Remembering the Muppet Maestro, Jessica Lange Is ‘The Great Lillian Hall,’ Rodgers & Hammerstein’s 80th, ‘Doctor Who’ Bubble Burst

Jim Henson: Idea Man

Director Ron Howard’s admiring and affecting documentary profile of the genius behind the Muppets reveals a restless creative spirit with the soul of an experimental filmmaker. Colleagues and family members recall a visionary racing against time to realize his goals, conquering his favorite medium of television (with Sesame Street and The Muppet Show), then creating new fantasy worlds with movies whose reputation grew after Henson’s untimely death in 1990 at 53. Classic clips, priceless outtakes and home movies enhance this memorable tribute. (See the full review.)

The Great Lillian Hall

Jessica Lange could add new statuary to her two Oscars, three Emmys and a Tony for her unflinching performance as the eponymous Lillian, a revered Broadway diva struggling with dementia as she prepares to return to the stage in Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard. “I’ve lived my entire life in a place that creates illusions,” Lillian reflects, and the lines blur when she is beset with hallucinations and memory lapses as opening night approaches. (A ridiculous last-minute complication mars Elisabeth Seldes Annacone’s otherwise moving script.) In what amounts to a mini-American Horror Story reunion, Kathy Bates co-stars as her gruff but devoted assistant (shades of All About Eve’s Thelma Ritter), with Lily Rabe as her estranged daughter. Grey’s Anatomy alum Jesse Williams is the hotshot downtown director hoping for a mainstream hit as long as his stubbornly mercurial star makes it to the finish line.

My Favorite Things: Rodgers & Hammerstein’s 80th Anniversary

Oh, what a beautiful evening you’ll have, basking in the lush melodies and timeless lyrics of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. The glorious singing qualifies easily for the Great Performances tag in a concert shot in December at London’s Theatre Royal Drury Lane to make the 80^th anniversary of the duo’s first collaboration, Oklahoma! Patrick Wilson, who played Curly in Broadway 2002-03 revival, opens the show with “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’,” followed later by Audra McDonald’s soaring “Mister Snow” from Carousel, whose 1994 revival earned her the first of a record six Tony Awards. Another standout: Downton Abbey’s Julian Ovenden offering a heartrending version of South Pacific’s “This Nearly Was Mine.” In an audio recording, Hammerstein says of their songs, “Beneath their simplicity, you’ll find some truth about life.” Which is why the music will endure for years to come.

Doctor Who

Head writer Russell T Davies scores again in a candy-colored episode set in a land called Finetime, whose young inhabitants have a fun time living inside literal head-wrapping bubbles of social media, where the outside world may as well not exist. Which presents a problem the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Ruby (Millie Gibson) try to avert, as they warn the bubble-headed Lindy Pepper-Bean (Callie Cooke) that giant slug-like creatures are devouring her friends, who keep going offline permanently. But can an outsider like the Doctor break through the clutter, or ever be accepted in this insular world?

The Outlaws

The quirky crime comedy co-created by and starring Stephen Merchant (the original The Office) returns for a five-episode Season 3, with the British community-service probationers having moved on after setting up the London drug dealer known as the Dean (Bad Sisters’ Claes Bang). Six months later, they’re plunged back into intrigue when a dead body implicates Rani (Rhianne Barreto), adding to fears that the Dean will soon get out of jail. The solution: break into the kingpin’s house to get incriminating evidence, which means turning to American con man Frank (Christopher Walken) for help, even though he’s an ocean away toiling at a Manhattan coffeehouse.

INSIDE FRIDAY TV:

• Gold Rush: Parker’s Trail (8/7c, Discovery): The reality spinoff’s seventh season opens with Parker Schnabel setting his sights on Brazil, seeking new investment opportunities.
• Dateline NBC (9/8c, NBC): A special edition of the true-crime series features updates from Keith Morrison’s Dateline podcast Murder in the Hollywood Hills, including an interview with a key witness who describes her encounter with convicted killer and serial predator Victor Paleologus.
• 20/20 (9/8c, ABC): An updated report on the 2011 murder of Tennessee nursing student Holly Bobo includes video of witness Jason Autry recanting his testimony, which helped convict Zach Adams, who appears in a jailhouse interview.
• Real Time with Bill Maher (10/9c, HBO): Maverick director John Waters is the one-on-one interview guest. Followed by the Season 4 finale of We’re Here (11/10c), the euphoric reality series in which drag stars Sasha, Priyanka and Latrice descend upon Oklahoma, staging a drag spectacular for their new friends.

ON THE STREAM:

• Celebrity Family Food Battle (streaming on The Roku Channel): Host Manolo Vergara welcomes celebs (including his mom Sofia Vergara) and their families to a six-part cooking competition where teams square off to prepare dishes inspired by popular movies and TV shows. They play for charity, with winners taking home the Golden Fork Award.
• The Famous Five (streaming on Hulu): A six-part family adventure based on Enid Blyton’s children’s novels follows a team of young British explorers on a summertime treasure hunt, with enemy agents lurking everywhere.
• Stopmotion (streaming on Shudder): Director Robert Morgan’s unnerving horror movie stars Aisling Franciosi as Ella, a stop-motion animator whose personal demons blur the line between fantasy and reality when her weird puppet film takes on a terrifying life of its own.