On February 26, the new AMC drama McMafia will debut at 10 PM.
The series charts Alex Godman’s (James Norton from Grantchester) journey as he is drawn deeper and deeper into the world of organized crime. As the English-raised son of Russian exiles with a mafia history, Alex has spent his life trying to escape the shadow of that criminal past, building his own legitimate business and forging a life with his girlfriend Rebecca (Juliet Rylance from the box office films Sinister and Frances Ha).
But when his family’s past returns to threaten them, Alex is forced to confront his values to protect those he loves. What starts out as a story of survival and revenge becomes an epic tale of a man’s struggle against the lures of corruption in the modern world and in himself.
The cast also includes Faye Marsay (Game of Thrones) and David Strathairn (Alphas and The Blacklist).
On February 26, the new NBC drama Good Girls will debut at 10 PM.
Show Synopsis: When three suburban moms (Mae Whitman, Christina Hendricks and Retta) get tired of trying to make ends meet, they decide it’s time to stick up for themselves by robbing the local supermarket at (toy) gunpoint. But when the manager catches a glimpse of one of them and the loot is far more than they expected, it doesn’t take long for the three best friends to realize the perfect getaway will be harder than they think. The cast includes Matthew Lillard, Reno Wilson and Manny Montana [among others].
The Netflix 10-episode series Seven Seconds will debut online on February 23.
In an instant, life is forever changed for Brenton Butler and his family. After a white cop accidentally hits and critically injures a black teenager, a northeastern city explodes with racial tensions, an attempted cover up and its aftermath, and the trial of the century.
From creator and executive producer, Veena Sud (The Killing) comes Seven Seconds – a thrilling new anthological crime drama that explores the human stories behind the headlines.
The cast includes Regina King (American Crime) Clare-Hope Ashitey (Doctor Foster), Russell Hornsby (Grimm), Michael Mosley (Ozark and Castle) and David Lyons (Safe Haven and Revolution) [among others].
On February 15, the new series Stargate Origins will debut online via Stargate Command.
Young Catherine Langford (Ellie Gall from A Place to Call Home) embarks on an unexpected adventure to unlock the mystery of what lies beyond the Stargate in order to save the Earth from darkness.
The cast includes Connor Trinneer, Philip Alexander and Shvan Aladdin.
The Sundance Now streaming series This Close will debut online on February 14.
The series is created, written and stars Shoshannah Stern (Jericho and Supernatural) and Josh Feldman as it explores the relationship between best friends Kate (Stern), who is newly engaged, and Michael (Feldman), who is attempting to move on from his ex-fiance.
The cast includes Zach Gilford (Friday Night Lights), Cheryl Hines (Curb Your Enthusiasm), Colt Prattes (Dirty Dancing) and Marlee Matlin (Switched at Birth).
On February 11, the new series Private Eyes will debut on ION at 9 PM.
Ex-pro hockey player Matt Shade (Jason Priestley from Beverly Hills, 90210) irrevocably changes his life when he decides to team up with fierce P.I. Angie Everett (Cindy Sampson from Supernatural and Rogue) to form an unlikely investigative powerhouse.
The cast includes Ennis Esmer (Blindspot), Barry Flatman (Fargo and Hell on Wheels) and Jordyn Negri (Warehouse 13).
The new HBO drama Here and Now will debut on February 11 at 9 PM.
The new series is centered on a middle-aged couple (Tim Robbins and Holly Hunter) and their four children, three of which were adopted from Somalia, Vietnam and Colombia. Things take a turn when one of the children begins to see things others cannot.
The cast also includes Necar Zadegan (24 and Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce), Jerrika Hinton (Grey’s Anatomy) and Sosie Bacon (13 Reasons Why).
On February 2, the Cinemax drama Strike Back will return for a fifth season at 10 PM.
A new cast join a revived Section 20, facing new threats and new enemies.
The cast includes Daniel MacPherson (The Shannara Chronicles and APB), Roxanne McKee (Dominion), Warren Brown (Luther and Liar), Alin Sumarwata (Neighbours), Nina Sosanya (Love Actually) and Katherine Kelly (Class).
The Netflix streaming series Altered Carbon will debut online on February 2.
Based on the novel by Richard K. Morgan, the series is set more than 300 years in the future where society has been transformed by new technology. A person’s consciousness can be digitized; human bodies are interchangeable; death is no longer permanent. Takeshi Kovacs (Joel Kinnaman from The Killing and Suicide Squad) is the lone surviving soldier in a group of elite interstellar warriors who were defeated in an uprising against the new world order. His mind was imprisoned – on ice – for centuries until Laurens Bancroft (James Purefoy from The Following), an impossibly wealthy, long-lived man, offers Kovacs the chance to live again. In exchange, Kovacs has to solve a murder that of Bancroft himself.
The ensemble cast includes Ato Essandoh (Copper), Dichen Lachman (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Dollhouse), Kristin Lehman (Motive) and Tamara Taylor (Bones) [among others].
TV viewers were introduced to actress Stana Katic back in March of 2009 when she starred as NYPD Detective Kate Beckett alongside actor Nathan Fillion in the ABC drama Castle, which went on to become not only a fan favorite but also a long-running series for the network.
Katic will be returning to the small screen this Friday in the dark and gripping new series Absentia, where she will portraying FBI agent Emily Byrne, who disappeared without a trace while hunting one of Boston’s most notorious serial killers, and is declared dead. Six years later, though, Emily is discovered held in captivity, with little memory of who kidnapped and tortured her.
Emily is reunited with her family, which includes her retired cop father Warren (Paul Freeman from Raiders of the Lost Ark) and her brother Jack (Neil Jackson from Sleepy Hollow) as well as her husband Special Agent Nick Durand (Patrick Heusinger from Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce and Royal Pains).
She also learns that her young son Flynn (Patrick McAuley from The Conjuring 2) – now a 9-year-old – is being raised by Nick and his…wait for it…new wife Alice (Cara Theobold from Downton Abbey) [Emily was pronounced dead in absentia years before, remember!].
Emily tries to unravel the mystery behind her abduction while reconnecting with her family, but at lot has happened since her disappearance six years earlier. Worse yet, she becomes a suspect herself in a string of new murders that are similar in nature to the serial killer she was investigating before her disappearance.
Without giving too much away, Emily struggles with flashbacks to the torment she dealt with by her kidnapper – some scenes are fragmented but very hard to watch given she was tortured and held captive in a water tank; she has to deal with a troubled brother with his own set of problems; a husband who moved on with a new wife and a son who doesn’t see her as his mother. And, the man convicted of being the serial killer she was investigating, gets out of prison because she was found alive.
Needless to say, this is a much different character for Katic to be playing, but one that she pulls off very convincingly. The storyline is obviously much darker than that of nearly all of the episodes of the 8-season-long Castle but pulls you in wondering whether there is more to Emily than meets the eye, who was behind her horrible six-year captivity and who is really a villain or victim.
The rest of the cast includes Angel Bonanni (Shots Fired) as Boston Police Detective Tommy Gibbs, who is in charge of Emily’s case; Ralph Ineson (Game of Thrones) as Special Agent Adam Radford, Nick and Emily’s boss; Bruno Bichir (Narcos) as Dr. Daniel Vega, an FBI psychologist and profiler and Richard Brake (Ray Donovan) as Conrad Harlow, the prime suspect in the serial killer case.
Here is the trailer for Absenita:
You can learn more about the series Absentia at the show’s website and make sure to watch all 10 episodes of Absentia on Amazon Prime when it debuts on Friday, February 2.
Rueben's Ramblings 