A spy drama based on a decades-long manhunt comes to Showtime, and a new FX documentary brings back former Hillsong pastors to reflect on the church’s scandal.
Between network, cable and streaming, the modern television landscape is a vast one. Here are some of the shows, specials and movies coming to TV this week, May 15-21. Details and times are subject to change.
Monday
STREET OUTLAWS: LOCALS ONLY 8 p.m. on DISCOVERY. This new series in Discovery Channel’s “Street Outlaws” universe follows the street-racing duo Farmtruck and AZN, previously introduced in “Street Outlaws: OKC,” as they journey across the U.S. in search of the speediest local street racers. The chance to race against a veteran Street Outlaw driver (and a $5,000 prize) await the racers in an elimination process that spans ten episodes and both coasts.
SUMMER BAKING CHAMPIONSHIP 9 p.m. on FOOD NETWORK. Just in time for barbecue season, this new whimsical cooking competition show hosted by Jesse Palmer asks contestants to bring their best warm-weather recipes to the table. For a $25,000 cash prize, ten chefs will compete in a series of summer-themed challenges.
Tuesday
ANGEL CITY 9 p.m. on HBO. This new docuseries explores the infancy and rise of Angel City Football Club, the Los Angeles-based, female-founded soccer team whose early investors include the tennis star Serena Williams and the World Cup winners Mia Hamm and Abby Wambach.
Wednesday
GRAN TORINO (2008) 11 p.m. on AMC. The Academy Award-winning director Clint Eastwood’s “vitality as an artist shows no sign of waning,” Manohla Dargis pronounced in her review for The New York Times. Set in Detroit, the film follows the unlikely friendship between Walt Kowalski (Eastwood), a cantankerous and bigoted retired factory worker who served in Vietnam and has just buried his wife, and Thao (Bee Vang), Walt’s teenage neighbor of Hmong descent.
Thursday
THE ONE 9 p.m. on TV ONE. The Grammy Award-winning gospel singer Kirk Franklin and his wife, Tammy, host a new competition dating show that adds a soul-searching element to the matchmaking process. Two Atlanta singles will meet with eligible bachelors and bachelorettes in hopes of finally finding “the one” in a series of adventurous dates. The Franklins are there to provide love and life advice along the whole way.
DOCTOR ZHIVAGO (1965) 9:45 p.m. on TCM. This Oscar-winning historical romance, a dramatization of Boris Pasternak’s 1957 classic but controversial novel of the same name, follows a decades-long, star-crossed love affair set against the backdrop of the Russian Revolution. Bosley Crowther praised the director David Lean’s mise-en-scène in his 1965 review for The Times, in scenes ranging from “a snow-filled Moscow street” to “a country cottage frosted with shimmering ice.” Omar Sharif earned a Golden Globe for best actor for his performance as the titular Doctor Zhivago.
Friday
BELLE COLLECTIVE 8 p.m. on OWN. In the third season of this reality series, six glamorous businesswomen in Jackson, Miss., grapple with issues in their personal and professional lives as they’re tasked with redefining what it means to be Black, female and successful.
GREAT PERFORMANCES: RICHARD III 9 p.m. on PBS. Recorded at the outdoor Delacorte Theater in Manhattan during a 2022 “Shakespeare in the Park” performance, the Public Theater’s rendition of Shakespeare’s tragedy is now available for all to watch. The play’s verse is “extraordinarily pungent and the questions obviously eternal,” Jesse Green described in his review for The Times, lauding the “Black Panther” star Danai Gurira’s portrayal of the ruthless titular character as “unflaggingly energetic” and “vocally thrilling.”
THE SECRETS OF HILLSONG 10 p.m. on FX. This four-part investigative docuseries recalls the rise and fall of Hillsong, the megachurch that counted actors, athletes and musicians on its roster before it became embroiled in a sex-abuse scandal. Though not the first documentary to tackle Hillsong’s fall from grace, this series will feature interviews with former pastors Laura and Carl Lentz, speaking for the first time since their public expulsion from the church.
Saturday
LOVE TO LOVE YOU, DONNA SUMMER 8 p.m. on HBO. This love letter to the life and legacy of the Grammy Award-winning singer Donna Summer is directed by the Academy Award-winning filmmaker, Roger Ross Williams, and Brooklyn Sudano, Summer’s daughter. Through the recollections of those closest to her, photographs and home video footage (much shot by Summer herself), the film follows the artist from her career beginnings as a musical theater vocalist to her rise as the “Queen of Disco.”
Sunday
GHOSTS OF BEIRUT 10 p.m. on SHOWTIME. From the creators of the Israeli espionage thriller series “Fauda,” this four-part spy drama is based on the decades-long global manhunt for Imad Mughniyeh, a Lebanese military commander who is believed to be the mastermind behind a string of high-profile terrorist attacks in the 1980s and 1990s.
Source: Television - nytimes.com
