Four years ago, then-President-elect Donald Trump had trouble lining up celebrities for his inaugural events. A number of music stars turned down invitations or otherwise publicly declined to perform. Some, such as classical singer Andrea Bocelli and Grammy and Tony awards winner Jennifer Holliday initially agreed to participate but later backed out when Trump critics turned on them.

Is there more to life than we perceive? When brain function ceases, does an individual continue to exist? The new Netflix docuseries Surviving Death searches for answers in testimony provided by survivors of near-death experiences along with mediums, paranormal investigators, purportedly reincarnated folks, and sympathetic academics. Nice bunch! The world’s best-selling book has a thing or two to say about death and the afterlife, but Surviving Death (rated TV-MA for language) dumbs down Christianity in the two brief moments it comes up.

They’re a 21st-century odd couple: Drew (Thomas Middleditch), an uptight therapist separated from his wife, is in renal failure. Party girl Gina (Annaleigh Ashford) drives a bus for a retirement home and is dodging a loan shark. She moves in with Drew when they learn she’s a compatible kidney donor. The relationship is platonic thus far.

Viewers can’t get enough galactic sci-fi, as the enduring popularity of the Star Wars franchise attests. The television industry’s efforts to capitalize on this demand have produced seemingly more space-themed shows than chunks of rock in the asteroid belt. 

It has become fashionable for celebrities to post makeup-free selfies—and they look just like us. In the Netflix series Song Exploder (rated TV-MA for language), rock stars listen as interviewer Hrishikesh Hirway plays stripped-down vocal and instrumental tracks from their hit songs back to them. It’s not always pretty.

Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey adds a delightful voice to the Christmas movie lineup. With the energy of a Broadway musical and a spare-no-expense Hollywood production, the David E. Talbert film, streaming on Netflix, stands to become an annual holiday classic. 

Amateurish acting and syrupy spirituality so hamper some faith films it can be hard to take their messages seriously. For Christian entertainment company Redeem TV to venture into crime dramas, then, seems foolhardy—and to claim the characters on its show Vindication “far exceed [those] of the network crime dramas” (Law & Order, The Rockford Files) surely epitomizes hubris, right?

Yes and no.