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      The Best Movies and TV Shows Coming to Amazon, HBO, Hulu and More in December

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      Every month, streaming services add movies and TV shows to its library. Here are our picks for some of December’s most promising new titles.(Note: Streaming services occasionally change schedules without giving notice. For more recommendations on what to stream, sign up for our Watching newsletter here.)Temuera Morrison and Ming-Na Wen in “The Book of Boba Fett.”Disney+New to Disney+‘The Rescue’Starts streaming: Dec. 3In “The Rescue,” the documentary filmmaking team of Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin — who won an Oscar for their film “Free Solo” — tell the stories of the skilled divers who worked to save a dozen young Thai soccer players trapped in a flooded Tham Luang Nang Non cave in the summer of 2018. The rescue operation drew volunteers from around the world and was covered in-depth by the broadcast and print media. Vasarhelyi and Chin incorporate some of that coverage into “The Rescue,” alongside new interviews with the rescue team, for a fuller view into what happened. But their primary focus is on what the divers experienced as they tried to puzzle out how to navigate through underground passages and how to extract survivors. The P.O.V. footage the divers shot themselves is often harrowing, capturing the claustrophobic pressure and the sense of panic that sets in when the waters rise.‘The Book of Boba Fett’Starts streaming: Dec. 29There are no new “The Mandalorian” episodes until 2022, so fans of the “Star Wars” universe’s bounty-hunter subculture will have to rely on this spinoff series to tide them over. Temuera Morrison reprises his role as Boba Fett, a storied mercenary who, alongside his colleague Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen), comes out of hiding and attempts to reestablish himself as someone to be feared and respected in the criminal underworld. A lot of the “Mandalorian” creative team also worked on “The Book of Boba Fett,” as did some of the supporting cast. This promises to be another action-packed throwback adventure series, exploring the difficult lives and the complicated ethical codes of characters whose jobs demand danger and violence.Also arriving:Dec. 3“Diary of a Wimpy Kid”Dec. 8“Welcome to Earth”Dec. 15“Foodtastic,” Season 1Dec. 17“Arendelle Castle Yule Log: Cut Paper Edition”From left, Glenn Howerton, Rob McElhenney and Kaitlin Olson in “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.”Prashant Gupta/FXXNew to Hulu‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,’ Season 15Starts streaming: Dec. 2The longest-running sitcom in television history returns for a new season. As usual, it will combine the show’s lowlife high jinks with some episodes that directly engage with what’s going on in the world today. For example, the season’s first episode is about how the gang at Paddy’s Pub — Mac, Charlie, Dennis, Dee and Frank — try to make money off the pandemic. And episode two comments on the sometimes reckless political incorrectness of some older “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” jokes. The series continues on from there, filtering reality through the skewed perspective of characters who hardly every change, even as society keeps shifting all around them.Also arriving:Dec. 1“Candified: Home for the Holidays,” Season 1Dec. 2“Godfather of Harlem,” Season 1Dec. 3“The New York Times Presents: To Live and Die in Alabama”“PEN15,” Season 2, Part 2“Trolls: Holiday in Harmony”Dec. 9“Bloods,” Season 1“Creamerie,” Season 1“Swan Song”Dec. 10“Crossing Swords,” Season 2Dec. 16“Dead Asleep”Dec. 17“Mother/Android”Dec. 23“Dragons: The Nine Realms” Season 1Dec. 26“Letterkenny” Season 10Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem as Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz in “Being the Ricardos.”GLEN WILSON/AmazonNew to Amazon‘Being the Ricardos’Starts streaming: Dec. 21The writer-director Aaron Sorkin follows up his American history lesson “The Trial of the Chicago 7” with another look back into our cultural past, this time exploring the world of television in its infancy as a mass medium. In “Being the Ricardos,” Nicole Kidman plays Lucille Ball and Javier Bardem plays Desi Arnaz during one week of production on the groundbreaking 1950s sitcom “I Love Lucy.” The setup frames a larger study of the celebrity couple’s tumultuous romantic, creative and business partnership. Expect to hear plenty of Sorkin’s rapid-fire dialogue, applied to a backstage melodrama with echoes of his TV series “Sports Night” and “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.”Also arriving:Dec. 3“Harlem”Dec. 9“The Ferragnez”Dec. 10“Encounter”“The Expanse,” Season 6Dec. 17“With Love”Dec. 23“Yearly Departed”New to HBO Max“Listening to Kenny G”Starts streaming: Dec. 2The “Music Box” docuseries debuts three new films on HBO this month, including “Mr. Saturday Night” (about the swaggering industry impresario Robert Stigwood) and “Juice WRLD: Into the Abyss” (about the rapper’s short life and influential career). But the movie likely to draw the most attention is Penny Lane’s slyly provocative “Listening to Kenny G.” This comprehensive biography of the wildly successful and deeply divisive pop-jazz saxophonist Kenneth Gorelick — made with his full participation — doubles as a sincere consideration of why some people love Kenny G’s music and why some think it is pandering schmaltz. Gorelick is a disarming interview subject, willing to defend himself but seemingly unconcerned about his critical reputation. It’s the critics featured in the documentary that add the most, as they wrestle honestly with the long-term effects — positive and negative — of middle-of-the-road popular music.Also arriving:Dec. 1“Adrienne”Dec. 2“Perfect Life”“Santa Inc”Dec. 5“Beforeigners”Dec. 6“Landscapers”Dec. 7“The Slow Hustle”Dec. 9“And Just Like That …”“Mr. Saturday Night”Dec. 13“Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street”Dec. 16“Finding Magic Mike”“Juice WRLD: Into the Abyss”“Station Eleven”Dec. 22“The Matrix Resurrections”New to Paramount+“1883”Starts streaming: Dec. 19Given that the modern western drama “Yellowstone” is one of the most-watched series on cable and streaming right now, it was probably inevitable that Paramount and the show’s creator, Taylor Sheridan, would try to expand the franchise. Sheridan — an accomplished writer, director and producer whose credits include the likes of “Sicario” and “Hell or High Water” — ventures back to the late 19th century to follow a grizzled adventurer (played by Sam Elliott) as he helps a pioneer couple (played by Tim McGraw and Faith Hill) find their way to Montana. There, they’ll establish the Dutton ranch that is the main setting of “Yellowstone” — though not without plenty of the obstacles and soul-searching that make the parent show so compelling.Also arriving:Dec. 2“Queen of the Universe”Dec. 23“Reno 911: The Hunt for QAnon”New to Peacock“Baking It”Starts streaming: Dec. 2The team behind the heartwarming reality competition show “Making It” offers as unique twist on the bake-off, in a series in which two-person teams cook in a homey kitchen and try to impress a judging panel of four opinionated grandmas. Maya Rudolph and Andy Samberg are the “Baking It” hosts, serving up playful banter and earnest support as contestants produce creative and delicious treats. The drama level is kept purposefully low, leaving room for lots of good holiday vibes.“MacGruber”Starts streaming: Dec. 16The comedian Will Forte and the “Saturday Night Live” writer-directors Jorma Taccone and John Solomon introduced the resourceful but easily distracted special agent MacGruber (played by Forte) in a series of “SNL” sketches that began in 2007. They spun the character off into a strange 2010 movie that has a fiercely devoted cult of fans; now they’re bringing MacGruber back to TV as a serialized action-adventure spoof, with the hero returning to work after a decade in prison. Kristen Wiig comes back as the superspy’s sidekick, for straight-faced, absurdist riffs on over-the-top ’80s and ’90s international thrillers.Also arriving:Dec. 4“Siwas Dance Pop Revolution”Dec. 9“The Housewives of the North Pole”Dec. 23“Vigil” More

