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      What’s on TV This Week: Lots of Awards Shows and the Presidential Debate

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      The VMAs, Creative Emmys and Emmy Awards are on the schedule, while ABC is hosting the first debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.For those who still enjoy a cable subscription, here is a selection of cable and network shows, movies and specials scheduled for this week, Sept. 9-15. Details and times are subject to change.MondayGREASE (1987) 8 p.m. on Paramount. “It turned colder, that’s where it ends,” the characters Danny Zu-ko and Sandy Olsson sing in their duet “Summer Nights,” expressing a sentiment appropriate to that season when summer flings end. Of course, for Danny (John Travolta) and Sandy (Olivia Newton-John) summer evolved into fall, when they serendipitously started the year at the same school, setting the stage for more teenage drama, drag races and lots of hangs at the local diner.TuesdayPRESIDENTIAL DEBATE 9 p.m. on ABC. This debate, between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, will be our first chance to see the candidates one-on-one as they discuss issues and their proposals. Hosted by ABC and moderated by Linsey Davis and David Muir, the debate is intended to be more orderly than the ones in recent election cycles. Trump and Harris (begrudgingly) agreed on a plan to mute the microphone of whoever is not actively speaking.Wednesday2024 VIDEO MUSIC AWARDS 8 p.m. on MTV. After Sabrina Carpenter released an album with songs that fans think are about Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello, all three will be under one roof and ready to perform at this annual show. Megan Thee Stallion will be on double duty — hosting and performing — and Katy Perry is set to receive the Video Vanguard Award. Think of this ceremony as the rebellious little cousin of the Grammys, featuring lots of fun performances, onstage shenanigans and dance numbers.Seth Meyers on “Late Night With Seth Meyers.”Lloyd Bishop/NBCA CLOSER LOOK WITH SETH MEYERS: PRIMETIME LIVE ELECTION SPECIAL 10 p.m. on NBC. After you’ve taken some time to digest the debate and gotten a bit of a palate cleanser with the VMAs, Seth Meyers is hosting an hourlong special to break down everything we saw in the debate in his typical funny but informative format.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Review: ‘My Brilliant Friend’ Comes to a Brilliant Conclusion

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      HBO’s Elena Ferrante adaptation completes one of the best portraits of a lifelong relationship ever made for TV.“I was born in a poor, run-down neighborhood, very run-down, where men’s fury, their violence, was and is a daily occurrence.”In an author’s talk, Elena Greco (Alba Rohrwacher), known to us as Lenù, is describing herself the way we encountered her in the first season of “My Brilliant Friend.” In a gang-ridden, suffocating area of 1950s Naples, she found an ally and sometime rival in Raffaella Cerullo, called Lila, with whom she would be bound for life.By the fourth and final season, which begins Monday on HBO, Lenù has become the writer of her own story, in acclaimed essays and novels. But she is also still very much living it — drawn back to her old neighborhood, its passions and its dangers, as one of TV’s best series reaches a potent, finely observed conclusion.Lenù and Lila met in the beginning of the series as classmates, two smart girls in a place of poverty and street beat-downs without much opportunity for women. (The younger Lenù was played by Elisa Del Genio and Margherita Mazzucco, Lila by Ludovica Nasti and Gaia Girace; in Season 4, Rohrwacher takes over as Lenù and Irene Maiorino as Lila.)Lenù’s intellect is controlled and her nature studious; she’s a hard worker who does well in academic settings. Lenù’s genius is wild and uncontrolled — it burns and bursts out of her. Lenù is cautious and a people pleaser; Lila is enigmatic and brave, with a fierce sense of justice. Each has something missing in the other. Lenù adopts something of Lila’s rebelliousness. Lila, though she sometimes denigrates Lenù’s ivory-tower pursuits, also seems to admire and perhaps envy her success.Fabrizio Gifuni plays Nino, a longtime crush of both of the friends.Eduardo Castaldo/HBOWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Athletes Go Super Saiyan for Anime

