‘Blue Bloods’ Finale, Andrew Rannells in Concert, Amazon Revives ‘Rocky and Bullwinkle’
A selective critical checklist of notable Friday TV:
Blue Bloods (10/9c, CBS): In the eighth-season finale, the Reagans deal with the fallout from the release after nine years of six wrongly convicted men in prison. Frank (Tom Selleck) deals with his and the department’s guilt over their incarceration, while Danny (Donnie Wahlberg) and Baez (Marisa Ramirez) investigate a series of drive-by murders that may be related. Look for an indication that Danny, much like the show’s fans, hasn’t gotten over the death (between seasons) of wife Linda.
Andrew Rannells in Concert (9/8c, PBS, check local listings at pbs.org): Before he became a familiar TV face on comedies including Girls and The New Normal, Andrew Rannells enjoyed a thriving stage career including creating the role of Elder Price in the hit The Book of Mormon — and more recently was seen on Broadway, and PBS, in the revival of Falsettos. In the final Live From Lincoln Center “Stars in Concert” presentation, Rannell brings his flair for musical comedy to the glorious stage of the Appel Room for a set that includes a show-stopping arrangement of “Born to Run.”
The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (streaming on Amazon Prime Video): I sometimes worry when a childhood favorite makes a TV comeback — case in point, Lost in Space — but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t excited at the thought of the hapless moose and his earnest squirrel sidekick returning for new misadventures alongside usual suspects Boris and Natasha and Fearless Leader. Scott Fellows (The Fairly OddParents) is executive producer with Tiffany Ward, daughter of original creator Jay Ward.
Other streaming highlights: A third season of Bill Nye Saved the World on Netflix, which also offers a four-part true-crime chronicle, Evil Genius: The True Story of America’s Most Diabolical Bank Heist; and from Hulu, the 10-episode first season of All Night, set during an all-night high school graduation party.
Inside Friday TV: The CW’s meh reboot of Dynasty (8/7c) ends its first season with the wedding of Sammy Jo (Rafael de la Fuente) and Steven (James Mackay), where chaos breaks out—shades of the Moldavian massacre from the original series? … Fox jumps on the royal wedding bandwagon a week early with the two-hour special, Meghan Markle: An American Princess (8/7c). … Tragedy was averted after the February taping of Showtime’s stand-up comedy special Kevin Smith: Silent But Deadly (9/8c). The Clerks auteur suffered a near-fatal heart attack after wrapping this set from the Alex Theater in Glendale, CA, but thankfully, lived to tell (and perhaps laugh) about it.
