Deadline Hollywood - Contenders Television: The Nominees - 08/14/21

AUGUST 14-15, 2021 | SPECIAL ISSUE

S AT U R DAY, AU G U S T 14, 2021

SONY PICTURES TELEVISION 9:04am - 9:35am

Shark Tank

Lori Greiner (EP/Shark Investor) Daymond John (EP/Shark Investor) Yun Lingner (EP) Clay Newbill (EP)

Cobra Kai

Josh Heald (EP) Jon Hurwitz (EP) Ralph Macchio (Co-EP/Actor) William Zabka (Co-EP/Actor)

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC 9:36am - 9:52am

Secrets of the Whales

James Cameron (EP) Brian Skerry (Producer) Sigourney Weaver (Narrator)

NBC 9:52am - 10:23am

Saturday Night Live

Kenan Thompson (Cast Member) Bowen Yang (Cast Member)

MTV ENTERTAINMENT STUDIOS 10:23am - 10:52am

The Daily Show with Trevor Noah

Dan Amira (Producer/Head Writer) Max Browning (Supervising Producer) Dulcé Sloan (Correspondent) Elise Terrell (Supervising Producer)

RuPaul’s Drag Race

Zoe Jackson (Co-EP) San Heng (Showrunner/EP, Drag Race Untucked) Michele Mills (EP) Mandy Salangsang (EP) Michelle Visage (Producer/Judge)

MORNING BREAK - 10 MINUTES

UNIVERSAL TELEVISION 11:03am - 11:34am

Hacks

Lucia Aniello (Creator/EP/Showrunner) Carl Clemons-Hopkins (Actor) Paul W. Downs (Creator/EP/Showrunner) Hannah Einbinder (Actor) Jean Smart (Actor) Jen Statsky (Creator/EP)

HULU 11:34am - 11:49am

PEN15

Anna Konkle (Creator/EP/Actor)

SCHEDULE AND SPEAKERS SUBJECT TO CHANGE

S AT U R DAY, AU G U S T 14, 2021

APPLE ORIGINAL FILMS 11:49am - 12:20pm

APPLE TV+ 12:20pm - 12:36pm

Boys State

Jesse Moss (Director/Producer) Steven Garza (Subject)

Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry

Aron Forbes (Music Director/Music Mixer) Richard Yawn (Supervising Sound Editor)

Ted Lasso

Brett Goldstein (Writer/Actor) Brendan Hunt (Co-Creator/EP/Writer/Actor) Hannah Waddingham (Actor)

LUNCH BREAK - 30 MINUTES

FX 1:08pm - 1:37pm

Framing Britney Spears

Liz Day (Supervising Producer) Mary Robertson (Showrunner/EP) Samantha Stark (Director/Producer)

WARNER BROS. TELEVISION 1:37pm - 2:21pm

The Flight Attendant

Kaley Cuoco (EP/Actor) Susanna Fogel (Director) Rosie Perez (Actor) Steve Yockey (Showrunner/EP)

Friends: The Reunion

Kevin Bright (EP) David Crane (EP) Marta Kauffman (EP) Ben Winston (EP/Director)

A West Wing Special to Benefit When We All Vote

Sterling K. Brown (Actor) Thomas Schlamme (Director/EP) Aaron Sorkin (EP/Writer) Bradley Whitford (Actor)

Hamilton

Daveed Diggs (Actor) Renée Elise Goldsberry (Actor) Leslie Odom Jr. (Actor) Phillipa Soo (Actor)

DISNEY+ 2:22pm - 2:40pm

S W E E P S TA K E S PA R T N E R S

SCHEDULE AND SPEAKERS SUBJECT TO CHANGE

S U N DAY, AU G U S T 15, 2021

HBO 9:03am - 10:03am

Mare of Easttown

Brad Ingelsby (EP/Writer) Kate Winslet (EP/Actor) Craig Zobel (EP/Director)

The Undoing

Lester Cohen (Production Designer) Hugh Grant (Actor)

