Blossoms Shanghai, the Criterion ChannelOpen this photo in gallery:

The soapy Blossoms Shanghai, based on a novel by Jin Yucheng, is set in the early 1990s after the opening of the Shanghai Stock Exchange.junsoo/Supplied

Though it mostly curates film content, the Criterion Channel also streams auteur-ish television shows and miniseries – from Bergman’s Fanny and Alexander to Fassbinder’s Berlin Alexanderplatz. Now, it’s adding thrice-weekly episodes of Blossoms Shanghai, the first TV series directed by Hong Kong cinema giant Wong Kar-wai – and a hit in China two years ago.

Based on a novel by Jin Yucheng, the soapy show is set in the early 1990s after the opening of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, amid what an on-screen title calls the “greatest explosion of wealth in human history.” It begins with the attempted murder of businessman Ah Bao (Hu Ge) – a crime that introduces all the colourful Shanghai speculators, government trade officials and glamorous Huanghe Road restaurateurs in his circle as people who potentially want him dead. The period production is relentlessly gorgeous, though the plotting is a little less compellingly crafted (based on a small sample of 30 episodes).

The theme song sounds very much like Succession’s – but if you think the series also owes a debt to Mad Men, you may have your influences reversed; Matthew Weiner is a major Wong fan, who drew from In the Mood for Love for his own well-tailored look back at the 1960s.

The Beatles Anthology, Disney+Open this photo in gallery:

A remastered version of the Beatles Anthology includes an hour of why George Harrison, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr chose to reclaim their narrative in their fifties.Apple Corps, Ltd./Disney

In the early nineties, old acrimonies having faded away, the surviving members of the Beatles got back into collaborating with a multimedia project that told the band’s story in their own words. The initial airing of The Beatles Anthology on ABC in 1995 was a proper television event – recentering the Fab Four as an active force in pop culture. John Lennon’s personal perspective was as present in the oral history that unfolded as those of George Harrison, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. Controversially, Lennon was also front and centre on new tracks the band released drawing on old recordings.

A new remastered version of The Beatles Anthology, now on Disney+, culminates in an extra hour where we watch McCartney, Starr and Harrison putting the project together in their fifties – and explaining why they reclaimed their narrative at that point. “We’ve heard it from everybody else, now you can hear it from us,” says Starr.

A Paw Patrol Christmas, everywhereOpen this photo in gallery:

Fan favourite Rubble comes to the rescue in a Paw Patrol special full of songs.Spin Master Entertainment/Nickelodeon

This latest 44-minute spin-off from the popular Spin Master series has had a theatrical release and been on Netflix for a while – but, this weekend, it will reach young children’s eyeballs by all means possible. In Canada, you’ll find it as of Friday on the free public streamers TVOKids and CBC Gem but also on subscription streamers Crave and Paramount+; on Dec. 1, it will expand further to Knowledge Network – and Télé-Québec as La Pat’Patrouille: La mission de Noël.

The special is full of songs and centres on fan favourite Rubble springing to the rescue after Santa gets a cold and can’t deliver presents (and Mayor Humdinger goes Grinch and tries to steal them). I’ve caught glimpses out of the corner of my eye as my enthralled two year old has watched it twice already. My six year old, however, is done with the doggy franchise and pooh-poohs: “I don’t like Christmas specials because they’re all about saving Christmas. It’s always the same thing, same thing, same thing.” (He’s not wrong – this is the fourth time, by my count, the pups have saved the holiday.)

The Quiet Girl, CBC GemOpen this photo in gallery:

The Quiet Girl follows Cáit (Catherine Clinch), who is sent away to live with extended family and finds unconditional love there.CBC GEM

This coming-of-age drama, written and directed by Colm Bairéad, was the first Irish film to be nominated for Best International Feature Film at the Academy Awards – for which it was eligible because it’s mostly in the Irish language, with only a bit of English. Set in the summer of 1981, the film follows a neglected nine year old named Cáit (Catherine Clinch) from a poor rural family, who is sent away to live with extended family in County Waterford after her mother gets pregnant again. There, she finds warmth and unconditional love for the first time.

In a Critic’s Pick review for The Globe and Mail, Anne T. Donahue praised the movie for being so steeped in its child protagonist’s point of view: “It’s a beautiful thing to watch a child realize they’re worth something, and equally heartbreaking to reconcile that, until a specific point, they thought the opposite.” On Gem from Nov. 28.

The Traitors Ireland, Crave

Ireland can make trashy TV, too – though nearly every country in the world has its version of this hit reality competition format, which originated in the Netherlands. The first season of The Traitors Ireland – which lands on Crave Nov. 29 – is hosted by the actress Siobhán McSweeney, who you may know from her role as Sister Michael on Derry Girls. She’s the loopy lady of a castle in Slane where a few of 24 contestants are secretly picked to be traitors and try to eliminate all the “faithful” at night before they are discovered.

I tend to prefer the versions of the show, such as this one in Ireland, that still have regular folks competing, rather than established reality TV personalities and “celebrities.” Don’t Google it to learn more, though – it’s already aired and spoilers abound.