Rebecca Goes Home and It’s ‘Crazy,’ Amazon Tells ‘Inside Jokes,’ Netflix Presents ‘Death by Magic’
A critical checklist of notable Friday TV:
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (9/8c, The CW): She was pretty fierce during her too-short run on The Walking Dead as Alexandria’s Deanna Monroe, but Tovah Feldshuh is even more formidable in her recurring role as Naomi, the Medea-like mommy fearest to Rebecca Bunch (Rachel Bloom). How will she react when Rebecca comes home to tell her about her new career path with an unprofitable pretzel stand? Cue the musical number, a stylized cross between Madonna’s “Vogue” and Sleeping Beauty’s Evil Queen. Back in West Covina, Nathaniel (Scott Michael Foster) creeps everyone out by trying to be nice, and Josh (Vincent Rodriguez III) has finally moved out of Hector’s mom’s house, but finds that living on his own (housesitting for Becs) has its own challenges. What a weird, wonderful show.
Inside Jokes (streaming on Amazon): Comedy is no laughing matter to the joke-tellers who hope to audition for the New Faces showcase at Montreal’s Just for Laughs Festival. This six-episode docu-series follows six up-and-coming comics (Rosebud Baker, Robert Dean, Kellen Erskine, Simon Gibson, MK Paulsen, Alzo Slade, Daphnique Springs) through the process of honing their acts in hopes of being discovered.
Death By Magic (streaming on Netflix): What doesn’t kill you only adds to your legend. So figures British illusionist Drummond Money-Coutts, who travels to eight cities on four continents to attempt dangerous stunts that claimed the lives of fellow magicians. Along the way, he dazzles spectators with his sleight of hand before taking on the big challenges.
Holiday Movies: It’s the weekend, so you know they’re coming. Netflix goes the sequel route with A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding, with iZombie’s Rose McIver as the journalist who won the heart of a royal prince charming (Ben Lamb), but is now getting cold feet about making it official as his queen. Hasn’t she been watching Meghan Markle? … Lifetime’s A Very Nutty Christmas (8/7c) stars Melissa Joan Hart as a broken-hearted baker who wakes up to a hunky soldier (7th Heaven’s Barry Watson) in her living room who may or may not be the Nutcracker Prince of legend.
Inside Friday TV: For fans of CBS’s MacGyver (8/7c) who may already be experiencing separation anxiety over the soon-to-depart George Eads, he’s still around for an adventure in which Mac (Lucas Till) and team deal with a deadly virus stolen from the Center for Disease Control… Millicent Edmonds, the young deaf actress who was so remarkable in the horror hit A Quiet Place, joins the cast of Disney Channel’s tween sensation Andi Mack (8/7c) in a recurring role as Libby, a student at Jefferson Middle School who’s now dating Jonah (Asher Angel), the ex-boyfriend of Andi (Peyton Elizabeth Lee)… The irreverent ’70s-set animated comedy F Is for Family is back for a third season on Netflix. Not for children, just saying.
