‘Black Bird’ on Apple, Peacock’s ‘Trigger Point,’ ‘Boys’ Finale, TCM Remembers Roswell, ‘Mankind’ to Mars

Series Premiere

When Chicago con man Jimmy Keene (Rocketman’s Taron Egerton) realizes he can’t charm his way out of a 10-year prison sentence, he accepts an assignment that could get him out of jail free. Dennis Lehane adapts Keene’s memoir, depicting how Keene enters a maximum security prison for the criminally insane to get inside the head of suspected serial killer Larry Hall (Paul Walter Hausen, oozing pathos and suppressed menace) and elicit a confession. Recommended for fans of Mindhunter. Added bonus: one of Ray Liotta’s final performances, poignant as Jimmy’s ailing ex-con father. The first two episodes will be followed by four weekly installments. Expect to be hooked.

Series Premiere

From the company that gave us British nail-biters like Bodyguard and Line of Duty comes a suspenseful six-part thriller that is full of literal ticking-clock tension. Duty’s Vicky McClure stars as bomb-squad professional Lana Washington, who with partner Joel Nutkins (Hustle’s Adrian Lester) discovers a terror network using sadistically deceptive methods to blow things up in and around London. Yes, there will be cliffhangers, making this a riveting midsummer binge.

Season Finale

After last week’s blockbuster reveal, the stakes feel even higher as the Boys prepare to take on Vought and Homelander (Antony Starr) for a final stand. Which of course won’t be the last word, since the hit anti-superhero action series has already been renewed for a fourth season.

On this date in 1947, news began to spread that a “flying disc” had been recovered at the Roswell (N.M.) Army Air Field, spurring decades of controversy and speculation over the existence of UFOs. To mark the 75th anniversary, Turner Classic Movies turns over prime time to some fan favorite sci-fi films about alien invasion, starting with the 1956 thriller (starring Hugh Marlowe) that features special effects from innovative wizard Ray Harryhausen. Followed by two remakes of 1950s classics: John Carpenter’s terrifying 1982 version of The Thing (9:45/8:45c) and Philip Kaufman’s eerie 1978 remake of the iconic Invasion of the Body Snatchers (11:45/10:45c).

For more reality-based space adventure, the excellent alt-history drama about the space race picks up from last week’s harrowing calamity to reveal the fallout within the commercial Helios corporation and also at NASA, where the Americans once again wonder if the Russians they helped rescue can be trusted. Meanwhile, all eyes are on Mars as multiple vessels approach the “seven minutes of terror” that represent the harrowing entry and descent into the Red Planet’s atmosphere. Who will land first?

Inside Friday TV:

• Keeping Up with the Joneses: The Wrong Nemesis (8/7c, Lifetime Movie Network): Vivica A. Fox is back as newly widowed Robin in the first of four Joneses movies (on Fridays through July). Having inherited a fortune after the death of husband No. 2 (Ted McGinley), Robin steps up to protect the family business and her four stepdaughters.
• Star Trek: Prodigy (8/7c, Nickelodeon): The animated spinoff about teens taking command of a derelict Starfleet ship transports from Paramount+ to the kids’ cable network.
• Dynasty (9/8c, The CW): Buffy/Angel alum Charisma Carpenter guests as Heather, Fallon’s (Elizabeth Gillies) former nanny, who stirs up bad blood among the Carringtons with her memories of bygone days.
• My Lottery Dream Home (9/8c and 9:30/8:30c, HGTV): New episodes resume, with host David Bromstad helping lottery winners find fabulous new digs to invest in. He starts with a Miami single mom of three and a couple of Iowa newlyweds. All want to go big when they go home.

On the Stream:

• How to Build a Sex Room (streaming on Netflix): Winner of this week’s most-provocative-title award, an offbeat home-makeover show spotlights Melanie Rose (said to be the “Mary Poppins” of sex rooms), who creates spaces in clients’ boudoirs for them to carry out their wildest and most intimate fantasies.
• Also new to Netflix: the animated adventure The Sea Beast, featuring the voices of Karl Urban (The Boys), Dan Stevens and Jared Harris in the saga of a ship’s epic journey to hunt down a legendary sea creature—with a young stowaway on board; and Boo, Bitch, an eight-episode fantasy comedy starring To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before’s Lana Condor as a high-schooler who decides too late to seize the day after waking up and realizing she’s a ghost.
• Conjuring Kesha (streaming on discovery+): The pop superstar indulges her passion for the supernatural in a six-part series, investigating the paranormal in spooky sites with friends including comedian Whitney Cummings, The Bachelorette’s Jojo Fletcher and former tour mate Betty Who.
• Murder Case (streaming on BritBox): A docuseries embeds within Glasgow’s Major Investigations Team to follow the evidence from crime to arrest in Scotland.
• RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars (streaming on Paramount+): The remaining queens create an original dance video, with Dear Evan Hansen’s Ben Platt joining the judges’ panel.