Apple TV
High Desert
Emmy and Oscar winner Patricia Arquette is a riot—and an absolute wreck—in a quirky dark comedy as Peggy, a barely recovering addict in California’s arid Yucca Valley whose messy dead-end life picks up when she decides to try her hand at being a private eye. She’s unconventional, to say the least, and her various sets of wheels make Jim Rockford’s Firebird look like a luxury vehicle. Working (barely) alongside a burned-out P.I. played by Brad Garrett, Peggy recklessly follows leads that entangle her with shady art collectors and a self-styled guru (Homeland’s Rupert Friend) in a truly bizarre caper. Bernadette Peters co-stars as Peggy’s beloved dead mother—and a stranger who bears an uncanny resemblance to her. Or is this just another of Peggy’s hallucinations? Launching with three episodes.
Apple TV+
Ted Lasso
It’s an off week for the Richmond AFC soccer team, enjoying a 10-game winning streak, but another plus-sized hourlong episode in Ted’s uneven season as various members of the Greyhounds head home to play for their native countries in the yearly “international break.” Coach Ted (Jason Sudeikis) is mostly in the background for this episode, which reintroduces Sam Richardson (Veep) as West African billionaire Edwin Akufo, the arch-nemesis of star player Sam (Toheeb Jimoh). Akufo’s plan to shake up the soccer world brings arch-rivals Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham) and the devilish Rupert (Anthony Head) in uncomfortably close contact. Subplots in the overstuffed episode bring significant developments in the personal and professional lives of Keeley (Juno Temple) and Nate (Nick Mohammed), reminding us that this season—which still hasn’t been confirmed as the last—is nearing its conclusion.
Michael Becker/FOX
The Masked Singer
Only two costumed performers are left—Medusa and Macaw—and just one can be rewarded with the Golden Mask trophy. The finalists perform two songs in the season finale before the winner is declared. Followed by the season finale of Farmer Wants a Wife (9/8c), where we’ll learn if any of the four guys gets their wish.
Paramount+
The Family Stallone
Perhaps as a reward for delivering the streamer a hit in Tulsa King—or maybe it’s a punishment?—Sylvester Stallone becomes a reality-TV star, opening up his home life for a lighthearted series that opens with Sly returning home after months of shooting only to be greeted with a prank on his 76th birthday. His co-stars are the women in his life: wife Jennifer Flavin and daughters Sophia, Sistine and Scarlet.
Alan Markfield/CBS
True Lies
Some box-office blockbusters just aren’t meant for the smaller screen. And so this harmless, weightless remake of James Cameron’s 1994 hit signs off after just one season with back-to-back episodes. In the first, married spies Harry (Steve Howey) and Helen (Ginger Gonzaga) are dismayed to learn the teenage hacker now working for the clandestine Omega Sector is dating their daughter Dana (Annabella Didion). In the series finale, the agency and the Taskers’ marriage are tested when a fellow spy goes missing.
INSIDE WEDNESDAY TV:
- Chicago Med (8/7c): Crockett (Dominic Rains) and Grace (T.V. Carpio) try to find a way to stop CEO Jack Dayton (Sasha Roiz) from launching the IPO for his OR 2.0. Followed by Chicago Fire (9/8c), in which Brett (Kara Killmer) follows up on the fate of the baby she rescued, and Chicago P.D. (10/9c), where officer Torres (Benjamin Levy Aguilar) gets caught up in a murder case that could expose his past.
- Riverdale (9/8c, The CW): While Archie (KJ Apa) recruits a farm boy named Reggie (Charles Melton) to Riverdale High’s baseball team, Tabitha’s (Erinn Westbrook) return inspires the creation of a literary society for the school’s Black students.
- Dave (10/9c, FXX): Dave (Dave “Lil Dicky” Burd) attends the Met Gala for the first time, with celebrity cameos by the likes of Rachel McAdams, Travis Barker, Don Cheadle, David Dobrik, FINNEAS, Megan Fox, Jack Harlow and Machine Gun Kelly. Less glamorously, his buddy GaTa experiences his first mental-health panel.
- The Game Show Show (10/9c, ABC): The second episode of the docuseries explores the impact of big-money prizes on the public’s imagination.
- Iconic America: Our Symbols and Stories with David Rubinstein (10/9c, PBS): The series deconstructs the myth of the American cowboy, which remains potent and popular in series like Paramount’s Yellowstone.
- SisterS (11/10c, IFC; also streaming on Sundance Now and AMC+): Barry’s Emmy-nominated Sarah Goldberg is star and co-writer with best friend Susan Stanley in a dark comedy about Sare (Goldberg) from Canada, who heads to Ireland in search of her birth father and meets her half-sister Suze (Stanley) for an antic road trip of discovery.
ON THE STREAM:
- The Big Door Prize (streaming on Apple TV+): Renewed for a second season, the whimsical comedy closes its first with a storm brewing as all of Deerfield gathers for the 150th Deerfest carnival, where those whose life potentials were predicted by the mysterious Morpho machine reassess their relationships and futures.
- Class of ’09 (streaming on Hulu): The time-tripping FBI drama reveals how the artificial intelligence “Better Tomorrow” system was developed as a criminal database, then warped in the future to become an oppressive tool with a mind of its own. In present day, Agent Tayo (Brian Tyree Henry) has an ominous encounter with domestic terrorist Mark Tupirik (Mark Pellegrino).
- Working: What We Do All Day (streaming on Netflix): Inspired by Studs Terkel’s landmark book Working, a four-part docuseries narrated and executive produced by former President Barack Obama follows people on the job in home care, tech and hospitality, from the service sector to the executive suite.
- Queenmaker: The Making of an It Girl (streaming on Hulu): A documentary explores the dark side of glittery fame in an exposé of the blogosphere in the early 2000s that made media stars of socialites like Paris Hilton and Tinsley Mortimer while also tearing them down like characters in a posh soap opera.