Perry Mason

David Franco (Cinematographer) John P. Goldsmith (Production Designer) John Lithgow (Actor) Matthew Rhys (Actor)

In Treatment

Uzo Aduba (Actor)

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC 10:03am - 10:19am

Genius: Aretha

Cynthia Erivo (Actor)

NETFLIX 10:19am - 10:48am

The Crown

Gillian Anderson (Actor) Ben Caron (Director) Josh O’Connor (Actor) Martin Phipps (Composer)

The Queen’s Gambit

Thomas Brodie-Sangster (Actor) Bill Horberg (EP) Moses Ingram (Actor) Ellen Lewis (Casting Director) Carlos Rafael Rivera (Composer)

Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square

Debbie Allen (EP/Director/Choreographer) Dolly Parton (EP/Actor/Music & Lyrics)

WARNER BROS. TELEVISION 10:49am - 11:05am

MORNING BREAK - 10 MINUTES

HULU 11:17am - 11:34am

The Handmaid’s Tale

Yahlin Chang (EP/Writer) Liz Garbus (Director) Bruce Miller (Creator/EP)

LIFETIME 11:34am - 12:04pm

Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia

Danielle Brooks (Co-EP/Actor) Robin Roberts (EP)

SCHEDULE AND SPEAKERS SUBJECT TO CHANGE

S U N DAY, AU G U S T 15, 2021

MTV ENTERTAINMENT STUDIOS 12:04pm - 12:19pm

Yellowstone

Yvonne Boudreaux (Art Director) Carla Curry (Set Decorator) Cary White (Production Designer)

FX 12:19pm - 12:50pm

Pose

Steven Canals (Co-Creator/EP/Writer/Director) Our Lady J (Co-EP/Writer) Billy Porter (Performer) Mj Rodriguez (Performer) LUNCH BREAK - 30 MINUTES

The Boys

Eric Kripke (Showrunner/EP/Writer) Rebecca Sonnenshine (EP/Writer)

Uncle Frank

Alan Ball (Writer/Director/Producer) Paul Bettany (Actor)

Sylvie’s Love

Eugene Ashe (Writer/Director/Producer) Nnamdi Asomugha (Producer/Actor) Tessa Thompson (EP/Actor)

The Underground Railroad

Nicholas Britell (Composer) Barry Jenkins (Director/Showrunner)

DISNEY+ 2:25pm - 2:41pm

WandaVision

Paul Bettany (Actor) Kathryn Hahn (Actor) Elizabeth Olsen (Actor) Jac Schaeffer (Creator/EP/Writer) Matt Shakman (EP/Director)

DISNEY TELEVISION STUDIOS 2:41pm - 3:11pm

This Is Us

Dan Fogelman (Creator/EP/Writer) Sterling K. Brown (Actor) Siddhartha Khosla (Composer - Special Performance) Chris Sullivan (Actor)

AMAZON PRIME VIDEO 1:23pm - 2:25pm

S W E E P S TA K E S PA R T N E R S

SCHEDULE AND SPEAKERS SUBJECT TO CHANGE

WATCH WHAT

HAPPENS

Dominic Patten welcomes you to this year’s Contenders Television: The Nominees event “THE MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE,” said Marshall McLuhan almost 60 years ago, and based on the small screen quality and quantity we’ll sample this weekend at Deadline’s Contenders Television: The Nominees event, it’s pretty clear that both the medium and the message are extremely strong.

This time around, we have 34 shows and 117 speakers from 16 networks/studios joining us over the weekend as the industry head towards the

73rd Primetime Emmys, which will be hosted by Cedric the Entertainer on September 19.

Yes, our well-established event is virtual once again due to the ongoing pandemic, but the range of the participants and projects is a powerful testament to the breadth and depth of the best of TV in 2021.

In fact, Emmy history has already been made this year. Mj Rodriguez’s nomination for Pose marks the first lead acting nod for a trans performer. Bowen Yang has become the first

Chinese-American man to be nominated for Supporting Actor for his work on Saturday Night Live. And Rosie Perez is only the third latina woman nominated for Supporting Actress for The Flight Attendent. All of them will be at Contenders over the course of this weekend.

