January concludes with the arrival of the year’s first great and unmissable series. Told over eight well-crafted episodes, “Feud: Capote vs. the Swans” (10 p.m. and 11:20 p.m., FX, TV-MA) can be approached in a number of ways. And it approaches things in a number of ways itself.
On one level, it’s a decadent tale of gossip and betrayal, the gruesome comeuppance of “The Real Housewives of Park Avenue” circa 1975. On another, it’s a brilliant exploration of the relationship between powerful men and their trophy wives and those women’s long tradition of including gay courtiers as their friends, companions and confessors.
And this dynamic allows “Feud” creator Ryan Murphy to continue exploring the changing role of gay male culture and its relationship to society.
Told in overlapping flashbacks and as synoptic as the New Testament, “Feud” follows best-selling author and popular “Tonight Show” fixture Truman Capote (Tom Hollander) in the years after the 1965 publication of “In Cold Blood,” a “nonfiction novel” that pretty much revolutionized both fiction and journalism.
This witty and vicious raconteur embedded himself with society wives, including Babe Paley (Naomi Watts), married to CBS chief William Paley (Treat Williams, who died last summer, in a great valedictory role); Hollywood legend Slim Keith (Diane Lane); Jackie Kennedy’s sister Lee Radziwill (Calista Flockhart) and CZ Guest (Chloe Sevigny), the queen of blue blood gardeners.
“Feud” follows Capote at his legendary luncheons with these “swans” as they confide their affairs and betrayals with him, trusting that he would never reveal their secrets, as he did about their friend Ann “Bang-Bang” Woodward (Demi Moore) and her “accidental” shooting of her wealthy husband.
It’s not giving anything away to reveal that Truman did just that, and turned their secrets into a 1975 Esquire piece, “La Cote Basque 1965,” just a taste of what he promised in his long-delayed novel, “Answered Prayers.”
Over eight episodes, “Feud” bounces back and forth in time to Capote’s first encounters with the swans and his deep bond with Babe Paley, and also focuses on his post-“Cold Blood” descent into writer’s block and crippling alcoholism.
A gruesome tale of betrayal and self-destruction that you can’t stop watching, most episodes are directed with artful mastery by Gus Van Zant.
Next week’s third installment may go down as one of the most innovative and memorable. Most of the action takes place at Capote’s legendary Black and White Ball at the Plaza Hotel, captured and presented as the unedited outtakes of a documentary the Maysles brothers (“Grey Gardens,” “Gimme Shelter”) were actually shooting at the time. This nod to film history makes “Feud” legendary in its own right.
— Disney+ presents “Choir,” a six-part docuseries following members of the Detroit youth choir as they prepare for a performance.
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— Ahmad stands up to insurance extortion on “Chicago Med” (8 p.m., NBC, TV-14).
— “Nature” (8 p.m., PBS, TV-G, check local listings) celebrates the arrival of newborns in Gabon’s Loango National Park.
— The Brooklyn Nets host the Phoenix Suns in NBA basketball action (8:30 p.m., ABC).
— Brett and Violet interfere in a domestic dispute on “Chicago Fire” (9 p.m., NBC, TV-14).
— “NOVA” (9 p.m., PBS, TV-PG, check local listings) enters its 51st season, following paleontologists outside Cairo who believe they have discovered bones and fossils from a hitherto unknown species of whale.
— An MMA fighter returns to her sport after a debilitating injury in “The Unbreakable Tatiana Suarez” (9 p.m., HBO, TV-14).
— Inspired by anti-abortion zealotry, Christian terrorists assassinate a doctor on “FBI True” (10 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
— An extra shift embroils Burgess in the search to find a drive-by shooter on “Chicago P.D.” (10 p.m., NBC, TV-14).
— “Secrets of the Dead” (10 p.m., PBS, r, TV-14, check local listings) examines skeletal remains of a teenager who arrived in the doomed Jamestown colony in the early 17th century.
CULT CHOICE
An emotionally unstable movie theater manager (Olivia Colman) takes a romantic and maternal interest in a much younger employee in the 2022 period drama “Empire of Light” (10:40 p.m., HBO2).
SERIES NOTES
“The Price Is Right at Night” (8 p.m., CBS, TV-PG) … “I Can See Your Voice” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-PG) … “Let’s Make a Deal Primetime” (9 p.m., CBS, TV-PG) … “We Are Family” (9 p.m., Fox, TV-PG).
LATE NIGHT
Demi Moore and Paul Walter Hauser are booked on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” (11:35 p.m., CBS) … Jimmy Fallon welcomes Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kathryn Newton and the Lemon Twigs on “The Tonight Show” (11:35 p.m., NBC) … Bryan Cranston and Lola Tung visit “Late Night With Seth Meyers” (12:35 a.m., NBC) … Taylor Tomlinson hosts “After Midnight” (12:35 a.m., CBS).
