The best in TV this week, including how women got 'The Vote'

July 3, 2020 at 2:50PM
Fayssal Bazzi and Soraya Heidari in "Stateless." BEN KING/Netflix
Fayssal Bazzi and Soraya Heidari in “Stateless.” (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Fight for your right

Alice Paul and Carrie Chapman Catt aren't household names, but "The Vote" makes a strong case for them being the most critical players in the hard-fought campaign to ratify the 19th Amendment. Not that the two were bosom buddies. Filmmaker Michelle Ferrari, relying heavily on the kind of photographs and letters you fawn over in Ken Burns documentaries, shows how their clashing strategies actually worked in the movement's favor.

8 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, TPT, Ch. 2

Crowded house

There's a lot to digest in "Stateless," a six-part drama set in an Australian detention center. Maybe too much. The four main story lines are all fascinating, particularly one that follows an Afghan refugee wrapped up in red tape, but one can't help but feel that the miniseries tries to accomplish too much too quickly. Co-creator Cate Blanchett adds to the distractions by casting herself in the small role of a cult leader who digs cabaret singing.

Starts streaming Wednesday on Netflix

Meet the parents

The mom and dad are so inept in the new animated series "Close Enough" that they make Marge and Homer Simpson look like the Cleavers. Their poor parenting decisions, which include serving ice cream for dinner and purchasing flammable toys, don't lead to many guffaws, but there are enough gentle laughs to tide you over until the next season of "Bob's Burgers."

Starts streaming Thursday on HBO Max

All wet

"Cannonball," set in a waterslide park that could have been designed by Evel Knievel, is either the bottom dweller of reality-competition shows or a brilliant parody of the genre. Trying to figure out which is the new series' biggest draw.

7 p.m. Thursday, USA

Behind the music

Each episode of "The Song: Recorded Live@TGL Farms" goes deep on a few classic numbers, although the series has a pretty flexible definition of "classic." In the premiere, Big & Rich explain how they cooked up "Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy"), followed by a performance to an intimate audience. Future installments feature Don McLean, Gretchen Wilson and Rick Springfield.

7:30 p.m. Thursday, AXS

about the writer

about the writer

Neal Justin

Critic / Reporter

Neal Justin is the pop-culture critic, covering how Minnesotans spend their entertainment time. He also reviews stand-up comedy. Justin previously served as TV and music critic for the paper. He is the co-founder of JCamp, a non-profit program for high-school journalists, and works on many fronts to further diversity in newsrooms.

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