Today, Friday, October 30
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TV Insider
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The resurrected Dexter returns for a new season of hunting down serial killers in New York. Ray Donovan‘s Liev Schreiber stars in the moody crime drama Nocturne. A Netflix documentary celebrates the cult Canadian sketch comedy SCTV, which spawned a galaxy of star talent. Apple TV‘s sci-fi thriller Dark Matter ends its second season on a suspenseful note.
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Season Premiere |
The killer of serial killers is back for another round, and while Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) keeps busy tying up loose ends from last season’s “Boogeymen Club,” some new fiends emerge who are likely to keep his “dark passenger” humming. Downton Abbey alum Dan Stevens announces himself as the “Five Borough Killer,” terrorizing New York City a section at a time, while Succession‘s Brian Cox gleefully inhabits the Long Island Ripper, who’s gotten away with it for decades. Though Dexter has traded his police badge for a ride-share license, his son Harrison (Jack Alcott) has just graduated from NYPD’s police academy, so he still has an in — just in time for former colleague Lt. Quinn (Desmond Harrington) to show up from Miami looking into what happened to his buddy Angel Batista (David Zayas).
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Series Premiere |
No one broods with more coiled intensity than Liev Schreiber (Ray Donovan), returning to series TV as Jonah Lynn in a crime drama based on Lars Kepler’s Scandinavian mysteries. Jonah is a former Philadelphia detective with an Army Intelligence background, who retired after a series of personal tragedies but is called back into action when a young boy who went missing three years ago re-emerges, but without his also-missing sister. The case is somehow linked to a manipulative serial killer, Jurek Walter (Stephen Graham, Adolescence), who gives off creepy Hannibal Lecter vibes. Things get more personal when Jonah’s goddaughter, FBI agent Saga Bauer (Atlanta‘s Zazie Beetz), volunteers to go undercover to get close to Jurek. The series launches with two episodes.
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Documentary Premiere |
Though SCTV lived in the shadow of Saturday Night Live during its scrappy six seasons (1976-84), this lower-budget but high-talent Canadian cult sketch comedy nurtured some of the greatest comic stars of its generation: the late John Candy, Catherine O’Hara, Harold Ramis, and Joe Flaherty, plus Martin Short, Andrea Martin, Rick Moranis, Eugene Levy, and Dave Thomas. Their versatility, developed through Second City improv, exploded in brilliantly twisted pop-culture parodies, creating memorable characters including Johnny LaRue, Edith Prickley, Lola Heatherton, Ed Grimley, Count Floyd, Earl Camembert, and the breakout brothers Doug and Bob McKenzie. A loving documentary executive-produced by Jimmy Kimmel brings many of the cast together (including, poignantly, O’Hara) to relive the good times, watching and commenting on their classic routines. Famous fans, including Bob Odenkirk, Tom Hanks, Conan O’Brien, and Bill Hader, crack up as they recall their favorite moments. Short calls the experience “the high-water mark of my entire career.” If you don’t know SCTV, you should. If you do, you already know.
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Season Finale |
The second season of the mind-bending sci-fi drama ends with suspense, action, jaw-dropping twists, and high emotion. The latter is especially true when Daniela (Jennifer Connelly), in search of her son Charlie (Oakes Fegley), comes face to face with another version of herself in one of many parallel worlds. What she and Charlie don’t know is that her husband, the original Jason (Joel Edgerton), is working against the clock with his allies to take the magical Box offline for good, closing the portal to the alt-verses.
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8/7c |
The genial Reba McEntire sitcom dedicates this episode to Dolly Parton, who passed away while it was being filmed. It’s a fitting tribute, given the subject matter: Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), when people pay tribute to their loved ones with altars such as the one Isabella (Belissa Escobedo) displays in the Knoxville tavern, including a tribute to her and Bobbie’s shared father, Happy. Isabella’s mom Maritza (One Day at a Time‘s Justina Machado) drops by for the occasion, while bartender Gabby (Melissa Peterman) and chef Emmett (Rex Linn) embark on a series of Halloween-themed pranks.
