The Week’s guide to what’s worth watching
The Black Church: This Is Our Story,
This Is Our Song
There is no arguing the primacy of the church in black American culture. In this two-night special, scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. brings in a variety of prominent voices to tell the 400-year story of how enslaved Americans and their descendants found balm in Christianity’s message and built an institution that became the spiritual, political, economic, and cultural center of black American life. Gates examines the church’s shortcomings too, but basks in its wondrous music and delights in soliciting his guests’ personal top-5 list of the all-time greatest preachers. Begins Tuesday, Feb. 16, at 9 p.m., PBS; check local listings Young Rock
Pro wrestling doesn’t cultivate many performers jocular and thoughtful enough to be talked about as potential presidential contenders. In this new comedy series, ex-grappler and current movie star Dwayne Johnson shares his unlikely life story in flashbacks to three different phases of his upbringing as the son of a Hawaiian pro wrestler and part of a big family. The show plays a bit like Everybody Hates Chris or Fresh Off the Boat, except with more scenes in weight rooms. Tuesday, Feb. 16, at 8 p.m., NBC
For All Mankind
It’s 1983 as Season 2 begins for the drama series that offers an alternative history of the space race waged by the U.S. and U.S.S.R. The ambitious show, which finished its uneven first season strongly, could reach liftoff now that a brigade of its NASA heroes and heroines are toting firearms on the moon’s surface and trying to head off a major escalation of the Cold War. Available for streaming Friday, Feb. 19, Apple TV+
I Care a Lot
Golden Globe contender Rosamund Pike lights up this wicked new thriller as a ruthless con artist who cheats old folks by gaining guardianship, locking them away in rest homes, and draining their assets. But when she picks the wrong old lady, she draws the attention of a brutal mob boss ready to crush her. Dianne Wiest and a menacing Peter Dinklage co-star. Available for streaming Friday, Feb. 19, Netflix
Nomadland
The movie favored to win this year’s Best Picture Oscar finally finds a platform where it can reach a wide audience as it arrives in Hulu on the same day it’s re-released in theaters. Frances McDormand stars as an ex-teacher who joins a loose community of gray-haired wanderers who camp out wherever gig work can be found. Available for streaming Friday, Feb. 19, Hulu
Other highlights
Kenan
Longtime Saturday Night Live cast member Kenan Thompson gets his own sitcom, playing a widowed single dad who hosts an Atlanta morning show. With Chris Redd and Don Johnson. Tuesday, Feb. 16, at 8:30 p.m., NBC
Behind Her Eyes
A young single mother begins an affair with her boss and a friendship with his wife in a twisty six-part thriller. Simona Brown, Eve Hewson, and Tom Bateman co-star. Available for streaming Wednesday, Feb. 17, Netflix
Flora & Ulysses
A 10-year-old girl befriends a squirrel with emerging superpowers in this feature-length adaptation of Kate DiCamillo’s Newberry Award–winning children’s novel. Available for streaming Friday, Feb. 19, Disney+