From Alley Cats to Lanterns: this week’s TV series. From cats to superheroes

Animated series written and directed by Ricky Gervais, with the voices of Ricky Gervais, Tom Basden and Andrea Brook (six episodes on Netflix)

Forget those animated series featuring cute, saccharine and cloying animals. That’s not what we want from Ricky Gervais, the caustic English comedian who, fortunately for us, steers clear of ‘polite humour’ (which, as Ennio Flaiano remarked, would be like saying ‘a lovely set of dentures’). These are street cats, strays and even a bit depressed – their lives are made up of hardships and disappointments. Not too many, mind you; they are, after all, cats: they shun owners who would like all their affection in exchange for a full bowl. They have their own old sofa in the cellar, just like the humans in "Friends". They talk about life and death, adopt a little kitten, and tease a high-ranking friend who eats from a silver bowl...

By Ryan Murphy and Bret Easton Ellis, starring Igby Rigney, Kaia Gerber and Evan Rachel Wood (on Disney+)

What a pair: the showrunner of “American Horror Story” and the author of “American Psycho”. One brings television know-how (for convenience’s sake, we now watch series everywhere except on the telly) and the other brings his skill as a writer – the source of all well-constructed stories (the novel was published by Einaudi, titled “Le schegge”). We’re in Los Angeles, in 1981 – time marches on even for precocious geniuses. Bret Easton Ellis was 17 and about to finish at Buckley Prep School. Then a mysterious new pupil, a certain Robert Mallory, arrived in his class. Outside the school, there were other unsettling presences. A serial killer nicknamed ‘The Fisherman’, for example. What if they were one and the same person?

By Damon Lindelof and others, based on the DC Comics; starring Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre (on HBO Max)

The Green Lanterns – understood as superheroes, an intergalactic police force equipped with magic rings – come from the DC Comics universe. The series has had a complicated development: fifteen years ago, we saw Greg Berlanti’s forgettable “Green Lantern” starring Ryan Reynolds at the cinema. The plan was for the episodes to follow the exploits of various characters, always in pairs as per the rules. The cast features veteran actor Kyle Chandler and the younger, less experienced Aaron Pierre. Training involves false alarms, or real alarms but at the very last minute, when getting out of trouble is even harder. The first series consists of eight episodes. We’re not big fans, but there are plenty of fans out there.

A National Geographic docudrama starring Tom Hiddleston (on Disney+)

Alberto Angela has a formidable rival. Tom Hiddleston, better known as Loki, Thor’s adoptive brother, is entering the world of popular science entertainment. He’s not exactly a burly chap, but he’s deceptive and shrewd. He guides us through Pompeii, in the 24 hours leading up to the eruption of Vesuvius. Could anyone have been saved? And how? We follow a soldier, a young boy and a businesswoman on the final day before the catastrophe. Three stories of everyday life explored and reconstructed by a unique detective who travels back in time and through history. Blundstones on his feet, covered in dust, for a walk amongst the ruins. ‘Revisionist’: recent research shows it was by no means true that the population was taken by surprise. It was possible to escape.