As Israel gears up for Eurovision, which just began and which will end with the final on Saturday night, Kan 11 will present Hurricane in Malmo, a documentary about Eden Golan competing in the contest in Sweden last year. It will be broadcast Thursday, May 15, after the news. Later in the evening, Yuval Raphael will compete in the second semifinal.
Golan was the recipient of intense hatred, harassment, and death threats last year, but the full story didn’t get told, and this documentary adds much detail to it. Ronen Bar, head of the Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet), went to Malmo himself to supervise the security arrangements, because the threats were considered so serious.
Golan recalls that from the moment the delegation landed, she saw a long line of black cars, police snipers, and helicopters – the kind of security you would associate with a presidential visit – just to protect her and the Israeli delegation. Other members of the delegation recall that when they arrived at their hotel, they saw police armed with Kalashnikovs and undercover security agents in the lobby, pretending to read newspapers, while there were others whose identity was completely hidden.
An Israeli security agent recalls that it was decided that it was necessary for their protection for Golan to be disguised in public. “I knew what I was getting into,” says Golan. “But from that first moment – wow!”
The special also features moments in which Golan symbolically passes the torch to Raphael.
Hacks – various channels
Season four of Hacks, which is on Hot 3 on Mondays (as well as Next TV, Hot VOD, Sting+ and Yes VOD) seems to have run out of steam. It tells the story of Deborah Vance (Jean Smart), a stand-up comic who was ahead of her time as a woman in comedy and who finally gets her due in her 70s, and her contentious relationship with Ava (Hannah Einbinder), a 20-something comedy writer whose career has been canceled because of a joke she made which has been deemed offensive.
At the end of season three, Deborah finally got her dream gig – hosting a late-night talk show – and then Ava maneuvered into being named head writer by blackmailing her about an affair she had with a network executive.
While Smart is endlessly entertaining in the role, the character of Ava has gotten so small-minded – and her blackmail threat is so ugly – that it’s hard to warm to her at this point. There are still funny lines, and the breakout new character is Randi (Robby Hoffman), who becomes the assistant to Deborah and Ava’s managers, Jimmy (Paul W. Downs) and Kayla (Megan Stalter).
Randi grew up as a Lubavitcher hassid but has decided she is queer, relocates from Brooklyn to Hollywood, and jumps into the entertainment industry. She’s only recently seen her first movie, Speed with Sandra Bullock, and she’s obsessed with it. Hoffman has a background similar to the character she plays, and I’m hoping that we’ll see much more of Randi as the season goes on.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit – Yes VOD and Sting+
When I got a press release saying that Oshri Cohen, a major Israeli star who has appeared in such movies and TV series as Trust No One, Save the Date, and Beaufort, had a role in the latest episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, I eagerly tuned in.
This episode, which is available on Yes VOD and Sting+, is part of the long-running spin-off from the original Law & Order series, which stars Mariska Hargitay, about prosecutors and police who bring perpetrators of sex crimes to justice.
It has the distinctive style of all the police dramas in the Law & Order series created by Dick Wolf, with the iconic chords between the major scenes. The shows have a veneer of gritty realism, with their tough-talking cops and prosecutors, but the crimes are often contrived to the point where they strain credulity.
The dialogue in these series has gotten a little less sparkling as the decades have passed. At one point, when the detectives try to solve a crime where they have only a video of the victim but no name or information, one of them says, “We’ll know a lot more when we’ve got an ID.” As Aaron Sorkin might have written, “You think?”
The case in the episode where Cohen appears is an especially unpleasant crime involving a stepsister and stepbrother who are sexually assaulted. If you were planning to watch it just to see Cohen, don’t bother. Described as an ex-Mossad agent who does security for a wealthy New York businessman, his character has three short lines, the longest of which is, “We just got a ransom demand.”
I hope this appearance isn’t a sign that Cohen is planning to ditch Israel to try to make it abroad. While it’s true that Gal Gadot and Shira Haas have had major careers abroad, they’re the exceptions that prove the rule: Hollywood doesn’t have much room for actors who speak with accents, especially not men. Stay home, Oshri, and some of your work will end up going abroad.
Forever... – Netflix
Judy Blume, the beloved children’s and young-adult book author, has been famously choosy about allowing her work to be adapted for the screen (big or small). Two years ago, she gave her blessing to a movie of Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, that was a beautiful adaptation of the book, and I was pleased to learn that Netflix would be airing a series based on her novel, Forever…
Blume’s novel had a revolutionary impact when it was first published in 1975. She wrote it in response to a request from her teenage daughter, who “asked for a story about two nice kids who have sex without either of them having to die,” the author wrote on her website.
The Forever… series says in its opening credits that it was “inspired by” rather than “adapted from” the Blume novel, and while it’s a good series, those expecting an updated version of the book may be frustrated. The Netflix show, by Mara Brock Akil, has set the story among African-American teens and racial issues play a major part. But the key change is that it’s now set about seven years ago, and the updating is what really changes the spirit of the novel. While the characters in the book were discovering sex, the protagonists in the series are far more experienced, and a sex tape that humiliates one of the characters also plays a major part in the story. It’s really more like a kinder, gentler version of Euphoria than the very heartfelt novel about naïve teens discovering sex.
The performances by Justin (Michael Cooper) and Keisha (Lovie Simone) in the leads are good, and Wood Harris, who was Avon in The Wire, plays the hero’s father. Justin is from a wealthy family and Keisha’s best friend is very well off, so there’s a certain amount of real-estate porn, and young viewers will definitely enjoy the rap-infused soundtrack and fashion accessories.