Prime Video returns with the second season of its ambitious and expensive adaptation of J.R.R Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.” Season two features 17 episodes. The first three stream today, with subsequent installments arriving each Thursday.
An obvious effort to create a new “Game of Thrones” phenomenon and challenge HBO/MAX on its home turf, “Rings” was poorly received by fans of epic fantasy and, more crucially, by avid Tolkien enthusiasts. It didn’t help that there were three massively popular and Oscar-winning Peter Jackson-directed “Rings” movies made in this century.
I’m hardly a fan of this genre. I found “Game of Thrones” pretentious, baffling and often dull. I couldn’t even make it through the trailer for the recent season of “House of the Dragon.” So, it’s pointless for me to compare “Rings” to those more successful efforts. Like many of the critics of “Rings,” I found its dialogue unendurable — somewhere between wooden and laughable.
— A distinct lack of humor and levity remains the hallmark of our current crop of mythical epics. Netflix offers a darkly comic take on Greek mythology with “Kaos,” a tale of Olympian gods sowing havoc in the 21st century. A chance to watch Jeff Goldblum as a neurotic Zeus and Debi Mazar as a foul-mouthed, snake-haired Medusa.
— Netflix also streams the second season of the French political comedy-fantasy “Represent,” about a young, enthusiastic teacher (series creator Jean-Pascal Zadi) thrust into the center of French presidential politics.
— Also on Netflix, the Japanese young adult fantasy “Chastity High” takes place in an elite prep school where all dating and romance are banned, and students can be expelled for any public displays of affection. While more seemingly contrived than “Footloose,” this series is reportedly based on real events.
— Netflix also launches “Terminator Zero,” a serialized animated take on the “Terminator” movie franchise, with a female narrator/protagonist playing the John Connor role as the only human standing up to a robot/AI apocalypse.
— After a tonsillectomy, Sach (Huntz Hall) develops a beautiful singing voice and the guys open their own nightclub in the 1950 comedy “Blues Busters” (10:30 p.m., TCM, TV-PG), part of a daylong salute to Leo Gorcey, consisting mostly of “Bowery Boys” comedy features and two-reelers.
— After receiving transplanted memories of a dream vacation, a construction worker (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is haunted by visions of Mars in director Paul Verhoeven’s 1990 sci-fi fantasy “Total Recall” (1 a.m. early Friday, AMC), adapted from the short story “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale” by Philip K. Dick.
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— An investor makes his last trade on “Law & Order” (8 p.m., NBC, r, TV-14).
— Minnesota hosts North Carolina in college football action (8 p.m., Fox).
— The chief’s daughter reports an assault in her past on “Law & Order: SVU” (9 p.m., NBC, r, TV-14).
— Miles of aisles on “Fire Country” (10 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14).
— The ATF plans a warehouse raid on “Law & Order: Organized Crime” (10 p.m., NBC, r, TV-14).
CULT CHOICE
A lonely butterfly enthusiast (Terence Stamp) kidnaps an art student (Samatha Eggar), long the object of his obsession, in the 1965 adaptation of John Fowles’ novel “The Collector.” Reportedly director William Wyler turned down “The Sound of Music” to work on this dark psychological thriller. Eggars’ outfits and London location shots offer a glimpse of the city on the cusp of its “swinging” heyday. Stamp was very much a part of the scene, having been documented by the photographer David Bailey, who inspired characters in both Antonioni’s “Blow-Up” and Mike Myers’ “Austin Powers.” “The Collector” streams for free on most of the FAST (Free, Ad-Supported Streaming Television) platforms including Tubi, Pluto, Roku, Plex and Crackle.
SERIES NOTES
Rats in a maze on “Big Brother” (8 p.m., CBS, r, TV-PG) … “Press Your Luck” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) … Bad news from home on “Young Sheldon” (9 p.m., CBS, TV-PG) … “Lucky 13” (9 p.m., ABC, TV-PG).
An extra-haunted Halloween bash on “Ghosts” (9:30 p.m., CBS, r, TV-PG) … “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” (10 p.m., ABC, r, TV-PG).
LATE NIGHT
Bowen Yang and Nick Cave appear on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” (11:35 p.m., CBS, r) … Jimmy Fallon welcomes Zoe Kravitz, Sabrina Carpenter and Melanie Hamrick on “The Tonight Show” (11:35 p.m., NBC, r) … Jeff Goldblum, Greg Kinnear, Janet McTeer and Waxahatchee appear on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” (11:35 p.m., ABC, r).
Jean Smart and Jonathan Bailey visit “Late Night With Seth Meyers” (12:35 a.m., NBC, r) … Taylor Tomlinson hosts Chrissy Teigen, Adam Pally and Sandy Honig on “After Midnight” (12:35 a.m., CBS, r).
