Heartfelt Dilemma on ‘Transplant,’ Syfy’s ‘Revival,’ Long Con on ‘Poker Face,’ Arnold’s Back in ‘FUBAR’

Transplant

What’s a good doctor to do? It’s a good-news, bad-news situation for Mags (Laurence Leboeuf), who barely got to celebrate the news of her prized fellowship at York Memorial when she learned there was a long-awaited heart available to replace her weak ticker. As she weighs her career ambitions against her health issues, and faces coming clean about the conflict to her hospital superiors, Bash (Hamza Haq) is there to support her. If only he weren’t experiencing troubling blackouts, not a good thing for an ER resident.

Revival

Wynonna Earp‘s Melanie Scrofano stars in an offbeat variation of the “what if the dead came back to life” premise (most memorably, and hauntingly, dramatized in the French series Les Revenants or The Returned, and to a lesser degree in ABC‘s Resurrection). After a jolting prologue in which a corpse “revives” during a cremation, the series (based on a comic) generically jumps forward 35 days after “revival day” as the small Wisconsin town of Wausau continues to assess the meaning of this miracle. Any sense of awe and metaphysical wonder is initially sidelined as single-mom police officer Dana Cypress (Scrofano), whose exodus from Wausau was stymied by a post-revival lockdown, investigates mutilations that are seemingly related to the now invulnerable “revivers.” JAG alum David James Elliott costars as Dana’s dad and hard-liner police chief, with Romy Weltman her drug-addicted younger sister Em, who has her own issues with the phenomenon.

Poker Face

Another fabulous caper features John Cho as a seasoned con man whose path crosses that of human lie detector Charlie (Natasha Lyonne), who as usual sees right through the crook. But that’s not where the story ends, as he embroils her in his grift and you might wonder who’s conning who. Yellowjackets‘ Melanie Lynskey memorably appears as one of the smooth-talking shyster’s marks.

FUBAR

As promised, he’s back — Arnold Schwarzenegger, that is, once again spoofing his action-hero persona in Season 2 of the silly slapstick spy comedy as CIA spook Luke Brunner, who postponed his retirement upon learning his daughter Emma (Monica Barbaro) was also an undercover agent. Now living in a crowded safe house under witness protection after the events of last season, the Brunners (and their assorted exes and quirky team members) emerge from hiding to take on a shadowy terrorist targeting the world’s power grid. The pursuit brings Luke in very close contact with Greta (a game Carrie-Anne Moss), a former East German spy and femme fatale who’s eager to tango with her adversary.

Alone

A new locale, the Great Karoo Desert of South Africa, challenges a group of 10 survivalists in one of TV’s most grueling reality competitions, now in its 12th season. With just 10 basic tools and a camera to self-record their adventures, the players battle the elements and exotic wildlife including warthogs, Cape buffalo, scorpions, wildebeest and other predators. A Before the Drop special, introducing the new cast, airs at 8/7c.

INSIDE THURSDAY TV:

• Bob’s Burgers (8/7c, Fox): An all-new night of animation kicks off with Tina and the Thundergirls spending a scary night in the woods.
• Top Chef (9/8c, Bravo): Season 22 ends with the final three chefs preparing a progressive four-course meal for celebrity diners including Top Chef veterans Richard Blais and Gregory Gourdet.
• Welcome to Wrexham (9/8c, FX): With promotion once again on the line, the soccer club considers the futures of strikers Paul Mullin and Ollie Palmer.
• Secrets of the Bunny Ranch (9/8c, A&E): A docuseries explores the darker side of the infamous Moonlite Bunny Ranch brothel in Nevada.

ON THE STREAM:

• Love Island UK (streaming on Hulu): If Peacock’s USA version somehow leaves you wanting more, the 12^th season of the U.K. original offers daily doses of the hook-up show, set in a Mallorca villa.
• Criminal Minds: Evolution (streaming on Paramount+): Voit aka serial-killer mastermind Sicarius (Zach Gilford) comes face to face with one of his murderous acolytes, while the BAU team pursues another dastardly villain (Nikita‘s Aaron Stanford) from the network. Geoff Stults guests as a dapper AUSA who goes way back with Tara’s (Aisha Tyler) DOJ sweetheart Rebecca (Nicole Pacent).
• American Thunder: NASCAR to Le Mans (streaming on Prime Video): A sports documentary captures the excitement when the 24 Hours of Le Mans race invited NASCAR to enter an American stock car in 2023.
• Deep Cover (streaming on Prime Video): Bryce Dallas Howard stars in an action comedy as an improv teacher coaching two of her students (Orlando Bloom and Ted Lasso‘s Nick Mohammed) to go undercover as faux criminals to infiltrate London’s gang underworld.
• And Just Like That… (9 pm/ET, Max): Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) takes a speaking gig in Virginia to get closer to Aidan (John Corbett), while Charlotte (Kristin Davis) works the late-night party circuit to make connections and Seema (Sarita Choudhury) faces a career crossroads
• Duster (9 pm/ET, streaming on Max): FBI agent Nina (Rachel Hilson) goes undercover as a Russian interpreter, bringing her in the closest contact yet with her target, Saxton (Keith David). Her reluctant accomplice, Saxton’s mob driver Jim (Josh Holloway), finds himself in the middle of a runaway-bride caper at the wedding of mob rival Sal the Greek’s daughter.