Jon Hamm’s ‘Neighbors,’ Jelly Roll on ‘Fire,’ a Digital Titanic, ‘Yellowjackets’ Finale

Your Friends & Neighbors

Jon Hamm (Mad Men) brings his Don Draper “master of the universe” persona into the 21st century, just in time for a doozy of a midlife crisis, in a drama from Jonathan Tropper (Banshee) that uneasily mixes Breaking Bad-style criminal intrigue with overwritten though well played observations on the privileged class. Hamm shines as Andrew Cooper, a recently and unhappily divorced hedge-fund titan whose high-income lifestyle comes down to Earth when he’s suddenly fired (on a dubious pretext) and decides to start burgling his neighbors’ swanky home, robbing them of “piles of forgotten wealth just lying around.” His detour into criminality is a slippery slope, but the suspense builds very slowly, and it’s hard to muster much sympathy for anyone in this smugly rarefied world. If you stick with it, you’ll be rewarded with some surprising twists, and the show has already been renewed for a second season. The excellent cast includes Amanda Peet as Coop’s unfaithful ex-wife, Olivia Munn as a soon-to-be-divorcée with a Coop fixation, Lena Hall as his loyal but unstable sister and Hoon Lee as his financial adviser, who’s fallen into his own money pit with an endless home renovation. Launches with two episodes.

Fire Country

In a guest role that reflects his own history, country-music star Jelly Roll appears on the hit rescue drama as Noah, a healthcare worker and former convict who’s turning his life around. Noah’s obviously got a lot in common with ex-con Bode (Max Thieriot), who’s busy with the Station 42 crew at a ski resort where a chair malfunction leads to chaos. And Noah is instrumental in helping Vince (Billy Burke) connect with his father, Walter (Jeff Fahey).

Titanic: The Digital Resurrection

The wreck of the R.M.S. Titanic, which sunk in the North Atlantic 113 years ago this month, has been studied in nearly every way imaginable. But never before have observers had a tool as startling and illuminating as the mammoth “digital twin” simulation created by a deep-sea mapping company, which spent three weeks mapping the wreck 12,500 feet below the surface, producing data including 715,000 still images that resulted in a full-scale model of the doomed ship. A 90-minute documentary studies the simulation, with experts and historians finding new clues in the wreckage to explain more about the Titanic’s last moments.

Yellowjackets

A jam-packed Season 3 finale of the bizarre thriller finds the adult versions of the plane-crash survivors reeling from tragedy, with Taissa (Tawny Cypress) taking her loss to heart, while Misty (Christina Ricci) takes the initiative to confront Lottie’s (Simone Kessell) killer and Shauna (Melanie Lynskey) has an epiphany that clears the cobwebs from their bloody past. Speaking of which, back in the wilderness, things get even crazier, and who can blame Natalie (Sophie Thatcher) for not giving up hope on being rescued from this tribal madness.

Pets

It’s raining cats and dogs—and pigs, goats, birds, you name it—in director Bryce Dallas Howard’s affectionate tribute to the bond between humans and the animals they care for and love unconditionally. Her documentary features upbeat stories of rescue animals and footage of kids with their beloved pets, basically anything and everything to make an animal lover go “awwww.”

INSIDE FRIDAY TV:

• RuPaul’s Drag Race (8/7c, MTV): With one week to go before the grand finale, the eliminated queens return for a Lip Sync Lalaparuza Smackdown, with a $50,000 cash prize for the winner.
• NCIS: Sydney (8/7c, CBS): Things get spooky when a sailor is discovered drained of blood and the team investigates modern-day vampires.
• Great Performances (9/8c, PBS): A double-header includes the Season 6 premiere of Now Hear This, with violinist-conductor Scott Yoo traveling the world to glean musical insights, in the opener heading to Poland, France and Spain as he explores the history of Frédéric Chopin. Followed by The Magic of Nureyev (10/9c), a profile of dancer-choreographer Rudolf Nureyev that focuses on his groundbreaking 1964 interpretation of Swan Lake opposite Margot Fonteyn.
• S.W.A.T. (10/9c, CBS): 20-Squad turns to LAPD psychologist Wendy Hughes (Cathy Cahlin Ryan) after three L.A. cops are gunned down on the city’s streets.

ON THE STREAM:

• The Great American Baking Show (streaming on The Roku Channel): Hosts Casey Wilson and Zach Cherry (Severance) welcome eight amateur bakers from across the country to show off their skills to judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith.
• Just a Bit Outside (streaming on The Roku Channel): An affectionate sports documentary relives 1982’s dream season for the Milwaukee Brewers, who came so close to winning the World Series in a best-of-seven clash with the St. Louis Cardinals.
• Dope Thief (streaming on Apple TV+): In many TV shows, if a main character gets shot, they bounce back remarkably quickly. Not so this crime drama’s antihero Ray (Brian Tyree Henry), who spends an entire harrowing episode in a state of panicked delirium after surviving an assassin’s bullet. With a car mysteriously circling the house as he recovers, Ray and his crew know that just getting him to the hospital could be a death sentence.
• Got to Get Out (streaming on Hulu): Simu Liu hosts a frantic competition show with reality-TV veterans and newbies locked in a sprawling house where up to $1 million is up for grabs. But if anyone escapes at any time, they can pocket what’s been accumulated so far.
• WrestleMania IX: Becoming a Spectacle (streaming on Peacock): In advance of this year’s WrestleMania 41 later this month (also on Peacock), a documentary reaches back to 1993 to go behind the scenes of WWE’s first outdoor WrestleMania live from Las Vegas.