What to Watch This Week: May 7 to May 12

From documentaries to reality TV to movies, we round up our top 10 shows to watch this week

 

1. Silicon Valley – Sunday, May 7, 9 p.m., Midnight & 3 a.m., HBO Canada

Richard’s recent tendency to shrug off sleep in favour of figuring out his next great idea is about to drive everyone—including, himself—completely crazy, but when he finds he might be able to move forward with an idea that Peter Gregory failed to figure out, he gets excited.

Meanwhile, Gavin learns that Jack is taking Hooli’s recent issue with underage users lying down. Which is very bad news for Gavin but could prove to be worse news for Dinesh as well, if Gavin learns that Dinesh actually? set the events into motion? that led to Gavin’s removal. Also, Erlich spontaneously decides to pitch Jian-Yang’s new app as “Shazam for food,” which sounds great but leaves Jian-Yang less than thrilled by the dumbing-down of his technology, and Monica sets up a scenario at Raviga which she hopes will improve her standing with Laurie.

 

2. The Handmaid’s Tale – Sunday, May 7, 6 p.m. & 10 p.m., Bravo

One of the great things about adaptations is how they can direct viewers to great works of literature they may have overlooked. No doubt, after last week’s introduction? to the (unsettlingly plausible) fantasy world? of Gilead, plenty of folks were rushing to check out Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel. Admittedly, it also leads to people who have read the book in question being ahead of the rest? of the audience; except this week, the dystopian series is primed to throw readers and viewers alike? a curveball. While the story still follows leading lady Offred (Elisabeth Moss) and her plight in the Waterford household, the writers veer from Atwood’s source material to show us exactly what happened to the original Ofglen (Alexis Bledel). We must say, it’s a particularly dark departure, one that delves further into the injustices of this world, the feelings towards what was once referred to as the LGBTQ community, and how far those who hold power will go in order to increase the national birthrate. Be warned, what you see may leave you with a permanent chill… and this story is only just getting started.

 

3. 2017 MTV Movie & TV Awards – Sunday, May 7, 5 p.m. & 9 p.m., MTV Canada

Remember back in the day, when there were only a handful of televised awards shows to park yourself in front of? Now it seems like every network has multiple celebrity-ingratiating galas to call their own, which can make it exceptionally hard to keep track. But this year, the MTV Movie Awards are taking action to make themselves stand out amongst the masses. The long-running, youth-skewing show is finally getting into the age of #PeakTV and has officially expanded the night to include television awards for the first time.

That means, in addition to catching up on some of this year’s most popular films (Beauty and the Beast, Get Out, etc.), you’ll want to make sure you’re up-to-speed on the most-nominated shows, too. Game of Thrones is a hot contender, of course. But so is Netflix’s period horror series Stranger Things, which took everyone by surprise when it debuted last summer (we’re now gearing up for the second season, which hits screens on Halloween, naturally).

More intriguingly, the awards are going gender neutral, as actors and actresses will compete for the same trophies—meaning that, for instance, Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) and Jeffrey Dean Morgan (The Walking Dead) will both be battling for Best Actor in a Show. Other categories include Best Villain, Best Kiss (Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone’s La La Land lip lock is a definite shoo-in), Best Hero, the Next Generation breakout performer, Best Duo (Blake Shelton and Adam Levine from The Voice, book it), Best Fight Against the System (Get Out, we’d say) and Tearjerker moment (what else but Hodor’s epic goodbye on Game of Thrones?). It’s all hosted by Modern Family co-star/nominee for Best Comedic Performance Adam DeVine.

 

4. Rikers: An American Jail – Monday, May 8, 11 p.m., KCTS

There are more than 2.2 million people behind bars in America, which is a staggering figure. But here’s one that’s even more distressing: of the 7,500-plus ?in Rikers Island, on an average day nearly 80 per cent of them haven’t been found either guilty or innocent. Bill Moyers takes you into the horrifying experience of being imprisoned at Rikers, from the extortion and control of the inmates to the oppressive corrections officers, not to mention the beatings, stabbings and other unsavoury activities that have plenty of potential to scare any viewer straight.

