‘Knives Out’ Gets Religion, End of a Taylor Swift Era, Dick Van Dyke at 100, Gross Out with Sarah Sherman

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery

Saints be praised, Rian Johnson has delivered another divine Knives Out mystery-comedy, unearthing deadly mayhem within a struggling church. “I will lay bare the sins of this flock,” boasts flamboyant sleuth Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) when the avowed atheist arrives at Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude after a shocking murder occurs in full view of parishioners. And what a flock, including Kerry Washington, Glenn Close, Andrew Scott, Jeremy Renner, Thomas Haden Church, and Daryl McCormack, who’ve all fallen under the sway of fiery Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin). When a young priest, former boxer Jud Duplenticy (Josh O’Connor), comes to the parish and clashes with his superior, the resulting death makes Jud a prime suspect. It will be up to Blanc to make sense of this classic locked-door puzzle.

Taylor Swift – The Eras Tour – The End of an Era

A year has passed since Taylor Swift’s epic Eras Tour finished rocking the world, but the superstar has yet another trick up her glittery sleeve. A six-part docuseries (launching with two episodes) goes behind the scenes of the worldwide spectacle, with appearances by Travis Kelce, Sabrina Carpenter, Florence Welch, Ed Sheeran, Gracie Abrams, and her dedicated dancers and crew. The series is paired with Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, The Final Show, a concert film capturing her last show in Vancouver in December 2024, featuring for the first time on film the entire set of “The Tortured Poets Department.” This should keep Swifties busy throughout the holiday season. And for those who don’t stream, ABC is airing the first hour of The End of an Era at 8/7c, followed at 9/8c by an hour-long preview of The Final Show.

American Masters

“He can sing. He can dance. He’s a comedian. He can do pratfalls and be funny. And he’s also very sexy.” So says fellow comedy legend Carol Burnett in an admiring biographical profile celebrating Dick Van Dyke’s 100th birthday on Saturday. The first hour focuses on his TV career, with several false starts (shown in fascinating vintage clips) until his Broadway triumph in Bye Bye Birdie landed him the gig of a lifetime in the classic The Dick Van Dyke Show, inspired by creator Carl Reiner‘s career as a comedy writer and entertainer. Among those admiring the star’s physicality and versatility: Jim Carrey, Conan O’Brien, Ted Danson, the tag team of Steve Martin and Martin Short, and Van Dyke’s Mary Poppins co-star Julie Andrews. The special chronicles his foray into movies in the 1960s, his sporadic return to TV in the 1970s, and his comeback as a silver fox in the long-running 1990s procedural Diagnosis: Murder. His “Keep Moving” philosophy has sustained Dick into his centennial year, with Danson marveling, “He has the childlike joy of being alive and creative.” An American master without question.

Sarah Squirm: Live + In The Flesh

Holding court on a stage that looks like a demented version of Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, framed in what looks like an intestinal tract, Saturday Night Live‘s proudly bawdy Sarah Sherman is determined to make you squirm in an outrageously scatological stand-up set. She taunts the audience as “perverts” while reveling in graphic body humor: “What kind of comedy show did you think you were seeing tonight?” she barks. From the macabre opening, with master of tastelessness John Waters urging her to “Go out there and remind them why God invented the barf bag,” to the surreal grand finale, with the front rows covered in blood splatter, this raucous special is not for the squeamish.

Spartacus: House of Ashur

Also not for the faint-hearted: this spinoff of the gory swords-and-sandals-and-sex melodrama, where the former slave and gladiator Ashur (Nick Tarabay) now runs the gladiator school in which he once toiled. His hopes for making strides in Roman society lie in his greatest gamble: a fierce female gladiator he’s dubbed Achillia (Tenika Davis), but whose traumatized past is holding her back from reaching her killer potential. “Why do you fail?” Ashur shrieks during her grueling training, prepping her to join a skeptical and resentful brotherhood.

Pluribus

The surreal sci-fi dramedy continues on two narrative tracks as the first season nears its end. The focus for a change isn’t solely on Carol (Rhea Seehorn), who has rejected the Others — and they’re also keeping their distance from her persistent negativity. While she tries to make the best — for now — of a strange situation, Manousos (Carlos-Manuel Vesga) leaves Paraguay on a perilous solo trek to find the woman who shares his antipathy for what the world has become. Like Carol, he rejects their overtures for help and friendship: “You cannot give me anything, because all that you have is stolen.” He’s not wrong.

INSIDE FRIDAY TV:

• Sheriff Country (8/7c, CBS): Crossover alert: Fire Country‘s Diane Farr visits the spinoff when Sharon comes to Edgewater for a tense meeting with her stepsister, Sheriff Mickey Fox (Morena Baccarin), who’s investigating corruption within the legal cannabis trade. Followed by Fire Country (9/8c), in which Three Rock reopens with a new crew while Bode (Max Thieriot) reunites with a former classmate (SEAL Team‘s Alona Tal) during a high-school drunk-driving drill.
• Happy’s Place (8/7c, NBC): Saturday Night Live alum Cheri Oteri drops by as an uptight health inspector giving Bobbie’s (Reba McEntire) tavern the once-over while the staff tries to contain a mouse that’s running loose. Followed by a new episode of the mockumentary Stumble (8:30/7:30c), in which Courteney (Jenn Lyon) is reminded of better times when she takes her new cheerleading team back to her former junior college for Homecoming.
• 93rd Annual Hollywood Christmas Parade (8/7c, The CW): Erik Estrada, Laura McKenzie, and Elizabeth Stanton host highlights from the Nov. 30 parade, with Luke Wilson as Grand Marshal and Santa Claus and his reindeer as the closing act.
• A Runaway Bride for Christmas (8/7c, Lifetime): Nischelle Turner is Emma, the title character, who trades the altar for the arms of her former high-school crush (Mark Ghanime). Followed by Christmas in Alaska (10/9c), where rival journalists (Emma Johnson and Marcus Rosner) warm up to each other while stranded in the snowy 49th state.
• Dateline NBC (9/8c, NBC): Andrea Canning reports on the 2021 murder of Iowa farmer Ryan Cooper, whose wife Karina was discovered by police sitting on his bloodied body in his recliner.
• Boston Blue (10/9c, CBS): Things get personal for Danny (Donnie Wahlberg) and Lena (Sonequa Martin-Green) during an investigation of a botched robbery, and the same applies to patrol partners Sean (Mike Amonsen) and Jonah (Marcus Scribner), who clash with Boston’s firefighters.
• Avatar: A New Era — Special Edition of 20/20 (10/9c, ABC): Director James Cameron takes viewers inside the world of Avatar in advance of next week’s premiere of Avatar: Fire and Ash.

ON THE STREAM:

• F1 (streaming on Apple TV): The racing blockbuster starring Brad Pitt makes its streaming debut.
• Spinal Tap II: The End Continues (streaming on HBO Max): Also new to streaming: Rob Reiner‘s 40-year-later sequel to the legendary rock & roll mockumentary starring Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer as the heavy metal band that never was.
• Influencers (streaming on Shudder): Cassandra Naud returns as the sinister influencer CW, now creating havoc in southern France, in director-writer Kurtis David Harder’s sequel to his 2023 thriller Influencer.