FRIDAY’S BEST PICKS
6:30 AM 2022 Winter Olympics
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After its tour-de-force Opening Ceremony for the 2008 Summer Olympics, Beijing will have the eyes of the world on it once again as it officially pulls the curtain up on the 2022 Winter Games. More than 2,800 athletes from 87 countries will parade into Beijing National Ceremony — aka
“the Bird’s Nest” — to mark the official beginning of these games, which run through Feb. 20 on NBC, CNBC, USA Network, NBCOlympics.com, Peacock and the NBC Sports app.
7:30 PM
(FXM) MOVIE Deadpool
The highest-grossing “R”-rated film of all time at the worldwide box office, this gleefully raunchy 2016 Marvel Comics adaptation finds Ryan Reynolds fully in his element as former mercenary Wade Wilson, who adopts the alter ego Deadpool and embarks on a quest to hunt down the man (Ed Skrein) who nearly destroyed his life. Morena Baccarin co-stars as Wade’s girlfriend, Vanessa, and T.J. Miller plays his best friend, Weasel. Gina Carano also is featured.
8PM
(MAX) MOVIE Fatale
Screenwriter David Loughery borrows several pages from the “Fatal Attraction” playbook for Deon Taylor’s 2020 thriller, which stars Michael Ealy as a former pro basketball star turned sports manager. Under multiple business and marital pressures, he succumbs to temptation during a trip to Las Vegas and has an overpack night fling with a mysterious woman (Hilary Swank) he picks up in a bar. She turns out to be a police detective with several emotional screws loose. Mike Colter, Geoffrey Owens and Danny Pino co-star.
8PM
(SHO) MOVIE What
Writer-director Breaks the Ice Rebecca Eskreis earned positive reviews for this 2020 coming-of-age thriller set during the sweltering summer of 1998, when many Americans were held captivated by the political scandal involving President Bill Clinton and White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Against this backdrop, Emily and Sammy (Madelyn Cline, Sofia Hublitz), two teenagers from vastly different worlds, become improbably close, but their idyllic friendship takes an ominous turn when they become accidental accomplices in a violent crime. Lukas Gage (“The White Lotus”), Aimee Mullins and Catherine Curtin co-star.
8PM (TCM) MOVIE To Sir, With The teacher-as-hero drama Love has become a genre unto itself. But this 1967 classic stands out from the thanks to Sidney Poitier, who died last month at age 94 at the end of a distinguished career. His character, an out-of-work engineer who has taken a teaching gig to pay the bills, works wonders with a class full of rude, crude young Brits teetering on the brink of juvenile delinquency. Patricia Routledge (“Keeping Up Appearances”), Judy Geeson and pop singer Lulu also star.
10 PM Horror Noire Adapted (AMC) from a seminal book by Robin Means Coleman and originally available on a streaming service, this new anthology series traces the little-known history of Black actors in Hollywood through their connection to the cinematic horror genre. Oscar-winning writer-director Jordan Peele, author Tananarive Due, and actors Tony Todd and Ken Foree are among the many guests featured in both new and archival interviews.
10:02 PM I Survived a Serial (A&E) Killer The new episode “The Coast to Coast Killer” finds survivor Fabienne Witherspoon recounting a 1992 attack when she was 19. Her assailant in the attack, which occurred in her own home, was Tommy Lynn Sells, a man who was down on his luck when she tried to help him. She avoided being killed by fighting back both physically and psychologically, ultimately helping police apprehend this vagrant murderer who killed dozens of victims before his lethal spree ended. Another new episode immediately follows.