Made in Israel: New TV Shows Have Israeli Origins

Piggybacking on the success of adaptations like “Homeland,” “Our Boys,” “Euphoria” and “Greenhouse Academy,” American TV networks, streaming and cable services increasingly look to Israel for content to acquire and remake, and there are several promising projects now in the works.

The new streamer Apple TV+ has picked up a trio of dramatic thrillers including “Suspicion,” based on the hit “False Flag,” about five Israelis who were suspected in the kidnapping of the Iranian Defense Minister. The remake stars Uma Thurman as an American businesswoman whose son is kidnapped from a hotel, and four fellow guests, British citizens become the prime suspects. Noah Emmerich, Elyes Gabel, Kunal Nayyar are also in the cast.

Apple has also acquired “Losing Alice,” a psychological thriller told in flashbacks and flashforwards about a director (Ayelet Zurer) who becomes obsessed with a young screenwriter, and “Tehran,” an eight-part espionage drama following a female Mossad agent and computer hacker whose first assignment sends her deep undercover in Iran’s capital. 

Lior Raz, star of Netflix’s “Fauda,” is the creator and star of “Hit and Run,” also for the streaming service. Shot in Israel and New York, the series centers on a happily married special forces veteran whose life is turned upside down when his wife is killed in a mysterious hit and run accident in Tel Aviv. Grief-stricken and confused, he searches for his wife’s killers, who have fled to the U.S. With the help of an ex-lover (Sanaa Lathan), he uncovers disturbing truths about his wife and the secrets she kept from him.

Showtime is remaking the YES studios drama “Kvodo” as “Your Honor,” starring Bryan Cranston and Michael Stuhlbarg. The 10-episode drama is about a judge whose teenage son kills the scion of a crime family in a hit-and-run. 

Producer Jason Katims (“Parenthood,” “Friday Night Lights”) is adapting
the YES Studios comedy “On the Spectrum,” which follows three young roommates who are on the autism spectrum as they navigate friendship, relationships, and work. It’s a personal project for Katims, whose son has Asperger’s Syndrome.

On the network side, CBS has “The Last Happy Couple,” based on the comedy “La Famiglia.” It’s about a suburban couple that begins therapy to avoid becoming a divorce statistic. NBC has picked up the six-episode drama “La Brea” from Keshet Studios. In the storyline, a massive sinkhole divides Los Angeles, literally tearing a family apart. The mother and son are separated from the father and daughter, and the plot follows their efforts to reunite.