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      Young professional athletes are increasingly broadcasting their obsession with anime like “Pokémon” and “Naruto,” upending preconceptions about kinds of fandom.Instead of talking about football after he joined the New Orleans Saints, Jamaal Williams introduced himself to reporters last year with a dialogue on “Pokémon,” prompted by the foxlike character Eevee perched on his head.In homage to “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” the mixed-martial artist Israel Adesanya has boldly nicknamed himself the Last Stylebender.And the sprinter Noah Lyles, to celebrate his Olympic gold medal in the 100-meter dash this summer, cupped his hands forward as if generating the “Kamehameha,” an energy-blast attack from “Dragon Ball Z.”High-profile athletes are increasingly broadcasting their fascination with anime, creating a fraternity inside locker rooms as they lovingly dissect favorite animated Japanese shows and films. In the process, they are upending preconceptions about different kinds of fandom and outdated labels that seek to define and divide jocks and geeks.“There’s more nerds out here that can ball out and like anime,” said Williams, 29, who has worn an anime helmet visor and gently corrected a reporter who mispronounced “Pokèmon.” “You don’t have to be the stereotype where all we do is rap or play ball.”The N.F.L. player Jamaal Williams, wearing an Eevee hat, is happy to talk about Pokémon with reporters.New Orleans SaintsWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘Fifteen-Love’ Is a Tense Tennis Drama

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      A British import on Sundance Now, the series balances sports sudsiness with prickly, fraught drama about sex, maturity, consent and power.Ella Lily Hyland and Aidan Turner in a scene from “Fifteen-Love.”Rob Youngson/Sundance NowJustine (Ella Lily Hyland) was a promising tennis player in her teens, and the French Open seemed like it would be her breakthrough tournament. But a gnarly wrist injury and an total emotional breakdown derailed her. Now she’s in her early 20s, working as a physical therapist at her old tennis academy, stewing in self-loathing and coming to terms with the fact that her coach, Glenn (Aidan Turner), assaulted and manipulated her. Part of her wants to leave that in the past, but when Glenn re-emerges at the club, coaching other teen girls, she can’t.“Fifteen-Love,” a British import on Sundance Now, balances sports sudsiness with prickly, fraught drama about sex, maturity, consent and power. Justine has great instincts but terrible impulses; she knows Glenn preyed on her, but there’s no real mechanism for justice or restitution. Some people in her life believe her; some don’t. But worst of all are the ones, like her mother, who mostly believe her but think what happened is no big deal — always a victim, they say. In Justine’s eyes, though, she never got to be a victim at all.Hyland’s performance here is mesmerizing but grounded, showing us how in some ways Justine grew up too fast, and in others she hasn’t grown up at all. She is angry and can be self-destructive, and the show shines in its argument scenes. Tennis players know how to volley. “You used to be on my side,” Justine spits at her best friend and fellow player. “No,” says the friend. “I was in your shadow.”Over its six episodes, “Fifteen-Love” loses steam, especially when it kicks into thriller mode toward the end. More characters does not always mean more story, and the show is most interesting when it is narrowly focused, probing the dynamic between Justine and Glenn. It’s not as pat as just victim and abuser — where do the other feelings go?Even as the plot sags, the specifics still land. In one scene, Justine and a comrade comb through years of possibly incriminating emails, looking for leads on other victims. What should they search for? “Sexual?” the friend suggests. “Inappropriate?” Justine instead types in “emotional.”So far four episodes are available, with new installments arriving Thursdays. More

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      Taylor Frankie Paul and the Story Behind ‘The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’

