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The reboot of Street Legal on CBC starts March 4.CBC

It’s going to be a torrid spring in the TV arena. And now that the Academy Awards are done and that awards-season fandango has ended, it’s time to look forward.

There are knowable and unknowable elements to the next few months. Notably, Apple is going to begin streaming content, probably by late March. Exactly how and when remains a mystery. While there is considerable secrecy, it’s no secret that Apple has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on talent and content. For a start, Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon star in and produce a drama/comedy set in a morning TV show.

Netflix is also about to unleash new content month by month and all we know right now is that The Crown, Stranger Things and Black Mirror are all expected to return this year, along with new seasons of Ozark, GLOW and 13 Reasons Why.

The new year promises a smorgasbord of big-ticket TV

Locally, CBC will continue to unveil new or revived content through March. Its biggest event in years, it seems, is the reboot of Street Legal, starting Monday, March 4. Expect to see Cynthia Dale’s face, as Olivia, a lot. An awful lot, actually.

Based on the recent TV critics press tour and what been released in advance, herewith, a short list of important TV coming in the next few months.

Leaving Neverland (Crave/HBO, Sunday, March 3) is the documentary about Michael Jackson’s alleged relationships with two boys, who are now telling their stories. It stunned audiences at Sundance and is already the subject of a lawsuit from Jackson’s estate. A full review is coming later this week.

That same night, another stunning doc, Free Solo, airs on National Geographic Channel. Oscar-nominated and a huge hit with millennials in theatres, it’s a visually wonderful account of rock-climber Alex Honnold on his quest to perform a free solo (without ropes) climb of El Capitan mountain in June, 2017.

A week later comes The Case Against Adnan Syed (Crave/HBO Sunday, March 10), which will be compelling for the millions familiar with the true-crime podcast Serial.

In 1999, 18-year-old high-school student Hae Min Lee disappeared, leading to the murder conviction of her ex-boyfriend Adnan Syed. Eighteen years later, after Serial made the story a sensation, the case was reopened. In this new four-part documentary, director Amy Berg examines developments from 2014 to now and promises new revelations that undermine accepted understanding of the case.

The weekend starting Friday, March 29 will be one of the busiest of the year. Amazon Prime Video begins streaming Hanna. Derived from the 2011 movie that starred Saoirse Ronan, it’s about a teenage girl (Esme Creed-Miles) raised in remote Eastern Europe by her father to be the perfect assassin, and what happens when certain forces want to eliminate her. It is spectacular to look at, with Amazon’s vast budget on display constantly. On Sunday, March 31, PBS has one of its strongest Masterpiece dramas in year. That’s Mrs. Wilson, in which Ruth Wilson (The Affair, Luther) plays her own grandmother, Alison Wilson, who discovered that her husband Alec, an MI6 spy, secretly had four wives, none of whom knew about each other. True story, which has already dazzled viewers in Britain.

Also that Sunday, the Emmy-winning Barry returns and the final season of Veep (both Crave/HBO) starts. Yes, Julia Louis-Dreyfus is back as Senator/Vice-President Selina Meyer, and boy can she swear a blue streak.

Early April brings Our Planet (Netflix, April 5) the new eight-part documentary series from the team behind Blue Planet and Planet Earth. Filmed over four years in 50 countries and, of course, narrated by David Attenborough. That Sunday, April 7, Killing Eve returns (Bravo in Canada). On Tuesday, April 9, FX unveils the truly remarkable Fosse/Verdon about the “the romantic and creative partnership” between choreographer/directors Bob Fosse and dancer Gwen Verdon. Sam Rockwell plays Fosse and Michelle Williams is Verdon. On Sunday, April 14, the final season of Game of Thrones (Crave/HBO) starts.

It doesn’t end there, mind you. Coming in May is Chernobyl (Crave/HBO), a fine and terrifying account of what actually happened before and during that nuclear accident. It is part political thriller, part investigation into the manipulation of the truth about what transpired. Also in May comes Hulu’s multipart adaptation of Joseph Heller’s classic novel Catch-22 (on City TV’s streaming service City Now in Canada), directed by and starring George Clooney. The terrible strangeness of war is what it’s about.

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