Worth Watching: ‘Agatha Raisin,’ HBO’s ‘Breslin-Hamill’ Tribute, ‘I Am the Night’ Premiere

Matt Roush
17 Comments
27475_003 One Day She'll Darken - 102 - CE
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A selective critical checklist of notable Monday TV:

Agatha Raisin and the Curious Curate (streaming on Acorn TV): The delightful comedy-mystery, based on the novels of M.C. Beaton, wraps its second season (comprised of three movie-length installments) by welcoming the hottest vicar this side of PBS’s Grantchester to the village of Carsley. With hot curate Tristan (Olly Rix) setting the ladies’ — and at least one gay male admirer’s — hearts aflutter, amateur sleuth Agatha Raisin (Ashley Jensen) is among the few who are immune. And that’s mainly because she’s still embroiled in a messy love triangle between her ex-lover James (Jamie Glover) and her current admirer, Sir Charles (Jason Merrells). Given her reputation as a murder magnet, second only to Murder She Wrote’s Jessica Fletcher, Agatha is soon up to her blonde locks trying to solve a murder where everyone’s a suspect, a few of whom end up dead themselves. Say a prayer that Agatha will be back with more capers before too long.

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Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists (8/7c, HBO): A love letter to New York City through the lives and letters of two of tabloid journalist’s greatest personalities, this colorful documentary portrait of Jimmy Breslin and Pete Hamill takes us back to the days when the common citizen still devoured daily newspapers — on paper. Friends and often rivals, these columnists took different approaches to championing their working-class readers. Breslin was a pugilist with words, the more glamorous Hamill a street poet. As eyewitnesses to history — the political assassinations of the 1960s, the Son of Sam killings of the 1970s, Bernhard Geotz’s controversial subway shootings in 1984, up to the tragedy of 9/11 — they were first and foremost great storytellers.

I Am the Night (9/8c, TNT): This atmospheric six-part California noir, directed by Patty Jenkins (Wonder Woman), stars Chris Pine as a washed-up journalist whose path crosses that of 16-year-old Fauna Hodel (sultry newcomer India Eisley), who travels from Nevada to L.A. in search of her unknown birth mother. The quest leads both of them into a sordid underworld, and the orbit of a shady gynecologist (Jefferson Mays, oozing menace) who may be connected to the infamous unsolved Black Dahlia murder of the 1940s.

Inside Monday TV: ABC’s The Bachelor (8/7c) heads to Singapore, where bungee jumping is among the exotic temptations… Now that Project NOAH has little Amy (Saniyya Sidney) in their clutches on Fox’s The Passage (9/8c), Agent Wolgast (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) makes a deal to stay by her side, while secretly investigating just what the top-secret lab is up to. (It’s not pretty.)… Dr. Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore) has plenty of reason to identify with his latest patient on ABC’s The Good Doctor (10/9c), when he, Reznick (Fiona Gubelmann) and Lim (Christina Chang) treat a woman with autism… PBS’s Independent Lens presents The King (10/9c), Eugene Jarecki’s film about his musical road trip in Elvis Presley’s 1963 Rolls Royce, from Memphis to Vegas and beyond.

Agatha RaisinI Am the Night



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    PurplePizza

    Arrow & Black Lightning for me.

    I'd been curious but unsure about I Am the Night based on mixed reviews, although it felt promising if only for the mood. After the SAG Awards last night, I stuck around to watch the "sneak preview" of the first ep and couldn't make it very far in so I deleted the series recording. On the one hand it's a shame but on the other I'm pretty happy these days when my television diet stays manageable.

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    OliveBullhorn

    Agatha Raisin ain't got nothing on Jessica Flecther 😉 but I love a good mystery and they don't seem to make good, fun mystery series anymore like a Murder, She Wrote or Diagnosis Murder or Rockford Files or Columbo, Hart to Hart, Monk, Psych etc. I'll check out this Agatha Raisin series to see if its a true blue mystery puzzle series or not. So tired of just getting either boring procedurals or overly violent, bloody and sexual crime shows with supermodels which is 90 percent of them now lol

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      OrangeCherries

      Check it out. I really enjoy it! Also check out Father Brown, Dr. Blake Mysteries, Miss Fischer Mysteries. These are all on Netflix or Prime and are cozy mysteries.

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      OliveBullhorn

      Ah, thanks for the recs 🙂 I wish the networks would do shows like that again, maybe it'd help their ratings issues to have shows for the whole family again but their loss seems to be streaming service's gain.

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      RedCupcake

      I do like Dr. Blake Mysteries when I can find them on my local PBS network. Father Brown is good too (a little more humor & lighthearted) but sometimes the storylines are a little convoluted. YOu can check if your TV provider (cable, satellite, whatever) has some of these series On Demand, free. PBS may have some of them on their website too.

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    GoldSubmarine

    Passage and Manifest .

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      GoldSubmarine

      Not yet, but will soon.

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      GoldSubmarine

      Just did, thank you!

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      GoldSubmarine

      As usual confused. Looks like Coulson will be around but not sure in what context. Even though it looks like Mack will be the leader of S.H.I.E.L.D. Coulson will somehow be behind the scenes.

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      GoldSubmarine

      Hope it's not another LMD! Whoever he is, I'm happy to have the actor on the show.

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    RedQuill

    I Am the Night...I DVR'd the "Sneak Peak" last night...and Episode #1 starts tonight...

    Would I gain anything by investing 1Hr.18Min. of my time in the "Sneak Peak"...IF I end up watching ALL 6 episodes???

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      CyanCoathanger

      That's hard to say. I figured it was just a drawn out version of the first episode, so I skipped it.

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    GreenWrench

    I suspect "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" would be surprised to hear that India Eisley is a "newcomer."

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    RedCupcake

    Arrow and Magnum again.

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    CyanCoathanger

    I've got America's Got Talent, The Passage, Good Doctor, and Manifest on my schedule. I guess I'll have to watch the premier of I Am the Night online.

    In case you haven't heard...Rent Live ended up not being live! One of the main stars injured his foot/ankle during dress rehearsal Saturday night and could barely walk let alone prance around the stage in character. So, they showed the recording of the dress rehearsal instead except for the ending which they did live with him sitting on a table. Didn't they ever hear of an understudy???

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      GreenElephant

      Since this was supposed to be a one-time-only live TV broadcast, there were no understudies.

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      CyanCoathanger

      I know, but it seems they could have put a little more thought into "What if one of our stars gets sick or has an accident at the last minute?"