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      A new Hulu series will explore a cheating scandal — and its aftermath — that rocked the world of Mormon social media influencers.In the summer of 2022, the world of Mormon influencers was rocked by a scandal that even their most dedicated followers did not see coming. Taylor Frankie Paul, a married TikTok influencer and mother of two, announced in a TikTok livestream that she and her husband had decided to get a divorce after “soft swinging” with other Mormon couples in their Salt Lake City-area friend group.The public admission prompted denials from Ms. Paul’s friend group, cheating accusations and even more shocking revelations, all of which have followed the so-called #MomTok influencers ever since.Now, the scandal and its aftermath have been documented for a new reality series for Hulu — the aptly titled “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” — which premieres on Friday. Here’s what you need to know about the women, and the scandal, at the heart of the series.OK, what is #MomTok?“I created MomTok,” Ms. Paul, 30, declares in the trailer for the show.MomTok is a nickname for a loose collection of popular young Mormon influencers who post TikTok videos of themselves dancing, lip syncing and behaving in ways you wouldn’t necessarily expect religious women to behave. But that’s part of the point: Ms. Paul and her friends, including Mayci Neeley, Mikayla Mathews and Whitney Leavitt, say that MomTok is about subverting expectations of how Mormon wives and mothers should act.“We are trying to change the stigma of the gender roles in the Mormon culture,” Ms. Neeley says in the trailer.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      27 TV Shows to Watch This Fall

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      A “WandaVision” spinoff, Colin Farrell in “The Penguin” and Alfonso Cuarón’s “Disclaimer” are among the season’s tantalizing offerings.The fall television season is short on blockbuster titles — a “Star Wars” extension, “Skeleton Crew,” from Disney+, and perhaps HBO’s as-yet-unscheduled “Dune: Prophecy.” But there is plenty that’s of interest, including Alfonso Cuarón’s return to television with “Disclaimer” on Apple TV+, Colin Farrell’s incarnation of the Penguin for HBO and Kathryn Hahn’s reboot of her “WandaVision” character in “Agatha All Along” for Disney+. There will also be new seasons of offbeat but proven comedies like “Bad Sisters” on Apple TV+, “Somebody Somewhere” on HBO and “What We Do in the Shadows,” which, unlike its vampire heroes, will perish after its sixth season on FX. Here are 25 shows to keep an eye out for this fall, in chronological order; all dates are subject to change.September‘THE OLD MAN’ In Season 2 of this melancholy spy thriller, Jeff Bridges and John Lithgow return as former C.I.A. colleagues and improbable action buddies — the two actors’ average age is 76, and Lithgow’s character once hired a hit man to kill Bridges’s. (With 76-year-old Kathy Bates starring in CBS’s “Matlock” reboot, it’s a good season for septuagenarians.) (FX, Sept. 12)‘HOW TO DIE ALONE’ The actress and writer Natasha Rothwell (“Insecure,” “White Lotus”) created and stars in this wistful comedy about a lonely airport worker whose life changes after a near-death experience involving an armoire and crab Rangoon. (Hulu, Sept. 13)Natasha Rothwell plays a lonely airport worker in the comedy “How to Die Alone,” which premieres on Hulu in September.Lindsay Sarazin/Disney‘AGATHA ALL ALONG’ Kathryn Hahn returns to her “WandaVision” character in this Marvel spinoff series. The witch Agatha Harkness, stripped of her powers, hits the road and forms a new coven; the cast includes Joe Locke of “Heartstopper,” Sasheer Zamata, Debra Jo Rupp and Aubrey Plaza. (Disney+, Sept. 18)‘THE PENGUIN’ Colin Farrell covers himself in silicone once again to play the waddling gangster Oswald Cobblepot, a.k.a. the Penguin, a role he first essayed in Matt Reeves’s 2022 film “The Batman.” Reeves is an executive producer of this mini-series, and Lauren LeFranc (“Impulse,” “Chuck”) is writer and showrunner. (HBO, Sept. 19)We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Seth Meyers: Trump and Vance ‘Can’t Beat the Weird Charges’

