‘Blue Bloods’ Final Episodes, Reba Serving Laughs at ‘Happy’s Place,’ Premieres of ‘S.W.A.T.,’ ‘Fire Country’ and ‘Shark Tank,’ Christmas at ‘La Maison’

Blue Bloods

The family that’s always on the right side of the law returns to finish up the long-running drama’s 14th and final season with the first of eight episodes. It’s a busy one, with senior ADA Erin (Bridget Moynahan) facing allegations of jury tampering in a case involving Danny (Donnie Wahlberg) and Baez (Marisa Ramirez) and a child murder witness who bonded with Eddie (Vanessa Ray). In other Reagan family news, Jamie (Will Estes) teams with nephew Joe Hill (Will Hochman) to find Jamie’s stolen car, and Police Commissioner Frank (Tom Selleck) can’t see eye to eye with Archbishop Kearns (Stacy Keach) in a debate about the death penalty.

Happy’s Place

Wherever Reba McEntire goes, it’s a happy place. That applies to her long-awaited return to the sitcom genre, 17 years after Reba closed shop in 2007. The current The Voice coach is right at home as Bobbie in this comedy set in the Knoxville tavern she recently inherited from her dad, only to learn that she’s sharing ownership with a 20something half-sister, Isabella (Belissa Escobedo), she never knew existed. Their edgy meet-cute occupies the pilot episode, which goes down easy thanks to Reba’s twangy charm, though her more volatile side shows through when “Red Thunder” Bobbie snaps, “I’m revved up and I don’t want to waste it!” Co-stars include Reba’s partner Rex Linn as the taciturn cook and her Reba colleague Melissa Peterman as the needy bartender, Gabby.

S.W.A.T.

The police drama that has twice bounced back from cancellation returns for Season 8 with a new 20-Squad team member: Devin Gamble (Annie Ilonzeh), who’s determined to shed the stigma of her crime-family background, though Commander Hicks (Patrick St. Esprit) has reservations. For team leader Hondo (Shemar Moore), who recruited her, not so much. Hondo and crew tackle a case that hits home for their leader when a group of students goes missing, along with their bus driver, who was once Hondo’s high school football coach.

Fire Country

Another season, another fiery calamity. Season 3 of the first-responder drama opens with a helicopter crash interrupting the wedding of Bode’s (Max Thieriot) ex, Gabriela (Stephanie Arcila), and Diego (Rafael de la Fuente). The firefighters spring into action, saying “I do” to danger, while Bode continues to figure out his new path.

Shark Tank

After five seasons of recurring guest appearances, KIND Snacks founder Daniel Lubetzky joins the sharks as a regular panelist for Season 16, hearing pitches alongside Mark Cuban, Barbara Corcoran, Lori Greiner, Robert Herjavec, Daymond John, and Kevin O’Leary. The season opener features products including mocktails made from mushrooms and a cardio-boosting app.

La Maison

The addictive French-language fashion-house drama celebrates Christmas in grand melodramatic style, gathering all of the disparate members of the Ledu family to deposed leader Vincent’s (Lambert Wilson) remote island retreat following his watery “accident.” The guest of honor: upstart family-adjacent member and new LEDU creative director Paloma (Zita Hanrot), who explains, “I need to know where I come from.” The answer isn’t pretty, because everyone else is burdened by secrets and hidden agendas, a number of which become exposed as gifts to the rapt audience. As one of the dysfunctional group observes: “Dry capon and domestic dispute, a little much for one evening.”

Disclaimer

Writer-director Alfonso Cuarón’s twisty drama drops two more chapters, with Catherine (Cate Blanchett) trying to contain the damage from the publication of The Perfect Stranger, while a narrator observes: “Your misguided belief that you had a right to silence has condemned you.” Flashbacks depict the trauma 20 years earlier when Stephen (Kevin Kline) and wife Nancy (a wrenching Lesley Manville) learn that their son Jonathan (Louis Partridge) died while on vacation at the French seaside. We also learn how Jonathan met his demise, following an erotic interlude.

INSIDE FRIDAY TV:

• Sweetpea (8/7c, Starz): The bloody psychodrama picks up on the morning after Rhiannon’s (Ella Purnell) impulsive first kill, as her panic turns into satisfaction when she digs into her victim’s past while pretending to report on the case. Murder has brought this mousy loner out of her shell.
• ’Twas the Date Before Christmas (8/7c, Hallmark Channel): The channel’s “Countdown to Christmas” kicks off with the first of 31 new holiday movies, starring Amy Groening as Jessie, who invites Bryan (Robert Buckley) to join her family’s “Christmas Olympics” after they meet on a dating app.
• Lopez vs. Lopez (8:30/7:30c, NBC): The sitcom’s third season opens with Mayan (Mayan Lopez) and Quinten (Matt Shively) determined to keep George (George Lopez) and Rosie (Selenis Leyva) from taking over their wedding planning.
• True Crime Watch: On Dateline NBC (9/8c), Andrea Canning and Dennis Murphy report the latest on the high-profile case of Karen Read, accused of killing her Boston police officer boyfriend John O’Keefe in 2022, and facing a new trial after an initial mistrial was declared.
• It’s Florida, Man. (11/10c, HBO): A wacky anthology inspired by allegedly true stories from the Sunshine State opens with Veep’s Sam Richardson as a guy needing quick cash who gets more than he bargained for in his latest very odd job, involving another man’s toes.

ON THE STREAM:

• Woman of the Hour (streaming on Netflix): Anna Kendrick directs and stars in the fact-based movie about an aspiring actress who appears on The Dating Game in the 1970s, unaware that one of the bachelors on the other side of the screen is a serial killer (Penny Dreadful: City of Angels’ Daniel Zovatto).
• Rivals (streaming on Hulu): David Tennant and Poldark’s Aidan Turner headline a cartoonish eight-part drama set in the world of 1980s British media, with scandals (“Naked Tennis!”) around every corner when a commercial-TV mogul (Tennant) poaches a BBC journalist (Turner) and spars with a lascivious politician (The Boys’ Alex Hassell).
• Hysteria (streaming on Peacock; Syfy and USA, 10:30/9:30c): Also set in the 1980s, an eight-part comedic thriller stars Julie Bowen, Anna Camp, and Bruce Campbell as adults caught up in the witch-hunt madness when a local high-school quarterback mysteriously disappears, and a teenage heavy-metal band capitalizes on the panic by pretending to be Satanists. Their plan doesn’t end well. Binge it on Peacock or watch weekly on USA.
• MaXXXine (streaming on Max): The ’80s trend continues with the streaming premiere of Ti West’s second sequel to X, starring Mia Goth as an adult-film star who lands in a Hollywood terrorized by a Night Stalker serial killer.
• Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara (streaming on Hulu): An investigative documentary follows the search for the hacker who invaded queer indie rock band Tegan and Sara’s personal files in a scheme to target their online community.
• The Devil’s Hour (streaming on Prime Video): Jessica Raine and Peter Capaldi return for a second season of the supernatural drama.