‘Reacher’ Finale, ‘Chad’ Season 2 Rescued, More ‘Love on the Spectrum,’ Mom Looks Are a ‘Drag’

Season Finale

“Surveillance photos don’t do you justice,” says Season 2’s Big Bad, corrupt security chief Shane Langston (Robert Patrick), when he finally gets a good look at hulking hero Reacher (Alan Ritchson), who’s walked into the lion’s den to rescue his tortured colleagues. It’s the showdown fans have been waiting for all season, and the finale doesn’t disappoint‑especially once the action goes airborne.

Season Premiere

It was a sign of the new corporate times, when TBS unceremoniously canceled the second season of this quirky coming-of-age comedy right before it was to premiere in the summer of 2022. It’s been a minute, but Roku came to the rescue, and fans can now cringe to their heart’s delight as star/creator Nasim Pedrad (Saturday Night Live) returns to the role of high-school sophomore Chad, living one of the most awkward adolescences we’ve ever seen. So eager to be accepted, this Persian-American dweeb just keeps falling deeper into a pit of mortification as his attempts to be cool backfire.

Season Premiere

Winner of a 2022 Emmy for Unstructured Reality Program, the poignant and charming docuseries returns for a second season, featuring subjects from the first season (Abbey, David, Dani, Steve, James) and several new faces (Connor, Journey, Tanner)—all on the autism spectrum—as they date and forge romantic relationships. Highlights of Season 2 include a couple taking their dream vacation.

8/7c

Mamma mia, imagine the sparks that will fly when both groups of drag contestants (introduced in the two-part opener) finally meet. Their first challenge leads to “The Mother of All Balls,” with looks inspired by moms—and designer Isaac Mizrahi on hand as guest judge. Followed by the Untucked after-show (9:30/8:30), where the queens let each other know how they really feel.

INSIDE FRIDAY TV:

• Transplant (8/7c, NBC): On a personal quest, Bash (Hamza Haq) travels to Lebanon to work in a refugee camp, while back in Canada, Mags (Laurence Leboeuf) looks for a new cardiologist and the emergency department is hobbled by a software glitch.
• True Crime Watch: ABC’s 20/20 (9/8c) reports on the 1987 Texas murder of Susan Woods, which took 20 years to solve—and even then, the details and motive remained murky until the killer’s written confession was found posthumously. On Dateline NBC (9/8c), Dennis Murphy reports on the sensational case of Florida law professor Dan Markel’s 2014 murder, revealing a conspiracy plot leading to the trial of his former brother-in-law and the arrest of his former mother-in-law.
• CMT Campfire Sessions (10/9c, CMT): South Carolina rock band NEEDTOBREATHE performs a stripped-down concert of their hits, joined by singer-songwriter Alana Springsteen for “Let’s Stay Home Tonight.”

ON THE STREAM:

• Hazbin Hotel (streaming on Prime Video): Vivienne Medrano’s animated adult musical comedy stars Broadway Mean Girls alum Erika Henningsen as Charlie, the “princess from Hell,” who opens a halfway house to rehabilitate sinners in hopes they can find their way to Heaven. Stephanie Beatriz (Encanto) co-stars, with a Broadway who’s-who among the voice cast: Tony winners Christian Borle, Patina Miller and James Monroe Iglehart, Emmy winner Darren Criss, plus Jeremy Jordan, Alex Brightman, Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Sarah Stiles, Lilli Cooper and Jessica Vosk.
• The Kitchen (streaming on Netflix): Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out) is co-writer/director/producer of a dystopian drama set in The Kitchen, the violent last refuge for the poor in London—where a loner (Kane Robinson) takes a 12-year-old (Jedaiah Bannerman) under his wing.
• Relighting Candles: The Tim Sullivan Story (streaming on Hulu): A documentary short profiles Sullivan, 83, who helps men and women in recovery get a new start from his West Hollywood candle shop during the Christmas season. Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone are executive producers.