‘Picard’ Rides Again, Joel McHale Does ‘Animal Control,’ On the

The thrilling third and final season of Star Trek: Picard reunites the fabled Starfleet admiral with fellow members of his former Next Generation crew. Joel McHale returns to TV sitcoms as the cynical leader of an Animal Control squad. Poker Face revs up intrigue in a stock-car racing rivalry. Thorfinn gets his Viking valentine on for his first date with fellow spirit Flower on Ghosts.

CBS

Third time’s a charm for the Trek spinoff in its thrilling final season, which little by little brings Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart, still bristling with authority) back together with members of the fabled Next Generation crew. It all starts with a mysterious distress call from long-distant Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden), which prompts Picard to enlist the help of former sidekick Capt. Will Riker (a droll Jonathan Frakes). When Picard insists, “I can’t ask you to put yourself in danger,” Riker quips, “Since when?” He has a point. Soon, they’ve bluffed their way onto Riker’s old vessel, Titan, where the new captain (a hilarious Todd Stashwick) isn’t thrilled to have these reckless heroes of yore on board. His 1st officer, Annika “Seven of Nine” Hansen (Jeri Ryan), is understandably more enthused. As all Trek fans should be. (See the full review.)

FOX

Community’s Joel McHale keeps a mostly straight face—and so might viewers—through the tired slapstick antics of a hapless Seattle animal-control unit. He’s cranky “lone wolf” Frank, who spends much of the first episode trying everything in the playbook to alienate his new partner, former pro snowboarder Shred (Michael Rowland), including pranking him during a nuisance call to an unlicensed ostrich farm. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’s Vella Lovell is their insecure boss, who indulges the quirks of her crew, which also includes harried family man Amit (Ravi Patel) and his bohemian partner Victoria (Grace Palmer).

Phillip Caruso/Peacock

There’s more misdirection than usual in a twist-filled episode of the delightful comedy-mystery, which was just renewed for a second season. This time, Charlie (Natasha Lyonne) is toiling at a go-kart complex, where the local heroes are stock-car racers who’ll do anything to win. Tim Blake Nelson is the veteran who’s seen better days and Riverdale’s Charles Melton is the upstart who should know better than to taunt his elder. Who’s plotting against who and how makes for an above-par puzzle for lie-detecting Charlie to figure out.

CBS

Some Valentine’s residue haunts another fun episode of the supernatural comedy, when Viking ghost Thorfinn (Devan Chandler Long) pursues hippie-dippy Flower (Sheila Carrasco) for a first date, having learned all he knows about courtship from reality TV. Sam (Rose McIver) and Jay (Utkarsh Ambudkar) assist as best they can, with Jay preparing some questionable Viking delicacies for dinner, but maybe they should be paying more attention to Hetty (Rebecca Wisocky), who seems dead set on starting a feud with Isaac’s (Brandon Scott Jones) boyfriend Nigel (John Hartman), now occupying the library with hopes of winning over the rest of the spirits with a welcoming tea.

INSIDE THURSDAY TV:

• Player 54: Chasing the XFL Dream (5 pm/ET, ESPN2): From director Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights), a nine-part docuseries goes behind the scenes of the XFL’s creation under new ownership, with personal stories of players and coaches. Episodes will stream on ESPN+ after their premiere, and the opener airs Saturday on ABC (2 pm/ET) before the league’s opening game.
• Law & Order (8/7c, NBC): When a nightclub is strafed with bullets, the detectives suspect a single victim was the actual target. On Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (9/8c), a convict just out of prison goes looking for the officer who arrested him: Fin (Ice-T).
• Next Level Chef (8/7c, Fox): After enjoying huge sampling in its post-Super Bowl airing, the three-floor cooking competition moves into its regular time period, bringing the heat with a Mexican-themed challenge.
• Young Sheldon (8/7c, CBS): They grow up so quickly. Hard to imagine Sheldon (Iain Armitage) attending his first frat party on his own steam, but Paige (Mackenna Grace) won’t take no for an answer.
• The Parent Test (9/8c, ABC): The season finale decides which family gets the “Most Effective Parenting Style” title, with challenges involving the issue of bullying and how to compromise during a trip to Disneyland, the Happiest (and most stressful) Place on Earth.
• Call Me Kat (9:30/8:30c, Fox): Kat (Mayim Bialik) and Max (Cheyenne Jackson) move in together in time to throw a Super Bowl party, but turns out all the conflict isn’t on the field as they work out relationship issues.
• CSI: Vegas (10/9c, CBS): While the team investigates the death of a competitive eater, Allie (Mandeep Dhillon) works with Det. Chavez (Ariana Guerra) to find the source of those sinister silver ink notes.

ON THE STREAM:

• The Upshaws (streaming on Netflix): The salty comedy returns with a third batch of episodes about a Black family in Indianapolis, starring Mike Epps as a family-man mechanic, Kim Fields as his wife and Wanda Sykes as his snarky sister-in-law.
• Still Missing Morgan (streaming on Hulu): From ABC News Studios, a four-part docuseries revisits the cold-case disappearance in 1995 of 6-year-old Morgan Nick from a Little League game in Arkansas. With new leads being followed by an FBI Evidence Recovery Team after 25 years, Morgan’s mother Colleen reflects on the support she received from Patty Wetterling, another mother of a missing child.
• Helsinki Syndrome (streaming on Topic): A Finnish drama from the producers of Bordertown depicts a hostage crisis when four journalists are taken captive in an attempt to expose a government corruption scandal dating back to the 1990s.
• The Witch: Part 2. The Other One (streaming on Shudder): In Park Hoon-jung’s sci-fi horror sequel to the 2018 The Witch: Part 1. The Subversion, a girl created in a secret lab fights back violently against those tracking her down.

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