Oscar winner Natalie Portman’s kicking goals in TV’s must-watch this week
Marvel actor Natalie Portman has embarked on a new quest in Lisa Woolford’s Top 10 TV picks this week.
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ANGEL CITY
Streaming, Binge
“Never thought I’d have anything to do with professional sports,” Oscar-winning actor Natalie Portman says at the beginning of this three-part doco. “Certainly not as a co-owner, but it has been one of the most extraordinary experiences …” Similarly to Portman, I never thought I’d be entranced by a sports doco – let alone soccer. But this series is cleverly done by director Arlene Nelson, who takes us inside the LA franchise pushing for change on and off the pitch. We get to follow the team – which is co-owned by host of big names including Portman, Serena Williams, Eva Longoria, Jennifer Garner and Billie Jean King – over the course of the 2022 season, as the National Women’s Soccer League was reeling from an internal investigation that implicated five coaches and a general manager in a toxic workplace scandal marked by verbal abuse, racist remarks and sexual misconduct.
There’s candid interviews with Portman and her co-founders, Kara Nortman and Julie Uhrman, appearances by Williams – who tells Portman on a Zoom call, she’s happy to help because “I’m from LA and I play sports”. Understatement of the year! While the athletes and coaching staff contend with training facility challenges and unexpected injuries, the club is tasked with filling the stadium and proving to the world that you can lead with passion and purpose and still make a profit. Oh, and Angel City is bidding to finish with a winning record in its launch season – a near impossible feat for an expansion team. “What’s an expansion team,” Portman laughs. It’s an absolutely fascinating watch.
UTOPIA
Wednesday, 8pm, ABC and Iview
It’s the last episode of this fifth season of the award-winning, incisive, satirical look at the inner workings of government. Side note – how good would it be if the writers put their magnificent spin on the recent Melbourne Commonwealth Games debacle? Tonight Nat (Celia Pacquola) and Ash (Dilruk Jayasinha) work on deciphering who owns the title on a historic project, and the office is under siege – by a rather gentle group of protesters. “Do we know what they want?” Rob Sitch’s Tony asks, “No, but they want it now,” answers Courtney (Nina Oyama).
THE APPLETON LADIES POTATO RACE
Wednesday, 7.30pm, Ten
Streaming, Paramount+
This is a beautiful, charming adaptation of Melanie Tait’s play. When Penny Anderson (Claire van der Boom) returns to her childhood home just in time for The Appleton Show and its ‘world famous’ potato race, she is spitting chips when she sees the flyer announcing that the men’s first prize pays out $2000 and the winning woman’s prize is only $200. Determined to fix this glaring inequity, she wages war in sleepy Appleton – facing stiff opposition from not just the men. It’s not at all preachy, rather filled with loads of laughs including a hilarious ’80s throwback aerobics routine.
DRAG ME TO DINNER
Thursday, Disney +
Neil Patrick Harris and his real-life partner David Burtka assembled a cast of 40 superstar drag queens for this fun show, which basically combines almost every reality show genre in one – cooking, decorating, comedy, singing, dancing. Hosted by drag king Murray Hill, two teams compete to throw the most fabulous dinner parties of all time. Harris, Burtka, US drag icon Bianca Del Rio (who won the sixth season of Drag Race) and Nurse Jackie actor Haneefah Wood score them in three categories – including ‘Overall Vibe’. The prize is the coveted Glorious Golden Grater – because “one team may be great … but the other is ... greater!”
THE WITCHER
Thursday, Netflix
This is the last time we’ll see a blond-tressed Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia. Which would be rather distressing if we hadn’t learnt that our own Liam Hemsworth will be stepping into the huge void left by the former Superman. This last half of the third season of the hit Netflix show will see Geralt and Yennefer (Anya Chalotrawork) fight to protect Ciri as dangerous forces are trying to tear them apart while war brews on the Continent. Determined to protect his newly-reunited family, Geralt will face off against monarchs, mages and beasts – political corruption, dark magic, and treachery is at play here. Brace yourself for an epic battle of wills and a gripping tale of survival.
GOOD OMENS
Friday, Prime Video
Wine & cheese, Netflix (or rather Amazon) & chill, gin & tonic – all perfect pairings and we can add David Tennant and Michael Sheen to this list. The two leading Brits return for a second season of fantasy comedy Good Omens. Adapted from Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s 1990 novel, this second helping goes beyond the original source material to illuminate the ineffable friendship between Aziraphale (Sheen), a fussy angel, and the fast-living demon Crowley (Tennant). With the Apocalypse thwarted, the duo are getting back to easy living among mortals in London’s Soho. Then archangel Gabriel (Jon Hamm) turns up unexpectedly at the door of Aziraphale’s bookshop.
RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE DOWN UNDER
Friday, Stan
Start your engines – the local version of the international hit is back for its third iteration, again with its name sake as host and Michelle Visage and Rhys Nicholson returning as judges. “Australasian drag is filled with heart and humour,” RuPaul says. And there’s another fabulous 10 drag queens including Ashley Madison, Flor, Hollywould Star and Ivanna Drink all vying to snatch the crown. Special guests include singer Adam Lambert, supermodel Rachel Hunter, footballer Josh Cavallo and former Miss Universe Australia Maria Thattil.
THE BEANIE BUBBLE
Friday, AppleTV+
Based on real-life events, the film stars Zach Galifianakis as Ty Warner, the American businessman who became a billionaire in the 1990s when his range of Beanie Babies became a hot toy thanks to price-hiking scarcity and early internet obsession. Elizabeth Banks is his the business partner, our own Sarah Snook his wife. Rather than focus on Warner, this movie is told from the points of view, and celebrates the journeys, of the women whose names don’t appear on the heart-shaped tag. — narrated by Robbie Jones (Banks), Sheila Harper (Snook) and Maya Kumar (Geraldine Viswanathan).
HEELS
Friday, Stan
Stephen Amell and Alexander Ludwig are back in the second series of the small-town drama based on a wrestling league in rural Georgia. We pick up after a spectacular showing at the South Georgia State Fair, where Jack (Amell) and his cohorts are preparing for a possible business deal with a new streaming service that may propel them on to a national stage. It’s worth a watch even if you’re not into pro wrestling, and I’m reliably informed it’s still palatable for passionate fans.
HOW TO WITH JOHN WILSON
Saturday, Binge
Warning: Despite its title, this series is not a particularly helpful guide to everyday living. The self-described “anxious New Yorker” of the title rather films the lives of his fellow Big Apple dwellers while attempting to give everyday advice. This time – and for the final time – Wilson navigates a new set of topics including; how to find a public rest room, how to work out, and how to clean your ears. We see him randomly talking with peeps who’ve dated serial killers and those who wish to have their bodies (or even just heads) cryogenically frozen.
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