The reality is even though we are still not all together as we have been at past Contenders, in many ways, the conversations and the presentations we have to share this weekend are perhaps

more up close and personal than ever. As the ever-evolving medium has expanded with more platforms, the potency and necessity of narrative has been an essential part of what has linked us together over the last year and a half. Be it comedy, drama, limited series, documentary, reality shows, late-night and more, right now TV is the room where it happens, to quote Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton—one of

many panels on today’s agenda.

When it comes to what’s happening, part of what we try to do here at Deadline is break industry news. Yet, equally important to us, is to give context to what is going on, with not just the who, but also the why. Led by the big picture perspective of our Co-Editor-in-Chief of television Nellie Andreeva, that stance is on display even more than ever this weekend.

Joined by talent from all across the globe, Contenders Television: The Nominees hopes to provide TV Academy voters with a carefully curated vantage point from which to make their ballot decisions. Our lineup this weekend couldn’t be stronger. If you’ve enjoyed our Contenders events in the past, online or off, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

It’s going to be a great weekend full of some great TV— just watch, you’ll see. ★

Meet the moderators

The Deadline staffers who’ll be guiding you through this year’s Contenders

YOUR EMCEE JOE UTICHI

YOUR MODERATORS MIKE FLEMING

EXECUTIVE AWARDS EDITOR

CO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, FILM

Joe oversees Deadline’s awards coverage, including its dedicated print magazine for the Oscar and Emmy seasons, AwardsLine. He also edits Deadline’s special “Disruptors” edition for the Cannes Film Festival and serves as the emcee for its Contenders events. He has been aboard since 2012. Prior to joining, his work regularly appeared in his native UK—for outlets including The Sunday Times and The Guardian—and around the world. He has also worked extensively in film and television, producing EPK and production notes and working as a unit publicist. He is a member of BAFTA and has sat on multiple juries for the BAFTA Film Awards.

Mike joined Deadline in 2010 after working at Variety for 20 years as a reporter, writer and columnist. He was not only nationally recognized as Variety’s premiere film reporter but also for his “Dish” and “The Buzz” columns.

Mike is known for his industry relationships and his ability to break news wherever it happens, including on the ground at festivals like Sundance, Cannes and Toronto. He also is an author: Doubleday published his book about The Three Stooges, From Amalgamated Morons to American Icons, which ABC turned into a telepic executive produced by Mel Gibson. One of Mike’s early jobs in journalism was editor of the well-known Media Industry Newsletter (MIN). He then joined New York Newsday as a columnist, reviewer and entertainment writer. During his career, he has written for numerous magazines including Playboy, Details, TV Guide and Esquire.

PETE HAMMOND AWARDS COLUMNIST & CHIEF FILM CRITIC

Pete, widely considered to be one of the preeminent awards analysts for both film and television, has for the past seven years been Deadline’s Awards Columnist covering what is seemingly now the year-round Oscar and Emmy seasons. He is also Deadline’s Chief Film Critic, having previously reviewed films for MovieLine, Boxoffice magazine, Backstage, Hollywood.com and Maxim. In addition to writing, Pete is also host of the yearround KCET Cinema Series, where he screens a selection of films prior to their theatrical release and interviews filmmakers. He previously held producing positions at Entertainment Tonight, Extra, Access Hollywood, The Arsenio Hall Show, The Martin Short Show and AMC Network and

is the recipient of five Emmy nominations for writing.

ANTONIA BLYTH DEPUTY EDITOR, AWARDSLINE

Antonia has contributed to Deadline and AwardsLine’s print magazines since 2014. A native Brit based in LA, prior to joining she covered West Coast entertainment for ELLE. com, and her work has been featured in The Guardian, UK Marie Claire and InStyle. She has written a New York Times bestselling non-fiction book and regularly appears on French television network TF1 as an entertainment expert.

