‘The Morning Show’ and ‘Gen V’ Return, New Generation of Chefs, ‘Family Law’ Finale

The Morning Show

Two years have passed since Season 3 of the Emmy-winning drama, both in real life and in the fictional world of UBN, the network that emerged from the merger of UBA and NBN. Stella (Greta Lee) is CEO, having replaced Cory (Billy Crudup), now a movie producer micromanaging Hollywood egos. Alex (Jennifer Aniston) juggles corporate and journalistic duties, while the post-scandal Bradley (Reese Witherspoon) bides her time in West Virginia. The new season opens in the shadow of the forthcoming Paris Olympics, an $8 billion investment that Alex puts in jeopardy when she helps facilitate an international incident.

Gen V

Wednesday‘s Nevermore Academy has competition, because school is back in session at the gruesomely entertaining spinoff of The Boys, where Godolkin University’s sinister new Dean Cipher (Hamish Linklater) is emphasizing a curriculum of superhero optimization: “My job is to push your powers to their fullest potential,” he tells the restless undergrads. The grisly tone is set early in a 1967 flashback that’s one of the grossest scenes of carnage in recent memory. As exiled students Emma (Lizze Broadway), Jordan (Derek Luh and London Thor) and fugitive Marie (Jaz Sinclair) tentatively return to campus, the stage is set for more extracurricular mayhem. Launches with three episodes.

Next Gen Chef

“Feels like Hogwarts for cooking,” says one of the 21 contestants who arrive at the Culinary Institute of America, the prestigious setting for a cooking competition that reveals a new wave of potential future top chefs. “It’s a chance to find a chef who defines their generation,” says host Olivia Culpo, introducing the field of under-30 hopefuls who take on challenges to prepare food for esteemed judges including Iron Chef‘s Cat Cora, Daniel Boulud, Thomas Keller, Top Chef Season 1 winner Harold Dieterle and the late Anne Burrell. Launches with seven episodes, with the finale streaming next Wednesday on September 24.

Family Law

The Canadian legal drama closes out its fourth season with back-to-back episodes. In the first, Abby (Jewel Staite) defends Lucy (Genelle Williams) against her former boss, who’s suing Lucy for advising her to call off her wedding while on the air. In the season finale, Harry (Victor Garber) argues on behalf of a former addict seeking custody of his child who was born while he was in prison. Meanwhile, Harry’s kids contemplate a future beyond the Svensson & Svensson firm.

Platonic

Seth Rogen had his Best Night Ever at the Emmys this weekend, and his roll of good fortune continues with this more modestly scaled comedy in which he stars opposite Rose Byrne as Will and Sylvia, best friends who aren’t always the best influence for each other. For once, Will could be the key to Sylvia’s success when she accepts a gig to plan a party for an insufferable TV star (Milo Manheim) who’s a big fan of Will’s brand of bro brewpubs. While Sylvia learns to swallow her pride around this jerk, her husband Charlie (Luke Macfarlane) is still stuck in mental meltdown mode, pursuing an unlikely ambition to become the next John Grisham with a legal hero named Brett Coyote. Also on Apple TV+: the series finale of Acapulco.

INSIDE WEDNESDAY TV:

• MasterChef: Dynamic Duos (8/7c, Fox): Two heads need to be better than one when the top 3 duos create a three-course menu in hopes of winning the quarter-million grand prize in the two-hour season finale.
• America’s Got Talent (8/7c, NBC): Find out which six acts from Tuesday night’s live show earned enough votes to advance to next week’s finals.
• Human (9/8c, PBS): Paleoanthropologist Ella Al-Shamahi traces the origins of the homo sapiens species in a wide-ranging five-part documentary series.
• Sin City Rehab (9/8c, HGTV): Windy City Rehab‘s Alison Victoria heads to Las Vegas to expand her design business, tangling with a contractor in the series premiere while tackling a treehouse-themed rotunda.
• Elio (streaming on Disney+): Pixar’s whimsical animated comedy about a space-obsessed boy’s extraterrestrial adventures makes its streaming debut.