The Week’s guide to what’s worth watching
14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible
Climb every mountain, indeed. As fearless as they come, Nims Purja of Nepal set out in 2019 to summit all 14 of the world’s 8,000-meter peaks in seven months and bury the previous record of nearly eight years. Camera crews followed, providing the footage for this documentary that chronicles the life-and-death challenges that the former soldier and his team of Sherpa guides confronted while racing to make history. Available Monday, Nov. 29, Netflix
Life of Crime: 1984–2020
Not many documentary makers have the stamina to stay with their subject for 36 years. Jon Alpert did. In this new film, Alpert returns for a third time to a story he started following in 1984, when he began tracking three young drug addicts in Newark, N.J. Rob, Deliris, and Freddie— all of them friends—have each done prison time, fought to get clean, and failed. This final account, shot in cinema verité style, takes the full measure of their struggle. Tuesday, Nov. 30, at 9 p.m., HBO
The Summit of the Gods
Mount Everest makes another appearance this week in an animated film from France. As in the manga the movie is based on, a Japanese photojournalist tracks down a mountaineer who he believes can help him locate the camera of George Mallory, the British mountaineer who, before dying on Everest, may have been the first person to summit. The photographer eventually follows the solo climber all the way to Everest’s peak. Available Tuesday, Nov. 30, Netflix
Annie Live!
NBC is carrying on its holiday tradition of mounting a live broadcast of a beloved musical. This time, it’s Annie, the tale of a little orphan who promises us all that the sun will come out tomorrow. The cast includes Jane Krakowski and Tituss Burgess, with Harry Connick Jr. as Daddy Warbucks and Taraji P. Henson as the cruel Miss Hannigan. Twelve-year-old Celina Smith, who won a national casting search, plays the title character. Thursday, Dec. 2, at 8 p.m., NBC
Music Box: Listening to Kenny G
In the 1980s and ’90s, few sounds were as widely ridiculed by critics as the “smooth jazz” wafting from Kenny G’s soprano sax. But the Seattleborn composer and musician is also the bestselling instrumentalist of all time. In the latest installment of the Bill Simmons–produced series that unveiled a portrait of Alanis Morissette on Nov. 18, director Penny Lane pits a game Kenny G against a parade of critics who still haven’t come around to his side. Thursday,
Dec. 2, at 8 p.m., HBO
Other highlights
The Power of the Dog
Jane Campion’s slow-burn Western moves to streaming after a theatrical release that garnered raves. Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, and Jesse Plemons co-star. Available Wednesday, Dec. 1, Netflix
Zoey’s Extraordinary Christmas
Fan enthusiasm didn’t save Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist from being canceled. But the musical dramedy series has spun off its own Christmas special, in which Zoey will try to make the first Christmas without her father magical for her family. Available Wednesday, Dec. 1, Roku
Baking It
Maya Rudolph and Andy Samberg co-host a baking competition series modeled on Making It— except that all of the judges are opinionated grandmas. Available Thursday, Dec. 2, Peacock