Happy Monday! I have something in practically every genre for everyone this week.
Please tell me you watched this week’s episode of Real Housewives of Salt Lake City. The episode, which has bizarre and poignant moments, really heats up in the last five minutes. You will find yourself sweating with your hands over your head as Homeland Security and NYPD officers look for Jen Shah before her arrest. Go watch now, seriously. My whole episode on Wednesday is about the episode. I tracked down the bus driver and a receptionist at Beauty Lab & Laser to hear their first-hand accounts.
This documentary looks ridiculous and amazing. Once a year, a group of feverishly determined table setters vie for the “Best of Show” ribbon at the Orange County Fair table setting competition. Often referred to as “The Olympics of Table Setting,” contestants can spend over 6 months preparing their table to compete and ultimately be judged. A mere misplaced soup spoon can mean the end for an otherwise perfect table. But like any competition, it is not without its dramatics. Old rivalries, controversy, and eccentric personalities come to a head as SET! explores topics far beyond the silverware. SET airs on Discovery Plus this Friday.
The Challenge: All Stars (Paramount+) welcomes back 24 of the fiercest reality titans from the hit franchise’s long history, including some who haven’t competed in more than 20 years. This was created by my friend Mark Long, one of the network’s most beloved former starts. Mark is the most fit human, and the nicest person. (November 11)
Paris in Love (Peacock) This week Paris Hiton is getting married, and on Thursday (her wedding day) the first episode of this series about the run up to her wedding date begins. (November 11)
Murdered & Missing in Montana (Oxygen) focuses on the disappearance and mysterious deaths of three Indigenous girls. (November 12)
Dear Rider (HBO), an HBO Original Documentary, tells the true story of how Jake Burton Carpenter turned a childhood pastime into a cultural phenomenon. (November 9)
Mayor Pete (Amazon) is directed by Jesse Moss (“Boys State,” “The Overnighters”), Mayor Pete will take viewers inside Buttigieg’s headline-generating campaign to be the youngest U.S. President, providing an unprecedented intimacy with the candidate, his husband Chasten, and their team. The Amazon Studios documentary, which will be released globally on Amazon Prime Video on Nov. 12, will show the former mayor of South Bend, Ind. during the earliest days of the campaign, through his unlikely, triumphant victory in Iowa and beyond — revealing what goes on inside a campaign for the highest office in the land, and how it changes the lives of those involved in it.
Hidden Heroes: The Nisei Soldiers of WWII (History) tells the lesser-known, inspiring story of the Japanese American soldiers of WWII who fought for the ideals of American democracy and became the most decorated military unit for its size and length of service in United States history. (November 11)
When ODA 3212, an elite U.S. Special Forces team is caught in a surprise attack deep in the Saharan Desert, killing four soldiers” the military tried to hide the full truth. 3212 Un-Redacted (Hulu) is the result of an exhaustive three-year investigation that contains explosive interviews with a top Pentagon whistleblower, the former general in charge of special operations in Africa, the team’s own commander in Niger and the families of all four fallen soldiers united in their quest for the truth. Through a network of confidential sources inside the military and intelligence community, the film unravels the dark truth covered up by commanders at the highest levels of the military. It blows the lid off of the official Pentagon narrative which pinned the blame on low-level soldiers to protect the careers of the senior officers responsible for the ill-fated mission.
Happy watching!