MATTHEW CAREY DOCUMENTARY EDITOR, AWARDSLINE

Matthew Carey specializes in coverage of the nonfiction film landscape. Matthew is a writer and producer whose work has appeared on CNN,

CNN International and CNN en Español. He has written extensively about documentary film for CNN and CNN.com, Documentary magazine, NBCNews.com and TheWrap.

ROSY CORDERO SENIOR TV REPORTER

Rosy joined Deadline recently, in July 2021, as Senior TV Reporter, where she will cover the small-screen industry, continue to lift up talent from marginalized communities and spearhead Deadline’s Diversity & Inclusion coverage.

She has previously worked at Entertainment Weekly, where she had been a digital news writer for the past two years.

Before that, in her freelance career she wrote for Deadline, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Latina.com and the New York Daily News. She is based in Los Angeles.

Meet the moderators ANTHONY D’ALESSANDRO

JILL GOLDSMITH

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR/BOX OFFICE EDITOR

CO-BUSINESS EDITOR

Anthony covers box office, breaking film news, awardsseason features and festival news. His first job in the film industry was at Savoy Pictures’ headquarters in New York where he worked in film distribution. In the summer of 1999, he was hired by Variety and moved to Los Angeles, and remained in the newsroom covering numerous parts of the industry, including box office, for about a decade.

Prior to arriving at Deadline in the fall of 2011, where he co-edited the site’s sister publication AwardsLine, Anthony covered the box office beat for Indiewire’s Thompson on Hollywood. He also co-produced Matt Walsh’s film A Better You.

Jill joined Deadline in June 2019 after working as a New Yorkbased contributor. She follows corporate finance, deals and publicly traded companies in media and entertainment, film financing, and New York film and TV production. She was previously contributing editor at Current covering public media, and has worked at Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and Dow Jones. She’s reported from New York and Europe and her stories have appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Broadcasting & Cable, Adweek, Slate, Reuters and The Art Newspaper.

ALEXANDRA DEL ROSARIO TV REPORTER

Alexandra joined Deadline in July 2020 as an Associate Editor, before moving to the television team in March 2021.

Previously she was at The Hollywood Reporter, where she had been freelancing after serving as an intern both there and at TheWrap. Her work has also appeared in Billboard.

A Los Angeles native, she graduated from UCLA where she worked as an arts and entertainment reporter at the Daily Bruin.

MATT GROBAR ASSOCIATE EDITOR, NIGHTS & WEEKENDS

Matt joined the editors’ desk in March 2021 after five years as AwardsLine’s Assistant Editor.

In that role, he contributed to the coverage and editing of the magazines throughout the year, focusing on artist interviews revolving around awards season and its big nights including the Oscars and Emmys. Matt also manages the Production Value video series, which spotlights the premier craft talent working in film and TV. He also is part of Deadline’s festival studio team at the likes of Sundance, Tribeca and Toronto. Before Deadline he worked at UTA,

8thDay Pictures and Infinity Management International.

DADE HAYES FINANCE EDITOR

Dade joined Deadline as a New York-based contributor in 2017. He leads business and Wall Street coverage as well as writing about film, TV, regulation, advertising and other East Coast happenings.

Dade has spent two decades tracking the entertainment industry as a writer and editor for Variety, Entertainment Weekly and Broadcasting & Cable. His freelance work has appeared in the New York Times and Los Angeles Times, and he is the author of two books and an installment of the Wondery podcast Business Wars.

DOMINIC PATTEN SENIOR EDITOR, LEGAL & TV CRITIC

Dominic covers litigious Hollywood’s major lawsuits and weighs in on the current Golden Age of television with his video reviews and more.

Before joining Deadline in 2012, he wrote for the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Times, and the Toronto Globe and Mail. A frequent guest on NPR, Fox News Channel, CNN, MSNBC and CBS, he also has been a documentary director, TV producer, national news correspondent and a newspaper editor.

THE

SHOWS AMAZON PRIME VIDEO

The Boys After the shocking conclusion of last season, Homelander and Vought hold more power than ever while Hughie (Jack Quaid), Butcher (Karl Urban), and the rest of the group are on the run. While still trying to expose Vought’s corrupt nature, a new sadistic superhero, Stormfront (Aya Cash), hits the scene and then complicates their mission even further.

