It doesn’t take a genius (or a critic) to assume that a 10-episode sci-fi series named “Me” is going to be self-absorbed. Did I mention that it’s about a 12-year-old? Who learns he has superpowers?
Streaming on Apple TV+, “Me” stars Lucian-River Chauhan (“Encounter”) as Ben Vasani. He’s the new kid in town, with darker skin than his conformist classmates. Like every single person who ever endured junior high school, he has mad crushes and insecurities, attends painfully awkward dances and becomes the target of insensitive bullies.
Only Ben, when pushed, or rather “triggered” by strong emotions, can change shape and identity. He shares his secret shames and burgeoning shape-shifting super abilities with his sister, Max (Abigail Pniowsky).
While I can handle, or at least understand, the tweenaged angst and special effects-driven fantasies set to thundering music, what makes “Me” unbearable is the insistence that Ben, or any 12-year-old, can talk about his feelings and his emotional breakthroughs in complete sentences.
Endowing adolescents with such self-awareness and arming them with a therapist’s vocabulary is one superpower too many. To channel Holden Caulfield, the granddaddy of all miserable teenagers, it all seems “phony.”
Disney+ streams the musical fantasy “Descendants: The Rise of the Red,” the fourth in the “Descendants” franchise. A mashup of fairy tale tropes and storylines from Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland” books, the film features seven original musical numbers as well as songs from classic Disney animation. “Rise of the Red” will be broadcast on the Disney cable channel on Aug. 9.
— Shudder, the subscription platform dedicated to horror, streams the 2024 shocker “Arcadian.” Look for Nicolas Cage as a protective father scrounging for food to feed his family and supplies to survive in a bleak, post-apocalyptic landscape where every sundown brings unspeakable danger and violence. The film, co-produced in the U.S., Canada and Ireland, received generally strong reviews, with some critics extolling Cage as the film’s strongest special effect, and others complaining that he isn’t used to his most gonzo potential.
— Returning series include the 10-episode season 12 of “Futurama.” Created by Matt Groening (“The Simpsons”), the futuristic farce streams on Hulu.
— “The Serpent Queen” (8 p.m., Starz, TV-MA) returns for its second season. Samantha Morton stars as Catherine de Medici, the 16th-century queen of France. With a name that remains synonymous with decadent court intrigue, it’s no surprise that she progressed from a 14-year-old, married for her considerable dowry, to a scheming monarch who ruled for three decades.
A handsome period drama, “Serpent” trades in cute asides and glib profanity.
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— “The Real Sharknado” (8 p.m., Discovery) visits a remote island where natives worship sharks.
— “Groundbreakers” (9 p.m., PBS) profiles pioneering female athletes, including Billie Jean King.
— “Sharks of the Dead Zone” (9 p.m., Discovery) examines the impact of rising ocean temperatures on vital breeding grounds.
— Love develops for a fetching photographer in the 2019 romance “Picture a Perfect Christmas” (9 p.m., Hallmark).
— Sean becomes a robbery victim on “Blue Bloods” (10 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
— Blood fills the water of a place once known as a paradise on “Shark Attack Island” (10 p.m., Discovery).
CULT CHOICE
Paul Newman stars in the 1977 sports comedy “Slap Shot” (10:15 p.m., TCM), about a minor league hockey team in a fading factory town that boosts its popularity by playing with a dirty, violent flair. Shot in and around cities including Johnstown, Pennsylvania and Utica, New York, the film may appeal to viewers who like FX’s “Welcome to Wrexham,” another effort about local sports and blue collar communities. Directed by George Roy Hill, who had worked with Newman (and Robert Redford) in “Butch Cassidy” and “The Sting.” While “Slap Shot” did not become a big hit like those earlier films, it has come to be considered a cult classic, and ranks among the handful of decent sports movies.
SERIES NOTES
“Lingo” (8 p.m., CBS, TV-14) … On two episodes of “Night Court” (NBC, TV-PG): Dan’s poker night (8 p.m.); a courtroom reunion (8:30 p.m.) … “WWE Friday Night SmackDown” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-14) … “Jeopardy! Masters” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) … A shooting sparks a manhunt on “S.W.A.T.” (9 p.m., CBS, TV-14) … “Dateline” (9 p.m., NBC) … “20/20” (9 p.m., ABC).
LATE NIGHT
Jimmy Fallon welcomes Emma Stone, Eva Longoria and Chappell Roan on “The Tonight Show” (11:35 p.m., NBC) … Eddie Murphy and Nicola Yoon visit “Late Night With Seth Meyers” (12:35 a.m., NBC) … Taylor Tomlinson hosts Jim Rash, Nat Faxon and Stephanie Courtney on “After Midnight” (12:37 a.m., CBS).
