Heist Thriller ’12 12 12′ & ‘Being Heumann’ on Apple TV, Jessica Chastain in ‘Heartland,’ Marg Helgenberger Visits ‘Boston’

12 12 12

Shows that make time a major factor in their narrative can be especially riveting. (Think 24, or more recently, the hour-by-hour traumas of The Pitt.) This first-rate heist thriller makes every second count as it depicts the daring, nail-biting burglary of a Zurich bank vault on Christmas Eve over three distinct timelines: the 12 months of planning, the 12 hours of execution, and the critical first 12 days of investigation, after which the likelihood of nabbing the thieves grows slim. Jamie Dornan (The Fall) stars as Paul Galvin, a master thief reluctantly pulled back into the game by his reckless brother (Jack Kesy), with Marvel star Anthony Mackie as exiled FBI agent Jack Strickland, seeking redemption in his pursuit of Paul’s motley gang. Time flies as the before, during, and after storylines converge. The eight-part series launches with two episodes.

Being Heumann

Could this be Apple TV’s next CODA? That film’s Oscar-winning writer/director Siân Heder returns with an uplifting docudrama starring the remarkable Ruth Madeley (Years and Years) as the even more impressive activist for the disabled Judy Heumann. From her wheelchair in the late 1970s, Judy hounds politicians, including Health, Education and Welfare Secretary Joseph Califano (Mark Ruffalo playing against type), to sign a critical piece of legislation guaranteeing rights for and barring discrimination against the disabled. Fed up with bureaucratic delays, Judy and her crew of fellow disabled make national news when they occupy a federal building in San Francisco for the longest sit-in of its sort in U.S. history. Noble in purpose but hardly saintly, these rabble-rousers are angry, funny, vulnerable — but most of all, visible.

Heartland

Oscar winner Jessica Chastain stars in a mystery with a Nashville soundtrack as long-retired country-music star Misty Jones, who returns to Music City with a purpose when her niece, Charlie Heart (Carter Faith), a rising country-music star herself, goes missing. Misty’s search leads her into Nashville’s darkest and most dangerous corners, but having earned a reputation as the “Queen of Mean” in her heyday, she’s nobody’s pushover. The impressive supporting cast includes country star Jennifer Nettles, Garrett Hedlund, Paul Sparks, John Hawkes, Hill Harper, and Norbert Leo Butz.

Boston Blue

A longtime favorite of CBS viewers from CSI onwards, Emmy winner Marg Helgenberger visits the Blue Bloods spinoff as the blended Silver family expands yet again. She guest-stars as Gwen Silver, Sarah’s (Maggie Lawson) biological mother from the late Ben’s first marriage, whose reunion with her estranged daughter comes with emotional strings. On the ever-present crime front, Danny (Donnie Wahlberg) has trouble keeping his anger in check, going rogue after a baby is found abandoned in a food-delivery robot.

MobLand

So many psychopaths take center stage in the penultimate episode of the baroque crime drama’s second season. First among unstable equals is Frankie Cooper (Johnny Flynn), whose crusade against the Harrigan mob family and their brutish fixer Harry Da Souza (Tom Hardy) just got personal. After Frankie pledges to his icy boss Kat (Janet McTeer) that he’ll “have the Harrigans in a headlock” in the next 24 hours, the frosty ambassador wonders, “Am I in bed with Charles Manson?” She’s not far off. But Harrigan patriarch Conrad (Pierce Brosnan) is also going off the rails, while his wicked wife Maeve (Helen Mirren) plans a fiendish seed in grandson Eddie’s (Anson Boon) twisted brain. With Harry and Frankie headed toward an intense showdown, next week’s finale is bound to be explosive.

INSIDE FRIDAY TV:

• Happy’s Place (8/7c, NBC): Reba McEntire reunites with her Reba co-star James Denton (Desperate Housewives), beginning a recurring role as a handsome widower who walks into Bobbie’s tavern and takes an immediate shine to her. But how will she tell Emmett (Rex Linn) that she’s considering jumping back into the dating pool?
• My Christmas Cowboy (8/7c, Hallmark Channel): Amy Acker (Angel) is small-town Texas news producer Meg, who never got over her college crush, Billy (Luke Macfarlane), landing the on-camera gig she coveted. Now he’s back in Texas from Hollywood, bringing his nephew to Meg’s family ranch for horse therapy. What are the chances they’ll ride off into the sunset together?
• Sheriff Country (8/7c, CBS): A new case hits close to home for deputy Hank (Ian Quinlan). Followed by Fire Country (9/8c), where an electrical surge from Edgewater’s aging power grid creates fiery peril at Eve’s (Jules Latimer) apartment complex.
• Celebrity Wheel of Fortune (8/7c, ABC): Emmy and Tony winner Billy Porter joins actors Lili Taylor and Kelvin Harrison Jr. in spinning the wheel and playing for charity.
• Newlyweds (8:30/7:30c, NBC): Claudia’s (Jamie Lee Curtis) therapy session sheds light on her ex’s (Tim Daly) romance with Jeanie (Téa Leoni).
• Expedition: Saving Our Seas (9/8c, National Geographic): Explorers take deep dives into the planet’s five ocean basins to gauge the impact of climate change on underwater ecosystems.
• Great Performances: Romeo & Juliet (9/8c, PBS): A contemporary reimagining set on the U.S.- Mexico border, staged at New York’s Shakespeare in the Park, features passages spoken in Spanish by the young lovers (Daniel Bravo Hernández and Ra’Mya Latiah Aikens).
• True Crime Watch: On Dateline NBC (9/8c, NBC), Blayne Alexander reports on the 2005 murder of New Mexico mom Laura McNaughton, her body found on a rural road. ABC‘s 20/20 (9/8) explores the cold case of Robin Murphy, who was 17 when she disappeared from New York’s Putnam County in 1995.
• S.W.A.T. Exiles (10/9c, Starz): S.W.A.T. alum Jay Harrington directs a harrowing episode in which the team responds to a hostage crisis at a middle school where a former student, radicalized by AI, has returned with firearms.

ON THE STREAM:

• Russell Brand: Open Secret (streaming on Netflix): A recently announced documentary tracks the comedian’s rise and scandalous fall, with insights by investigative reporters from London’s The Times and Sunday Times.
• Dexter: Resurrection (streaming on Paramount+): Dexter (Michael C. Hall) gives chase to the Five Borough Killer (Dan Stevens) after witnessing his latest crime. But there’s another murderer in his crosshairs: the Sleepy-Eyed Stranger (Gabriel Luna).
• Nocturne (streaming on Apple TV): Suspenseful new twists in the moody thriller, when the authorities lay a trap for the person sneaking messages from serial killer Jurek Walter (Stephen Graham), while undercover agent Saga (Zazie Beetz) makes a bold move to get herself committed to the Restricted Housing Unit where Walter is locked up.
• Snoopy Presents: 12 Days of Snoopy (streaming on Apple TV): A new musical Peanuts special includes tunes by John Legend, Laufey, Leon Bridges, and Kamasi Washington, as Snoopy faces a deadline to get out of the doghouse and prove he doesn’t deserve to be on Santa’s naughty list.
• The End of Oak Street (streaming on HBO Max): The summer’s hit fantasy thriller makes its streaming debut, starring Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor as suburbanites facing down dinosaurs after their neighborhood is transported to prehistoric times.
• Snooki: The Paranormal Rookie (streaming on All Reality): Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi leaves Jersey Shore behind to join paranormal experts on a cross-country tour of reputedly haunted locales. Don’t ask why.