Profiling a Jazz Great, ‘Vacation Friends’ Sequel, ‘Minx’ Goes to College, ‘Moonshine’ Finale

Documentary Premiere

8/7c

Premiering on what would have been the jazz saxophone master’s 90^th birthday, Zero Gravity is an impressionistic biographical portrait divided into three “portals,” with animation and re-enactments scattered among testimonial interviews to reflect the breadth and personality of this influential visionary. Shorter, who died in March, is candid about his personal struggles, and animated when detailing his creative journey with the likes of Art Blakey and Miles Davis before breaking new ground with his band Weather Report and much later the Wayne Shorter Quartet. Come for the music, stay for the uplifting life story.

Movie Premiere

The slapstick never lets up in a sequel to 2021’s raucous comedy, when newlyweds Marcus (Lil Rel Howery) and Emily (Insecure’s Yvonne Orji) make the questionable call to invite their rowdy buddies, new parents Ron (John Cena) and Kyla (Meredith Hagner), to join them on a free trip to the Caribbean. Marcus’ secret mission is to impress the resort’s owners for a construction bid, but when the businessmen show up ahead of schedule, and Kyla’s jailbird dad (Steve Buscemi) unexpectedly arrives, the best-laid plans go where they usually do. Merry mayhem invariably ensues.

9/8c

As editor of trendy 1970s’ erotic mag Minx, Joyce Prigger (Ophelia Lovibond) is riding high—preening as she returns to her alma mater of Vassar College with sister Shelly (Lennon Parham) to accept an honor as “an icon of sexual liberation.” Anyone familiar with the rhythms of this saucy, sardonic comedy will not be surprised when her ego trip hits a speed bump or two—especially after Shelly hits it off with Joyce’s favorite professor (Melinda Page Hamilton, who Mad Men fans may recognize as Anna Draper). Back on the West Coast, Doug (Jake Johnson) accompanies Tina (Idara Victor) to her disapproving mom’s retirement party, hoping to be welcomed into the family. The porn publisher isn’t thrilled to find himself sitting at the kids’ table.

Season Finale

9/8c

The Canadian dramedy wraps its first season with the fate of Moonshine, the family’s Nova Scotia resort, once again in the balance. Lidia’s (Jennifer Finnigan) latest challenge: find missing drugs to frame their criminal nemesis Jill (Allegra Fulton) while preparing for the annual cop fundraiser. Dress code: lederhosen.

INSIDE FRIDAY TV:

• Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra’s Summer Night Concert 2023 (9/8c, PBS): Find your Zen in a late-summer escape into the gorgeous setting of Vienna’s Imperial Schönbrunn Palace Gardens, where the fabled orchestra performs a classic program of Strauss, Bizet and Ravel.
• CMT Summer Sessions (10/9c, CMT): Country-music fans can bliss out in the concert series’ season finale, featuring Grammy winner Ashley McBryde playing lakeside in Franklin, Tennessee.
• NFL Draft: The Pick Is In (streaming on The Roku Channel): Go behind the scenes with NFL Films and Skydance Sports for the human drama in the war rooms as 2023’s NFL Draft weekend unfolds.
• Wanted: The Escape of Carlos Ghosn (streaming on Apple TV+): A four-part true-crime docuseries traces the rise of global automotive CEO Carlos Ghosn, his fall from grace and arrest amid charges of financial misconduct, and his dramatic escape from Japan to Lebanon with help from a former Green Beret who hid him in a crate.
• You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah (streaming on Netflix): It’s a Sandler family affair in a teen comedy starring Adam Sandler’s daughter Sunny as Stacy, whose falling out with her middle-school bestie (Samantha Lorraine) over a shared crush could ruin her coming-of-age party. Adam is her dad, with Idina Menzel as her mom, and Sandler’s daughter Sadie and wife Jackie also in the cast.