The director of Moon and Source Code unveils a new sci-fi mind-bender on Netflix

By Alex McLevy | February 23, 2018 | 6:00am

TV Lists What's On Tonight

Here’s what’s up in the world of television for Friday, February 23 and Saturday, February 24. All times are Eastern.

Top pick

Mute (Netflix, Friday): Look, let’s just all let Duncan Jones take a mulligan for Warcraft and move on. The guy obviously has talent to burn when he’s tackling his own projects, so his new Netflix film Mute should be a must-watch this weekend. A sci-fi yarn about a mute (natch) bartender (Alexander Skarsgård) trying to find his missing girlfriend in a slightly futuristic Berlin, it has a bevy of on-camera talent, none more so than the pivotal role of Paul Rudd’s mustache, which… well, just look up there and see for yourself. It’s a glorious sight. Plus, keep your eyes peeled for Sam Rockwell—the new film supposedly has a mysterious connection to 2009's Moon.

Regular coverage

The Tick (Amazon, Friday)

Wild card

Notes From The Field (HBO, Saturday, 8 p.m.): While Netflix continues to spew out new releases—Marseille season two, Seven Seconds season one, Ugly Delicious season one, all on Friday—with no feasible way of successfully promoting them all (I’ve held court on this subject before), HBO continues to quietly and smartly release quality content in small doses, the better to call attention to what it has in store for viewers. And while Notes From The Field isn’t exactly a four-quadrant blockbuster hit, being Anna Deavere Smith’s dramatization of “students, parents, teachers, and administrators caught in America’s school-to-prison pipeline,” it’s almost certainly worth your time. An outstanding award-winning playwright who most people probably (and sadly) still know best as NSA Advisor Nancy McNally on The West Wing, Deavere is an artistic firebrand known for bold strokes, and this latest project promises to be no different.