The Irish don’t have a corner on the morbid market, but they do have a way with words. Starting tomorrow, Hulu begins streaming the deliciously dark Irish comedy series “Obituary.”
Siobhan Cullen stars as 24-year-old Elvira Clancy. She survived her birth, a difficult delivery that claimed her mother, and lives with a father who has taken to the bottle in the small, claustrophobic town of Kilraven. Anyone with gumption tends to leave town after college, but Elvira has put her online degree to work writing for the local newspaper, where she believes she has a knack for death notices.
If this sounds vaguely familiar it’s because ABC recently aired “Not Dead Yet,” a sitcom about a youngish journalist (Gina Rodriguez) assigned to the obituary beat who develops the “gift” of seeing and conversing with her subjects. A nice idea for a sitcom, which allows its heroine to offer closure to her weekly features and offers viewers a “Love Boat”-like parade of guest stars to depict the dear departed.
“Obituary” is not that kind of show. While “Not Dead Yet” is the latest series set in a newspaper to ignore the medium’s economic decline, “Obituary” uses journalism’s collapse as its central premise. When Elvira’s boss tells her that she must work on a freelance basis and get paid a flat fee for each article, she is devastated — then inspired.
She won’t go waiting for obituary subjects, but instead go about bumping off all the creepy and terrible citizens of Kilraven. Sometimes they only die after she’s written them up, putting a whole new spin on the notion of a deadline.
On the surface, “Obituary” is about morbidity and murder. But it’s really a gloriously grim Irish meditation about writing and the power of words.
— “POV” (10 p.m., PBS, TV-14, check local listings) airs the 2023 documentary “Wisdom Gone Wild.” Some 16 years in the making, it follows a woman (director Rea Tajiri) as she cares for her mother, Rose Tajiri, as dementia both clouds her mind and brings a torrent of insight and recollections.
A first-generation Japanese American, Rose and her family lost their farm at the onset of World War II, and she spent her earliest days in an internment camp. Memories of this trauma as well as those of a husband both recalled and forgotten come up as “Wisdom” documents the persistence of a strong personality in the face of a devastating illness that affects far too many.
— Parental love and shared recollections take on a very different flavor on “Not Like Mama.” This cooking contest asks 10 participants to whip up a meal that evokes their mother’s (and in one case, a father’s) signature dishes for hosts, actress Tia Mowry and YouTube star Terrell Grice.
Every chef must work entirely from memory, and, in many cases, cook in front of an audience that includes family members with their own savory nostalgia for the feast being prepared.
Streaming just in time for Thanksgiving, “Not Like Mama” can be found on most FAST (Free Ad-Supported Television) platforms including Roku, Freevee, Tubi, Pluto, Samsung TV+ and Filmrise.
— Using a startling blend of animation, reenactment and powerful graphics, the documentary “Stamped From the Beginning,” streaming on Netflix, adapts Dr. Ibram X. Kendi’s best-selling book to reexamine the many myths about the racial inferiority of Black people that have been used to justify their oppression from the earliest days of the slave trade and continue to the present day, when many seem intent on silencing all discussion of racism.
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— “The Voice” (8 p.m., NBC, TV-PG) recalls the best moments from the blind auditions.
— The Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles meet in Monday Night Football action (8 p.m., ABC).
— The songs of Cole Porter propel the 1936 musical “Born to Dance” (8 p.m., TCM, TV-G) as well as “Broadway Melody of 1940” (10 p.m., TCM, TV-G).
— Parker stands accused on “NCIS” (10 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14).
— Jimmy Fallon hosts “That’s My Jam” (10 p.m., NBC, r, TV-PG)
CULT CHOICE
Shudder streams the 2008 Canadian horror film “Pontypool,” about a Canadian disk jockey in a remote Ontario town who begins to suspect that a virus is turning his neighbors into zombies.
SERIES NOTES
“The Price Is Right at Night” (8 p.m., CBS, r, TV-PG) … “Kitchen Nightmares” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-14) … “Let’s Make a Deal in Primetime” (9 p.m., CBS, TV-PG) … “Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test” (9 p.m., Fox, TV-14).
LATE NIGHT
Jimmy Fallon welcomes Sterling K. Brown, Jenna Bush Hager, Barbara Pierce Bush and Davido on “The Tonight Show” (11:35 p.m., NBC) … Wanda Sykes and Taran Killam visit “Late Night With Seth Meyers” (12:35 a.m., NBC).
