A documentary celebrates the myriad musical contributions of composer John Williams. A thrilling National Geographic special traces the search in Antarctica for the 1914 wreckage of the Endurance. Oscar winner Mira Sorvino guests on Blue Bloods as New York City’s fire commissioner. Go behind the scenes of the freaky Chucky franchise in a new documentary.
Without the ominous underscoring crafted by the five-time Oscar winner John Williams, Jaws would be a completely different and far less legendary movie. “Star Wars basically would not be Star Wars without Johnny Williams’ music,” declares George Lucas. “After he does music for my movie, I start to see my movie in his way,” gushes Williams’ most famous and frequent collaborator, Steven Spielberg (Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T., Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List, Indiana Jones). An admiring biographical portrait colorfully illustrates Williams’ prolific film work as well as his music for the concert stage and special projects like the Olympics. The film also offers a glimpse of the man himself, who says, “Music for a musician is like breathing. It supports us, sustains us, gives us energy.” And for the rest of us, provides so much joy.
Was ever an expedition more appropriately named? In a two-tiered documentary that recreates the past while following a contemporary journey, Endurance revisits the 1914 survival story of explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton. He took a crew aboard the ship Endurance to attempt to cross the Antarctic continent, only to get stuck in the ice, where the ship was destroyed and sank, leaving the sailors stranded on the ice for months. Their incredible tale of survival and, yes, endurance is a narrative thread underlying a 2022 mission led by explorer John Shears, using modern technology to locate the lost ship.
Things get heated when Oscar winner Mira Sorvino guests on the long-running police drama as Fire Commissioner Veronica Radley. Her conflict with the ever-combative Mayor Chase (Dylan Walsh) prompts Police Commissioner Frank Reagan (Tom Selleck) to intervene. In other Reagan family news, prosecutor Erin (Bridget Moynahan) is stunned when one of the witnesses for the defense in her latest case is her grandfather, Henry (Len Cariou).
It all began in 1988 when Child’s Play introduced an unsuspecting world to the possessed killer doll Chucky, which would ultimately spawn six sequels, a remake and a cult TV series. “He’s part of horror history,” says one of the insiders in a documentary that goes behind the scenes of the franchise, with rare footage, clips, photographs, documents and reflections from creator Don Mancini and stars including Catherine Hicks, Chris Sarandon, Brad Dourif and Jennifer Tilly.
Not since Dexter have we encountered a killer as intriguing as Rhiannon (Ella Purnell), the heroine of this dark-comedy psychodrama, a sad London wallflower who blossoms when she begins dispatching the sorts of jerks we’ve all dreamed of sending to their maker. Now that she has her childhood nemesis Julia (Nicôle Lecky) as a prisoner, Rhiannon gains even more confidence in her personal and even professional life. But hers is a dangerous game that could implode at any time.
INSIDE FRIDAY TV:
- Happy’s Place (8/7c, NBC): Too close for comfort? That’s Isabella’s (Belissa Escobedo) concern when half-sister Bobbie (Reba McEntire) invites her to move in. Followed by Lopez vs Lopez (8/30/7:30c), with sitcom vets Stephen Tobolowsky and Vicki Lawrence guest-starring as Quinten’s (Matt Shively) Midwestern parents.
- S.W.A.T. (8/7c, CBS): Hondo (Shemar Moore) needs to watch his back when a prison explosion frees maximum-security prisoners, including one who’s got a grudge against the 20-Squad leader. Followed by Fire Country (9/8c), where Bode (Max Thieriot) and Gabriela (Stephanie Arcila) have a big secret they’re thinking about sharing.
- A Carol for Two (8/7, Hallmark Channel): Ginna Claire Mason and Jordan Litz star in a musical holiday movie as Broadway hopefuls working as singing waiters in a legendary theater-district diner.
- True Crime Watch: On Dateline NBC (9/8c), Keith Morrison provides an update in the 2011 murder of Karen Swift, a Tennessee wife and mom who disappeared after a Halloween party.
- Land of Gold (9/8c, PBS): A Great Performances special goes behind the scenes of the premiere of composer John Adams and Peter Sellars’ production of San Francisco Opera’s Girls of the Golden West, a grittier twist on the story told in Puccini’s 1910 The Girl of the Golden West.
ON THE STREAM:
- Prince William: We Can End Homelessness (streaming on Disney+): A documentary follows the royal, inspired by his late mother Princess Diana, as he establishes a program dedicated to eradicating homelessness, including a plan to build supported housing on his own land.
- The Contract (streaming on ALLBLK): Gabrielle Dennis and Lil Duval star in a romantic comedy as a couple negotiating their future when she declares she wants a baby and he requests a threesome.
- Disclaimer (streaming on Apple TV+): In the penultimate episode of the psychological drama, we begin to understand the danger of an unreliable narrator, when Catherine (Cate Blanchett) takes control of her own story. Also on Apple TV+: new episodes of Before with Billy Crystal and the French-language La Maison.
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