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      Late Night Doesn’t Feel Great About Omicron

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      Moderna’s chief executive said scientists anticipate Omicron is “not going to be good.” Stephen Colbert called the sentiment “not comforting.”Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night’s highlights that lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy. Here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now.Outlook Not So GoodIn a recent interview, the C.E.O. of Moderna said scientists he’s spoken to about the new Covid variant, Omicron, agree “it’s not going to be good.”“Like, not comforting, science. Reminds me of that famous sugar-free gum slogan: ‘Four out of five dentists agree: What’s the point of chewing gum? Death comes for us all,’” Stephen Colbert said.“It’s kind of like when the trailer for the movie ‘Cats’ came out — the only thing we knew was ‘Well, it’s not going to be good.’ But we didn’t know the extent of how not good it would be.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“But no one knows for sure, so both Pfizer and Moderna are testing how well their vaccines protect against Omicron. Unfortunately, they won’t know the results for two weeks, at the earliest. Evidently, the scientists are stuck in a container off the coast of China.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“Now look, I’m not saying the C.E.O. of Moderna is lying — I’m not saying that at all. I’m just saying I don’t think he’s the most objective source on this topic. I’ll wait to hear what neutral experts say about a new vaccine. People like public health officials, or the C.E.O. of Johnson & Johnson. I mean, he’s got nothing to gain ’cause nobody’s going to buy his vaccines either way, so I trust him.” — TREVOR NOAH“And I wish they would hurry up, because I need to know what I’m doing in two weeks from now, you know? Should I be buying my ‘Spider-Man’ tickets or learning how to hunt and cook wild animals? Or should I split the difference and buy ‘Spider-Man’ tickets for the wild animals?” — TREVOR NOAHThe Punchiest Punchlines (Working on It Edition)“Following the news on the Omicron variant, the C.D.C. is now saying that all adults should get a booster shot. Right now, Instagram is like, ‘Incoming booster selfies in three, two, one.’” — JIMMY FALLON“And now for the bad news: Omicron does appear to be evading vaccines. It’s a scientific phenomenon known as Aaron Rodgers.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“Well, guys, Pfizer and Moderna both say that they’re already working on vaccines for the Omicron variant, while Johnson & Johnson is cheering them on.” — JIMMY FALLON“Yeah, Johnson & Johnson is like, ‘Guys, I thought we promised we’re not doing vaccines this year — why would you embarrass me?’” — JIMMY FALLON“How’d they start working on this so fast, too? It’s like when a team wins the Super Bowl, and the first commercial is, ‘Buy your Buccaneers championship hat now!’” — JIMMY FALLON“And also if we do need a new vaccine for this new variant, it’s not a big deal, all right, people? I see people online being like, ‘We’re gonna get a new shot every year?’ Yeah, you know what? Maybe to not die you need to take 15 minutes out of your year. What, is your life so busy that you don’t have time for that? I guarantee you, at some point in the next year, you will walk by a CVS. Unless you live in the desert — then it’s gonna be like a five-minute walk to a CVS.” — TREVOR NOAHThe Bits Worth WatchingJimmy Kimmel defended Dr. Fauci in his Tuesday night monologue.What We’re Excited About on Wednesday NightCate Blanchett will appear on Wednesday’s “Late Show” to talk about her new film, “Nightmare Alley.”Also, Check This OutLady Gaga as Patrizia Reggiani in “House of Gucci.”Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc. The Guccis aren’t happy about the family portrayal in “House of Gucci.” More

