Set against the backdrop of the social disorder and economic depression that destroyed Germany’s Weimar Republic in the years before Hitler, the acclaimed series “Berlin Babylon” concludes its fourth season with two episodes, streaming on the MHz Choice streaming service.
The series’ first three seasons have been seen on Netflix. They can now be found on MHz as well.
On a nearly monthly basis, Netflix announces astounding increases in its subscriber base, inspiring articles declaring that Netflix has “won” the streaming wars. Whatever that means.
Not to sound glib, but sometimes you can lose by winning. If Netflix’s dominance is represented by the huge popularity of movies like “Find Me Falling,” a warmed-over Hallmark romance starring Harry Connick Jr. as a failed rock star licking his wounds in scenic Cyprus, then maybe I will stick with the losers.
It seems almost symbolic of the state of streaming TV, and the many choices it offers, for a relatively obscure platform like MHz to pick up Netflix’s castoffs like the edgy “Babylon Berlin,” while Netflix piles up “winning” numbers with insipid fare like “Bridgerton.”
For the uninitiated, MHz Choice offers a wide variety of mysteries, dramas and comedies from all over the world.
— Speaking of smaller platforms offering foreign fare, Viaplay, the streamer for Scandinavian series, streams “Under the Radar,” the terrifying tale of a Swedish serial killer Peter Mangs and the bizarre way he all but confessed to authorities.
The three-part documentary series profiles journalist John Mork and criminal investigator Jim Rathmann, who examined Mangs’ peculiar songs and found that the lyrics contained details linked to a series of murders and acts of racist terrorism committed in Florida — crimes that had been committed when Mangs was visiting the Sunshine State.
— I have long been a critic of the hyperviolence and endless mayhem depicted in CBS’s “FBI” franchise. On that series, as on “S.W.A.T.” and occasionally “NCIS,” terror is always right around the corner, weapons of mass destruction are found in every locker and days like Sept. 11, 2001, a tragic once-in-a-generation event, happen every single week.
These series not only peddle paranoia and popularize a need for a police state, they trivialize serious issues and events.
Reality seemed to strike back last week when the producers of “FBI” were filming an episode on the Queens College Campus in New York. The script had called for a violent protest by environmental extremists, complete with blown-up buildings and students cowering in the rubble.
Real-life demonstrators showed up to disrupt the proceedings. And to protest CBS’s trivialization of student protests. Good for them!
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— Banking can be murder on “FBI” (8 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14).
— An ex-agent is found in a Libyan jail on “FBI: International” (9 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14).
— “Primetime in Paris: The Olympics” (8 p.m., NBC) presents coverage of swimming, gymnastics and surfing.
— “Gods of Tennis” (9 p.m., PBS, TV-PG, check local listings) profiles temperamental champions Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe.
— A vital informant is violently silenced on “FBI: Most Wanted” (10 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14).
— Bystanders grapple with rude behavior and other awkward moments on “What Would You Do?” (10 p.m., ABC, r, TV-PG).
— “Frontline” (10 p.m., PBS, check local listings) presents “Germany’s Enemy Within,” a look at the rise of far-right extremism in German politics and within its institutions.
CULT CHOICE
Shot and narrated in a casual, breezy manner appropriate to its subject, the 1966 documentary “The Endless Summer” (8 p.m., TCM, TV-G) captures surfers as they search for waves from California to Australia and Africa. While shock-value “Mondo” documentaries had been popular with filmgoers at the time, “Summer” demonstrated that a low-budget film could evoke beauty and wonder without the stiff, formal narration long associated with nonfiction sports films and travelogues. Its soundtrack of gentle surf-rock songs, recorded by the Sandals, became a hit album. Still considered a masterpiece nearly 60 years later, “Endless” holds a rare 100% rating on the Rotten Tomatoes site and has been preserved by the United States National Film Registry of the Library of Congress and cited as “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”
SERIES NOTES
“Beat Shazam” (8 p.m., Fox, r, TV-PG) … “Celebrity Family Feud” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) … “The Quiz With Balls” (9 p.m., Fox, r, TV-PG) … “Judge Steve Harvey” (9 p.m., ABC, TV-PG).
LATE NIGHT
Gretchen Whitmer and Martha Stewart appear on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” (11:35 p.m., CBS, r) … “The Tonight Show” and “Late Night With Seth Meyers” are preempted for Olympic coverage … Taylor Tomlinson hosts Bassem Youssef, Jay Jurden and Todd Barry “After Midnight” (12:35 a.m., r, CBS).
