What's on TV this week—The Penguin, Agatha All Along, American Sports Story

Welcome to What’s On, our weekly roundup of notable shows. Here is what’s happening from Sunday, September 15 to Thursday, September 19. All times are Eastern. [Note: The weekend edition of What’s On drops on Fridays.] 

The biggies

American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez (FX, Tuesday, 10 p.m.)

FX has another Ryan Murphy-produced anthology on its hands. Created by The Shrink Next Door‘s Stu Zicherman, American Sports Story‘s first season tackles the life and death of football star Aaron Hernandez (Josh Rivera). The 10-episode drama digs into his tumultuous upbringing, career in the NFL, and murder conviction. Patrick Schwarzenegger plays quarterback Tim Tebow, Norbert Leo Butz takes on coach Bill Belichick, and Tony Yazback tackles Urban Meyer. The cast also features Lindsay Mendez, Jake Cannavale, Jaylen Barron, Tammy Blanchard, and Thomas Sadoski. Look out for The A.V. Club‘s review on Tuesday.

Agatha All Along (Disney+, Wednesday, 9:01 p.m.)

Raise your hand if you’ve also been humming WandaVision‘s Emmy-winning song “Agatha All Along” since 2021. At long last, the Kathryn Hahn-led spinoff is here, following Agatha Harkness as she escapes Westview, New Jersey, and goes on a crusade to regain her witchy powers and form a new coven. Hahn is joined by an impressive cast, which boasts Aubrey Plaza, Patti LuPone, Joe Locke, Sasheer Zamata, and Debra Jo Rupp. And the seven-episode season thankfully features more original music from Robert and Kristen-Anderson Lopez. The A.V. Club will recap the show weekly.

The Penguin (HBO, Thursday, 9 p.m.)

Colin Farrell continues to look and sound unrecognizable in The Penguin, an eight-episode followup to Matt Reeves’ 2022 film The Batman. The series centers on Oswald Cobblepot, who struggles to maintain authority over Gotham. His primary enemy emerges in the form of Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti), who returns home after a long stint at Arkham Asylum and is on her own quest for power. The ensemble includes Rhenzy Feliz, Michael Kelly, Clancy Brown, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Deirdre O’Connell, Scott Cohen, and Michael Zegen—and no, Robert Pattinson does not reprise his role as the Caped Crusader here. After premiering on September 19, The Penguin moves to HBO’s coveted Sunday-night spot starting September 29. The A.V. Club will recap the series.

Hidden gems

Child Star (Hulu, Tuesday, 12:01 a.m.)

After this year’s Quiet On Set, Hulu drops its own docuseries about the pressures and struggles of being a child star. Demi Lovato hosts and co-directs this five-episode project, in which she interviews Drew Barrymore, Alyson Stoner, Raven Symoné, Kenan Thompson, Jojo Siwa, Cristina Ricci, and other actors who grew up in the spotlight.

World’s Most Notorious Killers (Peacock, Tuesday, 3:01 a.m.)

Peacock is quickly becoming a go-to platform for true-crime docuseries thanks to shows like World’s Most Notorious Killers. Each of the series’ five installments follows a chilling crime from across the globe and the investigation into it, from the disappearance of an Australian woman to the Vienna Strangler.

Stopping The Steal (HBO, Tuesday, 9 p.m.)

Dan Reed directs Stopping The Steal, a doc about Donald Trump’s attempted to overturn the 2020 election results that led to the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol. Several of the current presidential nominee’s former allies, including Attorney General Bill Barr and former White House Communications Director Alyssa Farah Griffin, detail what happened behind the scenes.

More good stuff

High Potential (ABC, Tuesday, 10 p.m.)

It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia‘s Kaitlin Olson stars in ABC’s High Potential as Morgan, a cleaner and single mom with a knack for solving crimes who teams up with Detective Karadec (Daniel Sunjata). The series, based on a French show, hails from The Good Place writer Drew Goddard. Judy Reyes and Javicia Leslie co-star in the drama. Check out our coverage of the show this week.

A Very Royal Scandal (Prime Video, Thursday, 12:01 a.m.)

British journalist Emily Maitlis co-executive produces this three-part series, a retelling of her explosive 2019 interview with Prince Andrew on her news program. Ruth Wilson and Michael Sheen play Maitlis and the Prince, and Joanna Scanlen, Alex Jennings, and Thomas Arnold round out the cast.

Monsters: The Lyle And Erik Menendez Story (Netflix, Thursday, 3:01 a.m.) 

Two true-crime dramas from Ryan Murphy in one week might be a lot to stomach, but here we are. Season two of this series is about brothers Lyle (Nicholas Chavez) and Erik (Cooper Koch) Menendez, who killed their parents José (Javier Bardem) and Kitty (Chloë Sevigny) in 1989. The show charts their family life and the duo’s closely watched criminal trial. Jeff Perry, Nathan Lane, Ari Graynor, Leslie Grossman, and Drew Powell co-star.

Can’t miss recaps

Industry (HBO, Sunday, 9 p.m.)

Only Murders In The Building (Hulu, Tuesday, 12:01 a.m.)

The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power (Prime Video, Thursday, 12:01 a.m.)  

Arriving now

Tulsa King (Paramount+, Sunday, 3:01 a.m., season two premiere) 

Frasier (Paramount+, Thursday, 3:01 a.m., season two premiere) 

Ending soon

Emperor Of Ocean Park (MGM+, Sunday, 9 p.m., season one finale)