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      Trevor Noah: ‘Covid Turned the Planet Into a Frat House’

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      The latest Covid variant, Omicron, follows Alpha, Lambda and Delta in the Greek alphabet.Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night’s highlights that lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy. Here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now.Covid’s Greatest HitsTrevor Noah dug into the new Covid variant on Monday night, touching on Omicron’s disturbingly high number of mutations, which make it potentially more dangerous than the others.“Yes, it’s all the greatest hits in one place, like if ‘Mamma Mia’ killed you instead of teaching you about the power of love,” Noah joked on Monday night.“For most of 2021, the world has been fighting the various Covid variants, which are more than the OG from Wuhan. We had Alpha, we had Lambda, we had Delta — Covid basically turned the planet into the [expletive] frat house of all time.” — TREVOR NOAH“I mean, how did that happen after everything we did? I mean, for two years now, people, we wore masks for some of the time, we social distanced when it was convenient, then like half of us got vaccinated — what more is it gonna take?” — TREVOR NOAH“And it could be that all of these mutations that sound so scary turn out to be not that big a deal, you know? Like when Apple acts like it is making tons of changes to the iPhone and we’re like, ‘I need a new iPhone! I need a new iPhone!’ and you get it and you’re like, ‘Wait — it’s just a slightly different camera? I killed a man in line for this thing!’” — TREVOR NOAHThe Punchiest Punchlines (Omicron Edition)“Omicron — it sounds like a Transformer who can’t smell or taste.” — JIMMY FALLON“Experts are hoping it ends up being like the second season of ‘Tiger King’ where everybody talks about it, but nobody actually experiences it.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“Trying to guess where it will strike next is fun. It’s like, ‘Where in the world is Covid San Diego’?” — JIMMY KIMMEL“Yeah, we need another variant like we another turkey sandwich for lunch.” — JIMMY FALLON“But the White House said it would take two weeks to have definitive data on the new strain. That’s right, even our Covid information has shipping delays. Unbelievable!” — JIMMY FALLONThe Bits Worth WatchingStephen Colbert demands more Hanukkah-themed holiday films like “A Whole Latke Love.”What We’re Excited About on Tuesday NightMaya Rudolph will surely get roped into something fun with her pal Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday’s “Tonight Show.”Also, Check This OutDo you hear what they hear? The cabaret duo Justin Vivian Bond (Kiki), left, and Kenny Mellman (Herb), are performing their first holiday show together in 14 years.Eric McNattAfter 14 years, Justin Vivian Bond and Kenny Mellman are resurrecting Kiki and Herb for Christmas. More

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      Prosecutors: Jussie Smollett Faked Attack After Real Threat Was Ignored

