A live-action ‘Pinocchio,’ a fifth season of ‘Cobra Kai’ and a new ‘American Gigolo’: Streaming on Disney Plus, Netflix and Crave this week

With so many different streaming platforms and cable offerings to navigate, choosing what to watch has never been harder. To make things easier, here are our best tune-in tips for the week ahead.

TUESDAY

Untold: The Race of the Century

The latest addition to Netflix’s “Untold” documentary series is the story about the 1983 America’s Cup in which the New York Yacht Club was attempting to defend the trophy it had held for 132 consecutive years. At the time, this achievement was the longest winning record in modern sporting history and the result of this race is regarded as one of the biggest international sports stories in history. American yachtsman Dennis Conner is heavily featured in the documentary, which offers a compelling look at a sport that often doesn’t get the coverage that it deserves.

Netflix

WEDNESDAY

Chef’s Table: Pizza

The long-running and Emmy Award-winning culinary series is back. This time David Gelb’s “Chef’s Table” explores the work of famous pizza artists. The new season features six pizza chefs from around the world including Italy’s Franco Pepe and Gabriele Bonci, the United States’ Ann Kim, Sarah Minnick and Chris Bianco, and Japan’s Yoshihiro Imai.

Netflix

Ink Master

After a controversial end to its previous season in 2020, which saw long-time judge Oliver Peck leave the show after offensive photos of him were made public, the quest to find the next best tattoo artist is here once again, albeit with some fixes. Dave Navarro has a new role this season as the former host is now the “Master of Chaos,” solely responsible for introducing new twists and “game-changing bombs.” Former “Ink Master” winner Ryan Ashley will join the panel alongside coloured-portrait artist Nikko Hurtado and “Miami Ink” star Ami James. Good Charlotte frontman Joel Madden replaces Navarro as the host.

Paramount Plus

THURSDAY

Pinocchio

Thursday is Disney Plus day and there a couple of new titles to look forward to. Things kick off with the pick of the week. Directed by Academy Award winner Robert Zemeckis, this live action and CGI retelling of the timeless classic about a wooden puppet who tries to become a real boy never gets old. The casting choices are also brilliant with Tom Hanks as Geppetto (the woodcarver who treats Pinocchio as his real son), Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Jiminy Cricket and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth as the title character. We are just getting started by the way. Academy Award nominees Cynthia Erivo and Lorraine Bracco are also in the can’t-miss cast. Erivo plays the Blue Fairy while Bracco takes on the new character of Sofia the Seagull.

Disney Plus

Growing Up

Brie Larson is the brains behind this doc series that explores the challenges of adolescence. The series focuses on 10 compelling coming-of-age stories and uses experimental filmmaking to follow selected teenagers as they offer powerful first-person stories about their lives. The stories that the teens choose to share are accompanied by cinematic re-enactments in an attempt to bring their “major inflection points to life.”

Disney Plus

FRIDAY

Gutsy

This highly anticipated docuseries follows Hillary Rodham and Chelsea Clinton as the famous mother and daughter celebrate “gutsy” women who inspire them. Based on the Clintons’ bestseller “The Book of Gutsy Women,” the series will feature Kim Kardashian, Megan Thee Stallion, Jane Goodall and Amy Schumer among others.

Apple TV Plus

Cobra Kai

The fifth season of “Cobra Kai” debuts Friday with unlikely alliances appearing to be the order of the day when the show resumes on Netflix. Following the shocking results of the All Valley Tournament in Season 4, things open up with Terry (Thomas Ian Griffith) expanding the Cobra Kai empire by pushing his brutal style of karate forward. In the trailer for the new season, Daniel (Ralph Macchio), Johnny (William Zabka) and Chozen (Yuji Okumoto) join forces to try to impede Terry’s vision.

Netflix

Flight/Risk

This tragic documentary follows everyday people affected by two plane crashes that happened only five months apart in 2018 and 2019. The victim stories are shared by their family members with additional perspectives being offered by their legal teams alongside Pulitzer-winning journalist Dominic Gates.

Prime Video

American Gigolo

This present-day imagining of the 1980 film stars Jon Bernthal as Julian Kaye, a prisoner who was wrongfully convicted for 15 years. Navigating through all of the relationships in his life (and how they have changed since he was imprisoned), Kaye struggles to separate the escort life he left behind from the changed man that he has now become. Rosie O’Donnell plays Detective Sunday in the series, an officer obsessed with finding out how Kaye was unfairly convicted of murder in the first place.

Crave

SUNDAY

The Serpent Queen

One of the top recommendations of this week is this new Starz original about Catherine de’ Medici. The former Queen of France has a fascinating story. Regarded as one of the most influential women to ever wear a crown, de’ Medici came from humble beginnings. After marrying into the French court, she quickly learned that her husband was in love with someone else and this is only compounded by her own inability to conceive. Instead of letting these hurdles deter her, “The Serpent Queen” manages to keep her marriage alive and offers a master class in monarchy as she stays in power for 50 years. That’s not even the best part. Samantha Morton, who famously played Alpha in “The Walking Dead,” plays the queen in this series.

Crave

Murtz Jaffer is a Toronto-based entertainment writer and a freelance contributor for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @murtzjaffer

SHARE: