PBS9. The American Revolution
Next year will mark the 250th anniversary of the signing of the US Declaration of Independence, and ahead of that landmark Ken Burns takes what promises to be a fresh, bracing look at the US fight for independence and the founding of the country. Beyond the conventional wisdom and familiar images of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and the other Founding Fathers, this history has a broader perspective as it also considers the roles of black and indigenous people, of women, and of the loyalists who resisted splitting from Britain. Resisting any simplistic glorified myths, Burns has said he and his co-directors, Sarah Botstein and David Schmidt, have created a series they hope will foster “a much more dynamic conversation, one that is not suffused with nostalgia, but something that has a little bit more complexity”. The style is typically Burns’, though, which means there are plenty of comments from historians and voiceovers reading from period letters and documents. Those voices include Paul Giamatti reading the words of John Adams (whom he memorably played in a HBO series). The series, which argues that the American Revolution was world-changing in the way it inspired other democracies, runs for 12 hours. From Burns we would expect nothing shorter.
The American Revolution premieres 16 November on PBS in the US
Netflix10. Stranger Things
It has been more than three years since the last episode of the beloved Stranger Things appeared, but the plot has only advanced a year, to 1987, as the fifth and final season begins. Almost all of the usual cast is here, including Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven, along with Finn Wolfhard, Sadie Sink, Joe Keery, Maya Hawke, David Harbour and Winona Ryder. (Joseph Quinn, as the totally dead and buried Eddie Munson, is among the missing.) And much of the usual mayhem occurs, including Eleven screaming, things blowing up and the military descending on Hawkins, Indiana. The story heads toward its conclusion with those familiar characters determined to find the villainous Vecna and prevent him from destroying the world. Netflix is taking its time parcelling out these last episodes. Four will appear in November, another three on Christmas Day and the absolute last episode on New Year’s Eve. Don’t worry. The stage show prequel, Stranger Things: First Shadow, goes on, along with endless memes and merch.
Stranger Things season five premieres 26 November on Netflix
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