Judgment Day for Elsbeth, ‘You’ Final Season, Dance Fever in ‘Étoile,’ NFL Draft, Opening Night on ‘Hacks’

Elsbeth

[Note the earlier time period, 9/8c] The delightful how’s-she-gonna-solve-it mystery takes a decidedly darker turn when Elsbeth (Carrie Preston) once again sticks her nose into the bloody backstory of vindictive judge Milton Crawford (Preston’s husband, Michael Emerson, every bit as deliciously evil as he was in Evil). He’s being vetted for a promotion to the federal bench and has no patience for the pesky sleuth reopening a cold case from his youth with Captain Wagner (Wendell Pierce) and new detective Kaya Blanke (Carra Patterson) in cahoots. “The time for threats is over,” he snarls as he sets out to make her regret crossing him. On a happier note, her adorable son Teddy (Ben Levi Ross) is thinking about following his mom’s lead by going to law school.

You

Oh, you. TV’s most seductive serial killer, Joe Goldberg (the smoldering Penn Badgley of the incessant voice-over), returns to the scene of his original crimes in the fifth and, by all logic, thankfully final season of the pitch-black psychological thriller. Back in New York City with his corporate socialite bride Kate (Charlotte Ritchie), the wealthy couple pledges to “keep each other good.” But that can only last for so long, given her toxic family (including True Blood‘s Anna Camp in a delectable dual role) and the many skeletons in Joe’s cluttered closet—make that cage. As the body count once again rises, the question looms: Will Joe get away with it again for a happily-ever-after ending, or will his creepy fairy tale end with a comeuppance?

Étoile

A love for dance flows throughout this passion project from Gilmore Girls and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel auteurs Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino. Set in the rarefied world of culture capitals New York City (Lincoln Center, to be precise) and Paris, it’s the story of two ballet companies on either side of The Pond who decide to swap talent in a risky cross-cultural shakeup. Luke Kirby (Emmy winner as Mrs. Maisel‘s Lenny Bruce) stars as the harried executive in charge of the New York company, with Charlotte Gainsbourg his frenetic French counterpart. They massage egos daily, none more terrifying than that of the étoile (French for “star”) ballerina diva Cheyenne (the sensational Lou de Laâge) or as exasperating as the loose-cannon choreographer Tobias (Maisel‘s Gideon Glick). When tormented artists are shown in rehearsal and performance, it’s all quite dazzling. But by sacrificing charm for labored histrionics, Étoile‘s star shines only sporadically. All eight episodes drop in an ill-advised too-much-at-once-is-too-much binge. (See the full review.)

NFL Draft

Teams stock up on rookie talent in Round 1 from historic Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Tennessee Titans have seemingly locked in Miami QB Cam Ward as the No. 1 pick, with other top prospects including Penn State’s Abdul Carter and Colorado’s Travis Hunter. The draft continues Friday with the second and third rounds and Saturday with rounds 4 through 7.

Hacks

Anxiety is high on the Emmy-winning show-biz comedy as opening night looms for Late Night With Deborah Vance, and the stand-up superstar (Jean Smart) wonders if what she’s feeling is stage fright. Another living legend gives her crucial advice for making it through the first show, but what happens after the curtain comes down for the new late-night host and her embattled head writer Ava (Hannah Einbinder) hardly merits a hooray for Hollywood.

INSIDE THURSDAY TV:

• Ghosts (8:30/7:30c, CBS): Following a new episode of Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage (8/7c), the prom queen ghost Stephanie (the hilarious Odessa A’zion) emerges from her eternal slumber to object when Sam (Rose McIver) and Jay (Utkarsh Ambudkar) host a fundraiser for local mayor Tad (Weeds‘ Justin Kirk), with whom she has an unhappy history.
• Farmer Wants a Wife (9/8c, Fox): Does mother know best? The farmers are about to find out when their moms handpick a woman to add to their harems to test their compatibility.

 ON THE STREAM:

• Law & Order: Organized Crime (streaming on Peacock): Stabler (Christopher Meloni) contacts an old C.I. from Italy when a new player emerges in New York City’s gang scene, disrupting one of Carisi’s (Peter Scanavino) cases.
• Leverage: Redemption (streaming on Prime Video): After Harry’s (Noah Wyle) mom is targeted by a deepfake phone-scamming ring, the team goes after the pool-shark ringleader.
• Black Snow (streaming on AMC+): Travis Fimmel (Dune: Prophecy) returns for a second season of the Australian mystery as Detective James Cormack, investigating the 2003 disappearance of a woman on her 21st birthday and the even colder case of his brother’s vanishing 30 years ago.
• IMPACT x Nightline (streaming on Hulu): In “Secrets in the Snow: The Murder Retrial of Karen Read,” Matt Gutman reports on the court proceedings in the retrial of the woman accused of killing her then-boyfriend Boston police officer John O’Keefe in 2022.
• Vanderpump Villa (streaming on Hulu): In the reality spinoff’s second season abroad, Lisa Vanderpump moves her staff to “Castello Rosato” in the Italian countryside.
• Ronja, the Robber’s Daughter (streaming on Viaplay): The Nordic fantasy series returns for an epic second season.