What to Watch this Weekend: Midnight Mass scares up another chilling tale from Mike Flanagan

HOW/WHEN & WHERE TO WATCH: Streaming on Amazon Prime Video

Season Premiere
For its final season, Goliath is taking on a huge one in big pharma and the opioid industry. After his near-death experience at the end of season 3, Billy Bob Thornton's Billy McBride is trying to find peace in his life and personal relationships, which he'll have to do while trying to take down those responsible for turning pain patients into pill addicts — killing many lives in the process. "About halfway through the life of our show, we saw the opioid crisis becoming a bigger and bigger story and we were starting to get the investigative journalism that was breaking the story about the complicity and the manipulation of the pharmaceutical industry," explains showrunner Lawrence Triller. "Sometime while we were making season 3, it became obvious that that would have to be the next and final season, that that would be the biggest hill to climb, both because it would present the biggest challenge to our protagonists, but also because it was the most timely and urgent, I felt, social story of our time and the biggest goliath for anyone to try to fight against." —Gerrad Hall

Related content:

• Watch J.K. Simmons sing and dance his way into Goliath as big-pharma opioid pusher 'Mr. Pain Killer'
• Billy Bob Thornton explains that Goliath season 3 finale and whether [SPOILER] is really dead
• It's Billy Bob Thornton versus J.K. Simmons and Bruce Dern in Goliath final season

HOW/WHEN & WHERE TO WATCH: Streaming on Apple TV+

Series Debut
Apple TV+'s new sci-fi epic brings with it a vast, colorful, and admittedly dense new universe to explore. Foundation, based on the seminal novels by author Isaac Asimov, tells a story over 1,000 years. No easy task for TV storytellers, which is why so many failed to adapt the material over the decades. The show takes place in a reality where the galaxy is ruled by an empire known as the Genetic Dynasty, which began with Emperor Cleon. Before his death, Cleon cloned himself and ever since, the empire has been ruled by sets of three of his clones: a child clone Brother Dawn, a mid-life clone Brother Day, and an elder clone Brother Dusk. Off in the shadows of libraries and educational institutions is Hari Seldon (Jared Harris), a pursuer of psycho-history, the science of studying mathematics to predict the future based on patterns of human behavior. Through this, he's able to foresee the destruction of the empire that will send humanity into an age of darkness. Their only hope is to assemble a "foundation" of knowledge so that when humans eventually bounce back, they won't have to start from scratch. There's a lot to take in here, and we mean a lot, but Lee Pace is having the time of his life playing the charismatic, theatrical Brother Day, who tightens his grip on his throne in the face of such a depressing prophecy. —Nick Romano

Related content:

• Foundation showrunner breaks down the new trailer for Apple's sprawling sci-fi series
• Foundation star Lee Pace relives his big genre roles, from Pushing Daisies to The Hobbit
• Apple's Foundation gets teased in trailer for adaptation of Isaac Asimov's epic sci-fi saga

HOW/WHEN & WHERE TO WATCH: Streaming on Netflix

Series Debut
Mike Flanagan, the creator of The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor, is back with a fresh horror series, one that he's been tinkering with for about a decade. Midnight Mass stars Zach Gilford as Riley, a man who spends four years in prison for killing someone in a drunk driving crash. Forced to live with his Christian parents on the remote Crockett Island, his return home coincides with the arrival of a mysterious priest, Father Paul (Hamish Linklater), who claims he's filling in for the local church's Monsignor Pruitt after he fell ill while on a religious pilgrimage. But something's not quite right. Father Paul's presence brings about unexplainable events that some in the community might call miracles, igniting a fierce sense of religiosity around the island that threatens to swallow them all. If we say anything more than that, we risk spoiling some of the addicting twists and turns that this puzzler brings. But it's safe to say this has the potential to be your next binge obsession. —N.R.

