FRIDAY’S BEST PICKS
7:45 PM (ESPN) NBA Basketball Two teams that will have a big effect on the East playoff picture get down to business tonight in the Windy City, where DeMar DeRozan and the Chicago Bulls will welcome in Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks. The defending NBA champion Bucks drew first blood in their season series with their Central Division rivals in January, when Antetokounmpo’s 30 points and 12 rebounds paved the way for a 94-90 home victory.
8PM 4 Undercover Boss Marine veteran Laurent “L.T.” Therivel became president and CEO of UScellular less than a year before he undertook his undercover mission in this new episode, which he hopes will tell him how his new strategies to grow the brand are going. To get the intel he needs, Therivel will be making customer outreach calls offering some of UScellular’s latest deals, as well as discovering what obstacles may stand in the way of delivering “high speed” customer service.
8PM 6 The Blacklist An investigation into a group of former governmentsponsored assassins known collectively as “The Conglomerate” (also the title of this new episode) becomes far more complicated when the Task Force team discovers one of their own may have covert ties to the group. Meanwhile, Red (James Spader) digs deeper into the events leading up to Liz’s death.
8PM Penn & Teller: Fool Us In the G season finale, “Ghostbusters,” a new slate of aspiring magicians performs their best trick in a bid to fool veterans Penn Jillette and Teller, who then must work out how the illusion is done and recreate it. Those who manage to stump the pros win the right to perform with the celebrated duo in their show at the Rio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Tonight’s guests include Sean-Paul & Juliana Fay, Disguido, Dr. Scott Kahn and Star Newman. Alyson Hannigan serves as host.
9PM (HGTV) My Lottery Dream Home A bingo player who recently won a $60,000 jackpot has decided to use the windfall as the down payment on a home closer to her best friend in Phoenix in the new episode “A Fistful of Friendship.” Host David Bromstad joins these lifelong pals as they search for a home that includes a spare room for sleepovers and extra space for entertaining.
9PM (WE) Love After Lockup This self-confessed “guilty pleasure” reality series returns for its fourth season with 10 new episodes, now in an expanded 90-minute format, following the romances of five new couples and a fan-favorite pair from “Love During Lockup.” In the premiere, “Happily Ever After?,” eternal optimist Indie defies the many doubters around her and picks up Harry, her “spiritual husband,” upon his release. Elsewhere, devoted single mom Tayler feels caught between her sister and her lover, Chance, and Lacey lays a trap for Antoine, her much-younger lover who just got out of prison.
9PM (SHO) MOVIE After Yang The South Korea-born filmmaker known as Kogonada received good reviews for this low-key 2021 sci-fi drama, set in a near future where robotic children are purchased to be juvenile companions and babysitters. Against this backdrop, Jake (Colin Farrell) tries to help Yang (Justin H. Min), his daughter’s (Malea Emma Tjandrawidjaja) beloved playmate, after the android starts to malfunction. In the process, Jake discovers how much he has grown disconnected from his loved ones. Jodie Turner-Smith and Haley Lu Richardson also star.
10:15 PM (TCM) MOVIE The Five Oscars, French Connection including best picture, best director (William Friedkin) and best actor (Gene Hackman), went to this high-octane (and largely fact-based) 1971 police drama in which narcotics officer “Popeye” Doyle (Hackman) and his partner (Roy Scheider) take on a drug ring shipping heroin into the United States. The film includes one of the most memorable pursuit sequences in screen history. Fernando Rey, who returned with Hackman in a sequel, and Tony Lo Bianco also star.