This week: Capote takes on the swans; Glover’s new series debuts; ‘Genius’ returns; and it’s Grammy time
1. I am super excited about “Feud: Capote vs. The Swans,” which comes to FX on Wednesday at 10 p.m. It’s from Ryan Murphy, and it’s the second installment of his anthology series “Feud” (season 1 was about Bette Davis and Jessica Lange). Tom Hollander stars as Truman Capote, who surrounded himself with elite socialites in New York, then betrayed them by writing a thinly veiled fictionalization of their lives, including their darkest secrets. I’m not allowed to review the show until Wednesday, so I can’t officially tell you that Hollander is phenomenal. The swans include Barbara “Babe” Paley (Naomi Watts), Slim Keith (Diane Lane), C.Z. Guest (Chloë Sevigny), and Lee Radziwill (Calista Flockhart). The cast also includes Demi Moore, Molly Ringwald, Russell Tovey, and the late Treat Williams (as William S. Paley).
2. Donald Glover and Maya Erskine are the leads in a series adaptation of the 2005 movie “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Glover — the show’s co-creator — and Erskine play strangers who work for the same spy agency, which offers them a life of wealth and travel if they’ll participate in an arranged marriage as Mr. and Mrs. John and Jane Smith. Initially, Erskine’s role belonged to Phoebe Waller Bridge, but she left the project because of creative differences. Also in the impressive cast: Alexander Skarsgård, Sarah Paulson, Sharon Horgan, Ron Perlman, Billy Campbell, Paul Dano, Michaela Coel, John Turturro, and Parker Posey. It premieres Friday on Amazon.
3. Was it, as the title says, “The Greatest Night in Pop”? This Netflix documentary goes inside the recording session of “We Are the World,” the (much parodied) charity single that was released in 1985 and sold more than 20 million copies. From Bao Nguyen, the film looks back at the night over 40 of music’s biggest stars — already in LA for the American Music Awards — headed to a studio to record. There’s never-before-seen footage, along with interviews with some of the performers, including Bruce Springsteen, Lionel Richie, Huey Lewis, Cyndi Lauper, and Kenny Loggins. It premieres on Monday.
4. On Tuesday at 9 p.m. on GBH 2, in advance of the Donald Trump trial scheduled for March, “Frontline” is premiering a full-length documentary called “Democracy on Trial.” Directed by Michael Kirk, it looks into all aspects of the federal conspiracy and obstruction case against the former president stemming from his 2020 election loss. “If he wins the election, conservative columnist David French says in the film, “he can just order the DOJ to drop the case entirely.
So he has an enormous personal incentive to win the presidency just to get himself out of legal jeopardy.”
5. The biographical anthology series “Genius” returns for its fourth season. This time, the scripted series will explore the formative years, the accomplishments, and the dueling philosophies of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., played by Kelvin Harrison Jr. (he was B.B. King in “Elvis”), and Malcolm X, played by Aaron Pierre from “The Underground Railroad.” The eight-part series, which premieres Thursday on National Geographic (at 9 p.m.), Hulu, and Disney+, brings in their wives, Coretta Scott King (Weruche Opia) and Betty Shabazz (Jayme Lawson).
6. We’re all hungering for another awards show, after the Emmys and the Golden Globes, right? Relax. The Grammy Awards are due Sunday at 8 p.m. on CBS and Paramount+, which should help us make it to the upcoming SAG Awards, the Film Independent Spirit Awards, and the Oscars. The Grammy performers include Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa, Olivia Rodrigo, Luke Combs, Travis Scott, Billy Joel, and U2. Nominees include SZA, Phoebe Bridgers, Victoria Monet, Taylor Swift, Rodrigo, Miley Cyrus, Eilish, and Jon Batiste. For the fourth year in a row, Trevor Noah will host.