The Underground Railroad Barry Jenkins directs this limited series set in an alternate timeline of the 1800s, based on the Colston Whitehead novel of the same name. Cora (Thuso Mbedu), an enslaved young Black woman in Georgia, attempts to escape and discovers an underground railway system that transports runaways to freedom. Her escape isn’t certain as she is pursued by slavecatchers attempting to recapture her.

Uncle Frank Frank Bledsoe (Paul Bettany) takes a road trip with his niece,

Beth (Sophia Lillis), to attend his father’s funeral in this Amazon original movie, written and directed by Alan Ball. As a secretly gay man, Frank confronts his past on their journey and tries to reconcile himself with those painful memories.

Sylvie’s Love Sylvie Parker (Tessa Thompson) works at her father’s record shop in 1950s Harlem, where she meets Rob Halloway (Nnamdi Asomugha), an aspiring saxophonist, in this drama film written, directed, and produced by Eugene Ashe. While their initial romance lasts only a summer, a chance meeting years later reignites their feelings for each other.

APPLE TV+

Ted Lasso Ted Lasso (Jason Sudeikis) is a successful coach of a collegiate American football team. When he is unexpectedly recruited as a coach for an English Premier League football team, he takes the job and moves to England despite not knowing anything about English football. He tries

to connect with his new team using his folksy American charm and positivity, but the team immediately dislikes him.

APPLE ORIGINAL FILMS

Boys State A Grand Jury Prize-winner at Sundance 2020, this astonishingly detailed, fly-on-the wall-style documentary is both a snapshot of contemporary American youth and a portent of the future of the country’s politics. The film follows a thousand teenage boys attending the annual “Boys State” summer camp in Austin, Texas, where they are tasked with creating their own fully functional local tunes, Hamilton is government, from the lowliest departmental worker to the Governor of Texas.

Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry This Apple TV+ documentary film, written and directed by R.J. Cutler, takes an intimate look at Billie Eilish’s journey to create her debut album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? In a behind-the-scenes look at

THE BOYS

BOYS STATE

BILLIE EILISH: THE WORLD’S A LITTLE BLURRY

SYLVIE’S LOVE

TED LASSO

THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD UNCLE FRANK

FRAMING BRITNEY SPEARS

POSE

THE HANDMAID’S TALE

HAMILTON

MARE OF EASTTOWN WANDAVISION

IN TREATMENT PERRY MASON

THE UNDOING

THIS IS US

her creation process, the film dives into her life on the road, on stage, and at home.

DISNEY TELEVISION STUDIOS

This Is Us Created by Dan Fogelman, Season 5 of this NBC television series continues to follow the lives and connections of the Pearson family across several time periods. This season touches on real-world issues, as the COVID-19 pandemic forces the family into quarantine and Randall (Sterling K. Brown) questions his relationship to his family amid the Black Lives Matter movement.

DISNEY+

WandaVision Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany) live through classic sitcom tropes together in an idealized suburban home in the first Marvel TV series on Disney+. As they try to conceal their superpowers from nosy neighbors, the couple starts to suspect that things aren’t as perfect as they may seem.

Hamilton Captured live on Broadway, with the original cast, Disney+ brings Lin-Manuel Miranda’s 2015 musical to the streaming world.

Blending the musical styles of hip-hop, jazz, R&B, and show tunes, Hamilton is the story of one of America’s founding fathers, Alexander Hamilton, told through the lens of America as it exists today.

FX

Pose Winning Billy Porter his first

Emmy, this series set in the late ’80s and early ’90s takes a look at New York’s underground ball culture in the African American and Latino communities. Season 3 finds Blanca (Mj Rodriguez) juggling motherhood, dating, and her new job as a nurse’s aide while the AIDS epidemic mercillesly rages on throughout the LGBTQ community.

