Make your Thanksgiving thoughtful: Best things to watch, listen to or read this week

Our weekly picks to lift your spirits and expand your pandemic playlist.

November 19, 2020 at 7:47PM
The cast of "Fresh Prince of Bel Air." HBO
The cast of “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” reunited for a retrospective. HBO (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

'Between the World and Me'

Ta-Nehisi Coates' 176-page love letter to his teenage son is translated to the screen in this emotionally stirring presentation. An all-star roster of bookworms, including Mahershala Ali, Oprah Winfrey, Angela Bassett and Yara Shahidi, share passages from Coates' 2015 bestseller while footage runs of everything from Malcolm X to recent protests. Any Black parents preparing to have "the talk" with their children should make this special — adapted from a 2018 staging at the Apollo Theater — required family viewing. 7 p.m. Saturday, HBO

'The Pack'

Minnesotan Lindsey Vonn sets aside her skis to host this twist on "The Amazing Race." Competitors in the reality series team up with their dogs to shoot soccer goals in Mexico City, zipline in Los Angeles and raft in Costa Rica. Vonn is an amiable referee — until she barks at a contestant for violating safety rules. Amazon Prime

'Minnesota Hardcore'

After helming the recent First Avenue documentary for TPT, filmmaker David Roth dives deep into maybe the wildest subset of the Twin Cities music scene's '80s heyday in this seven-episode web series featuring new interviews and old performance clips. The first three episodes — all under 15 minutes — have already crammed/slammed in Rifle Sport, the Blu Hippos, Red Meat, Todlachen, Man Sized Action and, yep, Hüsker Dü and Soul Asylum (née Loud Fast Rules). What a rush. TPToriginals.org

'Fresh Prince' reunion

Will Smith has reassembled most of the cast of his 1990s breakout sitcom "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" for an intimate chat on the show's living-room set. While there are a lot of laughs in this retrospective special, it's also touching, with a loving tribute to the late James Avery and a reconciliation with Janet Hubert-Whitten, who lost her role as Aunt Vivian after butting heads with the show's star. HBO Max

'Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life'

This sequel to the WB cult favorite drew hisses when it premiered on Netflix, probably because Rory (Alexis Bledel) evolved into a spoiled brat. But the series, which is making its network debut, still offers the all too rare delight of watching two strong, complicated, adorable, hilarious women trading quips without the need of a Y chromosome. 7 p.m. Mondays, WUCW, Ch. 23, and streaming on Netflix

'Before the Coffee Gets Cold'

Everybody knows that Barack Obama's new memoir came out Nov. 17, but there were oh so many other books published that same day that are getting overlooked. Some bookstores are hoping folks who are buying the Obama book would also buy something else, maybe from a small press or a book in translation. Check out this one by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, translated by Geoffrey Trousselot. It's a charming novel about a mysterious Japanese coffee shop in which customers who sit in a certain chair can go back in time — but just while their coffee is cooling. Hanover Square Press

'Millions'

Director Danny Boyle launched his career with edgy fare such as "Shallow Grave" and "Trainspotting," but before Oscaring for "Slumdog Millionaire," he pivoted to this sweetheart of a movie from 2004. It's about an Irish boy (charming Alex Etel), mourning the recent death of his mum, who discovers a bundle of cash and resolves to use it to help the less fortunate. His plans are complicated when the bank robbers who dropped the dough figure out what's happening. Amazon, Netflix, iTunes

Mahershala Ali in "Between the World and Me." HBO
Mahershala Ali is part of the all-star cast of the new special “Between the World and Me.” (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
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