Netflix turns up Julie And The Phantoms
Here’s what’s happening in the world of television for Thursday, September 10. All times are Eastern.
Top pick
Julie And The Phantoms (Netflix, 3:01 a.m., complete first season): Here’s Caroline Siede on this tween-friendly musical series helmed by Kenny Ortega (High School Musical, Hocus Pocus):
Adapted from a 2011 Brazilian show called Julie E Os Fantasmas, Julie And The Phantoms centers on 15-year-old Julie (Madison Reyes), a gifted singer-songwriter who’s lost her love for music since her mom died a year ago. But when she plays an old CD she finds in her mom’s music studio, she accidentally awakens the ghosts of Sunset Curve, a teen band on the cusp of making it big before they died of hot-dog-related food poisoning in 1995. Confident lead singer-guitarist Luke (Charles Gillespie), goofy bassist Reggie (Adventure Time’s Jeremy Shada), and sensitive drummer Alex (Owen Patrick Joyner) are shocked to discover they’ve been dead for 25 years. But that’s soon replaced by an exciting afterlife discovery: In addition to being able to talk to Julie all the time, they become audible (and sometimes visible) to the rest of the world when they play music. All of a sudden, they’ve got an unusual second chance to make it big with a talented new lead singer at their center.
Why, we don’t mind if we do. Read the rest of Caroline’s pre-air review and prepare to play a little air guitar ghost guitar.
Regular coverage
Raised By Wolves (HBO Max, 3:01 a.m.)
Wild cards
Unpregnant (HBO Max, 3:01 a.m, premiere): The reliably excellent Haley Lu Richardson and Barbie Ferreira (of Support The Girls and Euphoria, respectively) star in this road trip movie that aims for the intersection of Thelma And Louise, Booksmart, Obvious Child, and Never Rarely Sometimes Always. That may sound like a lot, but we suspect Richardson, Ferreira, and director Rachel Lee Goldenberg (Everything’s Gonna Be Okay) can handle it.
The Babysitter: Killer Queen (Netflix, 3:01 a.m., premiere): The Babysitter returns in the return of The Babysitter, which features the same old blood cult after the same old blood. Frankly, after Ready Or Not, we’ll take any excuse to watch Samara Weaving in a horror movie.
Black Boys (Peacock, 3:01 a.m., documentary premiere): Director Sonia Lowman’s doc “celebrates the full humanity of Black men and boys in America” and “invites us to reimagine an America in which Black boys experience true belonging and unlimited possibilities.”
The Sit-In: Harry Belafonte Hosts The Tonight Show (Peacock, 3:01 a.m., documentary premiere): The second of today’s Peacock docs centers on the week in 1968 during which the legendary Harry Belafonte sat behind Johnny Carson’s desk as the host of The Tonight Show.
Holey Moley (ABC, 8 p.m., second-season finale) and Holey Moley II: The Sequel: The Special: Unhinged, Part One (ABC, 9 p.m., one-hour special): We say this with the utmost seriousness: Please, please don’t leave us, Holey Moley. You’re such a joy. We’ll pine and waste away without you. Tarry not, sweet show; we need you now more than e’er before. (No, the clip-show specials don’t count, though we will absolutely watch them.)