Netflix Revisits ‘Making a Murderer,’ Christina Hendricks on ‘Romanoffs,’ ‘Queer Eye’ Vets ‘Get a Room’
A critical checklist of notable Friday TV:
Making a Murderer Part 2 (streaming on Netflix): The cult true-crime docuseries is back for another deep dive into the legal process, this time focusing on attorney Kathleen Zellner’s painstaking efforts to exonerate and overturn the murder convictions of Steven Avery and Brandan Dassey. Will Zellner be able to challenge the system and back up her charges of “gross prosecutorial misconduct?” A Google search will spoil the outcome, but fans of this genre may well become obsessed again.
The Romanoffs (streaming on Amazon Prime Video): The best of the three installments to date in Matthew Weiner’s lavish but peculiar anthology series stars Mad Men alum Christina Hendricks as an actress caught in a surreal Twilight Zone conundrum during the filming of a “Romanovs” miniseries in Austria. Replacing an actress who left under murky circumstances, she begins to believe she’s losing it when the manipulative director (the terrific Isabelle Huppert) sends mixed signals and reality begins to blur with fantasy. (The project being filmed looks so terrible it reminds you why the historical miniseries is largely a relic of the past.)
Also Streaming: Selected highlights: Toni Collette (United States of Tara) stars in Wanderlust (Netflix), a six-episode drama about a therapist who decides to shake up her own marriage after a near-fatal bike accident… A second season of Lore (Amazon Prime Video) dramatizes spooky legends from history… Marvel’s Daredevil (Netflix) resurfaces for a third season, with a damaged Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) once again facing nemesis Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio) after the villain is released from prison.
Get a Room With Carson & Thom (9/8c, Bravo): With a revamped Queer Eye now a Netflix sensation, two of the original cast members — fashion maven Carson Kressley and design expert Thom Filicia — reunite for a mew home-design series. While Carson is a décor newbie, Thom offers sage advice when clients seek stylish help in transforming blah interiors into spectacular showcases.
Real Time with Bill Maher: Anniversary Special (10/9c, HBO): The puckish provocateur of political talk and snark marks his 15th year on HBO — and 25th on TV, counting his time on ABC with Politically Incorrect — in a special looking back at archival highlights from Real Time and Incorrect, with appearances by Billy Crystal, Larry David, Martin Short, Barbra Streisand and Salman Rushdie, to name an eclectic few… Followed by a new installment of Pod Save America (11/10c) from Austin, Texas, where senatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke joins the podcasters.
Inside Friday TV: Sid (Leslie Jordan) is easily the most flamboyant and outrageous of Fox’s The Cool Kids (8:30/7:30c), so it’s likely Margaret (Vicki Lawrence) isn’t the only one who’s surprised he hasn’t yet come out to his visiting son… The CW’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (9/8c) introduces its peppy, but typically perverse, new theme song in the season’s second episode — which also features, in advance of Halloween, a production number in the style of “Monster Mash.” Get ready to groove to “The Cringe,” with Patton Oswalt joining Rachel Bloom and the gang in a cemetery-set celebration of those embarrassing skeletons (figurative) everyone has in their past… A Saturday Night Live alum takes center stage in his first stand-up comedy special in Showtime’s Finesse Mitchell: The Spirit Told Me to Tell You (10/9c).
