TV/Film

A woman who’s been estranged from her father for two decades finds herself returning home, from New York City to small-town Alabama — and the homecoming is quite a surprise, in more ways than one, for her dad in this heartfelt comedy on Amazon’s Prime Video. Desiree (Laverne Cox) shows up at Harry’s (George Wallace) house as her true self, a trans woman, when Harry was assuming he’d have a son arriving at his doorstep. The show’s rated for ages 13+, but episode one is certainly appropriate for younger ages to watch with their grown-ups; I’ve not had the time to take in the entire series yet, though I’m looking forward to seeing the story unfold. A celebrated transgender actress starring in a lead role in a family comedy is welcome viewing here, and not seen enough in scripted television. Cox is also the creator and writer of Clean Slate, as well as an executive producer alongside the late Norman Lear.

On the lookout for tunes your littles ones might want to listen to while playing with their toys? Take a look at the “Best of Mattel” playlist added to Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Tidal, YouTube and more on Feb. 6, and see if it piques their interest. It’s a mix of music themed to brands like Barbie and Monster High to Barney and Thomas & Friends — which is a wide range of age interests, so you might want to mark your kids’ favorites. (Our house leans more toward Barbie, thanks to our devoted middle child, who is all Barbie, all day. She even did a school presentation on the history of Barbie.) Mattel’s music activation is in partnership with Warner Music Group’s Arts Music Team and arrives amid Mattel’s 80th anniversary festivities.

After a short U.S. release date delay, Paddington in Peru, the third installment in the live-action/animated Paddington film series, is opening in movie theaters this week. If you can’t manage a real date night with your partner for Valentine’s Day, have a family outing on Feb. 14 to catch the next part of Paddington (2014) and Paddington 2 (2017). Sony Pictures promises “more adventure than any bear can bare” in a tagline for the new rated PG comedy, which sees sweet Paddington (voiced by Ben Whishaw) and the Brown family solving a mystery in the jungles of Peru. Check out the trailer above to get a glimpse at what happens when they drop everything and fly to Peru, determined to find Paddington’s aunt who’s gone missing.

Netflix’s Little House on the Prairie has no release date yet, but it’s in the works. The streamer first announced the reboot about a week ago, and this week more chatter about the upcoming series emerged when TV’s original Laura Ingalls, Melissa Gilbert — from the 1974-1984 NBC series adapted from the Laura Ingalls Wilder’s classic books — commented, “There’s room in the Little House universe for all different kinds of stories to be told, just like there was always room in the Little Women universe to keep retelling that story.” She said, “These are classic stories, and no one’s done it where they hewed to the books completely. [The original] was Michael Landon’s interpretation, and now it’s time for someone else’s interpretation. And I think there’s plenty of room for that. And I think there’s a lot of other stories to mine beyond that. So I think this opens the door in a lot of ways for all kinds of Little House on the Prairie projects.” Gilbert also pointed out that the new series will be able “to do things that we didn’t get to do necessarily so easily in the ’70s,” including making it a priority to cast “Native American actors to play the Native Americans.”

With Netflix saying the new streaming series, which “is part family drama, part epic survival tale, and part origin story of the American West,” is in development from showrunner Rebecca Sonnenshine, now’s a great time to introduce the original material, or perhaps reread the book series, with your kids in anticipation of what’s to come. Add the books to your library list!