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      During opening arguments in the actor’s trial, the prosecution said Mr. Smollett staged a hate crime because his workplace did not take a death threat seriously enough.The actor Jussie Smollett made himself the victim of a staged hate crime in 2019 to draw the attention of his colleagues on the television show “Empire” after he decided they had failed to take an earlier written threat seriously, a prosecutor said in a Chicago court on Monday. Dan K. Webb, the special prosecutor, laid out what he saw as Mr. Smollett’s motive in opening arguments of the actor’s trial on criminal charges that he lied to the police when he reported he had been the victim of a racist and homophobic attack.In January 2019, Mr. Webb said, Mr. Smollett received an anonymous “actual hate letter,” which included a homophobic slur and a drawing of a stick figure hanging from a tree. The letter included the acronym “MAGA” made of cutout newspaper and magazine letters, he said, a reference to former President Donald J. Trump’s campaign slogan. Law enforcement has not been able to determine who sent the letter, Mr. Webb said.“Therefore, he devised this fake hate crime to take place so that the ‘Empire’ studio would take this more seriously,” he said of Mr. Smollett, “because this fake hate crime would get media attention.”Nearly three years ago, when Mr. Smollett reported that he had been assaulted, he was primarily known for “Empire,” a drama in which he played a son vying for control of his father’s music empire. He later lost that role after being indicted on charges that he had lied to the police, who concluded that he had paid two brothers to stage the attack. After a drawn-out and tumultuous legal process, the trial began at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse in Chicago with the selection of 12 jurors and three alternates. Mr. Smollett arrived at the courthouse Monday morning, clutching the arm of his mother, Janet Smollett, and sat with several family members as the opening arguments began.Mr. Smollett is standing trial on six counts of felony disorderly conduct associated with the reports he had made to the police. The grand-jury indictment asserts he had “no reasonable ground for believing that such an offense had been committed.”When his account of being attacked on a late-night run to pick up a tuna sandwich became public it struck a chord in a politically divided nation confronting the persistent threat of racism. The actor told the police his attackers poured bleach on him, placed a rope around his neck and yelled, “This is MAGA country.”Lawmakers, activists and celebrities reacted furiously to the incident, but the dialogue shifted abruptly in February 2019, when the police told the public that Mr. Smollett had paid two men $3,500 to stage the attack. The police said they had a copy of the check as well as phone records showing that Mr. Smollett spoke to the brothers before and after the alleged attack took place.Comedians used the story as a punchline. Mr. Trump said it was a smear on his supporters, while liberal politicians condemned it as a disservice to victims of hate crimes.“I’m sad, frustrated and disappointed,” Vice President Kamala Harris, who was a senator and presidential candidate at the time, wrote on Twitter. “When anyone makes false claims to police, it not only diverts resources away from serious investigations but it makes it more difficult for other victims of crime to come forward.”But Mr. Smollett has maintained his innocence, pleading not guilty to the charges and insisting the attack happened just as he described.“They won’t let this go,” Mr. Smollett said in an Instagram interview last year. “There is an example being made, and the sad part is that there’s an example being made of someone that did not do what they’re being accused of.”Initially, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office dropped the felony charges against the actor, saying that Mr. Smollett had forfeited his $10,000 bond and explaining that he was not a threat to public safety and had a record of service to the community. Chicago’s police superintendent at the time, Eddie Johnson, and its mayor, Rahm Emanuel, suggested Mr. Smollett was getting special treatment because of his celebrity status.Kim Foxx, Chicago’s top prosecutor, stood by the decision.“Yes, falsely reporting a hate crime makes me angry, and anyone who does that deserves the community’s outrage,” Ms. Foxx wrote in a Chicago Tribune op-ed after her office dropped the charges. “But, as I’ve said since before I was elected, we must separate the people at whom we are angry from the people of whom we are afraid.”In the months that followed, much of the discussion surrounding the case focused on how prosecutors had handled it.Ms. Foxx had recused herself from overseeing the case to avoid any perception that she had a conflict of interest after disclosing that she had communicated with Mr. Smollett’s representatives when he was still considered a victim. She delegated it to a deputy, but text messages later showed that Ms. Foxx had remained closely engaged with the case, expressing concern to a colleague that the office was treating the actor too harshly.Later in 2019, a judge appointed Mr. Webb as a special prosecutor to review whether Mr. Smollett should be recharged and to assess whether there had been any misconduct in the way the case was managed by the state’s attorney’s office.Mr. Webb renewed charges against Mr. Smollett in February 2020. He later determined that the state’s attorney’s office had not violated the law, but did abuse its discretion in deciding to drop charges and put out false or misleading public statements about why it did so.Understand the Jussie Smollett TrialCard 1 of 5A staged hate crime? More

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      In Bill Cosby Case, Supreme Court Is Asked to Toss Ruling That Freed Him

