‘Stranger Things’ Final Season, Updated ‘Beatles Anthology,’ Reaching Their Limits on ‘Survivor’ and ‘Race,’ Breaking Down the Louvre Heist

Stranger Things

We’ve been waiting three years for the popular horror-fantasy adventure to return, but only a fraction of that time has passed in beleaguered Hawkins, Indiana, when the fifth and final season opens with four episodes. (Three more will drop on Christmas evening, with the series finale scheduled for New Year’s Eve. Strange, I know.) In the wake of Season 4’s explosive finale, the town has been put under military quarantine in the fall of 1987, with sinister government forces still on the hunt for the powerful Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), while the rest of her group of young misfit heroes gird themselves for the next battle against the forces of Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) from the terrifying Upside Down. The series, which meshes Stephen King-style scares with Spielbergian nostalgia and wonder, is now foremost a thrill ride, with Vecna (not unlike It‘s Pennywise) taking new forms to recruit new victims to his terrible lair.

The Beatles Anthology 2025

The Fab Four are immortalized in this expansive docuseries, first shown to great acclaim in 1995 on ABC. Now restored and remastered, this hagiography of the influential rock band takes them from their early days in gritty Liverpool to the height of 1960s Beatlemania through their heavily publicized breakup and beyond. The series drops with three episodes daily through Friday, when a new ninth chapter premieres, featuring more behind-the-scenes footage of surviving members Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison (before his death in 2001) reflecting on the Beatles’ legendary history during the making of Anthology and paying tribute to the late John Lennon (who was killed in 1980). We’ll always love them, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Survivor

No one said it would be easy, and sure enough, with only a few episodes remaining, several of the castaways have hit their breaking point of exhaustion. One of the tribemates is rattled for being left out of the vote at the last tribal council, and another epic blindside is just around the corner. Followed by The Amazing Race (9:30/8:30c), where heat exhaustion is also a factor for one of the teams, who struggle to finish a leg in Milan, Italy, where another team is disadvantaged when they fall an hour behind the pack.

Louvre Heist: Minute by Minute

Some criminal acts are so brazen that they capture the world’s attention. Such was the case on October 19, when thieves dressed as construction workers entered the fabled Louvre Museum in Paris in broad daylight, snatching crown jewels worth over $100 million and exiting in less than eight minutes. A documentary special breaks down the robbery with graphic reconstructions, eyewitness testimony, and forensic analysis for a detailed look at how the caper was planned and why flaws in the execution led to the capture of several of the alleged perpetrators, though the location of the jewels remains a mystery.

Down Cemetery Road

How resourceful is private eye Zoë Boehm (the deliciously tart Emma Thompson)? In the most suspenseful episode to date in the thriller series based on Mick Herron‘s (Slow Horses) novel, Zoë finds herself trapped on a train to Glasgow with Amos (Fehinti Balogun), the relentless loose-cannon assassin. A nail-biting cat-and-mouse standoff ensues, leading Zoë to warn the much more amateur Sarah (Ruth Wilson), who’s stumbling her way ever closer to the truth of a major conspiracy, “Whether by accident or by being pretty f***ing brave, you have found your way to the heart of something huge, that actually does go all the way to the top.” Or over the top, if you will.

INSIDE WEDNESDAY TV:

• NBA Tripleheader (5 pm/ET, ESPN): What ESPN is calling the first-ever Thanksgiving Eve tripleheader begins with the Boston Celtics hosting the Detroit Pistons. Followed by a game between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Oklahoma City Thunder (7:30 pm/ET) and ending with the Houston Rockets vs. the Golden State Warriors (10 pm/ET).
• Countdown to Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (8/7c, NBC): A more longstanding Thanksgiving Eve tradition is on display with Melissa Peterman (Happy’s Place) hosting a preview of the iconic parade with backstories of the balloons, floats and bands and interviews with performers Jewel, Gavin DeGraw and Colbie Caillat.
• Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent (8/7c, The CW): While investigating the murder of a hip-hop star, detectives Graff (Aden Young) and Bateman (Kathleen Munroe) begin to suspect the work of a serial killer.
• The Rocky Mountain Mortician Murder (8/7c, Investigation Discovery): A three-part true-crime docuseries, airing in its entirety, unpacks the 2012 murder of Colorado mortician Byron Griffy, a case that exposed a tangle of shocking secrets, relationships and financial skullduggery.
• 106 & Sports (10/9c, BET): Hosts Cam Newton and Ashley Nicole Moss welcome NBA legends Gary Payton and Tim Hardaway Sr. to discuss their legacy on the court and as fathers of namesake NBA stars. 

ON THE STREAM:

• Jingle Bell Heist (streaming on Netflix): Olivia Holt (Cruel Summer) and Connor Swindells (Sex Education) star in a comedic romantic caper as a retail worker and repairman who plot a Christmas Eve robbery of a fabled London department store.
• Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age (streaming on Apple TV): Tom Hiddleston narrates the latest installment of the docuseries, using sophisticated visual effects to recreate the fight for survival of prehistoric creatures in a frozen world.
• Palm Royale (streaming on Apple TV): Maxine (Kristen Wiig) digs into her nemesis Norma’s (Carol Burnett) shady past in hopes of exposing her during an elaborate Dellacorte portrait unveiling. “These theatrics are exhausting,” sighs Maxine’s ex, Douglas (Josh Lucas). We agree.