Martha Stewart in Her Own Words, Halloween at Abbott Elementary, Mea Culpas in ‘Shrinking,’ Classic Movies Terror-Thon

Martha

Martha Stewart is more than happy to explain, “What does it mean to be the first female self-made billionaire in American history?” Which she does at length in filmmaker R.J. Cutler’s candid biographical profile. Unapologetic when it comes to her unyielding public image, the lifestyle icon declares, “I’m strict and I’m demanding and I’m all those good things that make a successful person.” The film covers her highs and lows (a pit stop at a federal prison in West Virginia) and her comeback, including a Sports Illustrated cover at age 81 and an unexpected partnership with Snoop Dogg. “The cookie-cutter house and the cookie-cutter life, that was not for me.” As she might also say, it’s a good thing.

Abbott Elementary

The teachers at the embattled Philadelphia elementary school get into the holiday spirit with a costume contest (see a gallery of images here) — Jacob (Chris Perfetti) as Pat Sajak was one I didn’t see coming — but the couples’ costume sported by super-nerds Janine (Quinta Brunson) and Gregory (Tyler James Williams) has everyone puzzled. One tradition hits a speed bump when parents object to Barbara’s (Sheryl Lee Ralph) annual apple-bobbing game for hygiene reasons.

Shrinking

“We all make mistakes,” unorthodox therapist Jimmy (Jason Segel) observes at the start of an episode full of people reeling from bad or awkward decisions, including daughter Alice’s (Lukita Maxwell) misguided overtures to her smitten neighbor Connor (Gavin Lewis) and Liz (Christa Miller) selling her half of Sean’s (Luke Tennie) food truck to his father, triggering his war-related PTSD. The latter situation brings Liz into Paul’s (Harrison Ford) office for her first-ever therapy session: “Dazzle me,” she beams as the curmudgeon growls. Elsewhere, Jimmy’s best friend Brian (Michael Urie) begins to feel pressure about adopting a child, objecting in his special way: “I’m a superficial narcissist who is a prisoner of his own vanity — and as much as I love that about myself…”

Psycho

Starting at dawn with Vincent Price’s campy 1959 classic House on Haunted Hill, TCM devotes 48 hours to the best of vintage horror with its Halloween Terror-Thon, with Alfred Hitchcock’s iconic 1960 thriller Psycho (8/7c) as Wednesday’s prime-time centerpiece, followed by that same year’s British shocker Peeping Tom (10/9c) and David Lynch’s unsettling 1986 Blue Velvet (11:45/10:45c). On Halloween Thursday, highlights include the original Dracula, Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein from the 1930s.

INSIDE WEDNESDAY TV:

• Max & the Midknights (7/6c, Nickelodeon): A CG-animated family-friendly fantasy adventure features Max (voiced by Star Trek: Discovery’s Blu del Barrio), a young girl from medieval times, who taps into her inner warrior when she joins new friends from the kingdom of Byjovia to embark on a magical crusade to overthrow the unjust King Gastley.
• The Golden Bachelorette (8/7c, ABC): In the first part of the season finale (concluding next Wednesday), Joan and her three remaining suitors head to exotic Tahiti for overnight dates.
• Expedition Files (9/8c, Discovery): A sneak-peek preview of Josh Gates’ new series (officially premiering November 27), which explores unexplained mysteries, includes segments on “Havana Syndrome,” in which spies and diplomats overseas have been afflicted by mysterious brain injuries, the alleged 1975 alien abduction of forestry worker Travis Walton and the 1932 kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh’s infant son.
• Nature: Dracula’s Hidden Kingdom (8/7c, PBS): Jeremy Irons narrates a travelogue to Transylvania, the legendary region of Romania that’s home to medieval villages, forests and mountain ranges where bats, wolves and other creatures dwell.

 ON THE STREAM:

• Time Cut (streaming on Netflix): A YA sci-fi thriller stars Madison Bailey as a teenager who time-travels back to 2003 to try to stop a serial killer from killing the sister she never got to know.
• The Manhattan Alien Abduction (streaming on Netflix): A three-part docuseries attempts to determine the truth behind the alleged 1989 alien abduction of Linda Napolitano from her Manhattan apartment.
• You Would Do It Too: Tú También lo Harías (streaming on Apple TV+): The streamer adds to its impressive inventory of foreign-language dramas (including the ongoing Midnight Family, Where’s Wanda? and La Maison) with a thriller set in Barcelona in the aftermath of an armed bus robbery that ends with three dead robbers and six witnesses whose stories don’t add up.
• The Exorcism (streaming on Shudder): The supernatural shocker, starring Russell Crowe as an actor beset by personal demons (and perhaps more) while working on an Exorcist-like movie set, makes its streaming debut.
• Buy It Now (streaming on Prime Video): JB Smoove (Curb Your Enthusiasm) hosts a Shark Tank-style game show where entrepreneurs get 90 seconds to pitch a product to a studio audience, The 100, and if they pass muster, they advance to a panel of Amazon execs and celebrities who decide if they’re worthy of Amazon’s Buy It Now Store. One contestant wins a $20,000 prize in each episode.