‘Simpsons’ Plays ‘It’ with King, ‘Dragon’ Finale, ‘Power Book’ Ends and ‘BMF Documentary’ Begins, Stars Do Magic with Criss Angel

Matt Roush
16 Comments

In a departure from the usual “Treehouse of Horror” trilogy format (which returns next week), The Simpsons devotes an entire Halloween episode to a spoof of Stephen King’s classic opus It. HBO tees up a war of the Targaryens in the season finale of House of the Dragon. Starz closes the book on Power Book III: Raising Kanan’s Season 2 finale, then launches a docuseries inspired by its BMF (Black Mafia Family) drama. Illusionist Criss Angel welcomes celebrities to try their hand at magic in a new competition series.

The Simpsons
FOX

The Simpsons

SUNDAY: In a first (which is saying something for a show now in its 34th season), The Simpsons devotes an entire Halloween episode to one story, and it’s a doozy: Stephen King’s It, which took two whole movies to adapt. “Not It” begins in Kingfield—aka Springfield populated by numerous King in-jokes—with a young Barney falling victim to the sewer-dwelling menace of Krusto the Clown, forcing a confrontation with a Losers Club populated by young Homer, a tomboy Marge, Carl, Moe and Comic Book Guy. Flash forward 27 years later, and they’re all at it again, in a bizarro world where even the personalities of Bart and Lisa have flipped. If you miss the old format, not to worry. A traditional “Treehouse of Horror” trilogy airs Oct. 30.

House of the Dragon

House of the Dragon

Season Finale

SUNDAY: It’s game on in the War of the Targaryens, or so we’ve been led to believe as the tension has built in recent weeks toward the Season 1 finale of the darker-than-dark Game of Thrones prequel. Rejecting the late king’s desire for first-born daughter Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) to assume the Iron Throne in favor of his loathsome eldest son Aegon (Ton Glynn-Carney), the rulers of Westeros set up a conflict that’s destined to play out in spectacular fashion in Season 2.

Power Book III: Raising Kanan Starz
Starz

Power Book III: Raising Kanan

Season Finale

SUNDAY: Family strife is also a theme of this spinoff crime drama, closing its second season with title character Kanan Stark (MeKai Curtis) pulling further away from his Queens drug queen-pin mother Raq (Patina Miller) to start his own street business in South Jamaica. Raq is also not having much luck healing her spat with brother Lou-Lou (Malcolm Mays). Followed by the premiere of a half-hour docuseries, The BMF Documentary: Blowing Money Fast, with insiders telling the story of the Black Mafia Family (inspiration for Starz’s Detroit-set drama BMF, returning for a second season next year). The first episode is set in 1980s Detroit as the Flenory brothers, Demetrius “Meech” and Terry, turn to the drug trade to boost their fortunes.

Magic With the Stars - Loni Love, Eddie Griffin, Criss Angel, Lance Burton

Magic With the Stars

Series Premiere

SATURDAY: He was a runner-up during his season on Dancing with the Stars, but how will High School Musical alum Corbin Bleu fare when he tries his hand at magic? Famed illusionist Criss Angel trains two celebs each week to perform magic before a judging panel, competing for a Golden Wand and a spot in a season-finale showdown. Eddie Griffin hosts, with Criss joined by comedian Loni Love and magician Lance Burton as judges. Bleu’s rival in the series premiere: black-ish star Miles Brown.

Magpie Murders - Lesley Manville and Tim McMullan
Nick Wall/PBS

Magpie Murders

SUNDAY: The mystery-within-a-mystery deepens in the second chapter of the Masterpiece Mystery! adaptation of Anthony Horowitz’s clever novel. “Was there anyone (he) didn’t argue with?” wonders book editor and amateur sleuth Susan (Lesley Manville) about her murdered prize author Alan Conway (Conleth Hill), who left behind a final whodunit, Magpie Murders, with the final chapter missing. Susan discovers that all of Alan’s notebooks have also vanished, convincing her that Alan’s death was foul play. She gets more validation from surreal visitations by Alan’s fabled fictional detective, Atticus Pünd (Tim McMullan), who reminds her, “Everyone who read Alan Conway loved him. Everyone who met him did not.”

Inside Weekend TV:

House of the DragonMagic With the StarsMagpie MurdersThe Simpsons



Conversation16 Comments

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  1. J

    Jena

    Instead of my Sunday night conundrum of The Equalizer vs. PBS's Miss Scarlet, I discovered a way to solve it. One of the PBS channels I get airs the Sunday night mysteries on Monday evening, so I can watch Miss Scarlet without interruption on Mondays. Whew! TV crisis averted. 😛

    1

    1. A

      Arben70

      I had a similar experience. Looking for follow-up airings I found that the cable version of my PBS station's secondary digital channel has them on in the wee hours Monday night / Tuesday morning so at least they can be recorded without conflict.

      3

    2. C

      CyanAirBalloon

      Some years ago we used to have a poster named Gerry. He was a regular here like us.

      Also Don M (I think he passed).

      Do you recall these posters?

      I enjoy reading your posts.

      1. J

        Jena

        Yes, I remember Gerry and Don MI. I think we lost a lot of regulars when the format or vehicle or whatever changed on this site. It used to be Disqus, not sure if it still is... or should I say not sure if it is AGAIN).

      2. A

        Arben70

        I haven't posted here as regularly but I do recall those names.

    3. C

      CyanAirBalloon

      PBS really does offer exceptional programming

      1

  2. A

    Arben70

    No mention by Matt of the major 'Doctor Who' episode on Sunday?

    1. B

      BlueFan

      thanks for mentioning that it snuck up on me

      1

    2. J

      Jena

      Oh great, I just got my Sunday night TV problem solved, and now you tell me there's a new Doctor Who episode. 😮😵😆 Well, I'll have to catch up with that at a later time. I can trust BBC-A to rerun this one pretty soon. But seriously, thanks for the reminder. I'm not a rabid Whovian, but I do enjoy watching it when I can.

      1. A

        Arben70

        It's a special, the finale of Jodie Whitaker's Doctor, but like you say it will surely be repeated.

        1

        1. J

          Jena

          I watched the last few minutes, wanted to see the regeneration. Did I see what I thought I saw? I haven't read any advance news about the show, so I don't know what's been in the press, but I was quite surprised.

          1

          1. C

            CyanFries

            Yes. "What???"

          2. A

            Arben70

            We knew per reports that [spoiler] was coming back for the 60th anniversary next year but this was a surprise. Very interesting. There were also some other familiar faces to varying degrees during the episode.

            1

    3. G

      GreenCoffee

      Matt is slippin'.

  3. C

    CyanAirBalloon

    ABC all evening :

    Game shows then the very entertaining The Rookie!

    1. G

      GreenTurtle

      My ABC affiliate is pre-empting programming for political debates, ergo it's PBS Mysteries all evening. No loss considering the host of Celebrity Jeopardy and the lack of actual celebs on Celebrity Wheel.