Mrs. Maisel returns, two new series and one reboot, college Jeopardy, more

Stars of David

By Nate Bloom, Stars of David Contributing Columnist

Editor’s Note: Persons in bold are deemed by Nate Bloom to be Jewish for the purpose of this column. Persons identified as Jewish have at least one Jewish parent and were not raised in, or identify with, a faith other than Judaism. Converts to Judaism are also identified as Jewish.

“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” the hit Amazon Prime series about a Jewish comedian, returns for a 4th, 8-episode season on Feb. 18. The pandemic long delayed filming and new episodes of “Maisel” were last released in Dec. 2019. Two episodes will be “dropped” on Feb. 18 and each following Friday, two more episodes will “drop.”

Most of the “Maisel” main characters are supposed to be Jewish. Here are the Jewish actors playing Jews: Michael Zegen, 42 (Joel, Mrs. Maisel’s ex-husband); Kevin Pollak, 64 (Joel’s father); Caroline Aaron, 64 (Joel’s mother); and Alex Borstein, 50 (Susie Myerson, Mrs. Maisel’s manager).

I long wondered if Myerson is supposed to be Jewish. Then Borstein confirmed that Myerson was Jewish — noting that, unlike most of the other Jewish characters, she came from a working-class background.

Here are the non-Jews playing Jews: Rachel Brosnahan, who plays Mrs. Midge Maisel (the title character); Marin Hinkle, who plays Midge’s mother; and Tony Shalhoub, who plays Midge’s father. Also worth noting: real life ’60s comedian Lenny Bruce will have a big role in season 4. Luke Kirby, who plays Bruce, isn’t Jewish.

“Suspicion” is an original 8-episode Apple+ series that begins streaming on Feb. 4. It’s based on “False Flag,” an Israeli series. Uma Thurman plays a businesswoman whose son is kidnapped. If “Suspicion” follows “False Flag,” several “totally ordinary” persons will be accused of being involved in the crime, and the mystery will be: are they innocent, or just good liars? Noah Emmerich (“The Americans”) 56, has a big supporting role.

A new evening tournament game show, “Jeopardy! National College Championship,” will premiere on Feb. 8 (ABC, 8 p.m.). The series will be hosted by Mayim Bialik, 46. Bialik is also the co-host for the “regular” daily Jeopardy! until the end of the 2021-22 season (unclear what happens then). No matter what, Bialik will host “special events,” like the college championship, for the foreseeable future.

“Inventing Anna” is an original, 9-part, Netflix miniseries that will stream (whole series) on Feb. 11. It’s based on the real-life story of fraudster Anna Delvey, a non-Jewish woman who was born in Russia (1991) and grew up in Germany. She moved to New York City in 2013. Until her arrest in 2017, she pretended to be a rich heiress and she cleverly used this façade to scam banks and friends out of about $200K.

Julia Garner, 27, stars as Delvey. Garner won two best supporting actress Emmys for her work on the Netflix series “Ozark.”

“I Want You Back” is an original Amazon Prime romantic comedy film that will premiere on Feb. 11. Capsule plot: Peter (Charlie Day) and Emma (Jenny Slate, 39) are strangers who bond over the fact that they have just been dumped by their respective partners. Their relationship begins as a “misery loves company thing.” But it morphs into a “revenge” thing when they discover their former partners are in happy new romances.

“Severance” is a thriller series that premieres on Apple+ TV on Feb. 18. The setting is the (fictional) Lumon Industries. This company uses a special program to separate the work memories of their employees from their non-work memories.

The four lead actors are good: Adam Scott, Christopher Walken, John Turturro (who often plays Jews — and I think he’s doing that again — his character’s name is “Irving”), and Patricia Arquette, 53 (whose late mother was Jewish). Ben Stiller, 56, directed the pilot/first episode.

Yes, folks, they are reviving the original “Law and Order.” It is set to premiere on NBC on Feb. 24 (8 p.m.). NYC will be safe because, again, “police will investigate crime and district attorneys will prosecute the offenders.” The original ran from 1990-2010.

Sam Waterston is returning as Manhattan’s district attorney. He played that role for the last three seasons of the original. He played the top assistant D.A. for 12 years before his promotion. In the new show, the top assistant DAs are played by Hugh Dancy and Odelya Halevi, 30ish. Halevi was born and raised in Israel, the grandchild of Yemeni Jewish immigrants. After a year of military service, she moved to the States, age 19. She’s had many small roles. Her “L&O” reboot role is a huge career break.

Camryn Manheim, 60, a veteran wellknown actress, has snared a plum role as the detective in charge of the whole police squad room.