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      The “Late Night” host said that Republican efforts to turn the accusations back on Democrats are “only making things worse.”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.Weird FlexFormer President Donald Trump participated in a Fox News town hall on Wednesday night, where he rejected claims that he and his running mate, JD Vance, are “weird” and said that they are both “solid.”“First of all, the opposite of weird isn’t solid — it’s normal,” Seth Meyers said on Thursday. “Republicans can’t beat the weird charges, so now they’re trying to turn them back around on Democrats, but in doing so, they’re only making things worse.”“He hates this so much that he can’t stop bringing it up, and now when it comes to Tim Walz, his defense is, ‘I’m not weird — you’re weird!’” — JIMMY KIMMEL“Right, right — I’m just a regular guy who lives in a gold house and has an orange face.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“I love how unprompted he immediately just throws Vance under the bus. [imitating town hall host] ‘Mr. President, how would you solve inflation?’ [imitating Trump] ‘Well, you know, everyone’s saying JD is a very weird man, you know. He’s obsessed with childless women, and he can’t even order doughnuts without creeping everybody out, but you know, I don’t think he’s weird.’” — SETH MEYERSThe Punchiest Punchlines (Dunkin’ Edition)“I had such secondhand embarrassment watching that that I had to peer through my hands like it was a ‘Saw’ movie.” — SETH MEYERS, on Vance’s strained interaction with the employees at a doughnut shop“This dude orders doughnuts like his kidnapper is watching him from the car.” — SETH MEYERS“[imitating Vance] How long have I been in this doughnut shop? Forever? OK, good.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“Let me ask you a question: Is JD Vance a doughnut? Because Walz is dunkin’ him.” — STEPHEN COLBERTThe Bits Worth WatchingParis Hilton gifted Jimmy Fallon an honorary degree from her “BBA” on Thursday’s Tonight Show.Also, Check This OutWinona Ryder and Michael Keaton, who both starred in the original “Beetlejuice” movie, return for “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.”Warner Bros.Thirty-five years after the debut of “Beetlejuice,” Michael Keaton has reprised the iconic titular role in a long-awaited sequel. More

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      ‘The Rings of Power’ Season 2, Episode 4 Recap: The Trees Have Thoughts

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      This week’s episode, which included several Tolkien fan-favorite characters and creatures, is the best of the season thus far.Season 2, Episode 4: ‘Eldest’“Rings of Power” Season 2 debuted last week with three plot-heavy episodes, which was probably necessary given that the show had been on hiatus for nearly two years — and given that it took all three to get each of Season 1’s story lines back into play. Unfortunately, Episode 3 was easily the dreariest of the first batch, ending last week’s three-part premiere on a sour note. Light on action and heavy on earnest proclamations, the episode represented “Rings of Power” at its stiffest.Episode 4, though? It’s the best of the season thus far. It’s thrilling and strange, and populated with J.R.R. Tolkien fan-favorite characters and creatures. Even the opening scene has an uncommon flair, transpiring across a single shot that begins on an idyllic image of the waters outside Lindon before tracking a contentious conversation between Galadriel and Elrond, then rising into the sky. It sets the tone for a lively hour.Here are five takeaways and observations from Episode 4:Enter the entsIn Episode 3, Theo encountered some wild men out in the wilderness, and with them he was menaced by some unseen creature — and apparently a very tall one, given the high camera angle on Theo’s face before the scene ended. This week, Isildur enlists Arondir and Estrid in a search for Theo; and the three of them have a wild adventure, which includes Isildur and Arondir getting pulled under quicksand by a huge, writhing mud-beast (which the trio then slays and eats).The massive worm-thing isn’t even the party’s most bizarre encounter. Not long after Arondir warns his companions about the ever-present possibility of “nameless things in the deep places,” they discover that Theo and the wild men are being held captive by sapient trees. These are the forest-guarding entities known in Tolkien lore as ents — seen in “The Lord of the Rings” movies in the form of Treebeard, a brave and helpful ent who nonetheless laments the damage done to the trees during centuries of war in Middle-earth.The ents in this episode are more angry than wistful, because Adar’s orc army has recently marched through, “maiming” the forest. It takes some diplomacy from Arondir to calm the ents’ leader, Snaggleroot (voiced by Jim Broadbent), and to convince them to release Theo.In terms of this season’s plot, the scenes in and around the ancient town of Pelargir serve a few purposes. Arondir’s rescue of Theo helps to soften the kid’s resentment toward the elf. In this section we also see Isildur helping the Southlanders understand the Numenorean technology of their new home, and we hear Estrid confess to having been branded by Adar.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More