Does anybody just pass through adolescence anymore? The “awkward” years have always been rough, but now they are accompanied by a whole subsection of pop culture telling us that ‘tweens are really not just enduring hormonal imbalance and emotional surges, but standing on the brink of becoming immortal superheroes, gods, demons or monsters. Or just retreating into permanent adolescence. Two new series arrive tonight to illustrate those points.
Netflix streams the new series “Boy Swallows Universe.” Based on a novel by Australian writer Trent Dalton, “Boy” stars Felix Cameron as Eli, on the cusp of manhood in 1980s Brisbane.
He’s not been dealt a winning hand. His father is out of the picture, his mother is an addict, his former babysitter a criminal of some notoriety and his brother mute.
Over the course of the series, shot through with touches both brutally realistic and supernaturally magic, he must enter the bowels of the Brisbane underground to save his mother from her demons. He is driven, he thinks, both by his sense of duty and his awakening sense of what it means to be a good man. Something hard to find in his grim environment.
— On the opposite side of the emotional spectrum, Peacock streams “Ted,” a seven-part prequel to the two-film franchise about an adult slacker’s relationship with his talking teddy bear.
Creator Seth MacFarlane returns as the voice of Ted. This incarnation explores the teen years of John (Max Burkholder), the boy who had wished Ted into “life” as a walking, talking doll. It takes place in 1993, years after Ted became a media sensation. He has since been forgotten and resides with the extended Bennett clan in a Boston suburb, MacFarlane’s pop-cultural wheelhouse.
Dinner table conversations are not terribly different from those in “Family Guy.” The streaming nature of “Ted” allows for more explicit language, but the chatter consists of John’s dad, Matty (Scott Grimes), drifting into racist and insensitive areas, much to the consternation of John’s cousin Blaire (Giorgia Whigham), who plays Meathead to Matty’s Archie. Alanna Ubach portrays John’s serene mother, Susan, who remains above the fray and ignores Ted’s attempts to provoke her into anger and/or profanity.
To say we’ve seen and heard this all before is an understatement. But never underestimate the bottomless appetite for “Family Guy”-level satire.
— Set among a medical squad of nurses, EMTs and pilots working in remote northern provinces, the Canadian drama “Skymed” streams its second season on Paramount+.
— TCM follows up the second installment of its survey history “The Power of Film” (8 p.m.) with a screening of director/writer/actor Orson Welles’ 1941 drama “Citizen Kane” (9 p.m., TV-PG). For decades, this thinly disguised account of the life of press baron William Randolph Hearst ranked at the very top of most critics’ and scholars’ lists of the greatest motion pictures ever made.
In recent years, the consensus has shifted, with one recent poll ranking Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 psychological thriller “Vertigo” in the top slot. Both films feature scores by Bernard Herrmann.
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
A senator is shot at his daughter’s wedding on “Law & Order” (8 p.m., NBC, r, TV-14).
— A case inspires global interest on “Law & Order: SVU” (9 p.m., NBC, r, TV-14).
Spain’s culture takes center stage on “Gordon Ramsay’s Road Trip” (9 p.m., Fox, TV-14).
— A suspect lacks remorse on “Law & Order: Organized Crime” (10 p.m., NBC, r, TV-14).
CULT CHOICE
An assassin (Rod Taylor) is hired to make an attempt on the life of Prince Philip in the 1965 thriller “The Liquidator” (2 p.m., TCM, TV-14), co-starring Trevor Howard and Jill St. John. Directed by famed cinematographer Jack Cardiff (“The Red Shoes,” “Black Narcissus”).
SERIES NOTES
Mandy’s maternal moment arrives on “Young Sheldon” (8 p.m., CBS, r, TV-PG) … “Hell’s Kitchen” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-14) … Three episodes of “Press Your Luck” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-14), the second two being repeats … An act of contrition on “Ghosts” (8:30 p.m., CBS, r, TV-PG).
On two episodes of “SEAL Team” (CBS, TV-r, 14): South American intrigue (9 p.m.), a nuclear option (10 p.m.).
LATE NIGHT
Emily Blunt and Colman Domingo are booked on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” (11:35 p.m., CBS) … Jimmy Fallon welcomes Matthew McConaughey, Lily Gladstone, Wyclef Jean, Pusha T, Lola Brooke and Capella Grey on “The Tonight Show” (11:35 p.m., NBC) … Natalie Portman, Chris Distefano and Turnpike Troubadours appear on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” (11:35 p.m., ABC).
Tina Fey, Andrew Scott and Morgan Rose visit “Late Night With Seth Meyers” (12:35 a.m., NBC) … Gerard Guillory, Na’im Lynn, Malik S. and Loni Love appear on “Comics Unleashed With Byron Allen” (12:35 a.m., CBS).
