Funky, Fabulous ‘Fargo,’ ‘Dancing’ to Taylor Swift, Adam Sandler as Leo the Lizard, Groundbreaking Women Athletes

Fargo

Ah jeez, here we go getting hooked again on the wackiest, weirdest spectacle of mirthful suspense TV has to offer. The fifth season features Juno Temple (Ted Lasso) as Dot Lyon, a happy Minnesota housewife whose unhappy past is about to resurface and disrupt her life—in the form of a vengeful, chauvinistic monster of a North Dakota sheriff (Jon Hamm) who tries to have her kidnapped to get her back. What no one is counting on is what a tiger this Lyon woman can be when compelled to protect herself and her family. Jennifer Jason Leigh freezes the blood as Dot’s imperious mother-in-law, a corporate debt collector who despises weakness and grudgingly admires the “wolf in sheep’s clothing” that is Dot. Not to be missed. Launches with two episodes. (See the full review.)

Dancing With the Stars

Only six couples remain, and they may get the biggest audience of the season as they take on routines staged to the playlist of the most popular entertainer of the moment: Taylor Swift. And who better to be a guest judge than Mandy Moore, the lead choreographer of Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour. (You may also remember Moore as a versatile choreographer on So You Think You Can Dance.) After the couples shake it off to Taylor’s tunes, someone will be sent packing with no shot at that elusive Mirrorball.

Leo

Here’s one for the family. Adam Sandler affects a raspy, lovably curmudgeonly tone as the voice of Leo, a lizard who’s been a fifth-grade class pet for 74 years, alongside his terrarium roomie, a turtle named Squirtle (Bill Burr). Leo thinks he’s seen it all, but when he becomes aware of his mortality, he decides it’s time to experience life outside his cage, seeking escape with the fifth graders who take home this reptile who just might be the perfect guide on their own path toward adolescence.

Groundbreakers

Back in 1972, the passage of Title IX helped open the door for all people, including young girls, to participate in sanctioned sports activities. To celebrate that and more recent achievements for women reaching parity in the sports world, a two-hour documentary special presents pairs of accomplished women athletes of different generations to discuss the struggles and advancements they’ve witnessed. Billie Jean King hosts and chats with flag football star Diana Flores, with other pairings including basketball star Nancy Lieberman and Olympic snowboarder Chloe Kim, soccer’s Julie Foudy and Olympic gymnast Suni Lee, track star Jackie Joyner-Kersee and tennis pro Naomi Osaka.

Hard Knocks In Season

More Good Sports: HBO doubles down on behind-the-scenes sports stories. Hard Knocks: In Season with the Miami Dolphins (9/8c) brings the Emmy-winning franchise to the Dolphins’ board rooms and locker rooms, capturing the action in real time—starting with Sunday’s winning game against the Las Vegas Raiders as the AFC first-place team fights to return to the playoffs with second-year head coach Mike McDaniel. Followed by a new edition of Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel (10/9c), with segments including the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on that nation’s culture of sports, big-wave surfers in Maui who stepped up to help after the devastating Lahaina wildfires and a profile of Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay.

From NFL Films, streaming on Hulu, Bye Bye Barry relives the blazing football career of Barry Sanders, a Heisman Trophy winner in 1988 from Oklahoma State who went on to a Hall of Fame career with the Detroit Lions for 10 seasons. His abrupt retirement from the game in 1999, when he was still in peak form, is still a mystery to many fans, and Sanders addresses this subject among other reflections in a candid interview. Also weighing in: sports and entertainment fans including Eminem, Jeff Daniels, Tim Allen, Emmitt Smith, Rodney Peete, Jalen Rose, Jemele Hill, Dan Patrick and Bill Belichick.

INSIDE TUESDAY TV:

• NCIS: Sydney (8/7c, CBS): Indiana Jones would not like this episode, involving a Navy compliance officer’s mysterious death by snakebite—from a deadly reptile not indigenous to the area. The investigation leads the joint NCIS-Australian Federal Police team to an animal trafficking operation.
• The Voice (9/8c, NBC): The singing competition moves into the “Playoffs” round, with each of the coaches holding a “Super Save” in their pocket to bring back a contestant from any team to make another try for the live shows.
• Killing JFK: 60 Questions Answered (9/8c, 8 pm/PT, Reelz): Upon the 60^th anniversary of the president’s assassination, a special addresses FAQs about the controversies surrounding the investigation. Whether you accept the answers is a personal choice.
• 20 Days in Mariupol (10/9c, PBS): Frontline presents an acclaimed documentary from Ukrainian AP journalist Mstyslav Chernov, capturing his harrowing ordeal with fellow AP colleagues when they were trapped during the Russian siege of Mariupol. The documentary features Chernov’s daily news dispatches and footage including images of dying children, mass graves and the bombing of a maternity hospital.
• FBI True (10/9c, CBS): Undercover FBI agent Eric O’Neill recounts his experience of going on assignment within the bureau’s headquarters to take down Robert Hanssen, exposed as the most damaging spy in FBI history, who sold national secrets to Russia for decades.

ON THE STREAM:

• Mike Birbiglia: The Old Man and the Pool (streaming on Netflix): Lucky for fans of this expert comic monologist, his 2022 play, a hit on Broadway and London’s West End among other venues, has been captured on film for streaming. His deadpan approach earns big laughs as he details a diagnosis that leads him to take up swimming for exercise. “I don’t have a ‘swimmer’s body’,” he explains. “I have what I call a ‘drowner’s body.’ “
• Obituary (streaming on Hulu): Think Dexter on Deadline. A very dark comedy thriller from Ireland stars Siobhán Cullen as 24-year-old obituary writer Elvira, who begins generating her own victims (always looking like an accident) when she learns she’ll only be paid by the story. The only problem: The newspaper has just hired a sharp new crime reporter, and she’s falling for him.
• A Murder at the End of the World (streaming on Hulu): Amateur sleuth-hacker Darby (Emma Corrin) ruffles some feathers while interrogating some of her fellow guests at the Iceland retreat, but her suspicions gain merit when the inner circle shrinks further.
• The Choice Is Yours (streaming on Paramount+): A music documentary profiles rapper Andres “Dres” Vargas-Titus, half of the short-lived hip-hop duo Black Sheep in the early 1990s. The film follows his attempt at a comeback when he’s gifted a hard drive of unreleased beats from late producer/rapper J Dilla.