Every month, we’ll tell you about new comedies and dramas to hit terrestrial and cable channels, as well as streaming sites in Singapore. We’ll also highlight the television shows that you’ve got to be home (or on your phone) to catch every month.
Overview of November’s shows
Korean dramas are back in full force as Viu, Oh!K, and Hub VV Drama debut seven new dramas like romance Love with Flaws (showing on both Viu and Oh!K) and crime drama Psychopath’s Diary. Channel 5’s Mixed Signals also airs this month, a television adaptation of the play by Michael Chiang himself! If you’re a Lost fan, then Netflix’s The Stranded may sate your urge for mysterious islands. Superhero fans will be delighted to know that DC Super Hero Girls arrives on Cartoon Network this month as well, celebrating all that is powerful and female in the DC Universe.
Mixed Signals (5 Nov, Tuesdays 9.30pm)
Channel 5
Adapted from the 90’s play, Mixed Signals is a drama series that follows the paths of two star-crossed lovers who are separated when a terrible accident befalls one of them. Many obstacles stand in their path to reunion, like mad scientists, lookalikes, and even a seemingly benign government organisation…
The production values look solid for Mixed Signals and it seems that the theatrical nature of the premise has been translated well on to television screens. With a sprawling cast, it looks like there’ll be no lack of stories to tell (one of the concerns of adapting a two-hour play into a 13-episode series). It’s up to Singaporean audiences now to show if they’ll be open to programmes with radically different concepts… or if viewers will stick to the same old family dramas on air.
The Stranded (15 Nov)
Netflix
The Stranded is a drama series that focuses on the lives of a students in an elite high school, separate from the rest of the world. But when a tsunami hits, it destroys the school and traps the students on the island. Forced to work together, the students must find a way off the island. But nothing is as it seems on this island, as the students discover the secrets and terrors hidden on their once idyllic island.
The Stranded has a premise that sounds just like Lost, except that it’s with Thai students! The audio for the series is in English, although the subtitles in the trailers don’t quite match what you hear on screen. It’ll be interesting to see what an Asian interpretation of Lost would be like, and more intriguingly, what sort of monsters are going to show up and terrorise our students.
DC Super Hero Girls (16 Nov, Saturdays 9.30am)
Cartoon Network (StarHub TV Ch. 316, Singtel TV Ch. 226)
DC Super Hero Girls is a kid-oriented animated series, featuring teenage versions of famous superheroes Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Batgirl, Zatanna, Green Lantern, and Bumblebee as they battle the likes of Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy and Giganta, while dealing with the pressures and challenges of high school.
Like Justice League Action, DC Super Hero Girls is comprised of 11-minute episodes, which means that it gets into the action fast with tight scripts and snappy dialogue. While the web series of the same name (1-4 minuters) initially aired in between other shows on Cartoon Network, it’s great to finally see the full-fledged series on air!
Psychopath Diary (21 Nov)
Viu
In drama series Psychopath Diary, an amnesiac coward wakes up with a murderer’s diary in his hands and is convinced that he is a serial killer. Thankfully, a police officer is determined to get the bottom of things — but so is the real killer, who’s also on the hunt for his diary. With secrets and lies between them all, will the truth ever come to light?
Psychopath Diary has an immensely complicated premise, which mean that it’ll probably need long episode recaps in order to keep viewers up to speed. What’s interesting is the amnesia aspect of the show, which affords the opportunity for more drama, scheming, and deception. There’ll probably be an overdramatic twist somewhere which links the killer and the person who possesses his diary, but it wouldn’t be a Korean drama without one, right?
Terrestrial
Channel 5
Mixed Signals (5 Nov, Tuesdays 9.30pm)
Suria
Pujaan Hati Kanda (8 Nov, Fridays 7pm)
Cable
Hub VV Drama (StarHub Channel 855)
Catch the Ghost (3 Nov, Sundays 9.45pm)
Pegasus Market (23 Nov, Saturdays 9.45pm)
Cartoon Network (StarHub TV Ch. 316, Singtel TV Ch. 226)
DC Super Hero Girls (16 Nov, Saturdays 9.30am)
Time Bokan 24 (23 Nov, Saturdays and Sundays 12pm)
Oh!K (Singtel TV channels 525/611, StarHub TV channel 816)
Never Twice (3 Nov, Sundays 8.40pm)
Love with Flaws (28 Nov, Thursdays and Fridays 7.50pm)
Streaming
Viu
Psychopath Diary (21 Nov)
Love with Flaws (28 Nov)
9.9 Billion Woman (28 Nov)
Stove League (30 Nov)
Netflix
American Son (1 Nov)
The King (movie) (1 Nov)
The End of the F***ing World (Season 2) (5 Nov)
Busted! (Season 2) (8 Nov)
The Stranded (15 Nov)
Earthquake Bird (movie) (15 Nov)
The Crown (Season 3) (17 Nov)
The Irishman (movie) (27 Nov)
Atlantics (movie) (29 Nov)
I Lost My Body (29 Nov)
This article was first published on and written for Yahoo Lifestyle Singapore.
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I’m an independent scriptwriter who’s written for popular shows like Lion Mums, Crimewatch, Police & Thief, and Incredible Tales. I’m also a Transformers enthusiast and avid pop culture scholar. You can find me on social media as Optimarcus and on my site.
Send me an email if you want to get in touch!
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