What’s on TV this week—Frasier returns and The Fall Of The House Of Usher arrives
Plus, catch new docuseries on Lionel Messi and Juul, a reality show starring only reality-show villains, and more
TV Lists Frasier
Welcome to What’s On, our weekly picks of must-watch shows. Here’s what you need to watch from Sunday, October 8 to Thursday, October 12. All times are Eastern. [Note: The weekend edition of What’s On drops on Fridays.]
The biggies
Frasier (Paramount+, Thursday, 3:01 a.m.)
Frasier is joining a long list of revivals trying to cash in on sitcom nostalgia. Kelsey Grammar reprises his award-winning role of Frasier Crane (who initially made his debut in Cheers). These 10 new episodes follow the next chapter in Frasier’s life now that he’s back in Boston. The cast includes Nicholas Lyndhurst, Jack Cutmore-Scott, Anders Keith, and Toks Olagundoye, while Bebe Neuwirth reprises her role as the main man’s ex, Lilith. Look for The A.V. Club’s review and other additional coverage of the show this week.
The Fall Of The House Of Usher (Netflix, Thursday, 3:01 a.m.)
Mike Flanagan’s fifth and final horror show for Netflix is here. The Fall Of The House Of Usher is a gothic drama inspired by the works of Edgar Allan Poe and centers on corrupt CEO Roderick Usher (Bruce Greenwood), who pays for his past sins with the lives of his spoiled children. The usual roster of Flanagan’s favorite actors form the cast, including Kate Siegel, Carla Gugino, Rahul Kohli, Henry Thomas, Samantha Sloyan, and T’Nia Miller. Look for The A.V. Club’s review of the show as well as a survey of Flanagan’s various Netflix series this week.
Hidden gems
Big Vape: The Rise And Fall Of Juul (Netflix, Wednesday, 3:01 a.m.)
Directed by R.J. Cutler, Big Vape is a four-part docuseries that examines vaping device company Juul, which drove the toxic trend to unprecedented popularity, then suffered a gradual unraveling. Based on a book of the same name by Jamie Ducharme, the doc focuses on Pax Labs’ nicotine e-cigarette product and how its rapid usage led to the company’s financial gain … before it all came tumbling down.
Painkiller: The Tylenol Murders (Paramount+, Tuesday, 3:01 a.m.)
Not to be confused with Netflix’s recent drama on the opioid crisis, Paramount+’s Painkiller: The Tylenol Murders chronicles the 1982 killings of seven people in Chicago via cyanide-laced Tylenol pills. The case led to mass panic across the country because no one knew exactly how widespread it could be. The docuseries uses archival footage and interviews to look at the case through a modern-day lens and asks the biggest question: Can current DNA technology help determine the killer?
More good stuff
Messi Meets America (Apple TV+, Wednesday, 12:01 a.m.)
Apple TV+ drops a six-episode docuseries that might just help fill that Ted Lasso-shaped void in your heart. Messi Meets America is about, yes, acclaimed Argentinian player Lionel Messi as he gears up for his debut in the Leagues Cup and Major League Soccer in Miami. The series explores Messi’s life in America, how he helped transform the Inter Miami CF team, and his impact on the sport worldwide.
House Of Villains (Bravo/USA/SYFY/E!, Thursday, 10 p.m.)
Bravo and E! have put together so-called villains from various reality shows for one massive catfight. (Cool?) House Of Villains pits antagonists like Vanderpump Rules’ Jax Taylor, 90 Day Fiancé’s Anfisa Arkhipchenko, and even Tiger King’s Carole Baskin against each other. The last villain to survive a series of random challenges—sticking their hand in a cage full of snakes, for example—nabs a $200,000 prize.
Can’t miss recaps
The Morning Show (Apple TV+, Wednesday, 12:01 a.m.)
Our Flag Means Death (Max, Thursday, 3:01 a.m.)
Loki (Disney+, Thursday, 9 p.m.)
Gen V (Prime Video, Friday, 12:01 a.m.)
The Great British Bake Off (Netflix, Friday, 3:01 a.m.)
Arriving now
Harry Wild (Acorn TV, Monday, 12:01 a.m., season two premiere)
Doom Patrol (Max, Thursday, 3:01 a.m., season four premiere)
Transplant (NBC, Thursday, 9 p.m., season three premiere)
Ending soon
Psycho: The Lost Tapes Of Ed Gein (MGM+, Sunday, 10 p.m., season one finale)
Mrs. Sidhu Investigates (Acorn TV, Monday, 12:01 a.m., season one finale)
12 Comments
You know what’s on my tv this week? SPR3 music videos, of course!
It’s hard to overstate how big the Tylenol poisonings were. Tamper evident seals are so ubiquitous that you hardly even notice them now, but they didn’t exist before those murders. They created an entire industry that everybody just accepts as part of everyday life now without a thought.
I recall – er, pun not intended – when Herron paracetamol got blackmailed with strychnine-tainted pills in 2000 they got praised for how they handled it. Had a call centre up and running within a day, withdrew all their tablets. I remember the huge empty spaces on shelves, took back all the stock, and completely reworked their packaging. They not only survived, but increased their sales the following year against the biggest paracetamol brand in Aus, Panadol, though they did that with the help of a campaign that poor, oppressed GlaxoSmithKline called “brand racism”.
It’s not as well known in the US but a couple years later there was a similar series of deaths in Japan with poisoned soda bottles. Just like the Tylenol poisonings, nobody was ever successfully prosecuted.
Yeah, and not just the packaging, but the capsules you could just pull apart and refill.It’s weird that shampoo isn’t sealed, if not for safety, then just to keep it from coming open and getting all over everything.
You can get capsules again for some OTC meds for a while now but, yeah. For a while they were completely off the market. Caplets exist because some people liked the shape for swallowing better than disc shaped tablets and capsules weren’t available for a long time.
For me, it’s not the shape, but the coating.Without a slippery coating, they can stick in your mouth or throat, and they can taste awful. Even some coated pills/capsules get sticky when wet. They should work on that. I can’t be the only one who has that problem.
a lot of pills are made specifically that way, or at least the bad taste is ignored, to avoid poisonings and such.
Baskin would pretty much be at the bottom of the list of villains in that animal abuser glorification documentary.
Man, Thursday is bloody loaded, huh?
Literally, in one show’s case.
Doom Patrol (Max, Thursday, 3:01 a.m., season four premiere)I would have lead with that !