‘Wolf Like Me,’ ‘Peacemaker,’ ‘Ghosts’ Goes Catfishing, ‘Law & Order’s Organized Criminal

Series Premiere

When you give away your big twist in your title, I’m not sure why one needs to be coy about spoilers. But since we’ve been cautioned, let’s just say that this offbeat but ultimately slight romantic dramedy pairs Gary (Frozen’s Josh Gad), a melancholy widower in Australia, with free spirit Mary (an electrifying Isla Fisher), who’s wore than she seems. With only six half-hours to tell its story—brevity as always being a virtue—Wolf is unusually discreet and slow-building in dramatizing the supernatural obstacle to the couple’s happiness. Their relationship is further complicated by Gary’s concern over his depressed daughter, Emma (a very good Ariel Donoghue). If you’re expecting a farcical romp like Netflix’s too-short-lived Santa Clarita Diet, look elsewhere. Wolf Like Me takes its traumatic situation so seriously I kept waiting for it to let its hair down.

Series Premiere

John Cena gets to flex his action and comedy chops in a series spinoff from The Suicide Squad, as violent vigilante Peacemaker (aka convicted murderer-turned-mercenary Christopher Smith). He’s allowed to stay out of prison as long as he keeps taking down evildoers. Reigning in his more reckless instincts is a team including Orange Is the New Black’s Danielle Brooks as Leota Adebayo.

8:30/7:30c

We just met Sam’s (Rose McIver) deceased mom on this inventive sitcom, and now it’s time to meet a very-much-alive member of partner Jay’s (Utkarsh Ambudkar) family: his sister Bela (Punam Patel), who’s staying with them to get over a breakup. (Whose room she’ll be occupying becomes a contentious subplot among the manor’s ghosts.) When Bela announces she’s met someone new online, they’re shocked to realize it’s someone they know all too well—and who appears to be literally ghosting her, Catfish-style.

10/9c

Det. Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) is never more dangerous than when he’s angry, and to no one’s surprise, he’s seething over the release of his nemesis, crime boss Richard Wheatley (a perfectly sinister Dylan McDermott), after his trial for murdering the detective’s wife ended in a mistrial. So it is a vendetta, or following the evidence, when Stabler tries to connect Wheatley to a series of cyberattacks crippling New York City?

Series Finale

Hamlet, as play and as metaphor, runs through the final episode of the acclaimed adaptation of Emily St. John Mandel’s novel about a theatrical troupe traveling through what’s left of society after a devastating plague. This is a dense and challenging series that benefits from the binge instead of weekly model, so now that all of the episodes are available, dig in.

Is it time for the widowed Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) to dip her toe back into the dating pool? Her editor thinks so, if only to give readers of her new manuscript a “glimmer of hope” that there’s life after Big. This promising development is almost derailed by awful subplots for Charlotte (Kristin Davis), who clashes with husband Harry (Evan Handler) on the tennis court, and Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), who tries to rekindle passion with hapless husband Steve (David Eigenberg), though her loins ache—make that moan—for Che (Sara Ramirez).

Inside Thursday TV:

• Women of the Movement (8/7c, ABC): The historical miniseries depicting Mamie Till-Mobley’s (Adrienne Warren) journey from grieving mother to civil-rights icon continues with Mamie’s bold decision to display her murdered son Emmett’s mutilated body in a public wake that makes national headlines. A trial in Mississippi follows, but justice may not be possible in the Jim Crow South.
• Walker (8/7c, The CW): Returning from a month’s hiatus, the Texas Ranger (Jared Padalecki) is adjusting to life without his partner Micki. He’s also dealing with the fallout from brother Liam (Keegan Allen) calling in a false warrant on Dan Miller (Dave Annable).
• Call Me Kat (9/8c, Fox): The Mayim Bialik sitcom moves into its regular time period for Season 2, joined by new comedy Pivoting (9:30/8:30c).
• Married to Real Estate (9/8c, HGTV): Broker/designer Egypt Sherrod (Property Virgins) returns to HGTV alongside her husband, builder Mike Jackson, to help families find and renovate homes in and around Atlanta.
• B Positive (9:30/8:30c, CBS): Tony winner Annaleigh Ashford (Gina) is joined by another Broadway favorite, two-time Tony winner Katie Finneran (soon to be seen in HBO’s The Gilded Age), when Gina’s sister Natalie pays a surprise visit. Drew (Thomas Middleditch) goes back on the road, this time with newly widowed Harry (Hector Elizando) along for the ride.
• My Mom, Your Dad (streaming on HBO Max): The Office’s Greg Daniels is among the producers behind this humorous but heartfelt reality series in which single parents are nominated by their college-age kids to move into a house together for a possible second chance at love—all while their grown offspring watch from a neighboring house through hidden cameras. Could this real-world Parent Trap result in actual romance?