Worth Watching: Will Smith Gets Equal Time in ‘Amend,’ ‘Behind Her Eyes,’ ‘Masked Dancer’ Finale, ‘Good Trouble’
A selective critical checklist of notable Wednesday TV:
Amend: The Fight for America (streaming on Netflix): Will Smith hosts (and executive-produces with Larry Wilmore and others) a stirring and inspiring history lesson in a six-part tribute to the 14th Amendment, established in 1868 following the Civil War to ensure equal protection for all Americans. Smith describes this as “the center of the promise of America,” but it has been a lightning rod ever since. The episodes cover a long, violent and contentious history, from Frederick Douglass pushing for passage and the backlash after Reconstruction through the civil-rights movement led by Martin Luther King Jr., the ongoing battle for the Equal Rights Amendment for women, the crusade to legalize same-sex marriage and debates over immigration policy. Among the celebrities lending their voices in readings: Mahershala Ali, Laverne Cox, Randall Park, Samira Wiley, Sterling K. Brown and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, joining a wealth of historians and thought leaders.
Also new to Netflix: the twisty six-part psychosexual thriller Behind Her Eyes, set in London, where single mom Louise (the appealing Simona Brown) begins a dangerous affair with her psychiatrist boss (Beecham House‘s Tom Bateman) and complicates matters further by befriending his enigmatic wife (Eve Hewson, currently in the Starz historical drama The Luminaries). Would it surprise you to learn that nothing is what it seems with these people?
The Masked Dancer (8/7c, Fox): The final three dancers will be unmasked in the two-hour finale of the guilty-pleasure competition, finally allowing fans to see who’s been tripping the light fantastic while disguised as Cotton Candy, Sloth and Tulip. Expect the eclectic, or possibly a “who is that again?” response, considering the nature of the inaugural season’s cast, which ranged from Ice-T, Bill Nye and Oscar De La Hoya to American Idol‘s Jordin Sparks and activist Elizabeth Smart.
Good Trouble (10/9c, Freeform): The third season of the Fosters spinoff brings big changes for moralistic lawyer Callie (Maia Mitchell), who moves back into The Coterie in downtown L.A. and takes a job with a high-powered defense attorney (UnREAL‘s Constance Zimmer). As for her adopted sister Mariana (Cierra Ramirez), will she tell her boyfriend Raj (Dhruv Uday Singh) that she slept with her boss, Evan (T.J. Linnard)? Sounds like trouble.
Inside Wednesday TV: There’s a new cause on the CW’s Riverdale (8/7c), when Archie (KJ Apa) and the gang rally to keep Riverdale High from being closed after Hiram Lodge (Mark Consuelos) cuts the school’s budget… After a near-death experience on NBC’s Chicago Fire (9/8c), Cruz (Joe Minoso) faces another hurdle at home when struggling to tell his wife (Kristen Gutoskie) how close he came to dying on the job… A new season of Bravo’s The Real Housewives of New Jersey (9/8c) finds Teresa Giudice moving on with a new man after her divorce with deported ex-con husband Joe… Filmed before the pandemic in Nashville, CMT’s music special Skyville Live: Gladys Knight & Guests (10/9c) features the soul queen in an intimate concert where she’s joined on her greatest hits by country star Martina McBride and British R&B hitmaker Estelle… ABC News correspondent Gio Benitez hosts A&E’s half-hour I Survived a Crime docuseries (10/9c), with back-to-back episodes depicting harrowing events caught on surveillance cameras and cell phone footage. Among the first accounts: a father and his kids surrounded in their car by an angry mob falsely claiming the vehicle isn’t theirs.
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