New this week: ‘Sopranos’ prequel, Jon Stewart and Brandi Carlile

MOVIES

— Jake Gyllenhaal teams up with director Antoine Fuqua and screenwriter Nic Pizzolatto (”True Detective”) for the tense thriller “The Guilty,” which is set entirely inside a 911 call center in Los Angeles. Hitting Netflix on Friday. The always compelling Gyllenhaal carries the film even though his scene partners are mostly computer screens, telephones and disembodied voices.

— Nearly a quarter century after “The Sopranos” wrapped its six season run on HBO, David Chase has brought his best known character back in “The Many Saints of Newark.” The film, which debuts in theaters and on HBO Max on Friday, follows a young Tony Soprano (played by the late James Gandolfini’s son Michael Gandolfini) in 1960s Newark, New Jersey, amid the race riots and violent corruption in the city.

— Filmmaker Erin Lee Carr couldn’t have known that Britney Spears would once again be in the daily news cycle when she started on her secretive Netflix documentary “Britney vs Spears,” available starting Tuesday, but the timing could not be better for another in-depth look at the life of the pop star.

MUSIC

— Six-time Grammy-winner Brandi Carlile has been busy during the pandemic, releasing a memoir and now a highly anticipated new album, “In These Silent Days,” on Friday. Recorded during quarantine in Nashville, Tennessee, she teamed up again with producers Shooter Jennings and Dave Cobb, as well as her longtime bandmates Tim and Phil Hanseroth.

— The Doobie Brothers are celebrating their 50th anniversary in their 51st year with a postponed tour and a new album. “Liberté” is out Friday, featuring founding members Tom Johnston and Patrick Simmons, along with guitarist John McFee. The tour kicked off in August with former member Michael McDonald after being delayed a year because of the pandemic.

— One duets album wasn’t enough for pop diva Lady Gaga and icon Tony Bennett. The pair are releasing their second collaborative album Bennett, who turned 95 this year, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and canceled his scheduled tour dates this year. But fans of the two New York singers can still see them perform together in a livestream on Sept. 30.

TELEVISION

— Jon Stewart is back, and Apple TV+ has him. “The Problem With Jon Stewart” debuts Thursday, with episodes released on an every-other-week basis. Details are scant, but it’s been described as an exploration of issues of national interest as well as Stewart’s advocacy work. He’s an outspoken supporter of military veterans and 9/11 first responders, and he and his wife, Tracey, are animal rights proponents.

— Here’s a contest with a difference: “The Earthshot Prize: Repairing Our Planet,” a five-part Discovery series, will highlight 15 finalists and their solutions to a quintet of the planet’s greatest environmental problems, including air and ocean quality. The full series will air on the Discovery Channel on Oct. 16 (4 p.m. EDT), with the award ceremony carried Oct. 17 on Discovery’s Facebook page.

— The place: Los Angeles. The disaster: A giant sinkhole opens mid-city, plunging hundreds of people and buildings into its depths. That’s the start of NBC’s “La Brea,” in which “down under” refers not to Australia but a primeval world that tests its reluctant new inhabitants’ survival skills. The series premieres 9 p.m. EDT Tuesday on the network, and will be available Wednesday on the Peacock streaming service.

AP “The Many Saints of Newark,” premiering Oct. 1 on HBO Max, “The Problem with Jon Stewart,” premiering Sept. 30 on Apple TV+ and “La Brea,” premiering Sept. 28 on NBC.