INSIDE FRIDAY TV:
- Sabrina the Teenage Witch (5 am/4c, Antenna TV): The nostalgia channel marks the supernatural sitcom’s 30th anniversary with a 24-hour marathon lasting into the wee hours (4:30 am/3:30c) of Halloween.
- Vincent Price: What Keeps Us Alive (8/7c, Turner Classic Movies): The centerpiece of TCM‘s two-day “Halloween Terror-Thon” is a documentary profile of the legendary horror star, with reflections by family and fans including John Waters and Tim Burton. Followed by Price classics including 1958’s The Fly (9:45/8:45c), 1953’s House of Wax (11:30/10:30c), and 1959’s House on Haunted Hill (1:15 am/12:15c).
- Outlander: Blood of My Blood (8/7c, Starz): Brian Fraser (Jamie Roy) has a score to settle with his despicable father, Lord Lovat (Tony Curran), while Henry Beauchamp (Jeremy Irvine) has his own agenda: finding gemstones to help him and Julia (Hermione Corfield) return to the 20th century.
- The Dropout: Who Is Elizabeth Holmes? (8/7c, ABC): An IMPACT x Nightline primetime news special tries to answer that question in the wake of the buzzy new film You Can See Everything.
- Sheriff Country (8/7c, CBS): Fire Country‘s Jordan Calloway (Jake) drops by the spinoff when Sheriff Mickey Fox (Morena Baccarin) leads a manhunt. Followed by Fire Country (9/8c), where Sheriff‘s W. Earl Brown (Wes) makes a guest appearance.
- Who’s Coming for Christmas? (8/7c, Hallmark Channel): Rhiannon Fish stars as Julie, new to town but hopeful she will make enough new friends to fill her dining room table on Christmas Eve.
- Newlyweds (8:30/7:30c, NBC): The first hurdle for hastily married Jeanie (Téa Leoni) and James (Tim Daly): deciding whose place they’ll call home.
- True Crime Watch: ABC‘s 20/20 (9/8c) explores the 2012 murder of University of North Carolina student Faith Hedgepeth. On Dateline NBC (9/8c), Andrea Canning reports on the 2005 disappearance of and search for Georgia teacher and former beauty queen Tara Grinstead.
- Tip Toe (9/8c, Starz): The conflict between Leo (Alan Cumming) and homophobic neighbor Clive (David Morrissey) reaches its violent conclusion in the contemporary drama’s grim finale.
- Boston Blue (10/9c, CBS): Jaws didn’t do it. Danny (Donnie Wahlberg) and Lena (Sonequa Martin-Green) seek a killer after human remains are found inside a great white shark.
- S.W.A.T. Exiles (10/9c, Starz): Jude’s (Ronen Rubinstein) past comes to light when he’s asked to go back undercover with the white-supremacist group he once infiltrated.
- Nightline (12:35 am/11:35c, ABC): A special “Frightline in Salem” episode sends correspondent Ashan Singh to Salem, Massachusetts to interview descendants of accused witches during the infamous 1600s trials, as well as modern-day witches and self-described vampires.
ON THE STREAM:
- 53rd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards (streaming on YouTube.com/@theemmys and watch.TheEmmys.tv): General Hospital‘s Genie Francis receives a Lifetime Achievement Award from her husband, Jonathan Frakes, during the live ceremony honoring daytime dramas, talk shows, and syndicated programming.
- Beat Luke Littler (3 pm/ET, streaming on Netflix): A live competition pits 20 amateurs against world champion professional darts player Luke Littler, with a £501,000 prize at stake.
- MobLand (streaming on Paramount+): Harrigan nemesis Frankie Cooper (Johnny Flynn) sets a trap for family fixer Harry (Tom Hardy) as the mob war escalates.
- Tulsa King (streaming on Paramount+): Dwight (Sylvester Stallone) has a new target on his back, and the one taking aim is Oklahoma’s new governor (Gretchen Mol).
- Apocalypse Z: New World (streaming on Prime Video): A sequel to the hit Spanish zombie thriller moves to the Canary Islands, Europe’s last refuge.
- Big Baby (streaming on Shudder): Cher is executive producer of a meta slasher flick starring Brandon Scott as a horror writer whose murderous new creation has seemingly come to life.