Related content:

• Mike Flanagan opens up about the personal journey that shaped his buzzed-about Midnight Mass
• A horror maven's muse: Kate Siegel looks back on a decade of scares with Midnight Mass creator Mike Flanagan
• Haunting of Bly Manor creators bring religious horrors to life in trailer for mysterious Midnight Mass

HOW/WHEN & WHERE TO WATCH: Streaming on Netflix

After her masterful turn in 2018's Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Melissa McCarthy takes up perch on another dramatic role in Theodore Melfi's The Starling. Here, the Oscar nominee plays a grieving mother, Lily, grappling with the unexpected loss of her infant daughter while a bold avian foe launches an all-out offensive against her in the family garden. With supporting turns from Kevin Kline and Chris O'Dowd, The Starling's menagerie of spirited performances are worth seeking out through all the melodramatic sap. —Joey Nolfi

Related content:

• Melissa McCarthy breaks down fighting little birds and big trauma in The Starling trailer
• Melissa McCarthy says she did that roadside sign for injured Mariska Hargitay out of guilt
• Naomi Watts endured bird 's — on the face' for quality cinema in Penguin Bloom

Hear more on all of this weekend's must-see picks, plus Billy Bob Thornton on the final season of Goliath, in EW's What to Watch podcast, hosted by Gerrad Hall.

Streaming

Savage X Fenty Show Vol. 3 — Amazon Prime Video

Wolfboy and the Everything Factory (animated series debut) — Apple TV+

Ted Lasso — Apple TV+

Dinette (season premiere) — BRIC TV

Curse of the Chippendales (series debut) — Discovery+

A Spark Story (doc) — Disney+

An American Story (anthology series debut) — Magnolia Network

Point of View: A Designer Profile (season premiere) — Magnolia Network

The Great British Baking Show (season premiere) — Netflix

Vendetta: Truth, Lies and the Mafia (docuseries debut) — Netflix

Movies

Birds of Paradise — Amazon Prime Video

My Little Pony: A New Generation — Netflix

Apache Junction — Digital/VOD

Surge — VOD

Man in the Field: The Life and Art of Jim Denevan (doc) — VOD

East of the Mountains — VOD

Time Is Up — VOD

8 p.m.

Big Brother — CBS

Dynasty (back-to-back eps) — The CW

Aly Raisman: Darkness to Light (special) — Lifetime

9 p.m.

20/20 — ABC

Secret Celebrity Renovation (season finale) — CBS

Dateline ("The Evil That Watches" — 30th season premiere) — NBC

The Show (Pepsi Super Bowl Halftime Show doc) — Showtime

12 p.m.

Trisha's Southern Kitchen (season premiere) — Food Network

8 p.m.

Deadly Debutante (movie) — Lifetime

Elvira's 40th Anniversary Very Scary, Very Special Special — Shudder

Farm Aid 2021 — Circle Network

Say Yes to the Dress (season finale) — TLC

9 p.m.

Taking the Reins (movie) — Hallmark

10 p.m.

48 Hours — CBS

HOW/WHEN & WHERE TO WATCH: 7 p.m. on Paramount+

The last time the Tony Awards were handed out, it was June 2019. Now, Broadway is finally opening its doors again and the theater industry will get the chance to celebrate its own. This year's event is a double bill of sorts: First, the Tony Awards themselves will be handed out in a ceremony hosted by Audra McDonald, honoring the truncated 2019-2020 theater season. (Top nominees include Jagged Little Pill and Moulin Rouge! The Musical, with 15 and 14 nominations respectively, while Slave Play's 12 nods made it the most-nominated play in Tonys history.) 

