‘You’ Heads to London, a Theatrical ‘Poker Face,’ Trevor’s Memorial on ‘Ghosts,’ NFL Honors

The fourth season of Netflix’s psychological thriller You sends its obsessive antihero to London with a new name and identity. Ellen Barkin and Tim Meadows guest on Poker Face as feuding has-been actors in a dinner theater. Ghosts memorializes pants-less Trevor with his parents, and Tara Reid, in attendance. As a Super Bowl curtain-raiser, NBC presents the 12th annual NFL Honors.

Penn Badgley in 'You' Season 4 Part 1
Courtesy of Netflix

You

Season Premiere

The stalker becomes the stalkee in the addictive psychological thriller’s fourth season, with pop culture’s most literate voyeur Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley of the incessant voice-over) decamping to London with a new name and identity as a bearded professor. Even before he can latch on to a new romantic obsession, Joe finds himself the target of a mystery killer who lures him into a web of deceit and nonstop texting. Has Joe met his karmic match? Netflix wisely splits the season in two, with five episodes now and the final five available on March 9.

Natasha Lyonne in 'Poker Face'
Phillip Caruso/Peacock

Poker Face

One of the mystery-comedy’s most enjoyable episodes to date guest-stars Ellen Barkin and Tim Meadows in top form as feuding has-been TV actors at each other’s throats as they reunite for a dinner theater production of The Ghosts of Pensacola, where someone’s going to end up dead. As usual, there’s more going on than meets the eye, which is where truth magnet Charlie (Natasha Lyonne), now a put-upon waitress, comes in. If you’re late to discover this delightful series, this would an excellent episode to sample.

Utkarsh Ambudkar on
CBS

Ghosts

Guess who’s coming to remember Trevor (Asher Grodman) when his remains are fished out of the nearby lake? His parents, naturally, played by original Saturday Night Live star Laraine Newman and Chip Zien. But also Tara Reid, spoofing her own cult celebrity in a cheeky cameo. Elsewhere on the estate grounds, Isaac (Brandon Scott Jones) goes all Rachel on Nigel (John Hartman) when he learns his redcoat boyfriend may have strayed while they were “on a respite.” And in a moment I’ve long been waiting for, Jay (Utkarsh Ambudkar) finally addresses those long silences he must endure whenever Sam (Rose McIver) gets involved in lengthy ghost chats.

The Kelly Clarkson Show
Weiss Eubanks/NBCUniversal

NFL Honors

With the Super Bowl only days away, the NFL salutes the best players and plays of the past season in the 12th annual ceremony, hosted by Kelly Clarkson from Symphony Hall in Phoenix. AP’s MVP will be anointed and the 2023 Hall of Fame announced, along with Coach of the Year, Comeback Player of the Year and even the NFL Fan of the Year.

INSIDE THURSDAY TV:

  • Young Sheldon (8/7c, CBS): While hosting a baby shower for Mandy (Emily Osment), Mary (Zoe Perry) butts heads with Mandy’s mom (Rachel Bay Jones).
  • Hell’s Kitchen (8/7c, Fox): In the two-hour season finale, the final three chefs create their own menus, with the two left standing joined by the season’s eliminated contestants for the final round. The winner gets $250,000 and the Head Chef position at Atlantic City’s Hell’s Kitchen.
  • So Help Me Todd (9/8c, CBS): Recently renewed for a second season, the legal dramedy puts up a firewall between Margaret (Marcia Gay Harden) and son Todd (Skylar Astin) when his missing-person assignment overlaps with her latest case
  • Ex on the Beach Couples (9/8c, MTV): Couples from the U.S., U.K. and Australia are tested in the three’s-a-crowd franchise’s latest spinoff.
  • Impractical Jokers (10/9c, truTV and TBS): Rocker Bret Michaels joins the jokers for the Season 10 premiere, now simulcast on TBS.

ON THE STREAM:

  • Criminal Minds: Evolution (streaming on Paramount+): The season finale puts Rossi (Joe Mantegna) at the mercy of serial killer Elias “Sicarius” Voit (Zach Gilford).
  • Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence (streaming on Hulu): A three-part true-crime docuseries features first-person interviews with his victims to explain how conman Larry Ray (recently sentenced to 60 years in prison) lured a group of young college students into a violent cult.
  • The 1619 Project (streaming on Hulu): The docuseries’ final two episodes confront “Fear” from modern-day policing and criminalization of Black Americans and “Justice” as a community fights for restitution.
  • My Dad the Bounty Hunter (streaming on Netflix): Two kids learn their dad is an intergalactic bounty hunter the hard way—by stowing away on a work trip—in a 10-episode animated family action comedy.
  • Harley Quinn: A Very Problematic Valentine’s Day Special (streaming on HBO Max): In a special holiday episode of the adult animated superhero comedy, Harley (Kaley Cuoco) goes to extremes to make sure her first Valentine’s date with Ivy (Lake Bell) goes perfectly. Good luck with that.
  • The Killing (streaming on Topic): The Scandinavian crime drama, now with English dubbing for the first time, launches its second season, which opens with the investigation into a female lawyer’s savage murder.