Cue all shadowy men on shadowy planets: those five Canadians with the absurd sense of humor are back with more of the sketch comedy they’ve been performing since 1984. Speaking of 1984, that was the year a certain inflammatory Stephen King novel was put on film. It gets a second shot with Zac Ephron taking the role played by David Keith in the original. Our third recommendation has nothing to do with Orwell’s favorite year, but if you went back one and re-arranged the numbers, you’ll get the 19th Century year in which that new TV series takes place. Fascinating!

KATHERINE’S PICK:
The Kids in the Hall [Amazon Prime]
Filed under “I don’t care if it’s good, it’s just nice to see familiar faces again,” Mark McKinney, Kevin McDonald, David Foley, Bruce McCulloch, and Scott Thompson return with  original material on Amazon! It does appear to be fun and funny, but seriously, who knew seeing those faces together again could elicit so much joy?

BRAD’S PICK:
Firestarter [Peacock]
In a list of iconic Stephen King novels, this one may not make the first wave. However, it should make the 2nd and the new Blumhouse film based on it may help its profile. A tad gritty with a bit of disconnectedness, the film still packs a punch. Add an eerie John Carpenter score and you have a King adaption that definitely reflects the time when it was made.

JASON’S PICK:
The Essex Serpent [Apple TV]
Clare Danes stars in this adaptation of a popular 2016 novel of the same title by Sarah Perry. Set in 1893, it follows Danes’ Cora Seaborne who escapes her abusive spouse only to move to London where she discovers an even more unsettling potential horror. The early buzz is solid, if not spectacular.

BUT, WAIT, THERE’S MORE:

• It’s a day of adaptations and The Lincoln Lawyer is, like Firestarter above, is the second take, with Michael Connelly’s book series about defense attorney Mickey Haller having been made into a popular movie in 2011. Manuel Garcia-Rulfo takes Matthew McConaguey’s place as Haller in the Netflix TV series.
• In the third season of one of the realest of reality series, Showtime’s Couples Therapy, Dr. Orna Guralnik takes on four new couples with varying relationship issues to try to navigate towards healing.
• Slightly less real real (or more real real depending on your perspective), the rich Asians of various levels of sanity return on Netflix for a second season of Bling Empire.

• The latest Rebel Wilson vehicle, Senior Year, finds the comedian playing a woman who awakens from a two decade coma who remains in her mind the 17-year-old she was in her last lucid moment. So, what else is there to do but to return to high school as her now 40-year-old self. And hilarity presumably ensues.
• Lebron James, Alex Morgan, and other elite athletes are the subjects of the latest season of the Apple TV’s profile The Greatness Code, as they examine the stories of those who have achieved elite levels in sports.