Judging ‘Elsbeth,’ ‘Jackal’ Finale, Ray Romano and Lisa Kudrow Lead ‘No Good Deed,’ Billboard Music Awards

Elsbeth

Who’s having more fun than Carrie Preston and Michael Emerson playing off of each other? Maybe the viewers, but it’s a close call. The married couple, who have shared the screen before on shows including Lost and Claws, are clearly having a ball as adversaries on the quirky crime dramedy. As their story arc begins, Emerson plays haughty judge Milton Crawford, in whose courtroom Elsbeth (Preston) becomes a reluctant juror for a murder trial in which the judge has a distinct but secret conflict of interest. Her spidey sense that something’s fishy leads to conflict with the injudicious jurist, and all Elsbeth really wants is to spend more time with her visiting son, Teddy (the appealing Ben Levi Ross).

The Day of the Jackal

The riveting espionage thriller about the international chameleon assassin known as the Jackal (Eddie Redmayne) ends its first season with two edge-of-the-seat episodes. The Jackal regroups when his target, tech visionary UDC (Khalid Abdalla), retreats to his private Croatian island, while MI6 agent Bianca (Lashana Lynch) is stymied by superiors in her quest to find and take down her most elusive prey. Both cat and mouse are distracted by personal matters, with Jackal pressed by wife Nuria (Úrsala Corberó) to come clean about his dirty profession. Should he complete his mission, will he even have a home to come back to?

No Good Deed

From Liz Feldman, creator of Dead to Me, comes another twisted tale of upscale suburban malaise, although the blend of dark comedy and raw emotion rarely gels in this well-cast if unwieldy melodrama. Comedy masters Ray Romano and Lisa Kudrow emote effectively as Paul and Lydia Morgan, a damaged couple who are putting their desirable L.A. home in the Los Feliz neighborhood on the market, an inherited family residence haunted by a tragedy three years earlier. Complications arise as they reckon with secrets from the past, while the eight-part series also tracks their prospective buyers: Abbi Jacobson and Poppy Liu as Leslie and Sarah, a prosecutor and doctor hoping to start a family, and newlyweds Dennis (O-T Fagbenle) and the pregnant Carla (Teyonah Parris), whose bliss is overshadowed by his clinging mother (Anna Maria Horsford). Across the street lurks a washed-up soap actor (Luke Wilson) and his spoiled wife (Linda Cardellini), who’ve also got designs on the house. Underused: Linda Lavin as their nosy neighbor, who rightly senses something’s not quite right on their fancy block.

Billboard Music Awards

Michelle Buteau hosts the annual awards show, returning to Fox (its original broadcast home) for the first time since 2006. Top finalists include Zach Bryan (with 18 nominations) and Taylor Swift (with 17 in 16 categories), who’s poised to surpass Drake this year with the most wins ever. Announced performers include Coldplay, Jelly Roll, Shaboozey, Megan Moroney, Stray Kids, Teddy Swims, Tyla, Seventeen, and regional Mexican band Fuerza Regida.

Matlock

The procedural elements in this legal dramedy (so not a reboot) are enjoyable, but what distinguishes Matlock is its depiction of the emotional toll her secret mission is taking on the so-called Matty Matlock (Kathy Bates). She’s temporarily reassigned to the kids’ table with Sarah (Leah Lewis) and a heartbroken Billy (David Del Rio) to help defend a nanny against charges brought by the Mean Moms at the posh school attended by Olympia’s (Skye P. Marshall) and Julian’s (Jason Ritter) kids. But she’s also trying to get her hands on a potentially smoking-gun document for her anti-Big Pharma crusade, and once again, it means making a choice between duty and family.

INSIDE THURSDAY TV:

• All I Need for Christmas (8/7c, Hallmark Channel): A winter romance brews between Maggie (Mallory Jansen), a singer/songwriter stumped by new media, and tech entrepreneur Archer (Dan Jeannotte), who helps her realize her musical dreams.
• June (8/7c, CMT): A documentary, which premiered earlier this year on Paramount+, profiles legendary country singer and songwriter June Carter Cash.
• Ghosts (8:30/7:30c, CBS): Sitcom vet Mark-Linn Baker returns as obnoxious neighbor Henry Farnsby, who moves into the haunted B&B when Sam (Rose McIver) inadvertently causes a rift between the couple next door.
• E! News Presents NBC’s Hot 10 of 2024 (9:15/8:15c, NBC): A countdown of the year’s top entertainment moments.

 ON THE STREAM:

• Paris & Nicole: The Encore (streaming on Peacock): The comedic reality-TV glamazons Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie (The Simple Life) reunite for a three-part romp in which they attempt to transform their musical catchphrase “Sanasa” into an opera. Whatevs.
• Bookie (streaming on Max): Sebastian Maniscalco returns for a second season of Chuck Lorre and Nick Bakay’s dark comedy about an embattled California bookie.
• Happy Holidays from Cherry Lane (streaming on Hallmark+): The second film in the Cherry Lane trilogy features Christmas stories set at the same address in 1960 (with Benjamin Ayres and Erica Durance as Eli and Penny, taking in his curmudgeonly dad for the holidays), 1998 (starring The Good Witch’s Catherine Bell and James Denton as Regina and Nelson, whose meet-cute occurs during a Christmas Eve blizzard), and 2015 (with Julie Gonzalo as Jessie, who’s planning her sister’s Christmas Eve wedding when she learns that her high-school sweetheart, played by Ryan Rottman, is the officiant).
• Also on Hallmark+: the finale of Finding Mr. Christmas and the three-episode premiere of Ready, Set, Glow!, with host Wes Brown revealing the personal stories behind spectacular holiday lights displays across the USA.
• Too Many Christmases (streaming on BET+): Denzel Whitaker and Porscha Coleman are Jerome and Kayla, whose first Christmas together becomes a juggling act when they decide to attend their respective families’ celebrations at the same time.
• Monkey on a Stick: Murder, Madness & The Hare Krishnas (streaming on Sundance Now): A two-part docuseries exposes allegations of drug smuggling, sexual exploitation and more crimes within the Hare Krishna movement of the 1970s and ’80s.
• Listen Up! (streaming on Viaplay): A charming coming-of-age comedy follows Mahmoud (Mohammed Ahmed), a teenager in a Norwegian immigrant community outside of Oslo, as he welcomes his uncle from Pakistan while dealing with his younger brother’s life-changing secret.