John Lurie, the hangdog musician, artist and occasional actor (“Stranger Than Paradise”) has reached a kind of Zen plateau at 68, painstakingly working on paintings as he serves up philosophy and observations in the very original “Painting with John” (HBO, 11 p.m.).
Through its six episodes you watch his paintings come to life, see how they reflect his lush Caribbean surroundings and flourishing thoughts. He has problems with an opening drone shot that keeps crashing but we get to hear a lot of his inventive jazz with the Lounge Lizards and other ensembles, creating a ravishing deadpan series of beatnik cool, which comes 30 years after his first such reality series, “Fishing with John.”
There’s an intriguing new Israeli series, “Losing Alice” (Apple TV+, streaming) that stars Ayelet Zurer as a 40ish film director who becomes entangled with the work of a mysterious young screenwriter (Lihi Kornowski). It’s a thriller that jumps time and teases eroticism but is also quite different than most series. Sigal Avin wrote and directed.
Another new series “The Sister” (Hulu, streaming), a British import about the murder of a woman kept secret for years, only to nearly surface and be revealed again. Russell Tovey of “Being Human” stars in the psychological thriller.
The new “Fate: The Winx Saga” (Netflix, streaming) is set at a school for faeries. It’s a live action adaptation of the old “Winx Club.” It stars Abigail Cowen, of the “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina,” as Bloom.