New Seasons of ‘Mythic Quest’ and ‘Shrill,’ ‘Magnum’ Finale, A New ‘Uncle Vanya’

Mythic Quest

The hilarious workplace comedy set in a video-game production studio returns for a second season, with newly promoted co-creative director Poppy (Charlotte Nicdao) clashing with arrogant visionary Ian (Rob McElhenney) over how to expand the hit “Mythic Quest” game. Loving the conflict: misanthropic coworker Brad (Community’s Danny Pudi), who loves manipulating the neurotic creatives, while urging his new assistant Jo (Jessie Ennis) to embrace her dark side. The season opens with two episodes, the rest premiering weekly on Fridays through June. (See the full review.)

Shrill

Saturday Night Live’s Aidy Bryant triumphs in the third and final season of the bittersweet comedy as a newly single Annie, who puts her big heart into finding new romantic and professional opportunities in Portland. Can she find her voice as a journalist, or will she achieve true bliss with her friends and family?

Magnum P.I.

The third season ends with an emotional and professional crossroads for Magnum (Jay Hernandez) and Higgins (Perdita Weeks) when her boyfriend Ethan (Jay Ali) asks her to join him on an overseas Doctors Without Borders mission. Could this spell the end of their partnership?

Great Performances

The prolific Conor McPherson’s new adaptation of the classic Chekhov tragicomedy was a hit on the London stage until the pandemic shut down live theater. Thankfully, the production was captured on camera and arrives on Great Performances with Toby Jones (Detectorists) in the title role and Richard Armitage (Berlin Station) as Dr. Astrov.

Blue Bloods

In the 11th season’s penultimate episode, Frank (Tom Selleck) clashes with his Deputy Commissioner of Press Information, Garrett Moore (Gregory Jbara), when Garrett won’t take back a controversial quote published in a newspaper. In a topical subplot, Danny (Donnie Wahlberg) and Baez (Marisa Ramirez) investigate a murder involving local residents’ feud with city-sponsored hotels for the homeless.

Also streaming:

• Monster (streaming on Netflix): Kelvin Harrison, Jr. stars in an emotional drama as an artistically inclined 17-year-old Black honor student in Harlem who finds himself in a legal nightmare after being charged with felony murder. The impressive cast includes Jeffrey Wright, Jennifer Hudson and Jharrel Jerome.
• Jupiter’s Legacy (streaming on Netflix): Here’s a (not) new idea: A multigenerational superhero story derived from a comic-book series, about aging icons looking to their resentful offspring to carry on a problematic legacy. Josh Duhamel, Leslie Bibb and Ben Daniels play the OG heroes.
• Queen of Meth (streaming on discovery+): Like a real-life Breaking Bad, this three-hour docuseries charts the rise and fall of Midwestern drug lord Lori Arnold (sister of Tom Arnold), who ran a meth empire and contributed to the epidemic that still plagues her region.
• Fried Barry (streaming on Shudder): Music-video director Ryan Kruger’s feature debut, a cult horror hit on the festival circuit from South Africa, stars Gary Green as a druggie who’s abducted by aliens and embarks on a wild odyssey through Cape Town when an extraterrestrial visitor takes over his body.
• New episodes of Star Wars: The Bad Batch (on its regular day), Big Shot and The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers are available on Disney+.
• The Mosquito Coast (streaming on Apple TV+): In the series’ harrowing third episode, the fugitive family embarks on a surreal trek across the Mexican desert, including a treacherous visit to an abandoned bombing range. “It’s gonna be an adventure,” promises unhinged father figure Allie (Justin Theroux). But no one thought it would turn out this grisly.

Inside Friday TV:

• Washington Week (8/7c, PBS, check local listings at pbs.org): Yamiche Alcincor, the distinguished White House correspondent for PBS NewsHour, is the new moderator for the long-running panel series of political news analysis.
• New episodes of HGTV’s My Lottery Dream Home (8/7c), with host David Bromstad, are followed by the new house-hunting series Happily Wherever (8:30/7:30c), about couples seeking new horizons now that they’re working remotely.
• The Blacklist (8/7c, NBC): Liz (Megan Boone) works with the Task Force to hunt down elusive Russian spy N-13, while Red (James Spader) tries to infiltrate Townsend’s (Reg Rogers) criminal enterprise.
• The CW returns scripted programs to Fridays with the move of Charmed (8/7c), in which the Charmed Ones seek an ancient relic to cure their magical allergy; and the fourth-season premiere of Dynasty (9/8c), with Fallon (Elizabeth Gillies) planning her wedding with Liam (Adam Huber) after her bonkers bachelorette party, while Alexis (Elaine Hendrix) announces her “power couple” status with Jeff (Sam Adegoke) in a photo shoot.
• From the true-crime blotter: ABC’s 20/20 (9/8c) features anchor David Muir’s update on the murder and abduction 17 years ago of 3-year-old Riley Fox. On Dateline NBC (9/8c), Andrea Canning reports on a daughter’s decade-long search for the truth about the murder of her mother, who she found stabbed to death when she was just 7 years old.
• Skyville Live: Cyndi Lauper (10/9c, CMT): In this intimate concert from 2016, the fabled rock star is joined by Kelsea Ballerini and Ingrid Michaelson.