On TV in February: The long-awaited return of Party Down and a crime-solving Natasha Lyonne

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Look, I'm just gonna level with you, gentle readers. Most of my TV time lately has been spent re-watching The Americans on Disney+. 

The FX series — about two deep-cover Soviet spies living as an average American couple in the Reagan-era suburbs of Washington, D.C.— is, for my money, the absolute best show to come out of the early 21st Century "Second Golden Age of Television." We could talk about the Emmys and Peabodys, but really, we should talk about how it has everything you could ever want in a show: political intrigue, family drama, action, wigs, a soundtrack full of '80s bangers, a pre-Ozark Julia Garner, very accurate period costumes, Felicity Porter committing a ton of murders, more wigs, mail robots, the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, male friendship, esteemed character actress Margo Martindale, Erhard Seminars Training as a major plot point, and still more wigs. 

(You think I'm really leaning into the wigs thing for comedic purposes — and I kind of am — but also if you haven't seen The Americans, please understand that wigs are important to this show on a level that is hard to fully explain.) 

So to be honest, I kind of think you should spend February re-watching — or if you're deeply culturally deprived, watching — The Americans. But if Cold War dramas really aren't your thing and you absolutely insist on watching something else, we do have some suggestions for you.

Poker Face

Two of the popular culture's greatest assets unite in what is unquestionably one of my most anticipated shows of the entire year, let alone February: the murder mystery series Poker Face.

Created by Rian Johnson and starring Natasha Lyonne (the two noted assets), the series follows a casino worker (Lyonne) who has the innate ability to tell if anyone is lying. She's on the run from her former boss, and the first season follows her as she solves various crimes along the way.

With an absolutely stacked roster of guest stars joining Lyonne — look up the full list, but a small selection includes Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Nick Nolte, Judith Light and current Oscar nominees Stephanie Hsu and Hong Chau — on paper Poker Face looks like it could do no wrong. I've seen the first few episodes and can attest: that paper isn't bluffing. New episodes of Poker Face are streaming Thursdays on the City TV app, available through Amazon Prime, until March 9.

- Peter Knegt, producer, CBC Arts

Murder in Big Horn 

Audiences, especially Indigenous communities, have reason to be apprehensive about a series handling the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women crisis through the true crime genre. Just look at the morbid sensationalism in shows like Don't F*** With Cats and Dahmer that find monsters fascinating and treat victims like accessories to their narrative. But Murder In Big Horn is co-directed by Razelle Benally. She's a young, rising and outspoken Oglala Lakota/Diné filmmaker coming up alongside filmmakers like Danis Goulet and Elle-Maija Tailfeathers — a generation reclaiming their narratives and finding sensitive ways to handle difficult and traumatic subject matter. 

The three-part limited series chips away at the mishandled investigations and institutional neglect that happened when young girls Henny Scott, Selena Not Afraid and Kaysera Stops Pretty Places went missing in a county that has the highest rate of disappearances in Montana. Their bodies were eventually found and the cause of death shrugged off as hypothermia, a horrifying and unsettling pattern that Indigenous communities know all too well.

Benally helps shape the conversation in Murder In Big Horn by taking a page from Finding Cleo's Connie Walker. We get to know the victims' families while challenging the systemic injustices and dominant narratives that continue to revictimize Indigenous communities. Murder In Big Horn starts streaming Feb. 3 on Paramount+ 

- Radheyan Simonpillai, contributor, CBC Arts

Not Dead Yet

It's a network sitcom with a premise as old as time — or whenever the Hallmark Christmas movie was invented. Nell (Gina Rodriguez) is a single gal who's moved back to her hometown. She's bright, goofy and loveable — much like Rodriguez's best known TV role, her star-making turn on Jane the Virgin (2014–19). And she's also freshly single, a turn of events that's left her feeling way past deadline on the big adult milestones she'd set for herself. Take her career, for instance. Once a promising reporter, Nell's now writing obits at her local paper.

But there's another twist — one that'll stretch the limits of disbelief more than the notion of an elder millennial finding full-time employment at a daily print newspaper. Nell sees dead people — the ones she writes about, specifically — which gives the series a sort of haunting-of-the-week rhythm, a gimmick that's already brought out the ghosts of TV past. Confirmed guest stars include Rhea Perlman (Cheers), Telma Hopkins (Family Matters) and Martin Mull (Roseanne).

But the regular cast (including Rodriguez) is enough to lure me into watching, and among the familiar faces are a couple of notable Canadians. Former MuchMusic VJ (and New Girl actor) Hannah Simone plays Nell's office BFF and Lauren Ash (Superstore) is Lexi, their boss. Not Dead Yet premieres Feb. 8 at 8:30 p.m. on CTV. Check Your local listings.

- Leah Collins, senior writer, CBC Arts

Somebody I Used To Know 

Think My Best Friend's Wedding meets Before Sunset. Those are the vibes we get from the trailer for Somebody I Used To Know, a romantic dramedy perhaps concocted while the similarly-titled early 2010's mega-hit from Gotye was playing in the background. Though given that this Amazon Prime movie is co-written by real-life happily married couple Alison Brie and Dave Franco (the latter also directs), the movie may be less in its feelings. They teased the trailer on Brie's Instagram along with an mp3 of her professing her love for him while inebriated. 

In the trailer, Brie (Community, Glow) shows off her terrific comic ability as Ally, a TV producer facing a professional setback. She awkwardly returns to her hometown and hopes to rekindle things with her first love Sean (Jay Ellis) while also forging a friendship with his fiancé (Kiersey Clemons). 

