Let’s hear it for The Boys

By Allison Shoemaker | September 4, 2020 | 5:00am

TV Lists What's On Tonight

The Boys Photo: Jasper Savage/Amazon

Here’s what’s happening in the world of television for Friday, September 4, and Saturday, September 5. All times are Eastern.

Top pick

The Boys (Amazon, Friday, 3:01 a.m., second-season premiere, first three episodes): “As a whole, the second season of The Boys is a solid improvement on the first: Smarter, sharper, and more engaged with its stories and characters… If season one was mostly empty spectacle—a bunch of super-powered assholes unleashing heat-vision blasts and concrete-shattering punches—now we’ve got a reason to care, a retort to the bleak nihilism that previously drove things along. The supers may be the basis for this show, but it’s the humanity that powers it.” Read the rest of Alex McLevy’s pre-air review.

Regular coverage

RuPaul’s Drag Race : Vegas Revue (VH1, Friday, 8 p.m.)
Raised By Wolves (HBO Max, mini-binge coverage continues)

From Film Club

Mulan (Disney+, Friday, 3:01 a.m., premiere): “Given the impressive scope of the movie, and its lengthy runtime, it’s disappointing that Mulan never manages to breathe life into its many environments, or its plot points for that matter. Instead it rushes thoughtlessly past what matters most, hoping the pretty spectacle and cultural accuracies will suffice.” Read the rest of Beatrice Loayza’s review.

I’m Thinking Of Ending Things (Netflix, Friday, 3:01 a.m., premiere): “‘It’s good to remind yourself that the world’s larger than inside your own head,’ Jake (Jesse Plemons) says to Lucy (Jessie Buckley) early into I’m Thinking Of Ending Things, [Charlie Kaufman’s] latest maddening plunge down the rabbit hole of his boundless imagination. Is Kaufman assuring us or himself? By the end of this strange movie—possibly his most uncompromising and discombobulating, which is really saying something—we have no guarantee that the world it depicts exists outside of someone’s head. The question may just be whose?” Read the rest of A.A. Dowd’s review.

Wild cards

Time for another wild card lightning round.

Noughts + Crosses (Peacock, Friday, 3:01 a.m., complete first season, U.S. premiere): Look for Nadra Kareem Nittle’s coverage of this adaptation of Malorie Blackman’s YA series later today.

Away (Netflix, Friday, 3:01 a.m., complete first season): “Netflix’s Away depicts humanity’s first, perilous mission to Mars, but it’s not a gritty sci-fi drama like Star Trek: Picard. It’s more West Wing: NASA, with smart, passionate people working together to solve problems. Everyone’s well-intentioned, fundamentally decent, and capable.” Read the rest of Stephen Robinson’s pre-air review.

Earth To Ned (Disney+, Friday, complete first season): In this series from the Jim Henson Company, alien commander Ned and his trusty lieutenant abandon a planned invasion of Earth when they become smitten with pop culture. Naturally, they start a talk show instead.

Muppets Now (Disney+, Friday, 3:01 a.m., first-season finale): And speaking of Jim Henson, the first season of what Erik Adams calls “Disney’s best effort to date at bringing Henson’s most famous creations back to TV” ends tonight.

A Most Beautiful Thing (Peacock, Friday, 3:01 a.m., premiere): This documentary, which was headed to SXSW before, you know, everything, tells the story of the first all-Black high school rowing team.

The New York Times Presents, “The Killing of Breonna Taylor” (FX, Friday, 10 p.m.): The episode title should explain the significance of this one.

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