The Beach Boys, Jennifer Lopez in ‘Atlas,’ Leslie Odom Jr. in ‘Purlie Victorious,’ Slimming Down in ‘South Park’

Documentary Premiere

What better curtain raiser for summer than a documentary charting the history of the band whose harmonies and lyrics defined the California culture of the 1960s, with riffs on little deuce coupes, surfing and all-around good vibrations. Vintage footage and new interviews with founding members Brian Wilson, Mike Love and Al Jardine bring context to a seminal journey through early rock ’n’ roll, with commentary from industry fans including Lindsey Buckingham, Don Was, Ryan Tedder and Janelle Monáe. The film explores the tortured genius of Brian Wilson, the band’s competition with The Beatles and their musical evolution with groundbreaking recordings like Pet Sounds.

Movie Premiere

Jennifer Lopez stars in a sci-fi thriller that Scarlett Johansson (who’s taken on OpenAI for mimicking her voice) might appreciate. J. Lo shifts gears from music superstar to action hero as Atlas Shepherd, a data analyst with a deep distrust of AI, especially a program known as Harlan (embodied by Simu Liu), which seems intent on wiping out humanity. When Atlas goes into space on a mission that goes sideways, she’s forced to bond with a computer program known only as Smith (voiced by Gregory James Cohan) to survive.

Special

Great Performances presents a spirited revival of Ossie Davis’s uproarious 1961 stage comedy in a production currently nominated for six Tony Awards, captured live during its Broadway run at the Music Box Theatre from September 2023 to February 2024. Among the nominees: director Kenny Leon and stars Leslie Odom Jr. (a Tony winner for Hamilton) and Kara Young. Odom plays the title role, a feisty Black preacher who returns home to Georgia, scheming to win back his inheritance and church from the crooked plantation owner Ol’ Cap’n Cotchipee (the hilariously blustery Jay O. Sanders). His plan involves disguising the unsophisticated Lutiebelle Gussie Mae Jenkins (scene-stealer Young) as his deceased Cousin Bee, a slapstick subterfuge that goes about as well as you’d expect.

Special

Nothing is sacred to this unfiltered animated comedy, presenting its seventh streaming special. South Park’s latest target: the weight-loss craze exemplified by Ozempic, which takes the Colorado town by storm. But when the infamously rotund Cartman is denied access to the wonder drug, all you-know-what is about to break loose.

INSIDE FRIDAY TV:

• The Caine Mutiny (8/7c, Turner Classic Movies): A weekend-long marathon of war-related films in honor of Memorial Day begins with the 1954 drama starring an Oscar-nominated Humphrey Bogart as the paranoid Captain Queeg. Followed by Oliver Stone’s Best Picture Oscar-winning 1986 Platoon(10:15/9:15c), set amid the harrowing chaos of Vietnam.
• 100 Days to Indy (9/8c, The CW): In advance of Sunday’s Indianapolis 500, the behind-the-scene docuseries profiles two racers: local fan favorite Conor Daly, who yearns to win; and veteran Scott Dixon, six-time Indy Car Series champ and 2008 Indy 500 winner who seeks another victory to add to his legacy.
• Lingo (9/8c, CBS): A new T-W-I-S-T in the word-guessing game, hosted by RuPaul Charles, allows each episode’s winner to continue to play in the next game, allowing for bigger payoffs and longer streaks. Season 2 kicks off with back-to-back episodes.

ON THE STREAM:

• The Great American Baking Show (streaming on The Roku Channel): Prue Leith and Paul Hollywood (The Great British Bake Off) are the judges, with hosts Casey Wilson and Zach Cherry, for an Americanized version of the beloved baking competition.
• Print It Black (streaming on Hulu): From ABC News, a documentary revisits the tragic Uvalde school massacre from the perspective of the local Uvalde Leader-News newspaper and its reporter Kimberly Rubio, whose 10-year-old daughter Lexi was among the victims.
• Destination Heaven (streaming on Great American Pure Flix): Harry Lennix (The Blacklist) stars as God in a faith-based series in which the Almighty helps steer good Samaritans to look even deeper within themselves.
• RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars (streaming on Paramount+): The drag stars impersonate celebs for a new round of “Snatch Game of Love,” which takes a turn when two of the queens want to play the same character. Brazilian pop star Anitta is the guest judge.
• Doctor Who (streaming on Disney+): Another fantastical episode written by Russell T. Davies separates The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) from Ruby (Millie Gibson) during a visit to Wales, where the Companion begins to be stalked by a mysterious figure keeping a 73-yard distance.
• Jurassic World: Chaos Theory (streaming on Netflix): A sequel to the animated Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous spinoff picks up six years after the “Nublar Six” survived their ordeal, only to find themselves once again on the run from a conspiracy threatening dinosaurs as well as humans.
• Mulligan (streaming on Netflix): The adult animated satire returns with the hapless President Mulligan (Nat Faxon) and his motley crew of survivors trying to salvage an Earth ravaged by alien invaders.