What’s on TV this week: Daredevil, Supergirl, Mad as Hell and more

WHY would you pay more than $20 at the movies for a ticket to a bloated blockbuster when its TV cousin is so much more watchable?

FOR the next two weeks, Australia will be divided into two camps.

Those who are going to obsess over every detail of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s royal visit to the Pacific, watching all the live feeds, cooing at the small talk, ribbon cutting and handshakes.

And when they’re not commenting on whether Meghan’s dress is indigo or violet, or trying to straighten their Union Jack bunting, they’ll be burrowing down a Wikipedia rabbit hole of all the European houses Queen Victoria’s kids married into.

The other half of the country will try their hardest to ignore the monarchy madness that has taken over otherwise sensible folk. Or maybe I’m still annoyed at the last time Harry was in town and my taxi was stopped for ages waiting for his convoy to pass down his green-light corridor — the cab meter climbed $9 while we were stuck there.

If you’re looking for an escape from the Windsors, I promise there are no royal highnesses in the following shows.

SUPERGIRL

(Fox8 on Foxtel — Monday, October 15 at 8.30pm)

And no moustache to CGI out

Forget about Superman and his not-moustache, Supergirl is where the fun is at — it may not have the enormous budget and it’s certainly much cheesier, but it’s infinitely more watchable than what DC is doing on the big screen (except, of course, for Wonder Woman).

The bubbly and charming Kara Zor-El/Kara Danvers would be so relatable if not for the fact she can, you know, fly and shoot laser beams out of her eyes.

Now heading into its fourth season, Supergirl promises more adventures and crossover spectacles for Kara and her brood, which has had a bit of a shake-up. Some of the old regulars are taking a back seat while new players take focus. The series will shift its story to anti-alien hysteria in National City as commentary on the growing racial and social divide in real-life America.

Also back this week is a new season of Arrow on Fox8 on Tuesdays and Black Lightning (which is not technically part of the Arrowverse but spiritually related) on Tuesdays on Netflix.

DAREDEVIL S3

(Netflix — Friday, October 19 from 6pm AEDT)

So tortured

The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen is back and he’s done away with those silly mystical monks (thank god) and is, once again, up against his most formidable foe: Wilson Fisk. The third season of the Netflix/Marvel superhero marks a strong, exciting return for the character compared to his last two appearances — the two-year rest in between probably didn’t hurt either.

Charlie Cox dons (a version) of the suit, miraculously surviving the catastrophic events of The Defenders which apparently left him for dead. He’s cut himself off from his friends and from the city, embracing his well-established Catholic guilt complex, trying to find purpose and redemption.

But then Fisk is rather inconveniently let out of prison. The two are like yin and yang — a balance of forces that need each other to survive. This season also features the introduction of another iconic Daredevil character — one with an itchy trigger finger.

THE PROBLEM WITH APU

(SBS Viceland — Tuesday, October 16 at 9.35pm)

Problematic

The Simpsons character Apu Nahasapeemapetilon (“thank you, come again”) isn’t an obvious candidate for his own documentary film but US comedian Hari Kondabolu stirred much controversy when the movie came out.

It sat within the wider debate on screen representation and asked whether Apu is a case of “brownface minstrelsy”.

Kondabolu said he grew up watching Apu as the only example of a regular Indian character on American television, but one that unfortunately embraced stereotypes of passivity and servitude. Apu was also played by a Jewish actor (Hank Azaria) and written primarily by white men.

The comedian also spoke with other American actors of South Asian descent including Aziz Ansari, Kal Penn, Sakina Jaffrey and Maulik Pancholy on what the character meant to them — for Penn, it ruined The Simpsons for him.

MAD AS HELL

(ABC — Wednesday, October 17 at 8.30pm)

How can you not trust this face?

Many young American people famously viewed Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show as the most trustworthy news source, even though Stewart said you couldn’t understand what was going on the show if you didn’t already know much of the news.

The packaging of politicians and businesses’ malarky into satire and cynicism is exactly why Shaun Micallef’s Mad as Hell is infinitely more palatable than your average TV news bulletin. The irony-laden skits and sequences are great for laughs to be sure, but every line and zinger also holds within a truism you can trust.

It’s the perfect combination of news and entertainment, and without the bullsh*t spin.

MAKING A MURDERER

(Netflix — Friday, October 19 from 6pm AEDT)

Making a Murderer: The story continues

Has it really been three years since everyone lost their minds over the case of murdered woman Teresa Halbach and whether Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey was responsible for her brutal death?

The filmmakers certainly painted a picture of wrongdoing, arguing that there had been a miscarriage of justice thanks to bumbling and prejudicial local cops and prosecutors who stacked the case against Avery and Dassey, including allegations of mental abuse given diminished intellectual capacity on the parts of the accused.

The case attracted fevered international attention since the first season aired on Netflix in 2015, and the filmmakers — Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos — have been in production for more than two years, following the case’s ongoing legal battles. The docuseries may be about one case, one victim and two men but it strikes at the heart of a broken legal and social system.

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