Messi Mania, Jewel on ‘Masked Singer,’ Juul’s Rise and Fall, Familiar Face on ‘Quantum Leap’

Messi Meets America

The furor over global soccer superstar Lionel Messi arriving in America to join Inter Miami CF was nothing short of (pardon the pun) messianic. A three-part docuseries, with Apple promising more episodes to come, chronicles the fan frenzy that greeted Messi—before injury and losses reminded us that reality is much messier than hype.

The Masked Singer

Season 6 winner Jewel returns to the stage—presumably unburdened of her Queen of Hearts costume—to open “2000’s Night” with a rendition of her song “Standing Still.” Adding more nostalgic vibes, NSYNC’s Lance Bass and The Office’s Kate Flannery show up as special guest clue givers.

Quantum Leap

Don’t call him grandma. Ben (Raymond Lee)’s next leap lands him inside the body of a 60something bank teller in Tucson, Arizona, alongside a fellow employee played by New Amsterdam alum Janet Montgomery. Ben has barely adjusted to the fact that he’s got a new grandchild in this reality when an armed bank robbery distracts him from his worries about the future of the Quantum Leap project. Back in that world, Peter Gadiot (Yellowjackets) joins the team as Army Intelligence officer Tom Westfall.

Big Vape: The Rise and Fall of Juul

Documentarian R.J. Cutler directs a four-part series investigating the electronic cigarette pioneer Juul, which helped launch the vaping craze in the late 2010s and whose high profile became its greatest drawback. With marketing missteps and a ban from the FDA, Juul’s story is one smoking cautionary tale.

INSIDE WEDNESDAY TV:

• Survivor (8/7c, CBS): A reward challenge gives the winning tribe a chance to raid a losing camp. If the Lulu-losers live down to their reputation, they’re probably safe. They’ve got nothing to take.
• Chucky (9/8c, Syfy and USA Network): The young heroes befriend the president’s older son Grant (Jackson Kelly) in their mission to stop the killer doll from causing more mayhem in the White House. Saturday Night Live’s Kenan Thompson guests as a gobsmacked taxi driver.
• Ancient Earth (9/8c, PBS): The Nova series reaches back to the Ice Age to explore how life survived and evolved on the frozen planet.
• Archer (10/9c, FXX): What We Do in the Shadows’ Kayvan Novak returns to voice former IIA boss and nemesis Fabian Kingsworth, freed from custody to help the Agency spies take on killer drones targeting ex-IIA agents.
• Cooper’s Bar (11/10c, IFC, streaming on AMC+): Emmy nominee Rhea Seehorn (Better Call Saul) is back for a second season of the short-form Hollywood satire. She’s an abrasive exec who complicates bar owner Cooper’s (Lou Mustillo) dream of starring as himself in a TV series based on his bar. Meta much?
• Crimefeed (11/10c, Investigation Discovery): Legal crusader Nancy Grace hosts a weekly show updating the most sensational crime stories of the moment, with analysis from journalist Mara S. Campo and Derrick Levasseur, a former police sergeant and private eye.
• The Morning Show (streaming on Apple TV+): Now that Paul Marks’ (Jon Hamm) deal with the UBA network has gone public, he agrees to an on-camera interview with Alex (Jennifer Aniston), which goes in many unexpected directions.
• The Simpsons (streaming on Disney+): All of Season 34, including the milestone 750th episode (“Homer’s Adventures Through the Windshield Glass”), is now available on the streamer.
• The Greatest Show Never Made (streaming on Prime Video): A documentary about the dark side of reality TV focuses on six Londoners in the early 2000s who agree to participate in a high-stakes reality show that doesn’t actually exist. Some 20 years later, they’re still looking for answers—and for the mystery man who vanished without coming clean about the debacle.