106 | MAY 19 • 2022 

DID HE DO IT? TWO 
SEPHARDI SERIES ON 
NETFLIX, THAT ’70S 
RE-BOOT 
The Staircase, an original 
eight-episode HBO Max 
series, premiered on May 
5. Three episodes were 
released then; remaining 
episodes premiere on fol-
lowing Thursdays. It’s based 
on a real case. In 2001, 
novelist Michael Peterson 
(played by Colin Firth) was 
accused of killing his wife. 
She was found dead at 
the bottom of a staircase. 
Peterson said he was out-
side and didn’t hear her 
fall. Almost all reviews of 
the HBO series are positive, 
with Firth singled out for 
praise.
Peterson was represent-
ed by David Rudolph, a 
seasoned defense attor-
ney (played by Michael 
Stuhlbarg, 57). Records I’ve 
checked make me almost 
certain that Rudolph is 
Jewish. 
A French company made 
a 10-part English language 
documentary (also called 
The Staircase) as the trial 
was proceeding. It made a 
follow-up three-part docu-
mentary after the verdict. 
The case became an inter-
national sensation after all 
13 episodes appeared on 
Netflix.

Netflix streams “tons of 
stuff,” but provides such 
minimal descriptions on 
its website that it is easy 
to not know that the film 
or mini-series has a lot of 
Jewish content. Few Netflix 
foreign offerings (except 
Israeli) have Jewish con-
tent, so anyone interested 
in such content has a very 
hard time finding the few 
(foreign) Jewish offerings.
A case in point is Heirs of 
the Land, a Spanish-made 
series that began streaming 
its second season in April. 
The brief website descrip-
tion gives no clue that this 
season is largely about the 
lives of Spanish Jews in the 
late 1300s. (In 1492, Jews 
were forced to leave Spain 
if they didn’t agree to con-
vert to Catholicism). 
 Kudos to the person who 
told the Jewish Telegraph 
Agency (JTA) about the 
series. They posted a quite 
good article (May 5), 10 
days after Heirs premiered 
and that’s how I become 
aware of this series.
 Heirs follows the life 
of a Catholic young man. 
The first season had little 
Jewish content. However, 
the eight-episode second 
season finds this man in 
trouble and taking refuge 
with a Jewish family. The 
JTA reports that “Heirs 

takes a deep dive into what 
it meant to live as a Jew 
in Spain at the time, when 
the strictly Catholic coun-
try began its descent into 
organized persecution of 
minorities.”
 On May 20, Netflix will 
release The Beauty Queen 
of Jerusalem, an award-win-
ning Israeli TV series. 
This 10-episode series is 
based on a best-selling 
novel by Sarit Yishai-
Levi, 75. Beauty’s main 
cast includes Michael Aloni, 
38, the star of the Israeli 
mega-hit series Shitsel.
Beauty follows a 
Sephardic, Jerusalem-
based family during the 
Ottoman Empire (before 
1917), the British Mandate 
(1919-1948) and the Israeli 
War of Independence (1947-
49). Variety says, “[The 
series] is lush with myste-
rious powers, forbidden 
loves and Israeli history.”
The Hollywood Reporter 
reported last week that five 
of the six original mem-
bers of the cast of That 
’70s Show will make guest 
appearances in a new 
Netflix series titled That 
’90s Show.
That ’70s Show was a 
big hit and aired from 1998-
2004. The new series is set 
in 1995. It focuses on Leia, 
the daughter of (original 
characters) Eric and Donna. 
It follows Leia as she visits 
Eric’s parents for the sum-
mer. 
The original cast 
co-starred as six (supposed-
to-be) teenagers. They 
were Topher Grace (as Eric). 
Grace’s paternal grand-
father was Jewish; Laura 
Prepon, now 42 (as Donna). 
Prepon’s father is Jewish. 

She is married to actor 
Ben Foster, 41, who was 
raised in his father’s Jewish 
faith; Wilmer Valderrama 
(as Fez); Mila Kunis, now 
38 (as Jackie); Ashton 
Kutcher (as Kelso); and 
Danny Masterston (Hyde). 
Masterson won’t be in the 
new series (see below). 
Kutcher is married to 
Kunis. While he has not 
converted to Judaism, his 
interest in Kabbalah has 
been strong and ongoing 
for decades. It appears that 
he knows Hebrew, and 
he is well-acquainted with 
Judaism. He’s often trav-
eled to Israel for personal 
and business reasons. 
Kunis, who was born 
in Ukraine, came to the 
United States when she 
was 7. Her family received 
resettlement aid from 
HIAS (formerly known as 
the Hebrew Immigrant Aid 
Society). HIAS, as it known 
now, helps refugees of 
any background. Since last 
March, Kunis and Kutcher 
have raised more than $30 
million to aid Ukrainian ref-
ugees. 
In 2017, four women 
accused Masterson of rape 
(charges he denied). He 
was indicted for one rape 
in 2020 and will stand trial 
this coming August. 

CELEBRITY NEWS

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

ARTS&LIFE

JAY GODWIN 

Michael 
Stuhlbarg

ASRAA12345 

Michael Aloni

COLLIDERVIDEO 

Mila Kunis