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      The prosecutors who brought the 2018 sexual assault case are appealing the decision in June by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that overturned the jury verdict.Prosecutors who say Bill Cosby belongs in prison are asking the United States Supreme Court to throw out an appellate court ruling earlier this year that overturned his 2018 conviction for sexual assault on due process grounds.Mr. Cosby walked free from prison in June after serving less than three years of a three-to-10-year sentence.His release followed a ruling by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that Mr. Cosby’s rights had been violated when the Montgomery County District Attorney’s office pursued a criminal case against him despite what the appellate court found was a binding “non-prosecution agreement” given to him by a previous district attorney.It was a dramatic reversal in one of the first high-profile criminal convictions of the #MeToo era.The petition for review, filed last Wednesday by the district attorney’s office but only made public Monday, challenges that decision, arguing that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court erred in its ruling.The Pennsylvania high court’s decision came in the case of Andrea Constand, a former Temple University employee to whom Mr. Cosby had become a mentor. He was arrested in 2015 on charges that he had drugged and sexually assaulted her at his home in a Philadelphia suburb 11 years earlier.The arrest came at a time when dozens of other women had already come forward to accuse Mr. Cosby of sexual assault or misconduct.A spokesman for Mr. Cosby, Andrew Wyatt, released a statement that referred to the decision to seek Supreme Court review as “a pathetic last-ditch effort.”.css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c strong{font-weight:600;}.css-3btd0c em{font-style:italic;}.css-1kpebx{margin:0 auto;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-1kpebx{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-1kpebx{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-1kpebx{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-1gtxqqv{margin-bottom:0;}.css-1g3vlj0{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-1g3vlj0{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-1g3vlj0 strong{font-weight:600;}.css-1g3vlj0 em{font-style:italic;}.css-1g3vlj0{margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0.25rem;}.css-19zsuqr{display:block;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}.css-12vbvwq{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-12vbvwq{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-12vbvwq:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-12vbvwq{border:none;padding:10px 0 0;border-top:2px solid #121212;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-qjk116{margin:0 auto;overflow:hidden;}.css-qjk116 strong{font-weight:700;}.css-qjk116 em{font-style:italic;}.css-qjk116 a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:visited{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}“In short, the Montgomery County D.A. asks the United States Supreme Court to throw the Constitution out the window, as it did, to satisfy the #metoo mob,” the statement said. “There is no merit to the DA’s request which centers on the unique facts of the Cosby case and has no impact on important federal questions of law.”A lawyer for Ms. Constand, Bebe H. Kivitz, said Ms. Constand “is gratified that the District Attorney’s Office is appealing. This appeal demonstrates the prosecutors’ confidence in the verdict, and attempts to seek justice on behalf of all of Cosby’s victims.”The accusations against Mr. Cosby, and his eventual conviction on three charges of aggravated indecent assault, painted a disturbing portrait of a man who for decades had brightened America’s living rooms as a beloved entertainer and father figure.Mr. Cosby has consistently denied the accusations that he was a sexual predator, suggesting that the encounter with Ms. Constand, and those with other accusers, had been completely consensual.It is by no means certain that the U.S. Supreme Court will agree to hear the case. The court denies the vast majority of petitions seeking review.The justices only consider cases that involve federal law, and they rarely hear cases merely to correct erroneous rulings. Instead, they generally agree to hear cases in which lower courts have reached differing conclusions or ones involving legal issues of great public importance.Some legal experts had not expected prosecutors to file an appeal to the Supreme Court, seeing the case as a matter of state rather than federal law, and one that involves a specific set of circumstances that do not involve far-reaching constitutional issues.For the appeal to succeed, the justices would have to decide that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision relied on and misinterpreted a federal law or constitutional provision, experts said.“The district attorney’s office really strains in its petition to make this into a precedent-setting issue — it’s not,” said Shan Wu, a former federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C., who has followed the case. “The unique facts make it highly unlikely that it would ever arise again.”Mr. Cosby’s lawyers have 30 days to respond, though they may seek an extension.Mr. Cosby’s appeal to Pennsylvania’s highest court had argued, among other issues, that the entertainer had relied on a previous prosecutor’s statement in 2005 that Mr. Cosby would not face charges in the case.The district attorney at the time, Bruce L. Castor Jr., had said he made the non-prosecution agreement verbally to Mr. Cosby’s lawyer, after determining there was insufficient evidence to win a prosecution on sex assault charges. He has pointed to a news release he issued announcing the end of the criminal investigation as evidence that an immunity agreement existed. He has subsequently testified that the agreement was intended to compel Mr. Cosby to testify in any civil suit that Ms. Constand might file by removing Mr. Cosby’s ability to exercise his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.Shortly after the criminal investigation was dropped, Ms. Constand did sue Mr. Cosby, and settled in 2006 for $3.38 million.During testimony in the civil suit, Mr. Cosby acknowledged giving quaaludes to women he was pursuing for sex — evidence that played a key part in the criminal prosecution later brought by Mr. Castor’s successors.As the criminal case proceeded, the trial court — and an intermediate appeals court — found that no formal non-prosecution agreement ever existed.But in its 6-1 ruling, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court found that Mr. Cosby had, in fact, relied on Mr. Castor’s assurances that he wouldn’t be prosecuted and that the subsequent decision by a successor to charge Mr. Cosby violated the entertainer’s due process rights. The court barred a retrial, though two of the judges who voted in the majority dissented on that remedy.“Petitioning to ask the High Court for review was the right thing to do,” Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele said Monday in a statement, “because of the precedent set in this case by the majority opinion of Pennsylvania Supreme Court that prosecutors’ statements in press releases now seemingly create immunity.”The district attorney’s office referenced an argument put forward by one of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices, Kevin Dougherty, who said in an opinion that no district attorney had the “power to impose on their successors — in perpetuity, no less — the kind of non-prosecution agreement that Castor sought to convey to Cosby.”In their 33-page filing, the prosecutors also tried to counter the argument that Mr. Cosby had a right to rely on what Mr. Castor said was a promise not to prosecute him further, asserting that “a reasonably prudent person would have been reckless to rely on a supposed guarantee that the prosecutor did not clearly convey and may not have had the power to grant.”Since being freed, Mr. Cosby, 84, has portrayed the decision as a full exoneration. The chief justice of the Pennsylvania high court, Max Baer, has said, though, that the court’s ruling did not find Mr. Cosby innocent, only unfairly prosecuted.Patricia Steuer, 65, who has accused Mr. Cosby of drugging and assaulting her in 1978 and 1980, said that although she appreciated the effort to appeal what she viewed as a flawed decision, she was not optimistic about the outcome.“It never occurred to me that they’d petition to the U.S. Supreme Court,” she said. “I’m grateful for that, but I don’t have a lot of hope that he’ll end back in prison.”Julia Jacobs contributed reporting. More

