By Nate Bloom
Contributing Columnist
A Thriller, A Revolution, An African Tour, & A Drug War
“Malice” is an Amazon thriller-drama limited series that will premiere on Friday, Nov. 14. All six episodes will drop on Nov. 14. Here’s the premise: Adam (English actor Jack Whitehall) is a tutor who charms his way into the wealthy Tanner family. First, in Greece, where the Tanners are vacationing, and later in their London home.
DAVID DUCHOVNY plays Jamie Tanner and Caprice Van Houten, a Dutch actress, plays Nat, Jamie’s wife. Duchovny, 60, is the (secular) son of a Jewish father and a non-Jewish mother.
Adam does “stuff” to turn Jamie and Nat against each other. Jamie eventually realizes that Adam has caused all of the Tanner family’s recent disasters. Adam learns why Jack did what he’s done — and the series turns into a “revenge thriller.”
“American Revolution” is a PBS six-part, twelve hour documentary that explores the country’s founding and its eight-year War for Independence. The premiere will be on November 16 (8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.). Two episodes air on the 16th and, for each of the next five nights, two episodes will air. (On Nov. 16, the entire series will be available on the PBS streaming app).
The PBS series was scheduled for 2025 because it is the 250th anniversary of the start of the war in the spring of 1775.
The series was co-produced and co-directed by Ken Burns, SARAH BOTSTEIN, 53, and David Schmidt. Botstein has worked on eight other documentaries with Burns.
Sarah Botstein is the daughter of LEON BOTSTEIN, 79, a famous conductor and educator. He has been the president of Bard College since 1975(!). His parents were Polish Jews and physicians. They found refuge in Switzerland during WWII. Most of the members of their respective families died in the Holocaust. Leon, age 2, and his parents moved to America in 1948.
Sarah worked for seven years on “U.S. and the Holocaust,” a Burns/Botstein/PBS documentary (2022).
“Tiffany Haddish Goes Off,” a six-part documentary series, premieres on Nov. 13 on the Peacock streaming channel. It follows HADDISH, 45, an Emmy-winning comedian and actress, as she and three other women (childhood friends), travel for four weeks in Africa. The publicity says: “New adventures deepen their lifelong friendship, and explore personal connections to the continent.”
Haddish’s ties to Africa have already changed her life in many ways. Her father was an Eritrean Jew who found refuge in the States. Her mother was a Christian, African-American. Her father left their Los Angeles home when she was 3. Tiffany had no contact with him until her then-boyfriend found her father (2007) and she learned he was Jewish.
Haddish decided to embrace her Jewish roots. Helped by BILLY CRYSTAL, she studied Judaism, converted to the religion and had a bat mitzvah (2019). SARAH SILVERMAN’s sister, Rabbi SUSAN SILVERMAN, presided over the bat mitzvah.
Haddish first travelled to Eritrea in 2018 to bury her father there. The next year, she was given Eritrean citizenship (2019) when she visited that country’s independence festivities. I don’t think, however, that the Peacock series will include a visit to Eritrea. I am sure that Haddish will talk about her Africa-born father.
Nice to note: Haddish spoke at a November 2024 Washington, D.C., rally supporting Israel following the break-out of the “Gaza War.”
“King Ivory” opens in theaters on Nov. 14. It has a low-budget and its director/writer doesn’t have “big time” credits. I mention this because it’s likely that this film will not play in your neighborhood theater. But do look for it when its starts streaming.
The good review from “The Hollywood Reporter” of “King Ivory” is longer than this column. ‘King Ivory’ is the nickname for opioid drugs. The film focuses on drug gangs who go to war in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In Tulsa, the biggest dealing gang is a Native American gang. Gang leaders in prison give orders to the “street.” BEN FOSTER, 45, plays Smiley, a white prison convict who kills foes of the Native Indian gang in prison, and he kills on the street after he’s released.
There are a lot of other characters. But “The Reporter” does say that Foster turns in an especially good performance. “The Reporter” review also notes that Melissa Leo, an Oscar winner, is very good as Smiley’s “wacko” mother.
“The Reporter” ends the review with this: “But what makes [this film] rise above your average drug thriller is how it tries to make each moment feel like it’s been drawn from a certain reality.”
Next week: the amazing career of actress/director LEE GRANT. She turned 100(!) on Oct. 31.
