockbuster was the biggest movie rental company in the U.S. through the 90s and early 2000s, a staple of Gen X and Millennial childhoods with 9,000 stores at its peak. And then, in 2010, it filed for bankruptcy.

One Blockbuster remains in the U.S. It's in Bend, Oregon and run by manager Sandi Harding. It was at the heart of Netflix's documentary, The Last Blockbuster, which details the chain's demise. And apparently, Netflix isn't done with their former competitor: their buzzy new comedy Blockbuster, premiering Nov 3, takes place in the world's last Blockbuster.

Based on the trailer, the streamer looks to be banking on tried-and-true tropes of past hits. It's a workplace comedy about a group of underdogs who become unlikely friends — à la The Office, Parks & Recreation, Ted Lasso, etc. Nostalgia always helps attract an audience, but the real draw is the dynamic casting of leads Randall Park (Fresh Off the Boat, Always Be My Maybe) and Melissa Fumero (Brooklyn Nine-Nine). Both have past credits as stars of cult-hit shows and fan bases chomping at the bit to see them back on-screen. Add executive producer Vanessa Ramos, former writer for Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Superstore, and Netflix should be expecting a big audience from day one.

The set-up: Timmy (Park) manages a local Blockbuster, where he's held a job since seventh grade. As the company sinks and the store faces eviction, Timmy tries to keep business and morale afloat. Eliza (Fumero) returns to work at Blockbuster, her high school job, when her marriage ends. Starts streaming Nov. 3 on Netflix.

– Jane van Koeverden, producer, CBC Q

Brassic 

Season 4 of the critically acclaimed British dramedy Brassic aired in September on Sky Max in the U.K. and is coming to Canada on this month, and that is great news if you like attempted thefts in post-industrial landscapes.

If you're not familiar, Brassic is the story of a group of small-time criminal friends doing what they need to to survive in the fictional down-and-out Midlands town of Hawley. It's kind of the thinking person's Trailer Park Boys, in that the characters tend to be more introspective than Ricky And Julian, and the show takes some pretty serious looks at how neoliberalism has failed a lot of people. But don't worry, Hawley is still filled with over-the-top oddballs, and the attempted heists seem to get weirder all the time. Season 4 starts streaming Nov. 4 on CBC Gem.

– Chris Dart, web writer, CBC Arts

The Crown

Despite seeming a little overexposed as of late, it seems the world is incapable of getting enough of Britain's royal family. That appears certain to be proven again this month, when the fifth season of The Crown is released on Netflix and it's all anyone talks about for, well, at least a week or two.

Because this isn't just any season of the series. It's the season. The one we've all been waiting for since the show first premiered on Nov. 4, 2016. (Yes, if you may recall, that was what were all distracting ourselves with that week of weeks.)

We're now over 40 years and three entirely new casts into Peter Morgan's series, and The Crown is about to tackle the unraveling of Charles and Diana's marriage, and the sensational and ultimately tragic years that followed. With Elizabeth Debecki as Diana, Dominic West as Charles and Imelda Staunton as the late Queen Elizabeth II, the timing of the new season's release couldn't be more dramatic, and you better believe we'll all be watching. Season 5 starts streaming Nov. 9 on Netflix.

– Peter Knegt, producer, CBC Arts

Mythic Quest

After the dramatic ending of Season 2 and rumours of cancellation, the announcement of a third (and fourth!) season earlier this year brought Mythic Quest fans a major sigh of relief. 

Co-creator and writer Rob McElhenney reprises his role as lovable egomaniac and self-proclaimed video game genius, Ian Grimm. He and the rest of the eccentric regular cast will spend this season butting heads as they take sides between two duelling video game studios. Which I'll admit sounds ridiculous on paper, but it's going to be fantastic.

Despite wearing the skin of a goofy workplace sitcom, Mythic Quest goes so much deeper than that. They're not afraid to bring the drama in full force, like they did with the mid-pandemic episode that tackled the loneliness of WFH and the toll of emotional burnout. (That one made me cry, actually.) It's got a wonderfully unique tone that's fresh, fun and always surprising. Season 2 starts streaming Nov. 11 on Apple TV+.

– Tiffany Wice, associate producer, CBC Creator Network

Sort Of 

Inarguably the most celebrated Canadian TV series of this moment (and deservedly so), Bilal Baig and Fab Filippo's big-hearted Sort Of returns for a second season this month. This comes on the heels of the series collecting an impressive list of accolades in the year since we last left it, including a Peabody Award and the Canadian Screen Award for best comedy series.

