Blending gruesome historical fact with magical realism, the ambitious 10-part series “The Underground Railroad” begins streaming on Amazon Prime. Directed by Barry Jenkins (“Moonlight”) and based on the 2016 novel by Colson Whitehead, “Railroad” is as ambitious as television gets. It sets out to illuminate history and spark a conversation about a past that so many seem bent on forgetting or distorting.
It begins in a Georgia plantation where Caesar (Aaron Pierre), a slave from Virginia once promised freedom (or manumission) by his since-deceased owner, begs Cora (Thuso Mbedu) to flee with him to find the legendary Underground Railroad.
Cora’s reluctance to leave the only home she’s ever known abates after the plantation’s owner (Joel Edgerton) executes a captured runaway slave in the most barbaric fashion imaginable. This gruesome ceremony of cruelty is staged amidst a dinner party for his family and friends. Slaves are forced to watch while being read Bible verses admonishing them to obey their masters as they would their Lord.
“Railroad” also dwells on another cruel aspect of slavery, the treatment of African slaves as beasts of burden and “breeding stock.” While other histories have explored the idea that slave owners treated slave women as their sexual conquests, the emphasis here is on how white masters forced men and women to copulate against their will to ensure the best “pedigree.”
Having learned to read while in Virginia, Caesar knows that his education puts his life in danger.
Not to give too much away, but “Underground” follows Caesar and Cora’s odyssey. And this is where the novel and the series depart from history to depict a metaphorical railway, a subterranean transit system out of a dream.
Viewers may have some trouble reconciling a tale so brutal and so formative to our nation’s story with this fantasy. But “Underground,” once seen, is not to be forgotten.
— FX launches “Pride” (8 p.m., FX, TV-MA), a six-part documentary following the struggle for LGBTQ+ civil rights and visibility. Presented chronologically, it takes a decade-by-decade approach, beginning with a look at gay culture in the years before Stonewall.
Vintage footage and talking heads commentary is complemented by cinematic reenactments of often-forgotten moments, like when during the McCarthy era a U.S. senator shot himself in his office after D.C. police arrested his son on trumped-up charges of solicitation.
— Streaming today on Netflix, Ewan McGregor stars in the title role of the five-part series “Halston.” Executive produced by Ryan Murphy, this illuminates the life of the designer, who brought fashion to the masses while becoming synonymous with the glitter and excess of the Studio 54 era.
— Also streaming on Netflix, the 2021 drama “The Woman in the Window” stars Amy Adams as an urban shut-in who may have witnessed a murder. An impressive cast includes Gary Oldman, Anthony Mackie, Fred Hechinger, Wyatt Russell, Brian Tyree Henry, Tracy Letts, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Julianne Moore.
— Now streaming on Spectrum on Demand, “The Bite” stars Audra McDonald and Taylor Schilling as New York City brownstone neighbors whose lives unfold and intersect against a growing crisis that may portend the end of the world.
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— Gayle King hosts “The Queen Carries On” (8 p.m., CBS).
— Red pulls out the stops to help a friend on “The Blacklist” (8 p.m., NBC, r, TV- PG).
— Blown cover puts an undercover officer in danger on the two-hour season finale of “Blue Bloods” (9 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
— “Great Performances” (9 p.m., PBS) explores how the arts have been affected by the pandemic.
CULT CHOICE
— Terrorists seize a subway car and take hostages in the 1974 thriller “The Taking of Pelham One Two Three” (8 p.m., TCM) starring Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw, Martin Balsam and Hector Elizondo.
SERIES NOTES
“WWE Friday Night Smackdown” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-14) … Pillow talk on “Shark Tank” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) … A missive from mom on “Charmed” (8 p.m. CW, TV-14).
“Dateline” (9 p.m., NBC) … “20/20” (9 p.m., ABC) … Fallon’s big day on “Dynasty” (9 p.m. CW, TV-14).
LATE NIGHT
Billy Crystal, Tiffany Haddish and the Black Keys are booked on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” (11:35 p.m., CBS) … Jimmy Fallon welcomes Chance the Rapper, Fred Armisen and Alan Jackson on “The Tonight Show” (11:35 p.m., NBC) … Rosario Dawson, Dr. Anthony Fauci and Anitta appear on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” (11:35 p.m., ABC, r).
Michael Che and Richard Kind visit “Late Night With Seth Meyers” (12:35 a.m., NBC, r) … Daisy Ridley and Caroline Polachek appear on “The Late Late Show With James Corden” (12:37 a.m., CBS).
