Worth Watching: Peacock Launches With ‘Psych 2’ & More Originals, ‘United We Fall’ on ABC, the Real Betty Broderick on ‘Snapped’
A selective critical checklist of notable Wednesday TV:
Psych 2: Lassie Come Home (streaming on Peacock): Those jokesters Shawn (James Roday) and Gus (Dulé Hill) are back for a second feature-length reunion caper, helping launch NBC-Universal’s new streaming service. They return to Santa Barbara from their new digs in San Francisco to help their friend and foil, Police Chief Carlton “Lassie” Lassiter, who’s been ambushed and shot and suffered a stroke (reflecting actor Timothy Omundson‘s own personal ordeal). Lassie has been witnessing strange occurrences at his recovery clinic, but could he be hallucinating? (See the full review of Psych 2 and other Peacock originals.)
The Capture (streaming on Peacock): You can’t believe your eyes in a twisty six-part British spy thriller that takes a deep dive into the deepfake world of video manipulation. Ambitious Detective Inspector Rachel Carey (Holliday Grainger) taps into an international conspiracy while investigating the case of a soldier accused of assaulting a woman in clear view of CCTV cameras — which never lie, or do they? Other originals available on opening day include a lavish adaptation of the dystopian sci-fi classic Brave New World and the absurdist workplace comedy Intelligence, starring David Schwimmer as an arrogant NSA transplant at a UK center for cyber security.
United We Fall (8/7c, ABC): Premiering with back-to-back episodes, looking and feeling like a summer burn-off, ABC’s latest family sitcom is a genial but generic take on parental anxiety, starring Will Sasso (Mom) and Christina Vidal Mitchell as Bill and Jo. They fret about raising their two cute, if maybe weird, daughters in all the right ways, and further feeding their insecurities are Bill’s nagging live-in mom (a wasted Jane Curtin) and Jo’s critical know-it-all brother (Scandal‘s Guillermo Diaz). You’ll see most of it coming — though maybe not the crisis over a prolapsed rectum.
Snapped: Betty Broderick (8/7c, Oxygen): If USA’s gripping docudrama Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story left you wanting more, the true-crime channel is happy to comply. A new special features archival footage and interviews with police, lawyers and friends familiar with the notoriety of Broderick, who fatally shot her ex-husband Dan and new wife Linda in 1989, launching a cottage industry of tabloid headlines, Court TV coverage and TV-movies. Snapped aims to help armchair voyeurs decide whether Betty plotted this double murder as revenge from a scorned wife, or if she simply (wait for it) snapped.
Inside Wednesday TV: The Netflix docuseries Skin Decision: Before and After follows the cases of plastic surgeon Dr. Sheila Nazarian and skin-care guru Nurse Jamie as they transform clients’ looks and sometimes lives… CBS’s proudly rugged competition Tough as Nails (8/7c) moves to the junkyard, where the players take apart a car to retrieve auto parts, and in the overtime challenge, the bottom two remove tires from their rims, which is every bit as hard as it looks… Lifetime’s Married at First Sight (8/7) heads to New Orleans for its 11th season of hastily arranged nuptials… The Handmaid’s Tale Emmy winner Ann Dowd drops by truTV’s At Home with Amy Sedaris (10/9c) as a former local food critic accusing Amy of plagiarizing her signature ginger snap recipe.
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