Marc Maron, left, and Owen Wilson in a scene from Stick.Apple/Supplied
Stick, Apple TV+
Starring Owen Wilson as a washed-up pro golfer named Pryce Cahill, this new comedy is par for the course on Apple’s streaming service – a kind-hearted show that can be slotted neatly next to Ted Lasso and Shrinking. Snarky put-downs that would register merely as punchlines on HBO instead lead to heart-to-hearts about the importance of being polite to one another despite grief, disappointing dads and the other sadnesses of life. Stick’s first three episodes, now available, follow the divorced Pryce as he starts to dig himself out of depression by mentoring a young golfer named Santi (Peter Dager) who seems destined for greatness. Wilson is at his most shaggily likeable, while Dager – who looks like the love child of Gael García Bernal and Andy Samberg – will hopefully show us more of who his character is as the series progresses. Marc “Joe Rogan of the left” Maron plays Pryce’s former caddy, while Mariana Treviño is a treat as Santi’s mom. New episodes Wednesdays.
A scene from The Mortician.Crave/Supplied
The Mortician, Crave
This new HBO three-part documentary from Joshua Rofé about crime in the cremation industry, which boomed in the 1980s as Americans shifted away from embalming, should scratch the true-crime itch for those who were glued to The Jinx. Last Sunday’s episode detailed the means by which David Sconce – who drove around Pasadena, Calif., with the vanity licence plate I BRN 4U – increased the number of bodies burnt in his family’s small crematorium from 194 in 1981 to 3,487 in 1983. What remains to be seen in the miniseries is even more disturbing. Sconce, out on parole, is interviewed at length – and is boastful, unrepentant and almost lives up to what he promises Rofé’s team: “I’m an open book for you guys. There’s nothing you can’t ask me.”
Glenn Fleshler, left, and George Clooney in a scene from Good Night, and Good Luck.Emilio Madrid/Supplied
Good Night, and Good Luck, CNN
CNN returns to television drama’s live origins on Saturday night (7 p.m. ET; also streaming without a cable login on cnn.com) by broadcasting a performance of George Clooney and Grant Heslov’s Broadway adaptation of their 2005 film about CBS journalist Edward R. Murrow and his on-air confrontation with Senator Joseph McCarthy. In this stage production, Clooney himself plays Murrow, the part for which David Strathairn was Oscar-nominated two decades ago. His castmates include Broad City’s Ilana Glazer and Slings & Arrows’ Paul Gross – who’s had a very busy theatre season from The Seafarer in Calgary to Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in Toronto to this return to the Great White Way. On Sunday, Clooney will be at the Tony Awards – on CBS – waiting to find out if he’s won best performance by a leading actor in a play.
Host Anthony Morgan in a scene from Dad Bods.CBC/Supplied
Dad Bods, CBC Gem
Considering parenthood, Anthony Morgan, co-host of The Nature of Things, investigates what might happen to his male body after he has kids – and it turns out the physical changes go beyond becoming (on average) 14 pounds heavier than non-dads. New scientific research had demonstrated how hands-on fathers’ testosterone levels are affected and brains are rewired compared with those dads who play a more distant role. In a charming departure from most nature documentaries, Morgan doesn’t just interview scientists, but meets their families as well and shows how partners and children can inspire their research. The best news for dads: We live (on average) two years longer than non-dads – and it seems, if we are as devoted as owl monkeys are, our children are more likely to prosper.
Petey, voiced by Pete Davidson, left, and Dog Man, voiced by Peter Hastings, in a scene from Dog Man.Photo Credit: Universal Pictures / DreamWorks Animation/The Associated Press
Dog Man, Prime Video
This 2025 animated film adaptation of Dav Pilkey’s book series about a half-man, half-dog police officer and the felonious felines he takes down is now available on Prime Video. I haven’t seen it but my son, who went with his grandfather, recommends it to “any five- or six-year-old who likes cool stuff, like Godzilla.” (He’s never seen a Godzilla movie, so not sure what to make of that.) What I can personally attest to is that the Dog Man movie was my son’s gateway drug to the graphic novels – and his screen time has been down this spring as he’s made his way through all 13 tomes to date. He’s been taking them out from the Toronto Public Library by the bagful and the walls of his room of are now plastered with his own drawings of characters including, my favourite, Petey – whose love for his cloned son, Li’l Petey, helps him break from a personal history of bad feline fathers. Now I understand there’s science behind Pilkey’s psychological insights about fatherhood, too.
