TV Watchlist: Nicole Kidman Is a Murder Suspect in 'Perfect Couple,' Kevin Hart Pulls Off a Heist in 'Fight Night'

Plus a NASA doc and the return of Apple's "Slow Horses" Week of August 31 – September 6 Is fall officially here? For the streamers and networks it certainly is, with a slew of buzzy and star-filled series rolling out over the next few weeks. (Remember when every new TV show debuted around this time? Memories!) We’ve got Kevin Hart and Samuel L. Jackson in “Fight Night” (on Peacock), Nicole Kidman in “The Perfect Couple” (on Netflix) and Gary Oldman in the returning “Slow Horses” (on Apple TV+). And if that wasn’t enough, this week features a long-awaited feature from Jeremy Saulnier (“Rebel Ridge” on Netflix), a documentary about NASA (“Apollo 13: Survival” on Netflix) and college sports (“The Money Game” on Prime Video). What more could you want? On with the television! Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist Thursday, September 5, Peacock Source: Peacock We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves but “Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist” sounds like one of the fall’s most enjoyable shows. It’s based on Shaye Ogbonna’s 2020 true crime podcast and centers on an armed robbery that occurred on the same night as Muhammad Ali’s historic 1970 comeback fight. Kevin Hart plays a hustler nicknamed Chicken Man who hosts an afterparty for Atlanta’s biggest and brightest that ends in the titular heist (the biggest in Atlanta’s storied history) and then becomes the prime suspect. Chicken Man has to convince his old adversary (Don Cheadle), one of the first Black detectives in the city’s desegregated task force, that he didn’t commit the crime – and that he can help solve the mystery. If you aren’t already fully in, the limited series also stars Samuel L. Jackson, Taraji P. Henson, Chloe Bailey, Lori Harvey and Terrence Howard. Let’s go! [[TRAILER](] Sunny Wednesday, September 4, Apple TV+ Source: Apple TV+ “Sunny,” which was adapted by Katie Robbins from Irish author Colin O’Sullivan’s 2018 novel “The Dark Manual,” wraps up Wednesday. If you haven’t been watching, it follows a woman (Rashida Jones) whose husband and son are presumed dead in a plane crash. She soon receives a domestic robot from the company where her husband worked, setting her off on a quest to uncover the mystery behind her family’s death. The series, produced by A24, mixes laughs and thrills. And we expect some pretty big twists in this final installment. Catch up now so you can uncover the truth with the rest of us. [[TRAILER](] Rebel Ridge Friday, September 6, Netflix Source: Netflix “Rebel Ridge” is finally here. The movie, written and directed by the incomparable Jeremy Saulnier, was first announced in 2019. Since then the movie was delayed by COVID-19 and suffered a bigger setback when John Boyega left the production in the middle of filming, shutting the film down. The movie was ultimately shot in 2022 and is only now premiering on Netflix. But it was worth the wait. The film stars Aaron Pierre (in the role originally played by Boyega), who attempts to bail his cousin out of jail but runs afoul of a corrupt sheriff (Don Johnson) and finds himself not just fighting for his relative but his life, as he uncovers the dark secrets behind the small town. While the movie has a vaguely “First Blood”-ish set-up, it’s really a much more complicated, more socially conscious movie, about how race, power and corruption intersect on both a personal and systemic level. And it’s full of hard-charging, stylish direction, wonderful performances (including a star-making turn by Pierre) and muscular action. What more could you want? [[TRAILER](] Apollo 13: Survival Thursday, September 5, Netflix Source: Netflix Houston, we have a documentary. Nine months after Neil Armstrong landed on the moon, NASA would face its biggest challenge yet, when three astronauts found themselves stranded in outer space after a mid-flight explosion. (This was all dramatized, thrillingly, in Ron Howard’s Oscar-winning 1995 film “Apollo 13.”) “Apollo 13: Survival” was brought to life “with rare access to the complete audio recordings of the mission, never-before-seen film materials, and archival interviews with the crew, their families, and the team at Ground Control,” according to the official synopsis. If you’ve seen the Tom Hanks movie or read anything about the actual crisis, you know just how harrowing the situation was. “Apollo 13: Survival” promises to be a “uniquely cinematic retelling of one of the great survival stories in human history.” Cannot wait. [[TRAILER](] Hold the Dark Netflix Source: Netflix If “Rebel Ridge” has got you itchy for more Jeremy Saulnier’ madness, then check out his oddly overlooked 2018 thriller “Hold the Dark.” Based on the novel by William Giraldi and adapted by Saulnier’s frequent collaborator Macon Blair, “Hold the Dark” follows an Alaskan woman (Riley Keough) who hires a wolf expert (Jeffrey Wright) to track and kill the wolves who killed her young son. What Wright finds is so much worse. This movie is Saulnier delivering his nerve-shredding best, full of suspensful set pieces that only he could craft and fine performances from everyone involved (including Alexander Skarsgård as a psychopathic killing machine who returns from the war to find his son dead and does not take it well). It’s the kind of movie that, when you finally watch it, you wonder why nobody had recommended it before. Consider this your recommendation. And buckle up. “Hold the Dark” is a wild ride. [[WATCH](] Source: Netflix “English Teacher” Monday, September 2 at 10 p.m., FX Created by and starring Brian Jordan Alvarez, “English Teacher” is one of FX’s big new comedies and considering “What We Do in the Shadows” is about to cross the rainbrow bridge, we hope this is good and lasts for many seasons. It follows Alvarez’s character, a high school English teacher in Austin Texas, “as he navigates his relationships, his students and his fellow faculty and tries to answer the question: can you really be your full self at your job?” The series is executive produced by Jonathan Krisel, who also directs several episodes, the madman co-creator of “Portlandia,” if you needed that pot sweetened further. [[TRAILER](] “Slow Horses” Wednesday, September 4, Apple TV+ Your mom’s favorite Apple TV+ series returns for a fourth season (!) It’s about a bunch of spies who are rejects but not unemployed, overseen by a slovenly Gary Oldman. But, of course, each season, they uncover some mystery that only they can solve. The fate of Britain rests in the hands of these messy fools. [[TRAILER](] “Tell Me Lies” Wednesday, September 4, Hulu Two years after its first season debuted, Hulu’s steamiest series returns. Set in a fictional New York school called Baird College, it follows the spicy relationship between Lucy (Grace Van Patten) and Stephen (Jackson White). The series was adapted by Meaghan Oppenheimer from the book by Carola Lovering and is executive produced by Emma Roberts. Hopefully the kiddos don’t stumble across this in the “single app experience” with Disney+. That would be eye opening! [[TRAILER](] “The Perfect Couple” Thursday, September 5, Netflix Nicole Kidman’s rein of television series that expertly operate in the gray zone between prestige and utter trash continues with “The Perfect Couple.” Based on the novel by Elin Hilderbrand and directed wholly by Susanne Bier (Kidman’s collaborator on “The Undoing”), it follows a young woman (Eve Hewson) who is about to marry into a ritzy Nantucket family. But her mother (Kidman) disapproves. Things take a darker turn when a body washes up on the beach, turning everybody into a suspect. The series also stars Liev Schreiber, Dakota Fanning, Jack Reynor and Meghann Fahy. Make some popcorn and settle in. [[TRAILER](] “The Money Game” Friday, June 16 at 8 p.m., Starz Prime Video’s brand-new must-watch documentary series “will examine the impact of NIL rights on college athletics, as seen through the eyes of some of the top athletes at Louisiana State University.” The Olympics might be over but top tier sports documentaries never cease. [[TRAILER](] 2034 Armacost Ave. | Los Angeles, CA 90025 [Unsubscribe](