Framing Britney Spears (The New York Times Presents) The phrase “Leave Britney alone!” was once an internet joke, but this documentary shows a sinister reality behind the meme. At the height of her tabloid notoriety in 2008, Spears’s father took charge of her interests. Now Spears is 39, her fans are agitating on her behalf. This feature-length documentary explores not only her situation, but the treatment and exploitation of young women in the public eye.

HBO

Perry Mason Based on the novels of Erle Stanley Gardner, the HBO series tells the origin story of famed defence lawyer Perry Mason (Matthew Rhys). Set in 1932 Los Angeles, Mason is a low-rent private investigator haunted by his experiences during The Great War. After being assigned to the case of a child kidnapping, Mason quickly becomes suspicious of the circumstances surrounding the case.

Mare of Easttown Created by Brad Ingelsby, HBO’s limited series Mare of Easttown

follows Mare Sheehan, played

by Kate Winslet, as she investigates a recent murder in her town. While on the case, Mare must also try to keep her own life together, as she grieves the loss of her son and goes through a contentious battle for custody of her grandson.

In Treatment Uzo Aduba stars as therapist Dr. Brooke Taylor in this revival of the 2008 HBO show of the same name. With 24 episodes released over a six-week period, this season focuses on three patients and Dr. Taylor’s journey through their treatment as she deals with her own bereavement and hidden pain.

The Undoing Director Susanne Bier puts a modern twist on a classic whodunnit tale in this HBO original miniseries. Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant star as Grace and Jonathan Fraser, a wealthy couple living in New York, whose lives are turned upside down after their family becomes involved with a murder case.

HULU

The Handmaid’s Tale This acclaimed, dystopian drama adapts Margaret Atwood’s portentous 1985 novel of the same name. Created by Bruce Miller, it centers on Elisabeth Moss’s June, a woman living in a dark age who sees her family and her former life stripped away.

She strikes back and becomes a fierce leader of a rebellion, but her quest for justice endangers herself and those around her.

PEN15 Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle created and star in this cringe comedy series on Hulu, where they play 13-year-old versions of themselves in 7th grade. Taking place in the year 2000, and surrounded by actual 13-yearold actors, the girls navigate the crushing awkwardness of being teenagers and social outcasts in middle school.

LIFETIME

Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia Danielle Brooks stars as the titular Mahalia Jackson in this biopic of one of the most revered gospel singers in U.S. history.

The film explores how from a young age she skyrocketed to fame with her hit song, “Move on Up a Little Higher” and became an active supporter of the Civil Rights Movement. Mahalia uses her fame and music to encourage and inspire racial equality.

MTV ENTERTAINMENT GROUP

Yellowstone This rural drama stars Kevin Costner as John Dutton, the head of a powerful family of ranchers. A sixth-generation homesteader, he controls a major ranch in the U.S., dealing with a corrupt world in which politicians are compromised by influential oil and lumber corporations and land-grabs make developers billions.

The Daily Show with Trevor Noah South African comedian Trevor Noah executive produces, writes and hosts the third iteration of

this iconic late-night series—the longest running program on Comedy Central. The comedic news program covers both Noah’s lampooning of current events, both in and outside of politics, and an engaging slew of interviews with an ever-growing list of A-list celebrities.

RuPaul’s Drag Race Iconic drag artist and host RuPaul searches for “America’s next drag superstar” in this VH1 reality competition. The contestants compete in various challenges that test their performance skills, for the chance to win $100,000, a year’s supply of cosmetics, and a crown and scepter that will signify them as a drag superstar.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

Genius: Aretha After Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso, this eight-part series turns its focus to music with the story of R&B legend Aretha Franklin. Starring Tony, Emmy and Grammy winner Cynthia Erivo, with newcomer Shaian Jordan as the young Franklin, the series explores the singer’s private and public life, revealing the sacrifices she made to become the undisputed Queen of Soul.

Secret of the Whales With a concept originated by National Geographic journalist Brian Skerry, the four-part nature documentary series on Disney+ depicts a variety of whale species in their habitats.

