What to watch, and more, May 16 – May 22
Reba’s a host, Honey Boo Boo’s back & Alexander Skarsgård’s a bot!
FRIDAY, May 16
Academy of Country Music Awards
Luke Combs, Megan Moroney, Morgan Wallen and Lainey Wilson are among the top nominees in this 59th annual live event honoring country music makers and their hits, and hosted by Reba McEntire (8 p.m., Prime Video).
Murderbot
Alexander Skarsgård stars in this new sci-fi comedy-thriller series, based on Martha Wells’ The Murderbot Diaries, as a security robot given a dangerous mission, but needing to hide his abilities for free thought and emotion (Apple TV+).
SATURDAY, May 17
I Was Honey Boo Boo
Alana Thompson (above)—who became reality-TV famous as “Honey Boo Boo”—returns as a young adult in this biopic from her perspective, and all the forced smiles and silent tears, scandals and legal struggles that followed her childhood TV fame (8 p.m., Lifetime)
The Handmaid’s Tale
The Emmy-winning dystopian drama returns for its sixth and final season, with Elizabeth Moss, Bradley Whitford, Ann Dowd and Yvonne Strahovski (Hulu).
SUNDAY, May 18
Tucci in Italy
Actor Stanley Tucci takes a trip across Italy showcasing the country’s distinctive culinary flavors and traditions of his ancestral homeland (8 p.m., National Geographic).
Naked and Afraid: Last One Standing
Fan favorites take on new challengers to see who can last the longest in the Australian Outback…sans clothes, of course. Bring on the pixels! (8 p.m., Discovery).
MONDAY, May 19
Mr. Polaroid
Meet Edwin Land, the visionary scientist and inventor of the Polaroid camera (9 p.m., PBS).
White Lies
Investigative journalist in South Africa (Natalie Dormer) gets caught in the ugly underbelly of the city, dragging her back to her turbulent past (Acorn TV).
TUESDAY, May 20
A Tooth Fairy Tale
Animated kid-friendly flick about a tooth fairy with a rebellious streak, with voices of Jon Lovitz, Fran Drescher, Vivica Fox, Larken Bell and BooBoo Stewart (various digital platforms).
The Last Role of Charles LeBlanc
A young drifter (Jack DeCerchio) goes to work for an aging movie legend (Arthur Roberts) and learns the hard way in this streaming flick that great actors never stop acting (Apple TV).
WEDNESDAY, May 21
Nine Perfect Strangers
New season intros more strangers (above) who discover their connections in surprising ways. Starring Nicole Kidman as a mysterious health guru, plus Henry Golding, Lena Olin, Christine Baranski and Mark Strong (Hulu).
Gordon Ramsay’s Secret Service
The star chef goes “undercover” to get the scoop on the culinary “crimes” of struggling restaurants—then shows them how to make the necessary changes to their space, their menu and their staff (9 p.m., Fox).
THURSDAY, May 22
Not Her First Rodeo
Champion bull rider Jorden Halvorsen, joined by rookies and returning pros, begins a new season of her women’s bull-riding league, with each cowgirl hoping this will be the year to win the championship buckle (10 p.m., Freeform).
BRING IT HOME
Real-life Britpop star Robbie Williams takes us through formative stages of his life and career in Better Man (Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment), with a twist of monkeyshines—he’s represented as talking, singing motion-capture chimpanzee. When you see it, you’ll get it!
Fans of the cinematic subgenre of the ‘70s, action films with Black actors made for Black audiences, will dig Blaxploitation Classics Vol. 1 (Shout! Factory), a 12-disc assemblage of low-budget, explosive firepower that left high marks with popular culture, featuring Issac Hayes, Pam Grier, Fred Williamson and other brand-names-to-be. Titles include Black Caesar, Hell Up in Harlem and Coffy.
The Media Tourist 