A Global ‘Drag Race,’ 20 Years of Cesar Mlllan, Mark Wahlberg and Halle Berry in ‘The Union,’ Furiosa’s Origin Story
Multiple Emmy winner RuPaul welcomes 12 queens from across the global Drag Race franchise to compete in an all-star tournament. “Dog Whisperer” Cesar Millan marks his 20th year on TV with a new season of his captivating Better Human Better Dog series. Mark Wahlberg is an ordinary Jersey guy recruited into the spy game by his long-ago childhood sweetheart (Halle Berry) in Netflix’s action romcom The Union. The origin story for Mad Max: Fury Road heroine Furiosa (now played by The Queen’s Gambit’s Anya Taylor-Joy) makes its streaming debut.
RuPaul’s Drag Race Global All Stars
The world’s a glamorous runway for RuPaul Charles, Emmy-winning host of RuPaul’s Drag Race, the uplifting competition that has inspired versions across the world. To acknowledge the show’s reach, RuPaul welcomes 12 queens from across the globe — including fan favorites from Belgium, the Philippines, Mexico, the U.K., Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, Brazil and Down Under — to compete in challenges for a $200,000 grand prize and a spot in the International Pavilion at the Drag Race Hall of Fame. Alyssa Edwards (an alum of Drag Race and All-Stars) represents the U.S. In the two-part opener, the queens strut their stuff in a talent show, with acts including (in a Drag Race first) a trapeze performance.
Cesar Millan: Better Human Better Dog
The fabled “dog whisperer” marks his 20th year on TV by launching the fifth season of his current series with three consecutive episodes (also at 9/8c and 10/9c). In each episode, Cesar Millan helps pet owners learn how to be better parents to their problematic pooches, and he also guides would-be owners towards a compatible canine friend. The season opens with Millan counseling Brunello, a white boxer who’s triggered at the very sight of bags. His clients also include a Shetland sheepdog and a golden retriever that can’t stop charging at other dogs. His compassionate consultations make for great TV.
The Union
“Where did Jersey go?” wonders Mike, a regular-guy construction worker when he wakes up in London after reconnecting at a local New Jersey bar with Roxanne (Halle Berry), his high-school sweetheart from 25 years ago. Surprise, she’s a covert intelligence agent, and she needs someone off-the-grid to retrieve a stolen list that contains the identity of every U.S. spy. Cue the action in a hybrid rom-com thriller where learning to drive on the other side of the road is the least of Mike’s death-defying challenges.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
If your action preferences are more of the apocalyptic variety, George Miller’s latest grueling chapter in the Mad Max universe, which hit theaters on Memorial Day weekend, makes its streaming debut. Anya Taylor-Joy (The Queen’s Gambit) assumes the role of a younger Furiosa (played by Charlize Theron in Fury Road), who as a child is taken from the paradisical Green Place of Many Mothers by savage bikers led by the Warlord Dementus (Chris Hemsworth). Her formidable survival instincts are honed while becoming a pawn in a Wasteland war between Dementus and the Citadel’s Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme).
INSIDE FRIDAY TV:
- Let’s Make a Deal Primetime (8/7c, CBS): Doubling up on game shows, CBS adds episodes of the Wayne Brady-hosted guessing game to the Friday lineup, moving Lingo to 9/8c.
- Gold Rush: Mine Rescue with Freddy & Juan (8/7c, Discovery Channel): Gold recovery experts Freddy Dodge and Juan Ibarra advise struggling mine owners on how to boost their profits in Season 4. Followed by the Season 18 premiere of Bering Sea Gold (9/8c), where El Niño conditions bedevil the miners in Nome, Alaska.
- The Serpent Queen (8/7c, Starz): The arrival of Queen Elizabeth (Minnie Driver) causes turmoil within the French court, while Catherine (Samantha Morton) contrives to forge a marriage alliance to keep the peace.
ON THE STREAM:
- Immaculate (streaming on Hulu): Sydney Sweeney stars as a novice nun who finds terror within an Italian convent in a creepy 2024 horror movie, making its streaming debut, that gives Evil a run for its money.
- Side Hustlers (streaming on The Roku Channel): Investors Emma Grede and Ashley Graham become mentors to female entrepreneurs weighing whether to turn their dream side hustle into their full-time job in the reality series’ second season.
- Betty la Fea: The Story Continues (streaming on Prime Video): The hit sequel to the popular telenovela drops its final two episodes, but there will be more, having been renewed for a second season.