If there was any time good for another remake of Stephen King’s “The Stand” (CBS All Access, streaming), it certainly isn’t now. Any post-apocalyptic saga that begins with a killer pandemic, where they’re shoveling dozens of bodies into pits, is not suited at all for a time when 300,000 are dead of a pandemic, and 2,500 are dying each day.
In the story – from a book written 40 years ago — the pandemic that wipe out most people on earth is only there to set up another good vs. evil battle between two small groups of survivors. There are a number of names who pop up briefly, including Whoopi Goldberg, Alexander Skarsgård, James Marsden, heather Graham and Amber Heard. And King himself writes a new coda. But who would last until then?
High school musical theater students, robbed of their senior plays, get to express themselves individually in a special, “Homeschool Musical: Class of 2020” (HBO Max, streaming). (Starting today, by the way, HBO Max is finally available on Roku devices).
Rachel Griffiths and Deborah Mailman star in the Australian political drama “Total Control” (Sundance Now, streaming).
A sixth season begins for the detective series “Death in Paradise” (Ovation, 7 p.m.), set in the Caribbean.