What I'm Watching: Wrestlers, Yakirama, Wilderness, and More

Hollyhood Haley J, Wrestlers, Netflix

Here’s a quick rundown on everything I watched, read, and wrote about last week:

The shows:

• The new Netflix series Wrestlers is the latest project from Last Chance U and Cheer filmmaker Greg Whiteley, and at this point I’m convinced Whiteley is one of the best documentary filmmakers working in TV. Like his other shows, Wrestlers spotlights an underdog group of athletes who find purpose creating something beautiful and challenging together. This time it’s the employees at Ohio Valley Wrestling, an underwatched but historically significant wrestling territory that’s in dire financial straits as the series begins. That lights a fire under the asses of the many charismatic and complicated OVW performers who dream of being superstars. From its first minute to its last, Wrestlers crafts a damn good story, one told through intimate interviews, tight editing, and gorgeous footage.
• Telemarketers, now on Max, is another of my favorite docuseries of the year so far, but it couldn’t be more opposite Wrestlers. Endearingly unpolished yet surprisingly ambitious, the series follows two former telemarketers – both of whom struggle with drug addiction, which factors into the story – as they try to trace the sleazy history of the company they used to work for in some unbelievable directions. When the pair find out that the overtly shady business has potential ties to even shadier public institutions, they try to go all the way to the top to expose the industry. Funny, informative, and downright shocking at times, Telemarketers is an engrossing work that feels both homemade and larger than life.
• The new Prime Video show Wilderness is a glossy marital thriller in the vein of Gone Girl and its many imitators, but it didn’t hook me like I’d hoped. It’s more grounded than a lot of soapy TV thrillers, but it’s also so even-keeled as to seem unremarkable at times, and it telegraphs its major moves with overdone voiceover. Doctor Who’s Jenna Coleman, The Haunting of Bly Manor’s Oliver Jackson-Cohen, and Pretty Little Liars’ Ashley Benson put in committed performances, but the show loses steam after its surprising first couple episodes. Full review to come!