Let’s give The Boys a hand, then get haunted at Bly Manor
Here’s what’s happening in the world of television for Friday, October 9, and Saturday, October 10. All times are Eastern.
Top picks
The Boys (Amazon, Friday, 3:01 a.m., second-season finale): It’s been a wild, wild ride, but the second season of The Boys is finally reaching its last hour. It’s probably going to be a quiet, uneventful episode with absolutely no dramatic or chaotic goings-on. Right?
Right. Roxana Hadadi recaps, as always.
Can you binge it? Yes. As of this episode’s release, all installments are available to anyone with a Prime subscription.
The Haunting Of Bly Manor (Netflix, Friday, 3:01 a.m., complete first season): This sort-of successor to The Haunting Of Hill House also involves a residence, its residents, and some spectral shenanigans. It’s a big category! There’s room for many a haunted house story in the world.
Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya’s daily binge coverage begins today.
Can you binge it? Yes, with or without the first-season-that-isn’t-really-a-first-season.
Regular coverage
The Great British Baking Show (Netflix, Friday, 3:01 a.m.)
Saturday Night Live (NBC, Saturday, 11:29 p.m.): Host Bill Burr, musical guest who knows/maybe no one at all
More from TV Club
The Right Stuff (Disney+, Friday, 3:01 a.m., series premiere, episodes 1 and 2): “Bringing up the rear in the space-drama race is Disney+’s The Right Stuff, the latest great-looking production about the rigors of space exploration to also attempt a more intimate portraiture of the men tasked with creating a new mold for heroes. Showrunner Mark Lafferty (late of Tales From The Loop) oversees this adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s 1979 book of the same name, and it is as handsomely made as any joint venture that includes National Geographic—which sold both the hard sci-fi and more speculative fiction of Mars—could be. No expense or detail seems to have been spared in recreating the mid-century, middle-class interiors of the homes of these pilots turned astronauts, or in establishing a command center for key early NASA figures.” Read the rest of Danette Chavez’s pre-air review.
From Film Club
The Forty-Year-Old Version (Netflix, Friday, 3:01 a.m., premiere): “There’s an intimacy to The Forty-Year-Old Version, the first feature film written and directed by Radha Blank, that will ring especially familiar to struggling artists of any medium. The prolific playwright goes beyond your typical “starving artist” narrative to deliver a story about how genuine passion for one’s craft often begets slammed doors and hefty compromise. Blank does this by tracing her own path to creative freedom, with a result that’s both truthful and compassionate. Also, she raps, and is good at it.” Read the rest of Shannon Miller’s film review.
For kids
Fast & Furious Spy Racers (Netflix, Friday, 3:01 a.m., complete second season): This DreamWorks series returns, this time sending its animated heroes to Brazil in a car that gets dropped out of a plane with a parachute attached. As one does!
Ghostwriter (Apple TV+, Friday, 3:01 a.m., complete second season): The ghost who writes returns to write some more.
Boo!
Eli Roth’s History Of Horror (AMC, Saturday, 10 p.m., second-season premiere): The second season of Roth’s docuseries returns; interviewees this time around include Stephen King, Jordan Peele, Ari Aster, Megan Fox, Bill Hader, Jack Black, Mary Harron, Karyn Kusama, Edgar Wright, and Quentin Tarantino, among others.
Wild cards
Time for another wild card lightning round.
Room 104 (HBO, Friday, 11 p.m., series finale): The Duplass brothers’ anthology series comes to an end with an installment directed by Sydney Fleischmann.
Deaf U (Netflix, Friday, 3:01 a.m., complete first season): This “coming-of-age reality series,” as Netflix describes it, follows students at Gallaudet University, an elite college for the Deaf And Hard Of Hearing.
Austin City Limits, “Yola” (PBS, Saturday, 11 p.m.): The celebrated British singer-songwriter takes to the ACL stage and… well, just click the button, you’ll see.
Madness In The Hills (Peacock, Friday, 3:01 a.m., premiere): This Rob Lowe-directed documentary centers on a catastrophic mudslide that hit his neighborhood in Southern California in 2018.
The Graham Norton Show (BBC America, Friday, 11 p.m.): Dolly Parton alert! Guests who are not Dolly Parton include Rupert Everett, Lolly Adefope, Riz Ahmed, Sara Pascoe, and Roisín Murphy.
The Amber Ruffin Show (Peacock, Friday, 9 p.m.) and Wilmore (Peacock, Friday, also at 9 p.m.): A good week to watch both these people do their thing.