The Brainerd Dispatch - Today's Entertainment Magazine
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Brainerd Dispatch • November 1 - 7, 2020 •19 By Dana Simpson TV Media WHAT'S NEW ON NETFLIX "Operation Christmas Drop" (2020) Get in the holiday spirit this Thursday, Nov. 5, when the new Netflix original film "Operation Christmas Drop" premieres on the streaming platform. A humanitar- ian tradition for nearly 70 years, Operation Christmas Drop is a U.S. Military exercise to train the country's service men and women while air-dropping holiday gifts over Micronesia from the army's aircrafts. In this romantic comedy, centered around its namesake training exercise, congressional aide Erica Miller (Kat Graham, "The Vampire Diaries") travels to Guam for Christmas, where her mission is to find a reason to defund the Pacific island's military base. Constantly butting heads with the pilot in charge of the decades-old operation, Capt. Andrew Jantz (Alexander Ludwig, "Vikings"), Miller begins to soften as she comes to realize just how much joy this gesture of good will truly brings everyone involved. The first scripted film to be shot on the island of Guam, "Operation Christ - mas Drop" was directed by Martin Wood ("When Calls the Heart") and also stars Virginia Madsen ("Sideways," 2004). "Schitt's Creek" Laugh your way through small- town life with all six seasons of the multi-award-winning Canadian series "Schitt's Creek," now avail- able on Netflix. When Johnny Rose's (Eugene Levy, "American Pie," 1999) big-time video store goes under, his actress wife, Moira (Catherine O'Hara, "Best in Show," 2000), and their children, Alexis (Annie Murphy, "The Plateaus," 2015) and David (Dan Levy, "Ad- mission," 2013), lose all of their assets and are forced to move to the small town of Schitt's Creek. Here, over the course of several seasons, they endure a string of comedic mishaps, the occasional heartache and lots of new experi- ences as they get back on their feet. This Levy family-created sitcom has won a grand total of 68 awards over the past five years, including nine Primetime Emmys this year alone. Chris Elliott ("How I Met Your Mother"), Emily Hampshire ("12 Monkeys") and Sarah Levy ("Baroness Von Sketch Show") also star. WHAT'S NEW ON PEACOCK "Save Me Too" Don't get left behind! "Save Me Too" — the second season of the British drama series "Save Me" — comes to Peacock on Thursday, Nov. 5. When he is arrested on suspicion of abduct- ing his estranged daughter, Jody (Indeyarna Donaldson-Holness, "Deep Water"), Nelly (Lennie James, "The Walking Dead") will stop at nothing to solve the mystery of her disappearance and, hopefully, save her. But as his inquiry and the police inves- tigation continue in tandem, Nelly learns more than he ever thought possible about himself and the prominent figures in his daughter's life. From a produc- tion team that includes "Line of Duty" creators Elizabeth Binns and Simon Heath, Season 2 of this series picks up 17 months af- ter Jody's disappearance and will feature the same kind of intense twists and turns, emotional re- veals and action-packed scenes that made the first season so raw. Stephen Graham ("This is England," 2006), Camilla Beeput ("Peep Show") and Suranne Jones ("Coronation Street") also star. WHAT'S NEW ON HULU "Malcolm in the Middle" Get in on the action with all seven seasons of the hit dysfunc- tional-family sitcom "Malcolm in the Middle," now available on Hulu. Growing up is never easy, but it was never meant to be as hard as it is for Malcolm Wilkerson (Frankie Muniz, "My Dog Skip," 2000). With a genius- level IQ of 165, there is no doubt that middle child Malcolm is the smartest member of his family. But being that intelligent comes with its own set of challenges, such as dealing with bullies and the at-home antics of his less-than-sophisticated family: his dad, Hal (Bryan Cranston, "Breaking Bad"); mom, Lois (Jane Kaczmarek, "Chips," 2017); and his three brothers, Francis (Christopher Masterson, "My Best Friend's Wedding," 1997), Reese (Justin Berfield, "Max Keeble's Big Move," 2001) and Dewey (Erik Per Sullivan, "The Cider House Rules," 1999). WHAT'S NEW ON PRIME "Cougar Town" Don't miss a single episode from the six seasons of "Cougar Town," all available now on Prime. From "Scrubs" writer/ producers Kevin Biegel and Bill Lawrence, this quirky show fol- lows the lives and relationships of a group of female friends in Gulfhaven, Florida. Some mar- ried and others fairly recently divorced, the women of Gulf- haven — played by Courteney Cox ("Friends"), Busy Phillips ("He's Just Not That Into You," 2009) and Christa Miller ("The Drew Carey Show") — love the attention of the local men ... or any men, for that matter. That's all well and good, but when one of them is your mother — as is the case for teenager Travis (Dan Byrd, "Easy A," 2010) — life becomes much less delightful. From his mom's overprotective nature to her sexual escapades and nights on the town, Travis is simply trying to get to adult- hood without bearing too many emotional scars. This hilarious series also features Josh Hopkins ("The Perfect Storm," 2000), Ian Gomez ("My Big Fat Greek Wed- ding," 2002) and Brian Van Holt ("Black Hawk Down," 2001) in supporting roles. WHAT'S NEW ON DISNEY+ "Wizards of Waverly Place" Tap into the magic of fam- ily through all four seasons of "Wizards of Waverly Place," now streaming on Disney+. The Russo kids, Alex (Selena Gomez, "Spring Breakers," 2012), Max (Jake T. Austin, "The Emoji Movie," 2017) and Justin (David Henrie, "How I Met Your Mother"), seem like your run-of-the-mill siblings and, for the most part, they are. The only thing their friends and neighbors don't know is that all three of them are in competition at home to see who will take their fa- ther's (David DeLuise, "Stargate SG-1") place as the next family wizard. Created by Todd J. Gre- enwald ("Saved by the Bell: The New Class") and full of plenty of hilarious hijinx, this Disney Channel original series also stars Maria Canals-Barrera ("The Master of Disguise," 2002) as the kids' mom and Jennifer Stone ("The In-Between," 2019) as Alex's best friend, Harper. Kat Graham and Alexander Ludwig star in "Operation Christmas Drop" The cast of in "Malcolm in the Middle" Dan Byrd and Busy Phillips in "Cougar Town"