The Big Cigar
Channel: Apple TV+
TX Time: 00h01
Genre: Comedy-Drama, Miniseries
Miniseries that chronicles the story of Black Panther leader Huey P. Newton's dramatic escape to Cuba.
Based on the magazine article by Joshuah Bearman, The Big Cigar is the incredible true story of Hollywood revolution meeting social revolution.
It's a wild caper of Black Panther founder Newton escaping from the FBI to Cuba with the assistance of famed producer Bert Schneider in an impossibly elaborate plan - involving a fake movie production - that goes wrong every way it possibly can.
And somehow, it's all true. Mostly.
The 8 Show
Channel: Netflix South Africa
TX Time: 10h00 (all episodes)
Genre: K-Drama, Comedy-Drama
Eight individuals trapped in a mysterious eight-story building participate in a tempting but dangerous show where they earn money as time passes.
Based on the webcomic series Money Game and Pi Game, The 8 Show follows eight people desperately in need of money who are invited as contestants on a mysterious reality show.
The situation soon gets dangerous in the space as the stakes heighten.
The Equalizer 4
Channel: M-Net (DStv 101)
TX Time: 19h00
Genre: Action, Drama
A reimagining of the classic series, starring Queen Latifah as Robyn McCall - an enigmatic woman with a mysterious background who uses her extensive skills to help those with nowhere else to turn.
As McCall acclimates to civilian life, she is compelled to use her considerable resources to help Jewel, a teenager accused of murder and on the run from the criminals who framed her for the crime.
Robyn McCall presents to most as an average single mom who is quietly raising her teenage daughter.
But to a trusted few, she is The Equalizer - an anonymous guardian angel and defender of the downtrodden, who's also dogged in her pursuit of personal redemption.
Robyn's clandestine work remains a secret from her smart and observant daughter, Delilah, and her aunt Vi, who lives with Robyn to help her balance life as a working mother.
Joining Robyn as champions of justice are William Bishop, her former CIA handler and longtime friend; Melody "Mel" Bayani, an edgy bar owner and a colleague from Robyn's past; and Harry Keshegian, a paranoid and brilliant white-hat hacker.
As Robyn aids the oppressed and exploited, her work garners the attention of shrewd NYPD Detective Marcus Dante, who doggedly seeks to uncover the identity of the vigilante known as The Equalizer.
In the Season 4 premiere, "Truth for a Truth": McCall races to save the team after they're put into extreme danger by her former CIA colleague Michelle Chambers (guest star Ilfanesh Hadera) while she discovers the truth behind the CIA withdrawal in Venezuela that led to the death of one of her friends.
Power
Channel: Netflix South Africa
TX Time: 10h00
Genre: Documentary
Delve into the untold history of American policing in this thought-provoking documentary that asks, "Who is more powerful: the people - or the police?"
Driven to contain threats to social order, American policing has exploded in scope and scale over hundreds of years.
Now, it can be described by one word: power.
In the United States, police have been granted extraordinary power over individual lives.
The police decide who is suspicious and who 'fits the description.' They define the threats and decide how to respond.
They demand obedience and carry the constant threat of violence.
Thousands of these interactions play out in American cities and towns every day, according to real and perceived ideas of criminality and threats to social order - as decided by the police.
Police make the abstract power of the state real.
Power traces the accumulation of money, the consolidation of political power, and the nearly unrestricted bipartisan support that has created the institution of policing as we know it.
The film offers a visceral and immersive journey to demonstrate how we've arrived at this moment in history, from the slave patrols of the 1700s and the first publicly funded police departments of the 1800s to the uprisings of the 1960s and 2020s.
Part essay, part interview and part archival collage, Power uses historical materials to illustrate our contemporary realities and examines urgent questions about a growing and largely unchecked authority - who is policed, who is protected, who gets to decide, and why.