 

5. Steel Magnolias – Monday, May 8, 12:20 p.m. & 11:30 p.m., ENC2

An embarrassment of acting riches share the screen in this hilarious and heartbreaking 1989 dramedy about the women of a small Southern town (Dolly Parton, Daryl Hannah, Shirley MacLaine, Olympia Dukakis, Sally Field, Julia Roberts), as they lean on each other to get through life’s many hardships.

 

6. The Men Who Make Us Spend – Tuesday, May 9, 8 p.m., Knowledge

They say money makes the world go ’round, but how often do we stop to think about the items we’re purchasing with that dough? This new offering takes a look at why exactly we buy what we buy and how consumerism has changed us over the years.

 

7. Fargo – Wednesday, May 10, 7 p.m., 8 p.m. & 10 p.m., FX Canada

The quirky crime saga continues as Emmit and Sy try to figure? out exactly what they’ve gotten themselves into, and Gloria gains some intel about Maurice. And as for Nikki and Ray? They look to get a bit of collateral to stabilize their precarious extralegal situation.

 

8. Riverdale – Thursday, May 11, 9 p.m., The CW | Season Finale

Fans of the original Archie Comics ?series probably never imagined? that one day they would see favourite Riverdale characters coming to life in a dark and often disturbing teen drama revolving around murder, conspiracy and student-teacher affairs. But the somewhat unexpected result has been one of the most addictive and buzzed-about dramas on The CW.

As the mystery of who killed Jason Blossom inches toward its endgame during this week’s first-season finale, it seems as though the real drama is yet to begin. Because in between unexpected hookups, completely expected betrayals and parents who are just as messed up as their kids (and look suspiciously like former teen idols of the ’80s and ’90s), a whole new scandalous subplot has been brewing and promises to bubble over tonight.

“There’s going to be a new mystery,” Betty portrayer Lili Reinhart said in interviews leading up to the big finish. “That mystery is kind of started in the finale of our season one.”? Early rumours were that someone else could be murdered by the end? of the episode, but the cast is remaining completely mum on that front. “If the rumoured death happens, it would? go to set up season two,” executive producer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa teased to media. Whatever happens, we’re just happy the show will live? to see another delightfully bizarre season. Now all we need to do is cross our fingers for that Sabrina the Teenage Witch spinoff. Come on, CW, you’re already making every other comic book into a TV show.

 

9. First Dates – Friday, May 12, 8 p.m., Global & NBC

When it comes to blind dates, it’s anyone’s guess as to how the evening will go. If we didn’t know that before, then this Drew Barrymore-narrated, Ellen DeGeneres-produced hidden-camera series has confirmed it. Between one muscle-bound cheater calling? his lover before his date (and having the whole conversation caught on camera) to another hitting on the server right in front? of the woman he was supposed to be wooing, there have been some pretty strange liaisons over the course of this first season.

The heartwarming hits and cringe-inducing misses continue this week, as the Chicago eatery in which the series is filmed welcomes several more would-be couples. Tonight, looking to break the ice, one dater has the genius idea to bring along? a game to jump-start the conversation, a tactic that seems to make everyone else in the restaurant jealous. Meanwhile, it’s all inside baseball for one pair when they discover their mutual love of the White Sox. It’s almost as cute as another table’s bonding over their shared sci-fi geekiness, which reminds us all that romance can indeed be found in the strangest of places… even reality TV.

 

10. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo – Friday, May 12, 11:20 p.m., ENC2

This visceral adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s neo-noir bestseller made a global star out of Swedish actress Noomi Rapace, who explodes off the screen as a young cyberpunk on the trail of a killer that likes doling out biblical punishments to women.