Guillermo del Toro’s ‘Frankenstein,’ Vince Gilligan’s ‘Pluribus,’ Three Cheers for ‘Stumble,’ Making ‘Avatar’

Frankenstein

It’s alive — again! Mary Shelley’s Gothic classic receives its umpteenth film adaptation and receives new life through the visual imagination of Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro, who has long dreamed of this project. Borrowing the framework from Shelley and imagery from the iconic Universal movies that many associate with the legend, this version makes the soulful creature (Jacob Elordi, already getting Oscar buzz) even more human than its driven and doomed creator, Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac).

Pluribus

My idea of happiness: a new series from Vince Gilligan, a master of the fascinatingly offbeat since his early days writing memorable episodes of The X-Files before creating Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. In the sci-fi-infused Pluribus, he channels The Twilight Zone in the story of Carol, a cynical writer of romantasy (which she considers “mindless crap”) who suddenly finds herself in a mystifying, changed world where she’s the only one in a perpetually bad mood. As Carol, Saul‘s brilliant Rhea Seehorn goes through many stages of rage and grief as she rebels against what she sees as an Invasion of the Body Snatchers-style conformity, pledging to return the world to its imperfectly fractious state. Like so many of the best series, it’s impossible to predict where Pluribus is going from episode to episode, but that makes the ride all the more memorable. Launches with two episodes. Don’t miss it. (Read the full review.)

Stumble

NBC is becoming the network of the mockumentary. Having perfected the form in The Office, it will soon boast three comedies in that distinctive style: St. Denis Medical, the transfer of Peacock‘s Office offshoot The Paper (starting Monday), and this amusing send-up of competitive junior-college cheerleading teams. The spirited Jenn Lyon (Claws) gets the star vehicle many have long anticipated as determined Texas coach Courteney Potter. Forced out of her job at the championship Sammy Davis Senior Junior College, Courteney lands at the underdog Heådltston State Junior College in Oklahoma, where she assembles a motley crew whom she’ll try to inspire with her motto, “I can, I will, I must.” Taran Killam (High Potential) costars as her loving spouse, a football coach nursing a longtime head injury, with Kristin Chenoweth as her diminutive nemesis, Tammy Istiny (her surname a short-person’s joke), a former assistant coach who tries in vain not to gloat at her mentor’s misfortune. Think of this as The Bad News Bears with pom-poms.

Fire and Water: Making the Avatar Films

“Nothing about water is ever easy,” says filmmaker James Cameron, who took on one of the greatest challenges in his illustrious career with his Oscar-winning Avatar sequel The Way of Water, finding new ways to achieve performance capture underwater, among other innovations. A two-part documentary details the methods used to fuse cutting-edge technology with imagination, featuring actors including Sigourney Weaver, Kate Winslet and Zoe Saldaña marveling at what it took to pull off extended underwater scenes. Winslet calls it “the most extreme version of imagining. It was easier imagining an iceberg passing by (in Titanic).” The special features glimpses of the next sequel, Avatar: Fire & Ash, opening in theaters on December 19.

Power Book IV: Force

The third and final season of the Power spinoff once again focuses on the rise of Chicago crime boss Tommy Egan (Joseph Sikora) as he seeks to become the city’s dominant drug kingpin. Won’t be easy with the feds and the Marquez Cartel squeezing him from both sides. But many have learned not to bet against lone wolf Tommy, the self-proclaimed “Santy Claus of powder.”

INSIDE FRIDAY TV:

• Happy’s Place (8/7c, NBC): The sitcom returns for its second season, with Isabella (Belissa Escobedo) deciding three’s a crowd after being kept up late by Emmett’s (Rex Linn) nightly visits to Bobbie (Reba McEntire).
• Gold Rush (8/7c, Discovery): The miners are hoping for their greatest payday yet as the reality series returns for its 16th season.
• Mistletoe Murders (8/7c, Hallmark Channel): The cozy mystery kicks off its second season with back-to-back episodes, as sleuthing shop owner Emily Lane (Sarah Drew) teams with Detective Sam Wilner (Peter Mooney) to investigate the disappearance of the school’s chess coach.
• Sheriff Country (8/7c, CBS): Being the town sheriff, Mickey (Morena Baccarin) recuses herself from the murder case in which her daughter Skye (Amanda Arcuri) is the prime suspect. But that won’t stop her from doing her own off-the-books investigation. Followed by a new episode of Fire Country (9/8c).
• True Crime Watch: On Dateline NBC (9/8c), Andrea Canning reports on the disappearance of Kentucky mother-of-five Crystal Rogers over the July 4 weekend in 2015. ABC‘s 20/20 (9/8c) explores the 2008 murder of Army nurse Holley Lynn James in North Carolina.
• Great Performances: Tiler Peck: Suspending Time (9/8c, PBS): A documentary follows New York City Ballet prima ballerina Tiler Peck over six years as she faces professional and personal crossroads.
• My Lottery Dream Home (9/8c, HGTV): David Bromstad returns with new episodes, finding luxury homes for lucky clients.
• Ready to Love (9/8c, OWN): The dating show motors to Detroit for its 11th season.
• Vantara: Sanctuary Stories (9/8c, Animal Planet): Biologist Forrest Galante travels to India to guide viewers through Vantara, the world’s largest wildlife rescue and rehabilitation sanctuary, which is otherwise closed to the public for the sake of the animals.
• The UnBelievable With Dan Aykroyd (9/8c, History Channel): Believe it or not, the Saturday Night Live alum launches the third season of the stranger-than-fiction series with accounts of swarming sinister clowns, stone-throwing apes, and skies that rain ferocious birds.
• Boston Blue (10/9c, CBS): Danny (Donnie Wahlberg) and Lena (Sonequa Martin-Green) investigate a shop owner’s murder while her family gathers to honor her stepfather Ben Silver on the one-year anniversary of his murder.

 ON THE STREAM:

• Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale (streaming on Peacock): Visit the Crawley family and their beloved staff in the 1930s in what for now is the final installment in the series’ movie spinoffs, making its streaming debut.
• Materialists (streaming on HBO Max): Director-writer Celine Song‘s romantic comedy makes its streaming debut, starring Dakota Johnson as a matchmaker in a romantic triangle with her cater-waiter ex (Chris Evans) and a dashing millionaire (Pedro Pascal). The film premieres Saturday on HBO at 8/7c.
• Maxton Hall — The World Between Us (streaming on Prime Video): The steamy German romantic drama, a global hit, returns for a second season with new complications in the relationship of Oxford students Ruby (Harriet Herbig-Matten) and James (Damian Hardung).
• Abraham’s Boys: A Dracula Story (streaming on Shudder): Bosch‘s Titus Welliver is Dracula foe Abraham Van Helsing in an adaptation of Joe Hill’s short story, focusing on Van Helsing’s offspring, Max (Brady Hepner) and Rudy (Judah Mackey), who become aware of their father’s dark legacy after the family moves to 1915 California.