That will be followed by The Tony Awards Present: Broadway's Back!, a concert event featuring performances from the Best Musical nominees and appearances from Broadway stars like Leslie Odom Jr. (who's hosting the special), Ben Platt, Jake Gyllenhaal, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Kristin Chenoweth, Idina Menzel, Annaleigh Ashford, Kerry Butler, and more. Three of the night's biggest awards — Best Play, Best Musical, and Best Revival of a Play — will be handed out during the Broadway's Back special, so you'll have to save your biggest applause for that curtain call.  —Jessica Derschowitz

Related content: 

• Tony Awards: See the full list of nominees
• All the Broadway shows that are reopening this fall
• Tony Awards to (finally) be handed out in September as part of Broadway's Back! special

HOW/WHEN & WHERE TO WATCH: 9 p.m. on Starz

Series Debut
50 Cent is hoping to find some more power at Starz. Hailing from the Power Universe EP and star, new series BMF (formerly titled Black Mafia Family) tells the true story of two Detroit brothers, Demetrious "Big Meech" Flenory (played by his son, Demetrious "Lil Meech" Flenory Jr.) and Terry "Southwest T" Flenory (Da'Vinchi), who went from small-time dealers to the founders of one of the country's most powerful crime families. Teases showrunner Randy Huggins, another Power alum, "This is a universal tale about brotherhood, love, faith and the pursuit of the American Dream." —Derek Lawrence

Related content: 

• Watch the first trailer for BMF, which 50 Cent predicts will be bigger than Power
• Eminem to play White Boy Rick on 50 Cent's latest Starz series
• Welcome to TV's most Power-ful Universe

HOW/WHEN & WHERE TO WATCH: 10 p.m. on HBO (and streaming on HBO Max)

Docuseries Debut
"I thought I knew everything, but I only knew half the story," Ry Russo-Young tells EW of making this shockingly honest docuseries about the lawsuit that threatened to tear her family apart: When the filmmaker was just 9, the sperm donor who'd made it possible for her two moms to become part of the first generation of openly gay parents sued to parental rights and visitation. Though the landmark ruling ultimately allowed her family to stay intact, the reverberations of the lawsuit continue to impact the Russo-Youngs 30 years later. Using old family videos, footage from a 1999 PBS documentary, and new interviews with her parents and those who knew her biological father, Russo-Young retells her family's turbulent journey over three episodes, which will drop weekly, while coming to terms with the complicated feelings she continues to have for the man she once loved but never considered a father. —Patrick Gomez

Related content: 

• Watch the trailer for Britney vs. Spears, Netflix doc about pop star's conservatorship fight
• How the controversial Alanis Morissette doc handles disturbing sexual assault allegations
• The Sun Is Also a Star tackles young love and real issues

7 p.m.

Global Citizen Live (special) — ABC

Escaping Captivity: The Kara Robinson Story (special) — Oxygen

8 p.m.

Celebrity Wheel of Fortune (season premiere) — ABC

The Real Housewives of Potomac — Bravo

Big Brother — CBS

TOXIC: Britney Spears' Battle For Freedom (special) — CNN

The Simpsons (season premiere) — Fox

The Circus — Showtime

Power Book III: Raising Kanan (season finale) — Starz

8:30 p.m.

The Great North (season premiere) — Fox

9 p.m.

Supermarket Sweep (season premiere) — ABC

The Walking Dead — AMC

The Tony Awards Presents: Broadway's Back (special) — CBS

Wellington Paranormal (season finale) — The CW

Chapelwaite — Epix

Halloween Wars — Food Network

Bob's Burgers (season premiere) — Fox

Rise and Shine, Benedict Stone — Hallmark Movies & Mysteries

Scenes From a Marriage — HBO

Billions — Showtime

9:30 p.m.

Family Guy (season premiere) — Fox

10 p.m.

The Rookie (season premiere) — ABC

Fiasco — Epix

Worst Cooks in America: Halloween Redemption 2 (special) — Food Network

American Rust — Showtime

11 p.m.

Work in Progress — Showtime

*times are ET and subject to change

We know TV has a lot to offer, be it network, cable, premium channels, or streaming platforms including Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, and others. So EW is here to help, guiding you every single day to the things that should be on your radar. Be sure to listen/subscribe to our What to Watch podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Player FM, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts, or via your own voice-controlled smart-speaker (Alexa, Google Home).