Between network, cable and streaming, the modern television landscape is vast. Here are some of the shows, specials, and movies hitting TV this week, March 7-13. Details and times are subject to change.
Monday
THE THING ABOUT PAM 10 p.m. on NBC. The slurp of a Big-Gulp-size booze becomes something sinister in this true-crime limited series, which stars Renée Zellweger as a Missouri woman, Pam Hupp, who is involved in a murder that eventually uncovers a bigger illicit plan. It’s a juicy role for Zellweger, who takes on Judy Greer (as prosecutor) and Josh Duhamel (lawyer). See the two-part documentary for more true crime UNDERCURRENT: THE REFERRAL OF KIM WALL, debuts on HBO at 9 p.m., looking at the murder of Wall, a Swedish journalist, in 2017 while reporting a story aboard a submarine.
Tuesday
THE GREEN KNIGHT (202) 7pm on Showtime† You’ve probably already seen a movie about King Arthur – or at least heard the stories, or baked with the flour. You’re less likely to have seen the story of Arthur’s cousin Gawain — the subject of the anonymous 14th-century poem “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” — on the big screen. In this aesthetically pleasing adaptation by filmmaker David Lowery, Dev Patel plays Gawain, who goes in search of a giant. In his review for DailyExpertNews, AO Scott called the film “luxurious, ragged and inventive.”
Wednesday
DOMINO MASTERS 9 p.m. on Fox. Ambitious domino builders compete against each other in this new competition show, where contestants compete for the most impressive domino arrangements, Rube Goldberg style. Expect the accuracy required here – where one wrong move can completely ruin a project – to create some tense moments. Imagine a reality cooking show where chefs have to juggle their culinary creations before the judges sit down to eat.
FREE STATE OF JONES (2016) 7:40 PM on FXM. Composer Nicholas Britell and actor Mahershala Ali worked on two remarkably different films released in 2016: Barry Jenkins’ Oscar-winning contemporary coming-of-age story “Moonlight” and the historical drama “Free State of Jones.” from Gary Ross. In Ross’ film, Ali plays a man named Moses, a close friend and confidant of the film’s subject, Newton Knight (Matthew McConaughey), a Confederate dissident who raised a homemade army that rose up against the Confederacy in Mississippi, and whose work on behalf of African American rights extended beyond the war. In his review for The Times, AO Scott praised what he called Ross’s “unusual respect for historical truth,” writing that he “does a good job of balancing factual account with the demands of dramatic narrative.” Another of Ross’ movies, the jockey drama SEA BISCUITS (2003), also airs Thursdays at 4 p.m. on Showtime.
Friday
JULY (1977) 6 p.m. on TCM. Jane Fonda plays a fictionalized version of playwright and author Lillian Hellman in this historical drama. Adapted from part of Hellman’s 1973 book, “Pentimento: A Book of Portraits,” the film is set in the lead-up to World War II, centering on a friendship between Hellman and a character known only as Julia (Vanessa Redgrave), a young American woman from a wealthy family who uses her money to support anti-Nazi efforts. The film also marked the feature film debut of Meryl Streep, who has a small role as another friend of Hellman.
Saturday
WEST SIDE STORY (202) 8 p.m. on HBO. In recent years, two attempts have been made to revive ‘West Side Story’. On Broadway in 2020, Belgian experimental theater director Ivo van Hove presented a version that injected the musical with projected video and skinny jeans. Even more recently, we got this new take on the big screen of Steven Spielberg, who reworks some elements while staying closer to the original Broadway and Hollywood productions, at least on the surface (just look at the sets and hairstyles here, and you know we’re in the mid-20th century New York City). But this version of the forbidden love story between Maria (Rachel Zegler) and Tony (Ansel Elgort) still has a lot of new ideas, thanks in large part to the substantial reworking of Arthur Laurents’ book by playwright Tony Kushner and his…new choreography by Justin. peck. In his review for The Times, AO Scott wrote that the new film gives the musical feel “daring, surprising and new”, even if the performances and the transitions between music tracks and other scenes can be uneven. “The seams — connecting past to present, comedy to tragedy, America to dreamland — are sometimes visible,” Scott wrote. “But those seams,” he added, “are part of what makes the film so exciting. It’s a dazzling display of the craft of filmmaking that also feels raw, restless and alive.”
THE 27TH ANNUAL CRITICS CHOICE AWARDS 7 p.m. on the CW and TBS. The awards season continues on Sunday night with this Critics Choice Awards broadcast, which falls just two weeks before the Oscars this year. Best Picture nominees at the Critics Choice awards largely overlap with the Oscars: “West Side Story,” “CODA,” “Don’t Look Up,” “Dune,” “King Richard,” “Licorice Pizza,” ‘Nightmare’ Alley” and “The Power of the Dog” have all been nominated for the top prize in both competitions – with Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Tick, Tick… Boom!” taking the place of the Haruki Murakami adaptation “Drive My Car” at the Critics Choice awards. There are also differences in the Best Actor and Actress categories, including nominations for Nicolas Cage (“Pig”), Peter Dinklage (“Cyrano”), Lady Gaga (“House of Gucci”) and Alana Haim (“Licorice Pizza”), none of whom are eligible for an acting award at the Oscars.Taye Diggs and Nicole Byer present.
