'Mo' and 4 things to watch on TV this week

Between streaming and cable, the types of things you can watch seem endless. Here's a selection of TV shows and specials you can watch live or stream this week, January 27th through February. 2. Contents, times, etc. are subject to change.

dreams deferred

In a scene set in an immigration court in the first season of “Mo,” the title character, played by Mohamed Amer, sits between two strangers awaiting their respective hearings. One woman asks the other, “How did you get here?” “On the Mayflower,” the other answered dryly. It's a unique exchange for the series, which depicts the life of a Palestinian family in Texas as they wait for a response to their asylum claim. In “Mo,” humor serves to stabilize the uncertainty and vulnerability of the characters' situations.

The stakes are high, as Amell personally acknowledges. The show follows his experiences in the American bureaucracy and the 20 years it took him to emigrate from Kuwait during the first Gulf War and obtain asylum and American citizenship. “To watch 'Mo' and discover Ammar is to consider where artists and their work diverge,” Chris Vogner wrote in a 2022 New York Times interview with Ammar. The show will return for a second season, where the ironies and absurdities of everyday life will be used as fodder for comedy as well as drama. Streaming Thursdays on Netflix.

This could be the unofficial tagline for Tom Green's new series, “Tom Green Country,” which airs this week. Originally from Ontario, Canada, he bounced around co-ops to pursue comedy and became a mainstay in stand-up at the turn of the millennium, earning his own show on MTV and starring as Drew Barrymore's ill-fated mistress Chad. Appeared. Charlie's Angels'' (2000). (Green and Barrymore were briefly married outside of the film.) Now, Prodigal Son has returned to Canada, where he has purchased a large estate not far from where he grew up. Green may have left Hollywood behind, but she hasn't given up on showbiz to commemorate a new era in her life in the form of a reality show. Check out Green's trials and tribulations, as well as some cameos by his parents. Available on Fridays on Amazon Prime Video.

50th anniversary

Ahead of the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon in April 1975, Apple TV+ will release the documentary series “Vietnam: The War That Changed America.” The filmmakers scoured more than 1,000 hours of archival footage to create the six episodes. Each episode is interspersed with current reflections from those who lived the events on screen. The program promises extensive interviews with not only American soldiers and war correspondents, but also Vietnamese civilians and National Liberation Front soldiers who fought against American forces. Ethan Hawke, who played the thoughtful voice of a former military chaplain in Paul Schrader's First Reformed (2017), now tells the long and tragic history of America's involvement in Southeast Asia. Streaming Fridays on Apple TV+.

london calls

“Funny Woman” is a show based on the 2014 novel “Funny Girl” by British author Nick Hornby. Unlike Hornby's other notable screen adaptations, such as “High Fidelity'' and “About a Boy,'' which focused on the lives of somewhat vulgar men, “Funny Woman'' It tells the story of Queen Barbara Parker (Gemma Arterton). The port city of Blackpool. Throughout the first season, Parker moves to 1960s London and attempts to break into comedy television. Arterton, with his bushy blonde hair, is chasing his big break with an agent (Rupert Everett) in tow. The second season opens this week and offers period sets and mod costumes as Parker continues to navigate the male-dominated industry and the changing social climate around her. Airs Sundays at 10pm on PBS.

cabin core

Whether it's lobstermen showcasing their catch on social media or the reality show “Maine Cabin Masters,” now in its 10th season, there's never a dull moment with Maine's content creators. Each episode takes viewers to a different region of the state and a different fixer-upper, each presenting its own set of challenges. Watch as their team battles wood rot, carpenter ants, and restores properties to the owner's specifications. Wearing Grateful Dead T-shirts and lumber jackets, the cabin masters work together in a friendly manner, speaking to each other in the broad vowels of their Maine accents. If you want to escape reality through rustic home renovations during the cold winter months, enjoy the satisfaction of completing your home improvement project. Airs Mondays at 9pm on Magnolia Network.