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      What’s on TV This Week: Willy Wonka and a ‘West Side Story’ Special

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      “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” airs on AMC. And ABC hosts a special on “West Side Story.”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, Nov. 29-Dec. 5. Details and times are subject to change.MondayWILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY (1971) 7 p.m. on AMC. When the reclusive, illusive candy man Willy Wonka (Gene Wilder) opens the doors to his chocolate factory, a young, impoverished boy, Charlie (Peter Ostrum), joins four spoiled children for a wild, mysterious ride. Consider this your golden ticket, granting you entry into the world of magical chocolate-coated trinkets and confections of unusual design, where teacups you can sip from and take a bite out of grow from the ground, and where nothing is as it seems — not even the wallpaper.TuesdayCary Grant and Deborah Kerr in “An Affair to Remember.”Fox Home VideoAN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER (1957) 10:15 p.m. on TCM. While en route to reunite with their respective partners, Nickie Ferrannte (Cary Grant) and Terry McKay (Deborah Kerr) meet, fall passionately in love and devise a plot to rendezvous at the top of the Empire State Building in six months. Will this be time enough to sort out all their current affairs and stay in love? Or will their story of love, like so many others, also be one of heartbreak? (One might notice the parallels between this sentimental classic and the 1993 film “Sleepless in Seattle,” with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.)Wednesday89TH ANNUAL CHRISTMAS IN ROCKEFELLER CENTER 8 p.m. on NBC. Join the festivities celebrating the annual lighting of the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center. This year’s tree is a 79-foot-tall, 46-foot-wide Norway spruce from Elkton, Md., that weighs nearly 12 tons. It will be speckled with over 50,000 lights and topped with a Swarovski star. The NBC anchors Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb, Al Roker and Craig Melvin will host, with performances by the Radio City Rockettes, Alessia Cara, Norah Jones, Brad Paisley, Rob Thomas, Carrie Underwood and more.ThursdayANNIE LIVE! 8 p.m. on NBC. Taraji P. Henson plays the domineering orphanage matron Miss Hannigan in this live production of the beloved, Tony-winning musical “Annie!” The story follows a spunky little orphan, Annie (Celina Smith), who is determined to find her family. She is taken under the wing of a billionaire, Oliver Warbucks (Harry Connick Jr.), and charms her way around New York City — until her quest to find her parents is interrupted by a wicked plan. In this live production, Tituss Burgess plays Miss Hannigan’s weasel of a brother, Rooster.Jim Carrey in “The Mask.”New Line CinemaTHE MASK (1994) 8 p.m. Syfy. Stuck in a daily routine of humdrum, menial tasks, a bank clerk, Stanley Ipkiss (Jim Carrey), is at his wit’s end. Then a mysterious mask appears, giving him the ability to transform into a zany, devil-may-care alter ego. His world spins out of control. Stanley hopes to win over a nightclub performer, Tina Carlyle (Cameron Diaz). But as he falls deeper into the mask’s allure, he risks forgetting who he really is.FridayMICHAEL JACKSON’S THIS IS IT (2009) 4 p.m. on Showtime. Created from over a hundred hours of footage, this documentary follows Michael Jackson from April 2009 until his death in June of that year, as he rehearsed for a string of shows which had sold out the O2 arena in London. B-roll footage of behind-the-scenes moments and recordings of dress rehearsals capture creativity and determination during the final months of the superstar’s life, though the documentary, released months after Jackson’s death, steers clear of the descriptions of abuse that have become central to his legacy. In her review for The New York Times, Manohla Dargis called the film “weird and watchable, by turns frustrating and entertaining, and predictably a little morbid.”KINGDOMS OF THE SKY: HIMALAYA 10 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). Set aside an hour to trek across the highest mountain range on earth. Yes, it only takes an hour — if you’re watching from home, that is. Follow along as this episode of “Kingdoms of the Sky” brings the wildlife and the people of the Himalayan mountain range into view.Five Movies to Watch This WinterCard 1 of 51. “The Power of the Dog”: More

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      ‘Succession’ Season 3, Episode 7: Citizen Ken