Narrated by Sigourney Weaver, and created by Brian Armstrong and Andy Mitchell, the series

was filmed over three years and 24 locations.

NBC

Saturday Night Live Created in 1975 by Lorne Michaels, SNL has been the iconic sketch show for 46 years with a plethora of celebrity hosts and musical guests. After the previous season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this season marked the shows return to Studio 8H with a limited instudio audience.

NETFLIX

The Crown Now in its fourth season, Peter Morgan’s series about the British monarchy turns to the election of controversial Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher (Gillian Anderson), and introduces Emma Corrin as Lady Diana Spencer, whose ill-fated 1981 marriage to Prince Charles (Josh O’Connor) almost brought the Royal Family to its knees.

The Queen’s Gambit A left-field hit for Netflix, this adaptation of Walter Tevis’s novel cemented Anya Taylor-Joy’s status as a talent to watch and even raised mainstream interest in championship chess. Set in the 1950s and ’60s, the story charts the life of Beth Harmon, a young orphan whose instinctive mastery of the board game takes her to the top of the chess world, despite her inner demons.

SONY PICTURES TELEVISION

Cobra Kai Over three decades after the Karate Kid franchise, Ralph Mac-

RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE

SECRETS OF THE WHALES

COBRA KAI

ROBIN ROBERTS PRESENTS: MAHALIA

THE DAILY SHOW WITH TREVOR NOAH

THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT

PEN15

THE CROWN

GENIUS: ARETHA

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE

YELLOWSTONE

chio and William Zabka return to their roots for this surprise hit series. The story begins with Johnny Lawrence (Zabka) at Rock bottom as an unemployed handyman. When he restarts the Cobra Kai dojo, Daniel LaRousso (Macchio), now a happily married, successful businessman, re-enters the scene.

Shark Tank Long a flagship show for ABC, this acclaimed program has won the Emmy for Outstanding Structured Reality Program four times over. Created by Mark Burnett, the reality series spotlights entrepreneurs as they make business presentations to a panel of high- profile investors, or ‘sharks’ who then decide whether they’d like to personally invest in the entrepreneurs’ companies.

UNIVERSAL TELEVISION

Hacks This series follows legendary Las Vegas comedian Deborah Vance (Jean Smart), as she attempts to appeal to a younger audience by hiring an entitled 25-yearold writer named Ava (Hannah Einbinder). Creators Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, and Jen Statsky explore that symbiotic relationship in this HBO Max comedy.

WARNER BROS. TELEVISION

The Flight Attendant Kaley Cuoco executive produces and stars in this HBO Max series based on the 2018 novel of the same name by Chris Bohjalian.

Cuoco plays Cassie Bowden, a flight attendant with a drinking problem, who wakes up in a strange hotel room in Bangkok

next to a dead body. With no memory of the night, she tries to piece together what happened.

Friends: The Reunion Also known as “The One Where They Get Back Together”, the Friends reunion special for HBO Max brings the main cast back together for the first time in seventeen years, along with some celebrity guests. Hosted by James Corden, the cast takes a trip down memory lane, re-enacting older episodes and giving a behind-the-scenes look at the original show.

A West Wing Special to Benefit When We All Vote In an effort to increase voter turnout in the 2020 election, HBO Max released this reunion episode of Aaron Sorkin’s The West Wing. Original cast members and some special guests came together for a stage recreation of Season 3 Episode 17, titled “Hartfield’s Landing” to support When We All Vote, a nonprofit organization founded

by Michelle Obama and Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square Dolly Parton wrote the music and stars in this Netflix Christmas musical film. The story follows Regina Fuller (Christine Baranski) as she returns to her hometown to evict the residents and sell the land to a mall developer. The town tries to figure out a way to resist, while Angel (Dolly Parton) and angel-in-training Felicity (Jeanine Mason) attempt to change Regina’s heart.

SHARK TANK

THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT

A WEST WING SPECIAL TO BENEFIT WHEN WE ALL VOTE

DOLLY PARTON’S CHRISTMAS ON THE SQUARE

FRIENDS: THE REUNION

HACKS

HACKS