An Underdog Soccer Fable in ‘Wrexham,’ ‘Archer’ Returns, ‘Mo’ and ‘Lost Ollie’ on Netflix, HBO’s ‘Katrina Babies’

In a real-life twist on a Ted Lasso underdog story, FX’s Welcome to Wrexham follows a struggling Welsh soccer team after it’s bought by two Hollywood stars. FXX’s animated spy spoof Archer is back for a 13th season, under new management. Among the many Netflix premieres, Mo brings levity to a refugee’s travails and Lost Ollie tells a new toy story. The HBO documentary Katrina Babies charts the rocky road traveled by children uprooted by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Rob McElhenney, Ryan Reynolds in Welcome to Wrexham
Patrick McElhenney/FX

Welcome to Wrexham

Series Premiere

Believe. That Ted Lasso motto also applies to an endearing docuseries that plays like a Hollywood underdog fable, when two wealthy actor-producers (Deadpool’s Ryan Reynolds and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s Rob McElhenney) purchase a historic but struggling Welsh soccer team in the working-class town of Wrexham. The series is at its best when spending time with Wrexham’s resilient players and stubbornly loyal fans, who see the investment of money and talent as a possible godsend. If only the Red Dragons can start winning. (See the full review.)

H. Jon Benjamin voices Sterling Archer in Archer
FXX

Archer

Season Premiere

Here’s as good a description of super spy Sterling Archer (voiced by H. Jon Benjamin) as I’ve ever heard: “It’s like his liver absorbs alcohol and excretes luck.” As the 13th season of the animated comedy begins, Archer’s spleen is worked up over his loathsome new boss and former rival Fabian Kingsworth (What We Do in the Shadows’ Kayvan Novak) of the IIA (International Intelligence Agency). Fabian wants to turn Team Archer into a boutique concierge-spy specialty bureau, but first, Archer and Lana (Aisha Tyler) will have to show they’re worth the investment by participating in a berserk competition at the annual Clandesti-con spy convention. “Is this what it’s come to?” moans Archer. “Acting responsibly?”

Mo Amer as Mo in Mo
Courtesy of Netflix

Mo

Series Premiere

Mo Amer may be familiar to viewers as a different Mo on Hulu’s award-winning Ramy, playing the title character’s diner-owning buddy and confidant. In his own self-titled comedy, Mo hews close to his own life story as a Kuwaiti-born Palestinian refugee, finding humor in the culture clashes within his family and the larger Houston community as he awaits becoming a U.S. citizen. It’s only taken two decades so far.

Lost Ollie Netflix
Industrial Light & Magic

Lost Ollie

Series Premiere

Here’s one for the family. Jonathan Groff (Glee) provides the voice of a stuffed toy rabbit, Ollie, who becomes separated from his owner, Billy (Kesler Talbot), launching an epic quest that unfolds over a four-part series based on author-illustrator William Joyce’s Ollie’s Odyssey. No word if Ollie encounters a loose-limbed cowboy and a gung-ho spaceman during his perilous travels. Among other Netflix premieres on an unusually busy day, even by the streaming giant’s standards: a Selling Sunset spinoff, Selling the OC, expanding to Orange County; a Queer Eye: Brazil spinoff; and the documentary Running with the Devil: The Wild World of John McAfee, following the controversial computer anti-virus entrepreneur who became a fugitive after his neighbor was murdered, inviting a film crew to go on the lam with him.

Katrina Babies

Documentary Premiere

First-time filmmaker Edward Buckles Jr. was 13 years old in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina struck, devastating the city and displacing many of its citizens, including children. He spent seven years compiling this documentary, which uses confessional and archival footage, first-person interviews, home movies and animation to follow the fortunes of those kids of Katrina who were evacuated to strange communities or left to process the tragedy in ruined neighborhoods.

Inside Wednesday TV:

  • In Pursuit with John Walsh (9/8c, Investigation Discovery): A new season of tracking alleged criminals finds John Walsh and son Callahan on the trail of a serial sexual predator in central Florida and a man suspected in the disappearance of a corrections officer. Followed by the special In Pursuit: Hot on the Trail (10/9c), an overview of the Walsh family’s crusade for justice.
  • Farmhouse Fixer (9/8c, HGTV): New Kids on the Block’s Jonathan Knight is back tackling renovations of rustic New England properties, starting with a cramped 1798 New Hampshire farmhouse that needs an overhaul before the new owners from the West Coast arrive.
  • Bad Hair Day (10/9c, TLC): In the tradition of Dr. Pimple Popper and its ilk, dermatologists Dr. Isha Lopez and Dr. Meena Singh and hair restoration surgeon Dr. Angie Phipps come to the aid of those with extreme follicle-related medical conditions.
  • Resident Alien (10/9c, Syfy): Harry (Alan Tudyk) continues his search for the alien baby, unaware the tyke has followed Harry’s lead and taken over a human body, “dressed like a sad bear.”
  • Reservation Dogs (streaming on Hulu): The aunties let their hair down, brazenly going on the prowl while attending a yearly Indian Health Service conference in one of the season’s more overtly funny, yet also deeply human, episodes.