World Series Opener, ‘South Park’ Special, Emily Blunt and Chris Evans as ‘Pain Hustlers,’ Classic Horror on TCM

The World Series

This year’s Fall Classic, the 119^th World Series, pits two relative underdogs who beat the odds to make it to the baseball season’s climactic best-of-seven showdown. It begins with the Arizona Diamondbacks heading to Arlington, Texas to take on the Texas Rangers for the first two games this weekend.

South Park: Joining the Panderverse

You’ve never seen Cartman, Kyle, Stan and poor unfortunate Kenny quite like this, as the outrageously irreverent animated hit takes on the disruptive force of Artificial Intelligence in the series’ fifth streaming exclusive. I’m generally not a fan of multiverse stories (sorry, Marvel), but I trust Trey Parker and Matt Stone to spoof the trend with their patented wicked zeal.

Pain Hustlers

“Own your territory!” is the mantra for the pharmaceutical sales vultures portrayed in this vivid cautionary tale of big business, greed and desperation. We can’t promise a comeuppance quite as stark as that portrayed in The Fall of the House of Usher, but this film has a far more sympathetic center in Emily Blunt, starring as struggling single mom Liza Drake, unemployed with a sick daughter (Chloe Coleman). She’s offered a path to quick riches by a slick sales rep (Chris Evans) who embroils her in a racketeering scheme overseen by their volatile boss (Andy Garcia). It won’t be long before Liza begins to rethink her moral choices, but will it be too late?

Frankenstein

Even after more than 90 years, Boris Karloff’s mostly silent portrayal of the monster created by Dr. Frankenstein (Colin Clive) retains its ghoulish power in James Whale’s 1931 horror masterpiece, which he surpassed several years later in the remarkable 1935 sequel, Bride of Frankenstein (9:30/8:30c). TCM’s night of vintage horror continues with Christopher Lee’s reinvention of Bram Stoker’s fanged menace in 1958’s Horror of Dracula (11/10c), followed by House of Usher (12:30 am/11:30c), the first and one of the best of Roger Corman’s Poe adaptations, starring Vincent Price as the doomed Roderick Usher. (Overnight highlights include Lon Chaney’s iconic performance as The Phantom of the Opera in the 1925 silent version, at 3:30 am/2:30c.)

Gen V

A visit to Godolkin University by duplicitous vice-presidential candidate Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit) is the catalyst for an explosive penultimate episode to the Boys spinoff’s first season. (Happily, Gen V has already been renewed for a second.) Neuman arrives at an already tense moment, with the evil Dean Shetty (Shelley Conn) plotting to weaponize the supe-killing virus for reasons that soon become clear, while her disillusioned protégée Cate (Maddie Phillips) considers whether to let the rest of her student-superhero peer group in on the scope of Shetty’s bad actions. And when Emma (Lizze Broadway) loses track of the unstable Sam (Asa Germann) during Neuman’s controversial town hall appearance, she’s not the only one who fears the worst should the student body erupt in protest.

INSIDE FRIDAY TV:

• Shark Tank (8/7c, ABC): The Tank gets in the holiday spirit with the first-ever “Shark-O-Ween,” inviting horrormeister Jason Blum, CEO and founder of Blumhouse, to be a guest judge.
• Christmas By Design (8/7c, Hallmark Channel): Rebecca Dalton plays a fashion designer who decides to rebrand her life in the holiday spirit after taking on a challenge to create a yuletide-themed collection.
• Penn & Teller: Fool Us (8/7c, The CW): No fooling, the magic competition has a new host, with Dancing with the Stars veteran Brooke Burns replacing Alyson Hannigan, who by coincidence is hoofing it on the current season of
• True Crime Watch: On Dateline (9/8c, NBC), Keith Morrison reports on the cold-case investigation into the murders of two young women near a Phoenix canal in the early 1990s. ABC’s 20/20 (9/8c) features John Quiñones’ update on the 2016 kidnapping and murder of Sierah Joughin by James Worley, including an interview with a woman who survived an earlier abduction attempt.
• Great Performances: New York City Ballet in Madrid (9/8c, PBS): It’s the next best thing to being there, as the acclaimed troupe performs two Balanchine dances at Madrid’s Teatro Real, plus a Justin Peck routine (“The Times Are Racing”) set to an electronic score.

ON THE STREAM:

• Lessons in Chemistry (streaming on Apple TV+): Single motherhood is almost too much for brilliant chemist Elizabeth (Brie Larson), but a seven-year time jump and a chance encounter propel her into a life-changing opportunity when she visits a local TV station, though she declares, “I am a scientist who does not watch television.” Also on Apple: the season finale of the charming insomniac comedy Still Up, with Lisa (Antonia Thomas) and Danny (Craig Roberts) experiencing a eureka moment while reflecting on the night they met.
• The Enfield Poltergeist (streaming on Apple TV+): A four-part docuseries blends archival audio recordings with dramatic re-enactments and new interviews to tell the chilling story from 1977 of an ordinary British family besieged by a poltergeist ghost that appeared to be targeting the Hodgsons’ 11-year-old daughter Janet.
• The Horror: If TCM’s spooky lineup is too tame for you, consider these options: the streaming premiere of The Nun II on Max, Peacock’s day-and-date premiere (also in movie theaters) of video-game adaptation Five Nights at Freddy’s, and from Argentina, a Spanish-language demon-possession chiller, When Evil Lurks, on Shudder.
• Shoresy (streaming on Hulu): On a lighter note, Canada’s raunchy Letterkenny spinoff returns for a second season, with Shoresy (Jared Keeso) continuing to try to keep the underdog Sudbury Bulldogs hockey team from being iced.