Colin Farrell’s ‘Penguin,’ ‘A Very Royal Scandal,’ the Menendez Brothers, ‘Frasier’ Returns

Series Premiere

9/8c

A far cry from the campy Penguin I grew up with (Burgess Meredith’s quacking rogue in the 1960s series), Colin Farrell portrays the iconic Bat-verse villain with icy, blustery ferocity in a dark origin story spun off from the 2022 The Batman movie. Oz Cobb’s unlikely rise to power in a Gothic Gotham sets him on a collision course with crime-family heir Sofia Falcone (an electrifying Cristin Milioti), seeking power and revenge after being unjustly locked up in Arkham Asylum for a decade. Unrecognizable under pounds of prosthetics and a fat suit, Farrell tackles this role with a steely absorption reminiscent of De Niro, fleshing out a character whose unflagging ambition and disturbing mommy issues recall Tony Soprano. Watch out as well for Tony winner Dierdre O’Connell as his demented gorgon of a mother, Frances, who’s part Livia Soprano, part Lady Macbeth. Grim and bleak, The Penguin is also exciting, visceral entertainment.

Series Premiere

It was riveting TV then, and just as riveting now, as a juicy three-part docudrama (expanding ground covered in the Netflix movie Scoop) relives the infamous 2019 BBC Newsnight interview that fueled Prince Andrew’s fall from grace within the British royal family. Michael Sheen (Frost/Nixon) is “Randy Andy,” stubbornly determined to defend his honor against allegations of sexual misconduct stemming from his ill-advised relationship with the notorious Jeffrey Epstein. Ruth Wilson (Luther) is the aggressive and driven BBC star Emily Maitlis, desperate to land the interview and, like all who watched, shocked at the royal’s lack of regret or shame on camera. Just try to look away.

Series Premiere

Not made available for preview, Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s true-crime docudrama franchise (which began with the Emmy-winning Dahmer) turns to the case of brothers Lyle and Eric Menendez (Nicholas Alexander Chavez and Cooper Koch), convicted in 1996 and sentenced to life in prison for the 1989 shooting deaths of their parents, José (Javier Bardem) and Kitty (Chloë Sevigny). This limited series seeks to determine who are the real monsters in this tragedy: the young men who committed the bloody act, or the father and mother who the brothers claimed created a climate of sexual, emotional and physical abuse.

Season Premiere

The reboot of the classic sitcom returns for a second season with two episodes, the first (“Ham”) directed by sitcom master James Burrows, featuring a slapstick sequence involving a precious ham imported from Spain that symbolizes the friendship between Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) and eccentric professor Alan (Nicholas Lyndhurst). Said bond nearly fractures when Frasier discovers that Alan played a pivotal role in son Freddy’s (Jack Cutmore-Scott) decision to leave Harvard. Grammer directs the second episode (“Cyrano, Cyrano”), a Valentine’s Day-themed farce in which Frasier puts flowery words in firefighter Moose’s (Jimmy Dunn) mouth via texts in hopes of saving his unlikely relationship with Olivia (Toks Olagundoye). Patricia Heaton, Grammer’s costar in the short-lived sitcom Back to You, guests as a bartender wryly observing Frasier in action.

The sprawling epic fantasy’s second season enters its final stretch with war looming, and the Dark Lord Sauron (Charlie Vickers) keeping his Elvin ringsmith puppet Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) in the dark regarding the perils approaching outside Eregion. A crucial test of leadership unfolds in Númenor, while in the dwarf kingdom of Khazad-dûm, power-mad King Durin III (Peter Mullan) becomes even more possessed by greed, thanks to that gnarly ring on his finger.

INSIDE THURSDAY TV:

• Lucky 13 (9/8c, ABC): The summer game show hosted by Shaquille O’Neal and Gina Rodriguez airs its last two episodes of the season.
• The Old Man (10/9c, FX): Dan’s (Jeff Bridges) reunion with daughter Emily (Alia Shawkut) is cut short when they turn their attention to protecting the Hamzad village from the Taliban.

 ON THE STREAM:

• Twilight of the Gods (streaming on Netflix): Zack Snyder’s animated action series borrows from Norse mythology to tell the story of warrior Sigrid and mortal King Leif, who engage in vengeful battle with Thor.
• Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist (streaming on Peacock): An intense episode finds Detective Hudson (Don Cheadle) reluctantly teaming with Atlanta hustler Chicken Man (Kevin Hart), who’s put his family in hiding, as they try to stem the violence and find those responsible for the robbery that has incited a wave of mob retribution.
• Trigger Point (streaming on BritBox): The explosive crime drama, which now seems eerily prescient given this week’s events in Lebanon, wraps Season 2 with bomb disposal leader Lana (Vicky McClure) taken prisoner by the terror cell that her unit is trying to stop.
• IMPACT x Nightline (streaming on Hulu): The series explores the 1994 case of Susan Smith, convicted of drowning her two young sons and now eligible for parole after 30 years.