Television

The actress returns for Season 2 of the dark comedy “Based on a True Story” as the true-crime aficionado Ava.

By Kathryn Shattuck

This month’s picks include sequels galore and an animated adventure out of Canada.

By Dina Gachman

With “Hot Frosty,” “The Merry Gentlemen” and “A Carpenter Christmas Romance,” holiday fare is headed in a shirtless new direction.

By Ashley Spencer

“Democrats were like, ‘Well, I guess at this point we can let him speak again,’” the “Tonight Show” host said.

By Trish Bendix

Emmy Rossum and Zoë Winters star in a new Off Broadway play that’s a climate disaster drama cohabiting with a domestic soap opera.

By Jesse Green

When Clint Eastwood narrows his eyes, pay attention. A master of the big screen is using them to convey seduction, intimidation, mystery and more.

By Manohla Dargis

The intriguing options range from well-known names like Bill Maher and Tracy Morgan to under-the-radar standups like Chloe Radcliffe and Jay Jurden.

By Jason Zinoman

The director speaks his mind on rejected sequel ideas, Joaquin Phoenix’s plan to quit the original and working with a “fractious” Denzel Washington.

By Kyle Buchanan

“Trump returning to the White House is a huge historic comeback for someone who literally never went away,” Jimmy Fallon said.

By Trish Bendix

A physicist who headed a chapter of the National Organization for Women, she took a career detour to be a feminist voice in Mr. Lear’s empire of socially aware sitcoms.

By Richard Sandomir

For stars like Ariana Grande and Lady Gaga, showmanship is a virtue. That’s a big change from the days when Anne Hathaway was vilified for her effortful work.

By Esther Zuckerman

“Look at all the little glass-half-fulls out there,” Stewart said as his “Daily Show” audience applauded a Democratic Senate victory in Maryland.

By Trish Bendix

Brian Jordan Alvarez’s career started on social media. His mastery of the form, and a ridiculous dance trend, have drawn viewers to his show, “English Teacher.”

By Steven Kurutz

“It feels like the whole country is waiting to get the results of a biopsy,” Jimmy Kimmel said.

By Trish Bendix

Tune into the major networks’ election coverage, catch up on the teen drama “The Outer Banks” and dive into a bunch of true-crime docuseries.

By Shivani Gonzalez

He became recognizable as a performer whose specialty was difficult men, in both absurd comedies and tense dramas.

By Alex Traub

Johnny Carson dominated late-night television for decades, but closely guarded his privacy. Bill Zehme’s biography, “Carson the Magnificent,” tries to break through.

By Alexandra Jacobs

The vice president made a brief appearance on “Saturday Night Live” this weekend.

By Dave Itzkoff

A Scottish performer, she said she believed there were “funny sides” to terrible experiences, including some that she drew from her own times of loss and hardship.

By Isabella Kwai

Tom Papa, James Adomian and Emily Catalano take very different, very funny approaches in their new hours.

By Jason Zinoman

The actor discusses his new play, “The Other Americans,” feeling underappreciated as a dramatist, and Latino representation.

By Annie Aguiar

“I don’t know how to have one mimosa,” said the actress, one of the stars of the new sitcom “St. Denis Medical.” Now she’s a fan of “dunch.”

By Leigh-Ann Jackson

A slew of great movies and TV shows are leaving Netflix for U.S. subscribers in November. Here’s a roundup of the best.

By Jason Bailey

“Cruel Intentions,” “Music by John Williams” and “Dune: The Prophecy” arrive, along with “Bad Sisters” Season 2.

By Noel Murray

It’s already powering remarkable visual innovations, like in the new movie “Here.” But boosters think that’s just the beginning.

By Devin Gordon

Kimmel said that when Trump delivered a speech while wearing an orange safety vest, it was “like a 4-year-old who wants to wear his costume to school.”

By Trish Bendix

A new docudrama recounts the conflicts and controversy surrounding “Loft Story,” a French twist on “Big Brother” that divided critics and generations.

By Margaret Lyons

The comment shocked “everyone who couldn’t believe Joe successfully logged onto Zoom,” the guest host of “Gutfeld” said.

By Trish Bendix

Kimmel made a 19-minute case against Donald Trump on Tuesday, asking viewers to “send it to a Republican you love.” (He did throw in a Biden joke.)

By Trish Bendix

An Oscar nominee for her role in “Tootsie,” she was also a favorite guest of David Letterman and Johnny Carson and a three-time host of “Saturday Night Live.”

By Anita Gates

From “The Leftovers” to “Only Murders in the Building,” “Perfect Strangers,” the wacky 1980s sitcom with a bombastic theme song, is enjoying a strange afterlife.

By Alexandra E. Petri

This year’s horror series take us to damned villages, cursed towns and countries fallen into anarchy.

By Mike Hale

When the world as we know it ends in films and on television, newspapers are often used to convey what was known in those final days.

By Maya Salam

After Donald Trump’s rally, Stewart showed an image of Billy Joel and asked, “How dare they desecrate the stage that the Piano Man has consecrated?”

