What to watch this weekend November 3, 2023: TV awards contenders

Kaitlin Thomas
·4 min read
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Some of the best television this century has come out of the BBC Natural History Unit in the form of the studio’s breathtaking nature documentaries. Using state-of-the-art technology, these series take viewers around the globe, often to some of the most remote locations on Earth, to tell the extraordinary stories of the wonders of the natural world. The latest of these projects, “Planet Earth III,” was filmed over five years and follows the Emmy-winning “Planet Earth” (2006) and “Planet Earth II” (2016). 

Debuting Saturday at 8/7c on BBC America (streaming on AMC+) and narrated by renowned naturalist and three-time Emmy winner Sir David Attenborough, the eight-episode series travels from the deserts of Namibia to the waters of the Arctic Ocean to offer a high-definition look into our planet’s many unique lifeforms and the challenges they encounter in their daily lives. As is the case with many documentaries of this variety, there is an emphasis on Earth’s changing ecosystems as a result of climate change and humanity’s direct impact on the natural world. It’s a fascinating, if sometimes sobering, docuseries, but with its timely narrative, awe-inspiring visuals and lively score by Hans Zimmer, “Planet Earth III” is the awards contender to watch this weekend. 

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If you’re looking for something with a few more homo sapiens, however, other contenders to watch include: 

  • “Lawmen: Bass Reeves”: Paramount+ may have just announced more “Yellowstone” spin-offs, but its newest drama is what you should be focusing on. On “Lawman: Bass Reeves,” executive producer and star David Oyelowo (an Emmy nominee for HBO’s “Nightingale”) portrays the titular lawman, who was born into slavery and later became the first Black U.S. marshal west of the Mississippi. Fictional versions of Reeves have popped up in numerous TV shows over the years, but never before has his story been told like this. Creator and showrunner Chad Feehan uses the first two books of Sidney Thompson’s Bass Reeves trilogy as the basis for a moving exploration of Reeves’ personal, spiritual and moral journey over the course of his life. The first two episodes stream Sunday on Paramount+.

  • “Black Cake”: Adapted from Charmaine Wilkerson’s best-selling novel, “Black Cake” is a rich and layered drama that tells the story of Eleanor Bennett (Chipo Chung as an adult; Mia Isaac as a young woman), a widowed mother of two who dies and leaves behind a flash drive of untold stories for her adult children. The eight-episode series from Marissa Jo Cerar weaves together the story of the siblings’ lives in the present with Eleanor’s dramatic past, revealing along the way that the woman the children thought they knew had actually lived a thousand lives, none of which fit the narrative they were told. The first three episodes are now streaming on Hulu.

  • “JFK: One Day in America”: Nat Geo’s award-winning franchise returns with its second installment, this time unraveling what happened the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 while campaigning for re-election in Texas. Featuring colorized archival footage and first-hand accounts of the few surviving witnesses, this three-part docuseries is made for a modern audience and arrives just in time for the 60th anniversary of that fateful November day. All three episodes air Friday at 8/7 on Nat Geo and will be available to stream on Disney+ and Hulu on Saturday.

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