It’s Halloween (on ‘Ghosts’), State of the Union, Guy Ritchie’s ‘Gentlemen,’ Streaming ‘Poor Things’

Ghosts

Halloween in March? If you’re one of the ghosts spending eternity on the delightful Ghosts, the calendar doesn’t really matter—but it’s the delays from the writers’ and actors’ strikes that have placed the sitcom’s annual Halloween event into the bridge between winter and spring. No matter, it’s a can’t-miss episode. We’re learning that Sam’s (Rose McIver) track record with botched Halloween shindigs is about as sorry as Mary Richards’ (The Mary Tyler Moore Show) with dinner parties. Inviting influencers from the big city to the haunted B&B’s bash, Sam and Jay (Utkarsh Ambudkar) are dismayed when the mistakenly invited Carol (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’s hilarious Caroline Aaron), the unfaithful widow of an unforgiving Pete (Richie Moriarty), arrives with no intention of leaving. An even bigger distraction: Thor’s (Devan Chandler Long) booming impatience to bring Flower (Sheila Carrasco) back from the afterlife with a séance.

State of the Union Address

On the heels of Super Tuesday, President Joe Biden presents the annual executive address, the last of his current term, before both houses of Congress. Hot-button topics including the economy, the Middle East and the future of democracy are likely to come up. If you want to be productive on Friday, don’t start a drinking game every time Biden’s party rises to give their leader an ovation.

The Gentlemen

Guy Ritchie adapts his 2019 caper into a stylish eight-part comedic thriller, focusing on one of the British estates that’s part of an underground chain secretly harboring a successful cannabis operation. Theo James (The White Lotus) stars as dashing Eddie Horniman, the new Duke of Halstead, an army captain who unexpectedly inherits his family’s property over his irresponsible first-born brother, Freddy (Daniel Ings). When Eddie learns of the illicit operation that’s keeping the family afloat, he finds himself caught between Freddy’s dangerous bumbling, a vicious crime family seeking retribution and a shady American billionaire (suave Giancarlo Esposito) who wants what Eddie has. The supporting cast includes the terrific Kaya Scodelario as the unflappable Susie Glass, who oversees the Duke’s weed operation and thankfully knows a thing or two about body disposal.

Poor Things

Still catching up on your Oscar picks before Sunday’s ceremony? One of the year’s top contenders with 11 nominations—including lead actress (Emma Stone), supporting actor (Mark Ruffalo), director (Yorgos Lanthimos) and picture—makes its streaming debut. Stone reveals more of her remarkable range as Bella, a Frankenstein-like creature in a steampunk Victorian London who was brought back from the dead with a brain transplant from an unborn fetus. She’s got a lot of catching up to do, much of it sexual in nature. Not for the timid.

INSIDE THURSDAY TV:

• Young Sheldon (8/7c, CBS): Who’s been sleeping in Sheldon’s (Iain Armitage) bed? That and other changes await the young genius and Mary (Zoe Perry) when they return from Germany.
• Tall Tales of Jim Bridger (8/7c, INSP): While hiding from murderous trappers, the mountain man (Rib Hills) encounters runaway slaves who lead the storyteller to fossils and footprints from prehistoric times.
• Next Level Chef (8/7c, Fox): An added twist in a street food challenge involves a “grab and go” platform that never stops moving.
• Son of a Critch (9/8, The CW): Young Mark (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) discovers his Christmas gift of a gaming system while snooping and begins playing with it before it’s under wraps. What are the odds he’ll get busted?

ON THE STREAM:

• Friends in Low Places (streaming on Prime Video): Country icons Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood stray out of their musical comfort zone in a docuseries that depicts them working with friends and hospitality experts to build a four-story honkytonk in Nashville.
• Ricky Stanicky (streaming on Prime Video): John Cena stars in a buddy-comedy farce as a loose-cannon entertainer hired by three best friends (Zac Efron, Andrew Santino and Jermaine Fowler) to impersonate the made-up friend they’ve been using as a shield for their shenanigans since childhood.
• Halo (streaming on Paramount+): Shocking the ONI (Office of Naval Intelligence) schemers who thought he had died on the fallen planet of Reach, Master Chief John-117 (Pablo Schreiber) seeks revenge on those who betrayed his team, leading to an awkward encounter with his fellow Spartan, the conflicted Kai (Kate Kennedy).
• Supa Girlz (streaming on ALLBLK): A six-episode docuseries profiles one of the country’s best high-school dance teams, the Miami Northwestern “G Girls.”