Rock On with ‘Daisy Jones,’ Artists Compete in ‘Exhibit,’ Murdaugh Mania, Drink Up with ‘Grand Crew’

Daisy Jones & the Six

Unfolding like the longest Behind the Music episode ever, this cliché-strewn but soapily engaging adaptation of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s best-selling oral-history novel uses a faux-documentary framework to tell the bittersweet story of a 1970s rock band’s brief rise and sudden fall. Riley Keough is the standout as Daisy, a Joni Mitchell-type Sunset Strip wunderkind who (after three episodes of set-up) intersects with a struggling band of Pittsburgh transplants led by charismatic Billy Dunne (Sam Claflin). In the recording studio, they’re magic. Outside, not so much. The Laurel Canyon sex, drugs and romantic complications feel borrowed from the Fleetwood Mac playbook, with a dose of Almost Famous nostalgia. But if you’re the type that falls for A Star Is Born every time it gets remade, you might dig this. Premieres with the first three of 10 episodes.

The Exhibit: Finding The Next Great Artist

In an unusually eclectic partnership, MTV teams with the Smithsonian Channel and the Institution’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden for a competition described by one contestant as “like an art race.” Hitting most of the genre’s familiar beats, Exhibit gathers seven painters, sculptors and mixed-media artists to tackle a different visionary commission each week—the first is an exploration of gender—with the ultimate winner receiving a coveted exhibit at the Hirshhorn and $100,000. There are no weekly eliminations as each artist builds a body of work judged on originality, execution and concept. You might not agree with the judges’ call—that’s part of the fun of these shows—but in the opening round, everyone agrees that one of the objects is absolutely bananas. (Episodes also air Tuesdays at 9/8c on Smithsonian Channel.)

Grand Crew

The second season of the wine-soaked friendship sitcom opens with a situation that might call for a stiffer drink: Love-hungry Noah (Echo Kellum) considers a marriage proposal by Simone (Ashleigh Morghan), his girlfriend of all of three weeks, to avert her deportation. His buds aren’t all on board, but they make a mad dash from their favorite Silver Lake wine bar in L.A. to Santa Monica to get to City Hall on time. The biggest laughs belong, as usual, to Noah’s sister Nicky (Nicole Byer, a natural scene-stealer), who’s trying to keep her relationship with Michael (Superstore’s Colton Dunn) a secret—especially from Michael’s married brother, Wyatt (Justin Cunningham).

Blue Bloods

It’s a blast from the past when Rachel (Lauren Patten), former partner of Eddie (Vanessa Ray) and now a social worker, returns with a troubling claim of excessive force against an officer, which again puts her in conflict with Frank (Tom Selleck). Elsewhere, Erin (Bridget Moynahan) makes a tough call regarding her run for D.A.

INSIDE FRIDAY TV:

• Murdaugh Mania: Can’t get enough of the sensational double-murder trial of South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh? TV’s Friday true-crime magazines are happy to feed you the latest following the guilty verdicts. Dateline NBC (9/8c) touts Craig Melvin’s interviews with Murdaugh family friends. ABC’s 20/20 (9/8c) also delivers updates after Murdaugh was found guilty of the murders of his wife Maggie and son Paul, including an interview with an alleged hitman Alex hired for a separate incident.
• RuPaul’s Drag Race (8/7c, MTV): Charo and Frankie Grande are among the special guests as the queens participate in a mock celebrity newsmagazine, 50/50.
• Party Down (9/8c, Starz): Fast-forwarding past the catering drought of the pandemic, the crew works a surprise birthday party for movie star Jack Botty (James Marsden), which becomes complicated when they’re forced to keep a secret from his wife, studio exec Evie (Jennifer Garner). Zoë Chao joins the cast as the new chef, Lucy, who insists on putting a bite of camembert in her mini-cakes to give guests “an earthy whiff of decay.”
• Fire Country (9/8c, CBS): Bode (Max Thieriot) heads the rescue when firefighter Eve (Jules Latimer) is trapped by a falling tree during a reforestation assignment.
• Navalny and the Cost of Standing Up to Putin (9/8c, CNN): In a prime-time special, Erin Burnett interviews the daughter of imprisoned Putin opposition leader Alexey Navalny. She also talks with Daniel Roher, the director of the acclaimed documentary Navalny (which airs on CNN Saturday night at 8 pm/ET).
• Real Time with Bill Maher (10/9c): The high-profile guest list includes Sen. Bernie Sanders for a one-on-one interview, with The Circus journalist John Heilemann and entertainer-provocateur Russell Brand on the panel.

ON THE STREAM:

• Triangle of Sadness (streaming on Hulu): Nominated for Oscars for best picture, director (Ruben Östlund) and original screenplay, the social satire about a luxury cruise gone wrong is now available for streaming.
• Shrinking (streaming on Apple TV+): While everyone’s dealing with morning-after remorse following Jimmy’s (Jason Segel) disastrous party, Paul (Harrison Ford) gets another unsettling visit from his daughter (Lily Rabe).
• The Problem with Jon Stewart (streaming on Apple TV+): In Part 2 of the second season, the former Daily Show host tackles issues including foreign policy (interviewing Secretary of State Anthony Blinken), inflation, crime and gun laws, inflation and more.
• Next in Fashion (streaming on Netflix): Queer Eye’s Tan France is joined by supermodel Gigi Hadid to host the second season of the design competition, with 12 stylish contestants competing for $200,000.