WYNONNA EARP 10 pm on Syfy. This western fantasy series, based on the Beau Smith comics, has been described by its showrunner as “a combination of ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ ‘, Justified’ and ‘Frozen'”. Follow the adventures of Wynonna Earp (Melanie Scrofano), a distant descendant of Wyatt Earp, who is tasked with protecting the remote city of Purgatory from the plains of demons. Wynonna does this using Wyatt’s enchanted weapon, the Peacemaker, and with a little help from her sister Waverly (Dominique Provost-Chalkley) and Waverly’s girlfriend, Nicole Haught (Katherine Barrell), a deputy sheriff of Purgatory. As the series enters its fourth season, Earp’s curse has been broken, but Wynonna has yet to rescue everyone she loves.
HELTER SKELTER: AN AMERICAN MYTH 10 pm on Epix. In this six-part documentary series, former Manson Family members share their stories, shedding light on the group’s shocking crimes and on their leader, a man pop culture seems to not have enough of. At the premiere, former cult members, including Dianne Lake, Catherine Share, and Bobby Beausoleil, talk about the group’s beginnings, living on a movie ranch in California and hanging out at the home of Beach Boys drummer Dennis. Wilson. In interviews, the former members paint a picture of Manson as an enigmatic aspiring musician who became more erratic and violent when the 1960s came to an end.
THE SWEET HEREAFTER (1997) Stream on the Criterion channel. Following the release of the Atom Egoyan movie, “Guest of Honor,” this streaming service has ranked a list of the work of the celebrated Canadian director. This movie, based on a Russell Banks novel, focuses on a city suffering from a horrible school bus accident that killed many of the community’s children. When a big city attorney (Ian Holm, who died last month) comes to town to recruit the parents in a class action lawsuit, tensions and secrets are revealed.
JONATHAN CREEK Broadcast on BritBox. While there seems to be an endless number of police procedures on television to choose from, there are also a handful of highly entertaining crime shows that leave deduction work in the hands of people with fairly unrelated professions. This British series falls into the same category as “Rosemary & Thyme,” which follows two gardening detectives, or “Father Brown,” about a mystery-solving cleric, but it might have the most outrageous setting. Comedian Alan Davies plays Jonathan Creek, a man who lives in a windmill and designs magic tricks for a striking illusionist. Creek is forced to solve murders with an investigative journalist (played by Caroline Quentin), thanks to his great understanding of the deception. The series offers a new version of the classic whodunit format, focusing less on who and why, and more on how the crime was committed.
