Mercado on TV: Aussie drama drought, but plenty to watch from UK & US

We are now at the stage where the best we can hope for with new Aussie drama is becoming the fourth spin-off in a US crime franchise (NICS: Sydney coming soon to Paramount+). NCIS may be the biggest TV show in the world, but so was Baywatch in the 1990s, but Baywatch Down Under was a complete joke. The NCIS franchise is hot in the US, but it’s a multichannel proposition here.

While there are less and less local stories being told, there are always more and more international dramas to watch. Sondra Rhimes’ latest drama Inventing Anna (Netflix, 9 eps) has a juicy plot, although there probably isn’t enough material there for it to run 18 years like Grey’s Anatomy.

Inventing Anna

If you can imagine Grand Designs crossed with a creepy murder mystery, you might enjoy The Girl Before (Foxtel, 4 eps). A mysterious architect rents out his minimalist house but only with some odd demands. This drama is not as clever as it thinks it is, but maybe lead actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw will have more luck in her next psychological thriller, Surface.

Surface is being made for Apple TV+ which has just launched two major dramas. Suspicion (8 eps) is a political thriller that stars Uma Thurman, but she’s barely in it. And despite it being about a kidnapping in New York, most of the action so far takes place in London.

Suspicion

Severance (Apple TV+, 9 eps), directed and co-produced by Ben Stiller stars Adam Scott, Patricia Arquette, John Turturro and Christopher Walken. With a nutty cast like that, it’s no surprise that the workplace thriller is super weird and feels like something from the mind of Charlie Kauffman.

Reacher (Amazon Prime) is out to correct a movie miscasting. In the Jack Reacher novels, the “unstoppable mountain” of a man is 1.96m (6’ 5”) tall and yet tiny Tom Cruise got the role, despite being just 1.7m (5’ 7”) high, but maybe more in heels.

Now, after two “lacklustre” movies, Alan Ritchson looks the part and Reacher (Amazon Prime) is getting a much better response from fans. Note that the season finale (and it has been renewed for a second season) is directed by transgender director and action specialist MJ Bassett.

Jack Reacher

I have watched the first two episodes of every drama just listed, but which ones I will actually complete? Inventing Anna has me the most invested, but everything is on standby until after I binge the fourth series of The Marvellous Mrs Maisel (Amazon Prime) this weekend.

Read more Mercado on TV columns here.