By Trish Bendix

The actor, Jay Johnston, pleaded guilty in July to obstructing police during the riots at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, according to prosecutors.

By Sara Ruberg

Like the former president, these stand-ups loathe the news media, delight in transgression and harbor a deep-seated love of cruel insult jokes.

By Jason Zinoman

Stewart, who returned to the show in February as a host on Monday nights, originally planned to work through the presidential election.

By Maya Salam

FX airs the finale of Ryan Murphy’s latest show. And various channels celebrate the spooky frights and delights of the holiday.

By Shivani Gonzalez

She was best known as half of a comedy team with her husband, Phil Ford, until her hall-filling voice earned her raves in a role made famous by Barbra Streisand.

By Alex Williams

New movies and TV shows are revisiting a “weird corner” of the ’80s — and offering lessons for today.

By Alexis Soloski

Mr. Llamas, who has been racing between hurricanes and election coverage, makes time for baseball with his children and not-so-scary movies with his wife.

By Sarah Bahr

The series is the third production linked to the author to face turmoil after allegations made by five women surfaced this summer.

By Jesus Jiménez

As the candidates raced to claim different corners of the national screen this week, it was “Undercover Boss” vs. “Roll the clip.”

By James Poniewozik

Ahead of the final season, the creators discuss Midwestern humor, queer communities of faith and why they made a show “about people who aren’t very equipped to talk about their feelings.”

By Chris Vognar

The “Tonight Show” host was excited about Beyoncé’s plans to appear with the vice president: “What a night — the most powerful woman in the world and Kamala Harris.”

By Trish Bendix

The Broadway revival of “Romeo + Juliet” plays to the TikTok crowd. But maybe that’s a good thing.

By Jesse Green

With his smooth voice, he drew crowds to cabarets and music halls for six decades. He also sang the themes for films and TV shows, including “The Love Boat.”

By Robert D. McFadden

A thriving genre built on podcasts and documentaries, coupled with younger generations’ more skeptical worldview, helped revitalize interest in this case and others like it.

By Maya Salam

The HBO dramedy about a Kansas woman finding love and community after tragedy returns for its third and final season on Sunday.

By Margaret Lyons

In the end, Ms. Robbie got what she wanted, signing a deal with Warner Bros.

By Nicole Sperling

Sara and Erin Foster took a short break to discuss the hit show loosely based on Erin’s life, everyone’s love of Adam Brody and their advocacy for reproductive rights.

By Alyson Krueger

On Wednesday, Seth Meyers said he was “starting to think Trump doesn’t watch the ends of documentaries.”

By Trish Bendix

Julianna Margulies and Peter Gallagher star in this quasi romantic comedy adapted from Ephron’s memoir, which went deeper into her illness and grief.

By Laura Collins-Hughes

He later built a career as a reliable TV guest star. His life turned tragic in 2019 when his son killed Mr. Ely’s wife and was then shot to death by the police.

By Clay Risen

Danny Amendola’s smooth lift on “Dancing With the Stars” spawned numerous imitators (with varying results). TikTok cautions users that it can be dangerous.

By Steven Kurutz

One of TV’s few great funny ha-ha comedies begins its sixth and final season this week on FX and Hulu.

By Margaret Lyons

The answer has to do with going beyond a likeness, something Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong understand for their movie about Donald Trump and Roy Cohn.

By Alissa Wilkinson

Meyers has crafted a comedically precise but genial persona over more than two decades on “Saturday Night Live” and “Late Night.” A new stand-up special finds him reveling in his more acerbic side.

By Anna Peele

This fall on TV from the rest of the world: a German small-town murder show called “Miss Merkel,” an Italian “Citadel” and an Israeli act of witness.

By Mike Hale

The “Daily Show” host said Musk “bought Twitter just to drive it into the ground” and is now considering doing the same for America.

By Trish Bendix

Armando Iannucci, the mastermind behind “Veep,” has adapted “Dr. Strangelove” for the theater and insists that laughing at nuclear disaster couldn’t be more timely.

By Alex Marshall

The ex-president’s stint at the drive-through window was “blue-collar drag,” said Stephen Colbert. “But with more makeup.”

By Trish Bendix

A breakout contestant on “The Great British Baking Show” is drawing style comparisons to characters from “Pirates of the Caribbean,” “The Princess Bride” and more.

By Annemarie Conte

As an “energy vampire,” the comic actor has been the most relatable menace in the FX comedy, which begins its final season.

By Alexis Soloski

Prosecutors have recommended that the brothers be resentenced, which could lead to their release from prison.

By Kate Christobek

The comedian’s standup special airs on HBO. Various networks show horror films.

By Shivani Gonzalez

The longtime friend of “S.N.L.” made his first appearance on the show since an involuntary manslaughter case against him was dismissed. Michael Keaton was the host.

By Dave Itzkoff

She created a program to honor Black artistic success in the 1960s. But she spent decades trying to get its organizers to recognize her role.

