John and Yoko in New York, an Animated Dreamscape, ‘Twelfth Night’ in Central Park, a French Seduction

A documentary profiles John Lennon and Yoko Ono after they moved to New York City in the early 1970s. Dreams come alive in the animated family comedy In Your Dreams. Lupita Nyong’o leads a starry cast in a Central Park production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Sex is a weapon is the French-language The Seduction, a new adaptation of Les Liaisons Dangereuses.

John Lennon, with Yoko Ono at London's Heathrow Airport ca. 1969
Everett Collection

One to One: John & Yoko

Documentary Premiere

As the Beatles once sang, all you need is love. And for John Lennon, no longer a member of the disbanded group, that meant moving to New York City with Yoko Ono in the early 1970s, initially settling into a small Greenwich Village apartment. A documentary directed by Oscar winner Kevin Macdonald (One Day in September) relives those halcyon days when the couple would consume hours of American TV, eventually being moved to perform a “One to One” free benefit concert in 1972 at Madison Square Garden, Lennon’s only full-length solo gig. Their son Sean Ono Lennon produced and remixed the soundtrack for this intimate portrait.

'In Your Dreams' Netflix
Netflix

In Your Dreams

Movie Premiere

A colorful animated fantasy comedy from director Alex Woo and Erik Benson follows squabbling siblings Stevie (Jolie Hoang-Rappaport) and Elliot (Elias Janssen) on a surreal nocturnal adventure when they find themselves living inside their dreams, searching for the Sandman, who they believe could make their broken family whole again. Simu Liu and Cristin Milioti provide the voices of their parents, with Craig Robinson offering comic relief as the long-lost stuffed giraffe, Baloney Tony.

Junior Nyong'o, Lupita Nyong’o, Peter Dinklage in 'Great Performances: Twelfth Night'
Joseph Sinnott

Great Performances

The Shakespeare classic of mistaken identity gets a vibrant new reinterpretation in a Great Performances presentation of the production that reopened the iconic Delacorte Theater this summer in New York’s Central Park. Lupita Nyong’o stars opposite her brother Junior as twins Viola and Sebastian, separated in a shipwreck. Complications ensue when Viola, disguised as a man named Cesario, falls for Duke Orsino (Khris Davis), whose wooing of Countess Olivia (Sandra Oh) takes a turn when Olivia is attracted to the faux Cesario. The starry cast includes Peter Dinklage as Olivia’s vain steward, Malvolio, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson as another hapless suitor, Andrew Aguecheek.

Anamaria Vartolomei, Diane Kruger, Lucas Bravo in 'The Seduction' on HBO
Caroline Dubois / HBO

The Seduction

Series Premiere

HBO’s first French-language production is a loose and sexually lurid six-part adaptation of the oft-filmed Les Liaisons Dangereuses — or, if you will, “Dangerous Liaisons” — this time told largely from the perspective of the ill-used and vengeful Isabelle (Anamaria Vartolomei). After becoming the Marquise de Merteuil in a match made for power and not for love, Isabelle plots to destroy those libertines in the decadent 18th-century French court who recruited her into this perverse societal game. Diane Kruger costars as her cunning mentor, Madame de Rosemonde, with Vincent Lacoste as the scheming Vicomte de Valmont and Lucas Bravo (Emily in Paris) as Valmont’s rival, Gercourt.

Carice van Houten, Jack Whitehall, David Duchovny, Raza Jaffrey, and Christine Adams in 'Malice'
Amazon Prime Video

Malice

Series Premiere

Much like The Seduction, the title says it all in this glossy six-part melodrama of retribution, starring The X-Files alum David Duchovny as Jamie Tanner, a smug venture capitalist who unwittingly lets the wrong man insinuate himself into his family’s once-charmed life. Jack Whitehall costars as the outwardly charming tutor Adam, who targets Jamie and his wife, Nat (Carice Van Houten), while on a lavish Greek holiday. Once back home in London, Adam’s machinations threaten to tear the Tanners apart.

Rhea Seehorn — 'Pluribus'
Apple TV

Pluribus

It’s almost impossible to tease what happens next as Carol (Rhea Seehorn), immune from the strange force that turned most of the rest of the world into smiling Stepford pod people, continues to resist the entreaties of her fellow Albuquerque citizens. “Is there anything we can do to cheer you up?” they beseech her. Not likely.

INSIDE FRIDAY TV:

  • Happy’s Place (8/7c, NBC): Bobbie (Reba McEntire) is getting mixed signals from Emmett (Rex Linn) after their kiss — but that’s because he doesn’t know how or whether to tell her his big secret.
  • Sheriff Country (8/7c, CBS): Fire Country‘s Kevin Alejandro drops by as Manny, while Sheriff Mickey (Morena Baccarin) and Deputy Boone (Matt Lauria) race to protect a witness. Followed by Fire Country (9/8c), where the crew recruits civilians to stop the spread of a fire at a local drive-in movie theater.
  • Stumble (8:30/7:30c, NBC): After the disaster at the Show Off, Courteney (Jenn Lyon) hopes she can recruit new talent for her underdog cheer squad during Media Day.
  • The Last Woodsmen (9/8c, Discovery): Pacific Northwest logger Jared Douglas returns for the rugged reality series’ second season.
  • 20/20 (9/8c, ABC): JuJu Chang reports on the decades-long search for the person who murdered Fresno State student Debbie Dorian in 1996.

ON THE STREAM:

  • Nouvelle Vague (streaming on Netflix): Director Richard Linklater pays homage to cinema’s French New Wave in a movie recreating the making of Jean-Luc Godard’s (Guillaume Marbeck) 1960 classic Breathless.
  • A Very Jonas Christmas Movie (streaming on Disney+): The Jonas Brothers (Kevin, Joe, and Nick) star in a holiday comedy that keeps throwing up obstacles in their quest to travel from London to New York to be with their families.
  • LEGO Marvel Avengers: Strange Tails (streaming on Disney+): An animated two-parter pits Hawkeye and the Avengers against evil influencers on social media.
  • Skit (streaming on Tubi): A farcical indie comedy spoofs the efforts of three female college students who are desperate to produce the next hot viral YouTube video.
  • Come See Me in the Good Light (streaming on Apple TV): A poignant documentary depicts the journey and love story of poets Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley after Andrea is diagnosed with incurable cancer.
  • Eddington (streaming on HBO Max): Writer-director Ari Aster‘s polarizing Western farce set in 2020 New Mexico during the pandemic makes its streaming debut. The movie premieres on HBO Saturday at 8/7c.
  • Nobody 2 (streaming on Peacock): Also making its streaming debut: the action-thriller sequel starring Better Call Saul‘s Bob Odenkirk as an assassin taking on bullies and other bad guys while on a family tourist vacation.
  • The Creep Tapes (streaming on Shudder): The Morning Show‘s Mark Duplass is executive producer and star of the gruesome series, now in its second season, that reveals videotapes of a socially unhinged serial killer.