THE ENGLISH GAME
Netflix, 3:00 a.m. ET
SERIES PREMIERE: This new Netflix series is like a Chariots of Fire for soccer, or the United Kingdom “football” equivalent of David E. Kelley’s Mystery, Alaska, where a small-town team of hockey players challenged the more established franchise for a game for pride and honor. The English Game is a drama series about the origins of British football, and how it came from, and was reclaimed by, working-class rural enthusiasts. There’s a bit of The Longest Yard in here, and a touch of the movie M*A*S*H, and as broad and predictable as it is, it’s still kind of interesting. And before you dismiss it as a weird choice, consider this: The English Game is a class-system drama written by Julian Fellowes, whose last TV series exploring that theme was a little costume drama called Downton Abbey. Besides, with no Real Time with Bill Maher and no March Madness because of the coronavirus, what else new do you have to watch tonight?