For the sheer novelty, it’s hard to beat the oddity that is “Miss Merkel,” a two-episode foreign series that imagines former German chancellor Angela Merkel as a Jessica Fletcher-like amateur detective.

Now streaming on indie service MHz Choice, the German-language “Miss Merkel” (with English subtitles) stars veteran German actress Katharina Thalbach as the title character who just wants to settle down with her husband, her pug and her security guard, Mike (Tim Kalkhof), in a small town. But then murders start happening and Merkel simply can’t restrain herself from following her hunch, much to Mike’s dismay.

A tongue-in-cheek series based on the books by David Safier, who co-wrote the screenplays, “Miss Merkel” seems like a one-joke premise, and to an extent it is. But credit the show’s writers with an ability to milk that joke consistently in humorous ways:

• After meeting a wealthy, self-regarding neighbor who will become the murder victim, Merkel remarks, “He reminds me of Berlusconi,” former prime minister of Italy.

• To her husband when they attend a bad local stage performance, “If you can survive a six-hour Chinese opera with Xi Jinping, you can survive this.”

• Upon entering the town morgue, Merkel says the scent reminds her of “Pope Benedict’s cologne.”

Pop culture’s interest in Merkel is curious. No other recent European leader has been parodied like Merkel. Merkel doppelgangers appeared in “The Dictator” (played by Anna Katarina), on “Saturday Night Live” (by Kate McKinnon) and in sketch comedy (by Tracey Ullman). Perhaps it’s the rarity of a woman as a world leader or maybe it’s Merkel’s nature itself that lends itself to good-natured political satire.

Regardless, “Miss Merkel” is a pretty standard-issue cozy mystery that rises above the pack thanks to the comedic elements that emanate from its title character.

MHzChoice.com, founded in 2015, is a streaming service devoted to international TV mysteries, dramas, comedies and documentaries that costs $8 per month.

‘Pradeeps’ reality check

Now that “The Pradeeps of Pittsburgh,” created by former Pittsburgher Vijal Patel, is streaming its entire first season on Amazon’s Prime Video and Freevee, Patel’s sister, Bina Indelicato, posted a fact check to Facebook about how much the show mirrors the family’s reality living in Monroeville.

In addition to living in a red, split-level Pittsburgh home on a cul de sac as kids, Indelicato wrote that, “My dad did start several businesses. The one he ran in Pittsburgh with my mom did have a contract with NASA.” On the show, the dad’s contract is with Space X.

When the family moved into their Monroeville home, “We didn’t have much furniture … and ate pizza on the floor.”

Pani puri is indeed a family favorite, especially for brother Ketan, who is one of the inspirations for the Kamal character in “Pradeeps.”

Like the teen daughter on the show, Indelicato “did have a 10-speed bike that I loved.” And her mother, like the mom in “Pradeeps,” “is always 10 steps ahead of everyone so (she) gets frustrated when people are slow to catch up! @sindhuvee captures that perfectly!”

And the dead rabbits on the doorstep happened, too.

“We were ‘gifted’ dead rabbits on our front steps by someone who was not happy with having brown immigrant neighbors. But we did NOT make a curry from it. We also found a dead deer head on our steps once,” she wrote before confirming the youngest son in the show, Vinod, has career aspirations that mirrored her brother, Vijal’s: “Vijal/Vinod was enthralled with garbage trucks and workers.”

Indelicato also wrote, “Vijal/Vinod loved setting things on fire and almost burned OUR house down — but as far as I know, he didn’t burn anyone else’s house down.”

But she wrote that her brothers did spend “a lot of time hanging out in our garage creating … stupid stunts,” which also gets depicted toward the end of the “Pradeeps’” first season.

Seth Meyers special

“Late Night” host and Steelers fan Seth Meyers debuts a new stand-up special this weekend with “Dad Man Walking” (10 p.m. Saturday, HBO, Max), which focuses on the chaos of raising three young kids and navigating different communication styles in marriage.

“The more time you spend with your kids, the more material they give you,” Meyers said in a virtual press conference last week. “We have a saying in our house, ‘Daddy has to monetize the stories.’ ”

Buffalo Bill house in doc

In addition to tours this weekend, Fayette County’s Buffalo Bill’s House from “Silence of the Lambs” will be featured in a new documentary on Ryan Reynolds’ Maximum Effort, a free ad-supported streaming channel available on Tubi, Plex and Fubo TV.

Narrated by Jason Lee (“My Name is Earl”), “The House From…” debuts on those platforms Oct. 27 (and on video on-demand platforms on Oct. 28) and features Buffalo Bill’s house along with other famous homes from movies and TV series (“Home Alone,” “The Golden Girls,” “Back to the Future,” “A Christmas Story,” “The Goonies”).

‘Mysteries on the Map’

Hearst’s Very Local app added a new paranormal-themed series, “Mysteries on the Map,” featuring paranormal investigators Katrina Weidman and Heather Taddy, who met while students at Penn State and were previously seen on A&E’s “Paranormal State.”

Debuting earlier this week, “Mysteries” releases new episodes on Tuesday with visits to “haunted” sites in seven American cities, including Lancaster, Pa.

Renewed

Paramount+ renewed “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy” for a second season ahead of its first season premiere, which will likely occur in the second half of 2025. In addition, the date is set for the premiere of the movie “Star Trek: Section 31:” Jan. 24 on Paramount+.

Nickelodeon renewed animated series “The Patrick Star Show” for 13-episode fourth and fifth seasons.

CBS renewed the Kathy Bates-starring “Matlock” for a second season after just two episodes.

Channel surfing

Jimmy Fallon’s “The Tonight Show” will broadcast a special Sunday episode Nov. 17 on NBC after “Sunday Night Football (Colts at Jets) and late local newscasts. … Summer hit “Twisters” streams on Peacock Nov. 15. … DirecTV will launch a free, ad-supported streaming service, MyFree Directv on Nov. 15. … “Critics Choice Awards” will relocate from The CW to E! for its Jan. 12 telecast with Chelsea Handler returning as host.

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