‘Manifest’ Resurrected, ‘Lopez’ and ‘Young Rock’ on NBC, Geffen Hall Reopening, Star Power in Streaming Films

Netflix

Manifest

All aboard the ongoing mystery of Montego Air Flight 828 as the supernatural thriller returns more than a year after NBC canceled it. The fourth and final season (split in 10-episode halves) resumes with Ben Stone (Josh Dallas) consumed by grief and anger two years after the murder of wife Grace (Athena Karkanis) and the kidnapping of their infant daughter, Eden. His desperate search leaves sister Michaela managing most of the “lifeboat” intrigue, with their fellow passengers under surveillance as the Death Date grows closer. The producers promise answers before the series comes in for its final landing sometime next year.

Lopez vs. Lopez

Family ties bind and threaten to strangle the relationship of once-deadbeat dad George Lopez and his twentysomething working-mom daughter (played by real-life daughter Mayan Lopez) in a deafening sitcom that may have you yearning for the relative subtlety of Family Matters back in the good old “TGIF” days. Lopez Elder is a down-on-his-luck construction boss who’s making a mess of Mayan’s kitchen renovation when we enter the picture with TikTok twerking gags. Before long, he’s moved in, coaching Mayan on “the Lopez way” of handling a difficult customer at her veterinary clinic.

Young Rock

Joining Lopez in a bland hourlong comedy block is the third season of Dwayne Johnson’s quasi-autobiographical vanity project, which jumps around time as “The Rock” in 2032 recovers from his failed presidential bid to regale No. 1 fan Randall Park with stories about his hardscrabble youth. Once again, the most engaging thread involves little Dewey’s (Adrian Groulx) pro-wrestling dad Rocky (the charismatic Joseph Lee Anderson), whose career hits another speed bump after he breaks his contract with Vince McMahon (who shut him out of Wrestlemania) to take a freelance gig in Saudi Arabia.

Great Performances

New York’s Lincoln Center concert hall reopens following an extensive renovation, two years ahead of the original projection, and a highlight of the celebration is a gala performance (recorded Oct. 28) of the New York Philharmonic, led by music director Jaap van Zweden, featuring Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy.” Also on the program: the world premiere of “You Are the Prelude” by Puerto Rican composer Angélica Negrón. Soloists include soprano Joélle Harvey, mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor, tenor Issachah Savage and bass Davóne Tines.

Streaming movie premieres:

Two-time Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence leads the weekend’s parade of streaming movies as producer and star of Causeway (streaming on Apple TV+). She portrays Lynsey, a soldier returning to New Orleans from Afghanistan to recover from wounds both physical and psychological. Atlanta’s Brian Tyree Henry co-stars as a local mechanic with his own issues who becomes instrumental in her healing.
My Policeman (streaming on Prime Video): Another intimate drama revolves around a tortured love triangle revealed over two time periods. In the 1950s, policeman Tom (Harry Styles) is torn between closeted museum curator Patrick (David Dawson) and teacher Marion (The Crown’s Emma Corrin). In the 1990s, the characters are played, respectively, by Linus Roache, Rupert Everett and Gina McKee, still dealing with the emotional fallout.
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (streaming on The Roku Channel): You expected a biopic about the music parodist to play it straight? Hardly. Daniel Radcliffe, decked out in period mustache and curly wig, plays Weird Al in a mock-doc sendup of the genre, with cameos by Abbott Elementary’s Quinta Brunson as Oprah Winfrey, Evan Rachel Wood as Madonna and Rainn Wilson as DJ Dr. Demento, Yankovic’s mentor.

Inside Friday TV:

A Magical Christmas Village (8/7c, Hallmark Channel): Alison Sweeney co-stars with Bros’ Luke Macfarlane and That Girl icon Marlo Thomas in a fantastical romance about an enchanted heirloom of a miniature Christmas village that grants holiday wishes.
True Crime Watch: On Dateline NBC (9/8c), Craig Melvin reports the latest on the history of scandals involving the family of Alex Murdaugh, the South Carolina lawyer accused of killing his wife and son last year. ABC’s 20/20 (9/8c) also explores a well-known case, the 1977 murder of three Girl Scouts on their first night at an Oklahoma summer camp.
Blue Bloods (10/9c, CBS): Things get personal for the Reagans when protestors harass the family over a controversial NYPD unit.

On the Stream:

Enola Holmes 2 (streaming on Netflix): Stranger Things’ Millie Bobby Brown returns as Sherlock Holmes’ (Henry Cavill) kid sister, who sets up her own detective agency in the sequel and helps search for the missing sister of a penniless matchstick girl. Also new to Netflix: Buying Beverly Hills, the latest docu-soap set inside a luxury real-estate agency.
The Mosquito Coast (streaming on Apple TV+): It took them a full season to get there, but the second round of the adventure series based on Paul Theroux’s novel brings the Fox family—led by mercurial father Allie (Justin Theroux) and conflicted wife Margot (Melissa George)—to the Guatemalan jungle, where they hope to settle. Once again, though, violent conflict (this time involving a local drug lord) erupts around them, threatening their future.
Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me (streaming on Apple TV+): In a revealing, intimate documentary from director/producer Alek Keshishian (Madonna: Truth or Dare), the singer-actress and star of Only Murders in the Building opens up about her struggles with mental health.