This week: ‘The Big Door Prize’ debuts; a series with Rob Lowe and son; celebrating Joni Mitchell
1. Watching Irish actor Chris O’Dowd is always a pleasure. He was outstanding in “Moone Boy,” “The Crimson Petal and the White,” “Bridesmaids,” and “The Sapphires,” and now he has a new series called “The Big Door Prize.” Based on the M.O. Walsh novel, it’s set in a small Southern town where a machine mysteriously appears in a grocery store. Put in some money, and the machine prints out the customer’s true destiny — leading to a lot of drastic changes around town. The 10-episode show premieres Wednesday on Apple TV+.
2. Rob Lowe stars opposite his real-life son, John Owen Lowe, in the eight-episode comedy “Unstable.” The title refers to Lowe’s character, a biotech guru (ie. gazillionaire) recovering from the death of his wife. And the title refers to his relationship with his estranged flutist son, who is tired of his father’s judgments. The show, which also features Sian Clifford from “Fleabag,” premieres Thursday on Netflix.
3. “The Power” — not to be confused with Starz’s 2014-20 series “Power” — is a sci-fi series based on the 2016 novel by Naomi Alderman. Suddenly, all teenage girls have the power in their fingers to electrocute people at will. That leads to a shift in the balance of power in every society around the world. The storylines feature Toni Collette, Auli’i Cravalho, Josh Charles, Eddie Marsan, John Leguizamo, and Rob Delaney. The nine-episode season premieres Friday on Amazon.
4. She may not have been properly recognized during her most prolific years, but that has changed since we almost lost her to an aneurism in 2015. Now Joni Mitchell, 79, is being celebrated left and right, most recently with “Joni Mitchell: The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.” The honor was presented to Mitchell in a March 1 ceremony that will air on GBH 2 on Friday at 9 p.m. The performers include Graham Nash, James Taylor, Herbie Hancock, Cyndi Lauper, Annie Lennox, Diana Krall, Angélique Kidjo, Ledisi, Brandi Carlile, Marcus Mumford, and Mitchell herself, who sings “Summertime” and leads everyone in “The Circle Game.”