‘Evil’s Final Scream, A Fashionable ‘Elsbeth’ Finale, Blue Angels, A Decade of Red Nose Day

Season Premiere

The scariest thing about this delightfully berserk supernatural thriller is that it will be over after a 14-episode final season. But with its blend of humor and terror, Evil isn’t going out quietly. The show from Robert and Michelle King (The Good Fight) has lost none of its sense of humor, which explains why forensic psychologist and resident skeptic Kristen (saucy Katja Herbers) laughs in the face of nemesis Leland Townsend (droll, creepy Michael Emerson) when he brags about the Antichrist he says he’s harvesting from one of her stolen eggs. “Did you ever wonder why The Omen skipped the infancy?” she taunts him. “Because that’s the real horror.” Speaking of chills, her team (including Mike Colter as hunky priest David and Aasif Mandvi as wry tech expert Ben) explores a particle accelerator that may have accidentally opened the gates of Hell. You’ll scream till you laugh—or maybe vice versa. (See the full review.)

Season Finale

10/9c

For a change of pace in the Season 1 finale of the breezy procedural (also from the Kings), we’re in the dark along with Elsbeth Tascioni (Carrie Preston) when an unpopular photographer is shot while shooting a fashion show. “I think I’ve lost my mojo,” Elsbeth cries when her instincts fail her for immediately intuiting a prime suspect. The fabulous Laura Benanti guest-stars as a fashion model who’s giving up the runway while divorcing her designer husband, and fellow Tony winner André de Shields appears as a fashion icon who finds an unlikely new muse in Elsbeth’s peculiar wardrobe choices. Elsbeth has good cause for being distracted: Chief Wagner (Wendell Pierce), whose good name she cleared last week, is eager to show her the door and send her back to Chicago. Elsbeth has already been renewed for Season 2, so I wouldn’t pack up the moving van just yet.

Streaming Premiere

Following a brief run in IMAX theaters, a dazzling documentary puts the viewer in the cockpit with the elite Navy pilots of The Blue Angels, the renowned Flight Demonstration Squadron that has electrified spectators around the world with their precision flying. Making six jets fly as one is just one of the challenges, as five new recruits join the team with three months of training to be able to execute these death-defying maneuvers.

Special

8/7c

Members of The Voice cast including coaches Reba McEntire, John Legend, Chance the Rapper and Dan + Shay with host Carson Daly help celebrate a decade of Red Nose Day specials, raising funds to combat child poverty around the world. Highlights of an hourlong retrospective include Coldplay in a Game of Thrones musical, cast members of Love Actually participating in a Red Nose Day Actually parody, and Paul Rudd playing basketball with NBA star Blake Griffin. The special is followed by a rebroadcast of a Red Nose Day-themed episode of the game show The Wall (9/8c).

Nearing the end—already!— of its brilliant third season, the show-biz satire celebrates Christmas with an awkward family visit by Deborah Vance’s (Jean Smart) estranged sister Kathy (now played by Succession’s J. Smith-Cameron), while her agent Jimmy (Paul W. Downs) and assistant Kayla (Megan Stalter) track down a Hollywood legend’s eccentric family connection, played by Christopher Lloyd. In the second episode, Deborah’s visit to a progressive college campus introduces the stand-up superstar to cancel culture at the worst possible time.

Series Premiere

A raunchy buddy/workplace comedy stars comedian Shane Gillis with co-creator Steven Gerben as the hapless last hope for Valley Forge Automative Center, an unwelcoming auto-repair shop that’s overrun by a surplus of tires they’re not sure how to sell. Maybe they could have called this one Tired, after the lame stunts Will (Gerben) keeps contriving to try to keep his dad’s business afloat, while being mercilessly teased and taunted by his slacker cousin Shane (Gillis) throughout the six-episode first season. Netflix has already ordered a second batch.

INSIDE THURSDAY TV:

• 9-1-1 (8/7c, ABC): While Medals of Valor are bestowed on the heroes of the cruise-ship rescue, Hen (Aisha Hinds) and Karen (Tracie Thoms) hit a speed bump with their latest foster-care adventure, and Eddie’s (Ryan Guzman) obsession with his late wife’s doppelgänger deepens. (Shades of Vertigo, this can’t end well.)
• Don’t Forget the Lyrics! (9/8c, Fox): The off-season’s game show takeover continues with a new season of the musical fill-in-the-blanks game, hosted by Niecy Nash.
• Station 19 (10/9c, ABC): Following a new episode of Grey’s Anatomy (9/8c), the spinoff’s next-to-last episode sends the crew into battle against a wildfire threatening Seattle. Expect more fallout next Thursday in Grey’s season ender and Station 19’s series finale.
• Welcome to Wrexham (10/9c, FX): Meet Arthur Massey, soon to turn 100, reflecting on his life as a supporter of the Wrexham Red Dragons. It hasn’t always been easy.

ON THE STREAM:

• The Kardashians (streaming on Hulu): America’s most overexposed family returns for a fifth streaming season, with a pregnant Kourtney preparing for her baby’s birth, Kendall and Kylie in Paris and Kim considering a tempting new offer.
• The Ms. Pat Show (streaming on BET+): The bawdy family sitcom starring Patricia “Ms. Pat” Williams as an outspoken matriarch is back for a fourth season, with secrets spilling out at graduation time.
• The 1% Club (streaming on Prime Video): A quiz show hosted by Patton Oswalt gets a sneak peek in advance of its broadcast premiere on Fox on June 3.
• Scrublands (streaming on Sundance Now): The Australian mystery reaches its fiery conclusion as the identity of killer priest Byron Swift (Jay Ryan) is revealed, along with his motive for killing four townspeople in broad daylight.
• Thirst with Shay Mitchell (streaming on Max): The Pretty Little Liars alum tours countries in South America, sampling their most tempting libations. First stop: Peru, where she visits a mountain distillery.
• McDonald & Dodds (streaming on BritBox): The mystery series starring Tala Gouveia and Jason Watkins as a mismatched detective duo opens its fourth season with the puzzling case of a murder victim whose DNA reveals she had been missing for 35 years.
• Star Trek: Discovery (streaming on Paramount+): In the series’ penultimate episode, directed by Trek veteran Jonathan Frakes, Capt. Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) leads a mission to retrieve the source of the Progenitors’ power from Moll (Eve Harlow) and the dastardly Breen.