The second season is being billed as "the season of love," with our protagonist Sabi — a gender-fluid nanny/bartender played by Biag in a performance that just got them a Gotham Award nomination — facing new challenges in their work, family and romantic life. The rest of the cast is back as well — including Amanda Cordner as Sabi's best friend, 7ven, and Grace Lynn Kung as their employer, Bessy — while the likes of Amanda Brugel and Scott Thompson will be joining in for the first time. Consider us more than sort of excited. Season 2 starts streaming Nov. 15 on CBC Gem.

– Peter Knegt, producer, CBC Arts

Inside Job

The overwhelming majority of tinfoil hat conspiracy theories are real, and they're mostly managed by the shadowy Cognito, Inc.

That's the core premise of Inside Job. Cognito scientist Regan Ridley — voiced by Lizzy Caplan — is your archetypal millennial striver who's been groomed to take over the company since birth by her dad, Rand (Christian Slater). Unfortunately, her plans go awry when she's forced to co-lead a team with Brett (Clark Duke), who was hired because he's a conventionally handsome white guy with an MBA. 

What really sets Inside Job apart from other aggressively weird, cynical adult cartoons is that there's a lot of heart to this one. Everyone's a little deeper than they seem. The relationships are complicated, and you really wind up rooting for everyone — even if they're replacing the President of the United States with a robot or teaching Krav Maga to sharks. Season 2 starts streaming Nov. 19 on Netflix.

– Chris Dart, web writer, CBC Arts

Documentary Now! 

As host Dame Helen Mirren tells us in her deadpan intro to Season 4, this is Documentary Now!'s "53rd season" on the air. The first three seasons saw the show tenderly spoofing many well known non-fiction films, from classics like Grey Gardens and Stop Making Sense, to more contemporary docs like Jiro Dreams of Sushi and Vice-style adventure news.

Like Los Espookys, it's a show with co-creator Fred Armisen's fingerprints all over it, that is brilliant largely because of its narrow focus. At its best, the show captures something wonderfully strange about its source material. That isn't to say you won't enjoy it without a background in documentary film, but it helps.

The first episodes of the new season are a two part sendup of Les Blank's Burden of Dreams — a 1982 film that feels like parody already — about the making of Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo. It's a TV parody of a doc about the making of a film, from a director so easy to poke fun at that Alexander Skarsgård actually plays down the Herzogian affect. The result is oddly nuanced — touching, even. 

The rest of the season looks equally good, bringing back Cate Blanchett for an episode based on a 1994 BBC 2 short about patrons in a Blackpool hair salon, plus a spoof of last year's Oscar winner, My Octopus Teacher, entitled "My Monkey Grifter." Season 4 starts streaming Nov. 19 on CBC Gem. 

– Aaron Leaf, senior producer, CBC Arts

Welcome to Chippendales

Everything has an origin story, though you probably didn't realize that the one behind bow-tied male stripper troupe Chippendales was quite as savage as the trailer for November's limited series Welcome To Chippendales leads us to believe.

Based on the book Deadly Dance: The Chippendale Murders, the series follows the rise — and, it seems at least, hard fall — of Chippendales founder Somen "Steve" Banerjee. Kumail Nanjiani plays Banerjee in what seems like quite the juicy role, and he's joined by the likes of Murray Barlett (who, if you're missing on the new White Lotus, seems to be offering us quite the alternative here), Dan Stevens, Juliette Lewis and Annaleigh Ashford. If you're looking for a late November show with a stacked cast, lots of men stripping and some juicy true crime, congratulations! Welcome to Chippendales. Starts streaming Nov. 22 on Disney+.

– Peter Knegt, producer, CBC Arts

Wednesday

Scream queen Jenna Ortega (X, The Babysitter: Killer Queen) will take on the role of everyone's favourite gothic gal, Wednesday Addams, as she navigates life at the Nevermore Academy, a high school filled with mystery, magic and monsters — aka other teenagers.

Brought to you by Tim Burton — who is exactly the person you'd want to be in charge of a project like this — this supernatural series will also star other heavy hitters like Catherine Zeta-Jones, Luis Guzman and Gwendoline Christie. I'm personally most excited for Fred Armisen's take on Uncle Fester. The promo photos are outstanding. Starts streaming Nov. 23 on Netflix.

– Tiffany Wice, associate producer, CBC Creator Network