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The 100th: Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden
If at first you don’t complete … air it again. That was CBS’s inevitable decision, replacing several scheduled Friday repeats with a rebroadcast of Sunday’s heavily promoted concert special marking Billy Joel’s 100th performance during his decade-long Madison Square Garden residency. In Eastern and Central time zones, an inexplicable engineering glitch, resulting from the prime-time lineup being delayed by the Masters golf tournament’s finale—as if that’s never happened before—kept viewers from enjoying the final minutes of Joel’s climactic performance of his signature tune “Piano Man.” Here’s a chance to witness it uninterrupted. (It’s also streaming on Paramount+ in case you don’t want to wait.)
Apple TV
Manhunt
The manhunt is over, with President Lincoln’s assassin John Wilkes Booth (Anthony Boyle) dead, but Secretary of War Edwin Stanton’s (Tobias Menzies) crusade for justice is just beginning. In the limited series finale, Stanton puts everything, including his precarious health, on the line to prove that Booth didn’t act alone by conducting a trial implicating as many conspirators as possible while a deeply fractured nation faces Reconstruction.
Franklin
As one historical drama ends, another hits its stride. Benjamin Franklin (Michael Douglas) takes his delicate negotiations for a French alliance in the colonies’ war against the British all the way to the court of Versailles, where King Louis XVI busies himself with his hobbies while child queen Marie Antoinette charms the unofficial ambassador over a game of cards. And just when Franklin’s ego is being stroked, a visit from across the ocean could bring him back down to earth.
RuPaul’s Drag Race
The grand finale crowns a new drag superstar from the glittery trio of contenders still standing and strutting: Sapphira Crystal, Nymphia Wind and Plane Jane. While they lip sync and dance for their life on the runway, with a grand prize of $200,000 awaiting the winner, a special Miss Congeniality prize will be awarded to a member of the fabulous Season 16 cast.
Clay Enos/Netflix
Rebel Moon — Part Two: The Scargiver
The second half, following December’s Part One (A Child of Fire), continues the battle of the rebel warriors from the home world of Veldt against the mighty forces of Imperium military rule, led by the ferocious presumed-dead leader Admiral Atticus Noble (Ed Skrein). Resistance fighter Kora (Sofia Boutella) and her rogue companions—including love interest Gunnar (Michel Huisman), rebel leader Devra Bloodaxe (Cleopatra Coleman), beast farmer Tarak (Staz Nair) and loyal robot Jimmy (voiced by Anthony Hopkins)—have quite the fight ahead of them.
INSIDE FRIDAY TV:
- The Never Ever Mets (8/7c, OWN): Not to be confused with the baseball team during one of its off seasons, this reality romance show introduces seven couples who’ve only ever been dating online—12 years for Josh and Shay! They finally meet face to face when they all live under the same roof. For some, the spark just isn’t the same in person.
- True Crime Watch: ABC’s 20/20 (9/8c) reports on the 2016 murder of small-town Tennessee pastor Matthew Winkler and his wife Mary’s subsequent claims of emotional and physical abuse. On Dateline NBC (9/8c), Josh Mankiewicz explores the four-decade investigation into the murders of two Toronto women, solved by dogged detective work and a breakthrough in genetic genealogy.
- Joshua Redman, where are we (10/9c, PBS): A new edition of Next at the Kennedy Center features jazz artist Redman performing from his new album of meditations on America, with vocalist Gabrielle Cavassa contributing to “After Minneapolis (Face Toward Mo[u]rning),” a piece inspired by the murder of George Floyd.
- Chet Atkins: We Still Can’t Say Goodbye (10/9c, CMT): A musical documentary depicts the making of a new tribute album in memory of the revered country star, who died in 2001 at 77, with an eclectic roster including Vince Gill, Eric Clapton, James Taylor, Ricky Skaggs, Alison Krauss, and Brad Paisley.
- The Barnes Bunch (10/9c, WE tv): A reality show goes inside the blended family of NBA star Matt Barnes and fiancée Anansa Sims, with Sims’ supermodel mother Beverly Johnson inviting Anansa to join her in a modeling shoot in the series opener.
ON THE STREAM:
- Big Mood (streaming on Tubi): Bridgerton’s Nicola Coughlan and Lydia West (It’s a Sin) are bipolar Maggie and free spirit Eddie, best friends who are hurtling toward their 30s in a saucy buddy comedy.
- Jane (streaming on Apple TV+): The Emmy-winning family series blending CGI with live action returns for a second season, with 9-year-old Jane Garcia (Ava Louise Murchison), inspired by animal conservation legend Jane Goodall, embarking on imaginative adventures to protect endangered animals.
- The Spiderwick Chronicles (streaming on The Roku Channel): Originally developed and filmed for Disney+, the family fantasy based on the book series finally makes its streaming debut. Lyon Daniels is teenage Jared, who with his siblings discovers a world of magical creatures, with Christian Slater starring as their nemesis Mulgarath, a sinister Ogre.
- Migration (streaming on Peacock): The colorful animated comedy, released in December, makes its streaming debut, featuring the Mallard family of ducks whose flight from a New England pond to the Caribbean is interrupted by a harrowing detour in New York City.