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      Ken tries to have it both ways with a birthday party that is both absurdly over the top but disownably ironic. Unfortunately for him, it is more tragedy than farce.Season 3, Episode 7: ‘Too Much Birthday’The streaming services have been cluttered lately with “anatomy of a failure” documentaries, which detail the downfall of formerly white-hot companies like WeWork and LuLaRoe. In nearly all these docs, there’s a scene like Kendall’s 40th birthday party in this week’s episode of “Succession” — some preposterously lavish and borderline cultish shindig, celebrating a business culture about to collapse under its founding genius.In the case of the event Shiv calls “KenFest,” the party is like an endless version of that scene in “Citizen Kane” in which the brash young media magnate Charles Foster Kane dances and sings along to a jaunty pop song about himself. Moments like these are equal parts awkward and reckless. They’re a grand illustration of the whole concept of “hubris.”“Too Much Birthday” is an often very funny episode, which curdles into devastating drama by the end. But most of all, it is a triumph of production design. Nearly every set reflects some aspect of Kendall Roy — whether he intends it to or not. A lot of the décor is meant to straddle the line between amusingly ironic and cockily sincere. If a guest considers some piece of design to be over the top, Kendall can always say, “But it’s funny, right?”Here are just a few of the attractions awaiting those guests:As they walk in, they are greeted by a big sign above the door, reading “The Notorious KEN Ready to Die.”Once they enter, they pass video-screens showing wriggling sperm before heading through a passageway made up of pink, pillowy folds, leading to a coat-check room where a greeter in a nurse uniform says, “You’ve just been born into the world of Kendall Roy.” (Shiv, looking back at what is clearly meant to symbolize her mother’s birth canal, says: “Cold and inhospitable. Seems to check out.” Kendall, hearing his younger brother’s concerns about the tastefulness of this display, says: “Roman, relax. Yes, you can take it home with you.”)Behind a curtain inside, there is a room containing giant-size mock-ups of newspaper front pages, predicting pathetic futures for Kendall’s family. (Connor, who is now up to 1 percent in the Republican presidential polling, is livid at this little joke. “What if McCartney tweets this?”)There is a “compliment tunnel” filled with lush greenery and actors saying nice things about anyone who enters. This hilariously flusters Tom, who came to this party to cut loose but ends up finding Kendall’s flourishes irritating. (To be fair, Tom thinks he “took the wrong drugs in the wrong order.”)There is a room flanked by video screens depicting a raging fire, which appear in the episode right as Kendall receives his “birthday present” from Logan and Roman: a sentiment-free greeting card and a term-sheet listing the amount Waystar is willing to pay him to leave the company forever.And then there is the treehouse.This episode is credited to the screenwriters Tony Roche and Georgia Pritchett, with Lorene Scafaria in the director’s chair. I don’t know if credit for the treehouse goes to one of these people or to the series’s creator, Jesse Armstrong, or to someone else; but it is a conceptual masterstroke. This week, all the Roy kids reunite to fight about whom their dad wants to be in charge. And here is Kendall, standing in front of a literal treehouse, built in the middle of his party, telling his siblings they can’t come in.Kendall’s pettiness is, to some extent, justified. When Roman, Shiv and Connor first show up at Kendall’s party, he seems genuinely happy, giving them hugs that appear to be heartfelt. But then he learns the real reason Shiv and Roman are there.Waystar needs to upgrade its streaming platform by partnering with the tech company GoJo, run by the mercurial Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgard), who earlier that day skipped a meeting with Logan and sent his underlings. Kendall has Matsson — whom he calls “the Odin of codin’” — stashed away in his treehouse, where any illicit thing he needs is supplied by Kendall’s own “one-man dark web.” (“He’s not a good guy,” Kendall says to Matsson about his drug dealer. “Enjoy.”)When Roman and Shiv try to enter, Kendall personally blocks them, saying, “The treehouse is cool and you’re not cool.” He calls his siblings Nazi-lovers while he is “a defender of liberal democracy.” As his brother and sister argue that landing GoJo could raise the family’s net worth, Kendall replies, “I have to weigh that against the consideration that no losers are allowed.”Ultimately, Roman weasels his way into the treehouse anyway, where he appears to connect with Matsson. Roman pitches Waystar’s library of broadly popular entertainment and news content (not the “gay moms” or “wheelchair kids” the other media companies are selling); and he talks up GoJo’s platform, which unlike Waystar’s doesn’t take over 30 seconds to load a page. Matsson seems amenable to some kind of deal, so long as he never has to interact with the meddling, out-of-touch dinosaur Logan. (“When will your father die?” he asks earnestly, to which Roman chuckles and then mutters, “We’re laughing here, but that is my dad, so …”)This is the second “Succession” in a row where Roman notches a big win; and he is not gracious about it. He skewers Shiv, who has been excluded from the offer to buy Kendall’s shares, shielded from the decision to send private investigators to harass Kendall’s children and is absent when Roman gets a tentative yes from GoJo. Roman also insinuates that Shiv might be annoyed by rumors that the Justice Department is ending its investigation into Brightstar without sending Tom or anyone else to prison. If true, that would squelch her secret hope that the wicked Waystar dudes might be shoved out of her way by the long arm of the law.Shiv can take comfort, though, in knowing that on this show, no Roy thrives for long. Roman is likely overestimating how much power he has to make deals on his father’s behalf; and it is possible that deep in his bones he senses something is off. That may explain why he later tries to goad Kendall into hitting him and then gives his brother a shove in the back that sends him sprawling. Maybe Roman is trying to hasten his own inevitable comeuppance.It’s too bad for Roman, then, that Kendall is already too beaten down to stand up for himself. From the moment he gets Logan’s term sheet, Kendall starts to spiral — first slowly, and then in a hurry. He abandons his plan to sing Billy Joel’s “Honesty” in front of his guests while hanging from a cross. He falls into a maudlin mood, making what may be references to tragic F. Scott Fitzgerald characters (and, yes, “Citizen Kane”) by promising to buy his girlfriend, Naomi Pierce, “a diamond the size of the Ritz-Carlton and a couple of newspapers.”The real triggering moment for Kendall, though, is when his ex-wife tells him to keep an eye out for a present from his kids, wrapped in rabbit-patterned paper. The missing gift eats at Kendall — almost as much as it bothers him that his brother Connor refuses to pay him the simple respect of taking off his coat at the party. Finally, he starts tearing through his pile of presents until he breaks down sobbing. Here is a man who seemingly has everything, except for some cheap handmade trinket that represents his children’s love.Surely somewhere off in the distance, an old man is whispering, “Rosebud.”Due DiligenceShiv is getting concerned about Logan’s possible affair with his assistant Kerry, while Roman thinks this is actually one of the most normal things an aging oligarch could do. Shiv’s instincts may be right, though. After Matsson skips the meeting, Logan is swayed by Kerry’s blithe encouragement to ditch GoJo.The Roy family also questions Greg’s romantic interest in Kendall’s public relations agent Comfry (Dasha Nekrasova). Their skepticism ranges from Tom’s relatively mild comment that the relationship would be “like a haunted scarecrow asking out Jackie Onassis” to Ken’s savagely calling Greg “a human tapeworm” (and then refusing to clarify whether he’s kidding). But while Comfry may have to feed damaging intel about Greg to the press — something he clumsily forgives in an exaggerated southern accent, for some inexplicable yet delightful reason — she is so annoyed with her boss that she agrees to a date anyway. Her assent may be rooted in “rancor or pique,” but Greg will take it.Kendall has a grand vision for his party, hoping that even “the imagineers” and “the D.J. crew” will enjoy themselves as they work. (“No boundaries if you’re cool,” he insists.) He is especially stoked about the group of kids he hired to perform Wu-Tang Clan covers; but when he cancels his performance, he has to drop “tiny Wu-Tang” too. (Genuinely remorseful, he says, “Tell them they’ve got it all ahead of them, yeah?”)Kendall’s siblings show some crack comic timing when they ask him who’s at the party and he answers, “Who isn’t?” Without missing a beat, they rattle off a list: “Your dad.” “Your mom.” “Your wife and kids.” “Any real friends.” More

