TV picks: 'Roseanne,' 'Call the Midwife,' 'One Strange Rock,' 'Billions' and more
Two new ABC sitcoms - and a third that's just new to the 21st century - as well as a Will Smith-hosted look at our home planet are among the choices in the coming week.
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Call the Midwife. The seventh season kicks off with a two-hour premiere in which a severe winter is causing extra problems for the midwives of London's East End. I think we can all relate. 8 p.m. Sunday, WHYY12.
Billions. As the high-finance drama returns for its third season, Bobby Axelrod (Damian Lewis) is forced to live — not very happily — with the consequences of a tough choice, one that will require his brilliant protege Taylor Mason (Asia Kate Dillon) to step up big time. 10 p.m. Sunday, Showtime.
Trust. The first season of what's envisioned as a multi-season series about the Getty family focuses on the 1973 kidnapping of teenager John Paul Getty III (Harris Dickinson) — the same incident covered by Ridley Scott's All the Money in the World, but in greater (and in some cases, quite different) detail. Donald Sutherland stars as the boy's billionaire grandfather, whose unwillingness to pay ransom helped make the case notorious. Two-time Oscar-winner Hilary Swank plays Gail Getty, the boy's mother, though she won't appear until the second episode. 10 p.m. Sunday, FX.
Barry. Bill Hader (Saturday Night Live) stars as an unhappy hit man who thinks he's found his true calling after stumbling upon an acting class in this dark comedy that features Henry Winkler as an acting coach. Follows the fifth-season premiere of Silicon Valley. 10:30 p.m. Sunday, HBO.
The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling. Judd Apatow's two-night documentary about his comedy mentor, who died in March 2016, looks at Garry Shandling's comedy through the prism of his spirituality and introspection. Drawing on 30 years of Shandling's journal entries, interviews, and clips, it includes the recording of Apatow's first interview with Shandling, conducted when Apatow was a 16-year-old with a high school radio show. 8 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, HBO.
One Strange Rock. Earth science doesn't get much prettier than it does in this new Darren Aronofsky documentary series. Host Will Smith lends his enthusiasm and celebrity to the project — and works a few shoutouts to Philly into next week's episode — but the real Rock stars are the astronauts who help explain the workings of a planet they've been privileged to see from a distance, and to call home. 10 p.m. Monday, National Geographic.
Roseanne. She's back, after a nearly 21-year hiatus, kicking off a 10th season with two back-to-back episodes. Roseanne Conner (Roseanne Barr) is still living in the same house, with the same husband, Dan (John Goodman) — whose death was apparently just a horrible misunderstanding — in a far-from-empty nest that now includes grandchildren. 8 p.m. Tuesday, ABC.
Read more: Roseanne reappears and This Is Us flashes forward
Splitting Up Together. Jenna Fischer (The Office) and Oliver Hudson (Nashville) play parents whose divorce may bring them closer, and not only because they'll continue to share a home to take care of their kids. It's a funny, heartfelt comedy whose only problem could be viewers' unwillingness to wait seven or so seasons to see these two (maybe) get back together. 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, ABC.
Empire. The music-fueled drama from West Philadelphia's Lee Daniels returns to the lineup. 8 p.m. Wednesday, Fox.
Alex, Inc. Zach Braff (Scrubs) stars as Alex Schuman, who quits his public-radio show to start his own podcast company in a new comedy inspired by the experiences of Gimlet Media founder Alex Blumberg. Michael Imperioli (The Sopranos) plays Alex's cousin Eddie, who's working with him on a project he may not understand, and Tiya Sircar plays Alex's wife, Rooni, a lawyer who finds herself becoming more involved in their son and daughter's lives as Alex gets busier. The workplace part of the comedy needs work, but the family stuff is often great. 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, ABC.
The Americans. As the 1980s-set Russian spy drama returns for a sixth and final season, a three-year leap takes Elizabeth (Keri Russell) and Philip Jennings (Matthew Rhys) to a crucial period in both their country's history and their marriage. 10 p.m. Wednesday, FX.