The racial makeup among the actors is interesting. Brie's Ally, who is white, is wedging her way in between a Black man and woman with a sense of entitlement. That setup can make for some prickly and potent conversations about the relationship between these communities — provided Franco and Brie are up for it, and not just throwing around colour-blind casting without considering the implications. Somebody I Used To Know starts streaming Feb. 10 on Amazon Prime Video.

- Radheyan Simonpillai, contributor, CBC Arts

Wu-Tang: An American Saga

It's the third and final season of the Wu-Tang story, and the Wu have reached their wildest dreams. They are the undisputed heavyweight champions of the rap game. But will the success last, or will the Clan implode under the weight of increased expectations?

Look, we all know how this ends — with me paying too much money to see a bunch of dudes in their 50s in the summer of 2022 — but that's not the point. The point is the performances in this show are all super on-point and do a great job of bringing the story that most fans already know to life. Ashton Sanders is magnetic as The RZA, and T.J. Atoms Ol' Dirty Bastard really captures the energy of the man.

Anyway, the first two seasons were great, this season will be great, and I was joking about the "too much money" thing. It was absolutely worth it. Wu-Tang Forever. The third season of Wu-Tang: An American Saga starts streaming Feb. 15 on Disney+.

- Chris Dart, web writer, CBC Arts

Hello Tomorrow!

If there are two things I love in this world, it's stories about scams and Ponzi schemes, and retro-futurism. So Billy Crudup and Hank Azaria selling time-shares on the moon, in what looks like how people in the 1950s imagined the 21st century, feels like something that was designed in a lab, specifically based on my interests. Lots of flying cars with fins and tense emotional moments as the scam threatens to fall in on itself. Hello Tomorrow! starts streaming Feb. 17 on Apple TV+.

- Chris Dart, web writer, CBC Arts

Thunder Bay

In 2018, Anishnaabe podcaster and activist Ryan McMahon released an investigative podcast simply called Thunder Bay. The podcast, which won critical acclaim, looked into why so many Indigenous young people who came to the titular Northern Ontario city for an education wound up dying there, and why authorities in the city didn't seem especially worried about it. 

As the series went on, it showed that the deaths and disappearances had no one cause, but were the result of a series of failures, including structural and interpersonal racism, municipal corruption, and a system that set kids up to fail.

The podcast has been adapted into a four-part documentary series, also hosted by McMahon, which takes a broader look at violence and anti-Indigenous racism in a place that has one of the highest per-capita murder rates in Canada. The podcast was a heartbreaking listen, and I imagine the show will be an even tougher watch in some ways, but it will also be riveting and almost certainly change the way you see this country. Thunder Bay starts streaming Feb. 17 on Crave.

- Chris Dart, web writer, CBC Arts

The Consultant 

Remember in Succession's second season, when Kendall Roy comes in to streamline an online publishing company and quietly commits a staffing massacre, metaphorically speaking? The Consultant, adapting Bentley Little's novel, looks a bit like that but in horror movie form, so the blood will likely be literal. 

Christoph Waltz channels some of the Hans Landa energy he brought to Inglorious Basterds to his role as Regus Patoff, the titular clean-cut consultant hired to make improvements to a tech company's economic model. He's wearing a stuffy suit and tie to a tech company where the young staff look like they get their office clothes from H&M and are bringing pencils to what should be a pixel fight. Patoff's staffing cuts and new routines grow increasingly menacing and fatal. And he's here, going up against an employee played by Brittany O'Grady, the young girl who kept us on our toes in the first season of The White Lotus. 

Dark and satirical workplace content like Industry and Severance has been on the rise lately, with a pandemic-era audience largely questioning why we spend sooo many hours at offices under inhuman conditions. The timing couldn't be better for a movie about unhinged people trying to correct a struggling tech company. Elon, anyone? The Consultant starts streaming Feb. 24 on Amazon Prime Video Canada.

- Radheyan Simonpillai, contributor, CBC Arts

Party Down

This very weird workplace comedy, set in a Los Angeles catering company — staffed entirely by people who are only doing this until their Hollywood careers take off, obviously — didn't really get enough love in its first two seasons, which came out in 2009 and 2010. In the years since it's been off the air, though, it's become a cult favourite thanks to a cast that, while it seemed impressive at the time, has revealed itself to be unreasonably stacked in retrospect. (Here's a quick rundown: Adam Scott, Lizzy Caplan, Jane Lynch, Martin Starr, Megan Mullally, Ken Marino, Jennifer Coolidge, and that's not even getting into guest stars and lesser recurring characters.)

Almost 13 years after Season 2, Party Down is getting a third season. It's not reboot or a re-imagining. It's just Season 3, more than a decade later. This feels risky, but with a critical mass of the original cast returning, plus the additions of Jennifer Garner, Zoe Chao (The Afterparty) and Tyrel Jackson WIlliams (Brockmire), it's hard to see how they could miss. Party Down Season 3 starts streaming Feb. 24 on Crave.

- Chris Dart, web writer, CBC Arts

Plan B 

Attempting to follow in the footsteps of 19-2, Plan B is an English adaptation of the hit Québecois series of the same name. It stars Patrick J. Adams (Suits) as Philip — a man who will do anything to save his failing marriage to Evelyn (Karine Vanasse, who you may recognize from Cardinal) — including mess with the very fabric of time itself.

If there's one thing we learned from Biff Tannen's term as mayor of Hill Valley, California, it's that when you mess with the past, you inevitably break the future. The only question is how badly. The original version is gearing up for its fourth season in Quebec, so it's hard to argue with results like that. Plan B starts streaming Feb. 27 on CBC Gem.

- Chris Dart, web writer, CBC Arts