The Man Behind Pee-wee, Shutting the ‘Big Mouth,’ Couples Therapy, Memorial Day Movie Marathon

Pee-wee as Himself

Separating the artist from their art is especially tricky when, like the late Paul Reubens, the creator hides within his fabulous creation, adopting it as an alter ego. Filmmaker Matt Wolf rises to the challenge in a revealing, rewarding two-part documentary profile of Reubens (airing in one night), culling from 40-plus hours of on-camera interviews before his unexpected death at 70 in 2023. The film presents its subject as droll, witty and playfully combative, while creating a portrait of an entertainer who as a child was mesmerized by early children’s TV (Howdy Doody, Captain Kangaroo) and said, “I wanted to jump into my TV and live in that world.” He got his wish with the classic Pee-wee’s Playhouse, a joyride that was derailed when he was arrested in 1991 in an adult movie theater and lost his anonymity. (See the full review.)

Big Mouth

“It’s the end of a very gross era,” saith the hormone monsters as the raucous coming-of-age adult animated comedy comes to an end (with everything sounding like an innuendo) in the eighth and final season. Nick (co-creator and executive producer Nick Kroll) gets a major growth spurt amid his puberty, with the rest of his high-school buds awash in teen angst and unsavory misconduct as they try to survive adolescence. Holly Hunter joins the voice cast as a creature representing Compassion, with guests including Cynthia Erivo, Kristen Wiig, Quinta Brunson, Nathan Fillion, Steve Buscemi, and Natasha Lyonne.

Couples Therapy

Being a fly on the wall for psychologist/psychoanalyst Dr. Orna Guralnik’s fascinating and intimate sessions with couples in crisis can be unnerving but always illuminating. Season 4 resumes with three back-to-back episodes, featuring four new couples, including a deaf man and his hearing partner confronting commitment issues, and a writer coupled with a therapist, whose grievances lead the good doctor to reflect on her own methods.

The Best Years of Our Lives

All weekend long, through Monday’s holiday, the movie channel remembers the troops, their sacrifices and heroism, with film classics starting with The Best Years of Our Lives, winner of the 1947 Best Picture Oscar for its depiction of WWII veterans (including Oscar winners Fredric March and Harold Russell) returning to the home front. Overnight movies include the similarly themed Till the End of Time from 1946 (11/10c), 1945’s Pride of the Marines (1 am/12c) and 1955’s combat epic Battle Cry (3:15 am/2:15c). Prime-time highlights through the weekend include David Lean‘s 1957 The Bridge on the River Kwai (Sunday, 8/7c) and 1963’s The Great Escape (Monday, 8/7c).

Your Friends & Neighbors

In the penultimate episode of the dramedy’s first season — it’s already been renewed — Coop (Jon Hamm) faces personal and social fallout from his mortifying public arrest for a murder he didn’t commit. (His alibi that he was busy stealing from his obscenely well-off neighbors is something he can’t quite confess.) “I’m a little short of friends these days,” Coop admits as he joins Barney (Hoon Lee) and Nick (Mark Tallman), the guy who stole his wife, on a men’s night out. And things get ugly between Coop’s ex, Mel (Amanda Peet) and his former fling, Sam (Olivia Munn).

INSIDE FRIDAY TV:

• Around the Horn (5 pm/ET, ESPN): It’s the end of an era, as the sports debate/discussion show airs its final episode after a 23-year run.
• The Chi (8/7c, Paramount+ With Showtime): Scandal alert! Jake (Michael V. Epps) is in hot water after accidentally revealing his affair with pastor’s wife Tatiana (Cereyna Jade Bougouneau).
• The Greatest @Home Videos: Memorial Day Edition (8/7c, CBS): Cedric the Entertainer salutes the troops while presenting a selection of summertime viral videos.
• Girl from the North Country (9/8c, PBS): Great Performances presents a live capture of the Tony-winning musical that repurposes Bob Dylan songs for Conor McPherson’s Depression-era story set in a Minnesota guesthouse for wayward travelers.
• 20/20 (9/8c, ABC): The newsmagazine previews an upcoming Investigation Discovery documentary about Sherri Papini, the California mom who went missing in 2016 and lied to officials that she had been abducted.
• Off Script with The Hollywood Reporter (midnight/11c, 9 pm/PT, IFC, Streaming on AMC+): A new season of roundtable panels featuring Emmy contenders kicks off with stand-up comedians including Chelsea Handler, Jamie Foxx, Seth Meyers, Sarah Silverman, Roy Wood Jr., and Hasan Minhaj.

ON THE STREAM:

• Air Force Elite: Thunderbirds (streaming on Netflix): A documentary takes viewers inside the cockpit with the Air Force’s flight squadron during training and high-flying demonstrations.
• Fear Street: Prom Queen (streaming on Netflix): The fourth movie in the horror franchise based on R.L. Stine‘s books depicts bloody mayhem among the It Girls from the class of 1988 vying for Shadyside High prom royalty.
• Murderbot (streaming on Apple TV+): The comedic sci-fi thriller continues with the title bot (Alexander Skarsgård) accompanying an Away Team on a mission to learn why another research habitat has gone quiet. Does it enjoy its human company? Observe its inner thoughts: “I don’t have a stomach so I can’t throw up. But if I did, I would.”
• Fountain of Youth (streaming on Apple TV+): John Krasinski and Natalie Portman star in director Guy Ritchie‘s international action romp as an estranged brother and sister following clues, National Treasure-style, to discover the legendary Fountain of Youth.
• Worth the Wait (streaming on Tubi): An original romcom charts the intertwining relationships of four Asian American couples over an eventful year.
• The Surrender (streaming on Shudder): Bringing someone back from the dead rarely ends well, as a mother (Kate Burton) and daughter (The Boys‘ Colby Minifie) are about to learn in a nightmarish horror movie.
• The Last Showgirl (streaming on Hulu): Pamela Anderson was nominated for a SAG Award for her performance in this poignant drama about a veteran Las Vegas showgirl, making its streaming debut.
• Mickey 17 (streaming on Max): Also new to streaming: Bong Joon-ho‘s (Parasite) instant-cult sci-fi dark comedy starring Robert Pattinson as an “Expendable” space-colony worker who’s cloned each time he dies. The movie premieres on HBO Saturday at 7:40/6:40c.