By Clay Risen

The actress and singer talks about mom jokes, Muppets, making music and marching for women’s rights.

By Kathryn Shattuck

On his weeks off from shooting the ABC sitcom, the actor unwinds by whipping up “the biggest salad ever” and seeking out a Sunday-night show.

By Sarah Bahr

With the general election just weeks away, the hosts discussed former President Trump’s health and his bizarre town hall in Pennsylvania, as well as Vice President Harris’s appearance on Fox News.

By Trish Bendix

The HBO series uses familiar comedic actors in cheeky re-enactments of real Florida events, most of them subjects of past viral news reports.

By Margaret Lyons

This week the network rolled out an “NCIS” spinoff, a “Young Sheldon” spinoff, a “Good Wife” spinoff and … “Matlock”?

By Mike Hale

The Peacock horror comedy finds timeliness in a dark chapter of American history. “Satan was always an existential threat,” the actor said.

By Erik Piepenburg

“Yes, both Kamala and Trump went into ‘the lion’s den’ this week — although they only got Trump there by telling him it was the name of a strip club,” Desi Lydic said on “The Daily Show.”

By Trish Bendix

A body double to the stars, he performed sometimes bone-breaking feats in movies like “Return of the Jedi” and “Back to the Future.” And he was still at it in his 80s.

By Michael S. Rosenwald

Kimberly Belflower’s “John Proctor Is the Villain” will be directed by Danya Taymor, who won a Tony this year for “The Outsiders.”

By Michael Paulson

The soft-spoken actress is winning raves (and Oscar talk) for her turn as a feisty sex worker in the Palme d’Or-winning “Anora.”

By Esther Zuckerman

The seemingly droll, breezy star is actually sentimental about his family and utterly serious about his work, including his villainous turn in “Heretic.”

By Sarah Lyall and Dana Scruggs

Jilly Cooper, 87, has written raunchy novels for decades. Adapting her 1988 book “Rivals” for the streaming age meant tweaking some details.

By Claire Moses

“This was the first time Groper Cleveland has been around this many women since they started padlocking the doors at Miss Teen USA,” Kimmel said on Wednesday.

By Trish Bendix

Lewis, the host of the 1990s MTV show “Hot Zone,” tried to fight her illness without undergoing a double mastectomy. She says she is responding well after resuming treatment.

By Maya Salam and Dani Blum

A new Netflix documentary tells a sinister tale of a decade-long online romance scam, and the devastation that followed.

By Stefano Montali

Hollywood’s polished leaders and legible story arcs never quite imagined the places real-life American politics would go.

By Ross Barkan

Beyond its story of Donald Trump’s early years in business, “The Apprentice” traces his origins as a media celebrity.

By James Poniewozik

Kimmel joked on Tuesday that Trump “just said ‘To hell with it’ and started asking his tech guys to play songs off his iPad.”

By Trish Bendix

A new historical marker in Miami Beach pays tribute to his younger years, before Hollywood, when as a Cuban émigré he performed at a nightclub.

By Johnny Diaz

Kamala Harris’s health is said to be “excellent,” but the nation has yet to hear about Donald Trump’s. “Do you really want to see his X-rays?” said Stephen Colbert.

By Trish Bendix

With so many players involved in Jason Reitman’s new movie about “S.N.L.,” here’s a guide to the real-life personalities.

By Jennifer Vineyard

A CW documentary, inspired by the series “Yellowstone,” shows what real life in ranch country looks like. And “The Good Wife” spinoff is back for a second season.

By Shivani Gonzalez

A new film about the show doesn’t mention her. But in many ways her hit sketch series helped define the early vision of Lorne Michaels.

By Jason Zinoman

It was also an especially music-filled evening, with Stevie Nicks as the musical guest and Ariana Grande, as host, breaking often into song.

By Dave Itzkoff

Years after making his name with the sketch comedy series “Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!”, he’s singing wry ballads and watching the kids.

By Brian Raftery

When independent movies like “Rosemead” travel to a state for tax incentives, they save money but add creative challenges.

By Christopher Kuo

In his wide-ranging career, he also helped write Elvis Presley’s comeback special and appeared on an early version of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.”

By Richard Sandomir

“Whenever I get inspiration or feel something,” the “Pachinko” star said, “I go to my Notes app and write it down.”

By Christopher Kuo

With the general election just weeks away, the hosts spent much of the week discussing former President Trump’s rallies, Trump’s ties to President Putin of Russia, and Vice President Harris’s media blitz.

By Trish Bendix

The vice president’s whirlwind tour of talk shows and interviews revealed the kind of persona she wants to present as she seeks to become the election’s main character.

By James Poniewozik

Oral histories and rollicking memoirs by former “S.N.L.” cast members like Molly Shannon and Leslie Jones take you behind the scenes of the comedy juggernaut.

By Dave Itzkoff

This month’s picks include a star-studded DreamWorks sequel and the highest grossing film of 2024 so far.

By Dina Gachman