Kanye the ‘jeen-yuhs,’ TLC Gets ‘Stuck,’ Nick News Takes on Mental Health, Winter Olympics

Series Premiere

“Ye” gods, Netflix has dropped the first act of a three-week docuseries profiling the polarizing Kanye West during his rise to superstardom. With no false modesty (sound out the title), the trilogy was filmed over 20 years by Clarence “Coodie” Simmons and Chike Ozah, creating an intimate portrait of the rapper in his formative years. The remaining segments of the film (totaling more than four hours) will premiere the next two Wednesdays.

Series Premiere

10/9c

Following the season premiere of TLC staple Dr. Pimple Popper (9/8c), a new series joins the channel’s gruesome gallery of squirm-inducing medical shows. Stuck travels the country to bear witness to how doctors remove foreign objects that get stuck in patients’ bodies: a bug lodged inside the ear, a high heel penetrating a face, an arrow through the wrist, and who knows what in who knows where. Along with the procedures, Stuck also interviews patients to find out how they came to be in their unfortunate situation.

10/9c

Now that alien-in-human-disguise Harry (Alan Tudyk) has his radio assembled, the next step is for this wackiest of E.T.’s to phone home and convince his planet to abandon its mission to destroy Earth. His best friend and confidante Asta (Sara Tomko) isn’t entirely convinced about Harry’s goals—if she could hear his inner thoughts about children (“gum stuck to the bottom of your shoe”), she’d be rightly concerned—so she tags along on a camping trip as Harry prepares to make contact.

7/6c

The invaluable public-affairs series aimed at young audiences invites U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy to talk to middle-school children about how to cope with anxiety and stress, an issue that has spiked during these pandemic years of isolation and remote education. A roundtable discussion lets kids open up with their own stories about how they’re managing their mental well-being. Other reports include kid journalist Rory Hu’s interview with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and a visit to the U.S. Mint, and CBS News’ Jamie Yuccas traveling to the Minneapolis training facility to meet the U.S. Women’s National Hockey Team, who are about to defend their 2018 Olympic gold medal win.

After the prime-time package, which includes live coverage of Women’s Alpine Skiing and Halfpipe Qualifying in Freestyle Skiing, tune in starting at 11:05/ET for the live broadcast of the Women’s Ice Hockey gold-medal match between the defending gold-medal team from the U.S. vs. arch-rival Canada. Other sports featured during the day and evening on NBC, USA Network, CNBC and streaming live (with replay options) on Peacock, NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app include Cross-Country Skiing, Men’s Biathlon, Short Track, Men’s Hockey quarterfinals and Curling. For complete listings by sport of what to watch, when and where, go to nbcolympics.com/schedule.

Inside Wednesday TV:

• Jeopardy! National College Championships (8/7c, ABC): After the last of the quarterfinal rounds—semifinals start Thursday—the quiz show The Chase (9/8c) presents its final episodes of the season, with Jeopardy! legends James Holzhauer and Ken Jennings in the “Chaser” hot seat.
• The Amazing Race (8/7c, CBS): Next stop: Greece, where spelling and memory skills come into play and the teams get a lesson in wrapping grape leaves.
• South Park (8/7c, Comedy Central): Cartman’s mom has a new job, and he is none too pleased. What else is new?
• Great Mammoth Mystery (9/8c, PBS, check local listings at pbs.org): The indefatigable Sir David Attenborough checks out an excavation site in southern England where fossil hunters found giant mammoth bones and traces of Neanderthal life.
• Swap Shop (streaming on Netflix): The streamer returns to the Swap Shop radio show for a second season of finding hidden treasures among people’s presumed trash.
• Marvel Studios: Assembled—The Making of Eternals (streaming on Disney+): Go behind the scenes of Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao’s 2021 superhero epic.