Double Parked (iView) is a funny New Zealand comedy about a lesbian couple living in a share house. One of them is trying for a baby through IVF, but after a wild night with their straight housemates, both women end up pregnant.
The great cast includes Antonia Prebble from Outrageous Fortune and Westside (why aren’t these shows on an Aussie streaming service?), Madeleine Sami (thankfully not repeating her Darwin detective schtick from Deadloch), hilarious Kura Forrester from Shortland Street (7Plus), handsome Dominic Ona-Ariki, plus guest star Julia Morris.
Double Parked
Double Parked is the only new show the ABC has this year as a tie-in to Mardi Gras. As the official broadcaster, ABC is airing the parade live (7.30pm on Saturday), but the rest of their Pride programming is a bit lacking this year.
Double Parked part of Mardi Gras week celebration
iView’s Celebrate Pride collection contains the same shows from last year (which does at least still include the must-see Veneno) alongside a handful of new titles like This Is Going to Hurt (Wednesdays on ABC) and Alan Carr’s childhood sitcom Changing Ends (launched in December).
SBS, which used to host the Parade, appears to harbour no hard feelings over the loss because it continues to curate a huge Pride collection with over 60 titles. 9Now is also on board with a Pride collection, but Seven and 10 are doing nothing, despite having such gay-friendly fare as Grace and Frankie (7Plus) and I Kissed A Boy (10Play).
SBS is also premiering the best movie I have seen in years, Swan Song (tonight on World Movies). Cult actor Udo Kier plays an aging hairdresser on the run from his retirement home. Jennifer Coolidge is a revelation in a straight dramatic role, while Linda Evans plays a corpse (which must have made her former Dynasty co-star Joan Collins roar with laughter).
Mary and George (Monday on Binge) is a wild new mini-series about some scandalous gay history. King James I, the son of Mary, Queen of Scots, is considered to have been gay or bisexual, given the close relationships he had with several men.
One of his lovers was George Villers (Nicholas Galitzine), 1st Duke of Buckingham, who was pimped out to the King by his ferocious social-climbing mother, Mary (Julianne Moore), Countess of Buckingham.
Julianne Moore’s presence is enough to make me watch, but the sumptuous costumes and locations seal the deal. More on this in next week’s TV Gold podcast when co-host James Manning gets a look at it.
Welcome to TV Gold: Mediaweek’s weekly TV podcast
Listen now on your favourite podcast platform for 30 minutes of TV reviews and recommendations every week from Mediaweek’s Mercado on TV columnist Andrew Mercado and editor-in-chief James Manning.
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This week: Mea Culpa, Double Parked, Can I Tell You a Secret?, Loudermilk
A Netflix triple-play this week and a quirky New Zealand comedy.
The Netflix productions start with the Tyler Perry movie Mea Culpa with Kelly Rowland as an ethically challenged criminal lawyer. The movie is already #1 on the Netflix movie chart. Next up is Can I Tell You A Secret, a 2-part docu-drama about a very creepy UK stalker and how he created chaos for many women and how they ultimately trapped him. Thirdly from Netflix is Loudermilk, three seasons of a Canadian sitcom overlooked on Prime and now getting a big crowd on a new platform.
Finally, this week we have another sitcom about two lesbians who get more than they bargained for when trying to have a baby – Double Parked (ABC iview, 8 episodes).
Listen online here, or on your favourite podcast platform.