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      Brandon Kyle Goodman, a Nonbinary Voice of ‘Big Mouth’

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      The actor and writer also stars in the spinoff “Human Resources.”Name: Brandon Kyle GoodmanAge: 34Hometown: New York CityNow lives: In a one-bedroom apartment in Hollywood with his husband, Matthew Raymond-Goodman, and their dog, Korey.Claim to fame: Mr. Goodman is an actor and writer best known for “Big Mouth,” an adult animated sitcom on Netflix about preteens surviving puberty. He is the voice of Walter, a bisexual lovebug.Mr. Goodman is also a Black and queer activist who hosts a weekly podcast, “Black Folx,” which features conversations about diverse Black voices. “Being a nonbinary gay Black person in Hollywood is an uphill battle” he said. “As a storyteller, I, too, want the chance to play with all the colors in the crayon box of humanity instead of being sidelined as a trope.NetflixBig break: After graduating from the Tisch School of Arts at New York University in 2009, Mr. Goodman began writing a pilot about three queer friends in New York City in search of love called “Sweet Boys,” filled with poignant observations about modern romance drawn from his own journey.His agent submitted it to “Big Mouth.” “They loved it and thought that it fit with their world,” he said. “I remember one of the creators of the show, Jennifer Flackett, saying the characters in my pilot reminded them of the ‘Big Mouth’ kids as grown-ups.”Latest project: Mr. Goodman just finished playing Walter again, this time on “Human Resources,” a spinoff of “Big Mouth” set in a workplace. His co-stars include Randall Park, Keke Palmer and Aidy Bryant. “It’s a dream to be part of the ‘Big Mouth’ universe as a writer, and then to be trusted to join its legendary roster of comedic icons as a voice on the show is nothing short of an honor,” he said. “I’m still pinching myself.”Michael Tyrone Delaney for The New York TimesNext thing: Mr. Goodman is working on his first book, a collection of essays on Black queerness to be published next fall by Legacy Lit Books, a division of Hachette Books focused on BIPOC authors. “My hope is that, if you’re white, cis and het, you’ll have a really candid look into what it is to be Black and queer,” he said. “And if you’re Black and queer, or you’re living in the intersections, you’ll have language that articulates your experience because that’s what I missed growing up — language that articulated my experience.”Going Live: Every week, Mr. Goodman goes live on Instagram to answer questions about queer sex. “I know that to the outside this all could look raunchy, but to me, it’s activism because sex positivity and talking about how much shame there is around sex is super-important, and I wanted to create a safe space to do that,” he said. More