Settle down, settle in and enjoy the comforts of home and family. That's the holidays for the fortunate. A lot of TV is consumed over the next while, on streaming services, online or the old-fashioned way. In fact Jan. 1 is the day that often has more people using streaming services and conventional TV than any other day of the year. With Jan. 1 falling on a Monday this year, the days will also have an enormous audience.
What to watch? There's a lot. Herewith, 10 things to consume in binges or in small bites over the holidays.
Black Mirror (Netflix)
Arriving on Dec. 29, just in time for the long weekend, Season 4 of Charlie Brooker's Emmy-winning series is, as before, a stunningly eerie batch of morality plays. Individual episodes tend to deal with technology's impact on the human condition or warn about our naive reliance on the latest advance. A must-see is the episode Arkangel. Made in Toronto (Nicholas Campbell is great in it) and directed by Jodi Foster, it's a chilling story about a mother's trust in a tracking device to monitor her young daughter's life.
Letterkenny (Crave TV)
This returns on Dec. 25 to pitter-patter with six new episodes set in the unapologetically rural Canadian arena of guys chewing the fat, goofing off and taking a dim view of pretension. Wayne (Jared Keeso) stoically tries to forget his former sweetheart, and Katy (Michelle Mylett) makes a historic choice between hockey players Reilly (Dylan Playfair) and Jonesy (Andrew Herr).
Eyewitness (Netflix)
The original Norwegian version came recently to Netflix Canada and it's a fine, unfussy thriller. Teenager lovers Henning and Philip commit to silence, to hide their love affair, after witnessing a murder. However, what they've seen entangles them in an escalating gang war and police corruption. Plainly told but clever.
Manhunt: Unabomber (Netflix)
Made for the Discovery Channel, it's an engrossing, although unsophisticated, dramatization of the final stages of the cat-and-mouse game that ended with the capture of the notorious and cunning serial bomber. While there's a crime drama here, it was science that caught him in the end.
Political Blind Date (online at TVO.org)
Made by TV Ontario and now available online, this inspired series is supersmart reality TV. Two politicians with vastly opposing views try to get to know each other in each episode, and understand the other's perspective. The episode about transit, in which NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh meets up with former Toronto councillor Doug Ford, is particularly piquant.
National Treasure (Super Channel on-demand)
Super Channel is currently a bargain service given its menu, and National Treasure was one the most scathingly biting dramas of the year. And prescient, in the post-Weinstein scandal climate. Made by Channel 4 in Britain, the four-parter has Robbie Coltrane as Paul Finchley, a beloved veteran comedian accused of sex offences. It is terrifyingly ambiguous, and sinister. Coltrane, all coiled rage and vulnerability, will take your breath away.
Fargo, Season 1 (Netflix)
The strongest, by a notch, of the three seasons, it is truly superb. It is a "spinoff" from the much-loved movie and carries a similar view of humanity, regarded with dry, sardonic wit. (Yes, the Coen brothers approved it.) At its centre is Lorne Malvo (Billy Bob Thornton) who might be a drifter or a malevolent force of nature. He nourishes the rebellion of mild-mannered insurance salesman Lester (Martin Freeman from Sherlock). Meanwhile, two local cops, played by Allison Tolman and Bob Odenkirk (Breaking Bad) puzzle out the disturbing events. There's a lovely rhythm to it, a subtle emotional nuance.
Room 104 (HBO on-demand)
This is a truly splendid anthology series created by Jay and Mark Duplass (Creep, Togetherness). It is incredibly simple, old-school TV. Each separate, 30-minute story is set in one room – Room 104 in a motel somewhere. Not exactly a full-scale horror anthology, but several episodes are distinctly macabre. The first, Ralphie, is a little masterpiece of contained horror. The episode Voyeurs, about two women, a maid (Dendrie Taylor) and a hotel guest (Sarah Hay), is one of the most visually arresting and spookily erotic things I have ever seen on TV.
SMILF (The Movie Network on-demand and Crave TV)
Call it auteur or call it artisan, as I did, this strange and lovely comedy is unmissable, as it represents the new face of TV comedy. Late arriving and after just six episodes, it has two Golden Globe nominations. Anchored in lived experience, it's about life through the lens of someone with a keen eye for magic in the mundane and empathy for the unlucky. Created by and starring Frankie Shaw, she plays a version of herself as Bridgette, a beleaguered single mom and plugging-away actress in South Boston. Not for everyone and unnervingly rough-hewn emotionally, it's a beautiful gem.
The OA (Netflix)
The strangest and maddening Netflix original production, mind-bending and elliptical. (If you want the more easily comprehensible, try Godless and the clever satire American Vandal.) Unclassifiable in the contexts of drama, mystery, science-fiction and fantasy, it straddles all sorts of lines and blurs them. A woman (Brit Marling, co-creator with Zal Batmanglij), who went missing seven years before, reappears. When she went missing, she was blind, but now she has her sight. She refuses to talk about what happened to her. She recoils from touching. Then she tells a tale, a morbid fairy tale of sorts, that wanders into European fantasia and back. Often outright astounding and brilliant, too.
Enjoy the holidays, no matter how you indulge and consume. And be good to each other, always.