This Week in TV: ‘The Staircase,’ ‘Blue Bloods’ Finale, ‘Girls5eva’

The scripted true crime adaptation boomlet continues this week with a pair of shows, HBO Max’s The Staircase and Hulu’s Candy, making their debuts. The next seven days also brings the return of Girls5eva, another Star Trek series and several broadcast network finales.

Below is The Hollywood Reporter‘s rundown of premieres, returns and specials over the next seven days. It would be next to impossible to watch everything, but let THR point the way to worthy options for the coming week. All times are ET/PT unless noted.

The Big Show

The Staircase, a multi-part documentary by Jean-Xavier de Lestrade, is something of a grandfather to the current glut of true-crime programming. The original, eight-part series (two follow-ups came later) exhaustively documented the trial of Michael Peterson, who was arrested after his wife, Kathleen, died in 2001. Now, with scripted adaptations of true-crime stories arriving in a wave, HBO Max will retell the story in the form of a drama limited series.

Colin Firth and Toni Collette star as Michael and Kathleen Peterson in the adaptation, which makes the documentary central to the narrative. “It’s the meta examination of the way the true crime genre constructs, captures and distorts the actual truth that elevates creator Antonio Campos’ approach here … from artful, star-studded reenactment, to something frequently provocative,” writes THR critic Daniel Fienberg. The first three episodes debut Thursday on HBO Max.

Also on streaming …

Speaking of true crime: Hulu’s Candy — running on five consecutive days beginning Monday — stars Jessica Biel as a woman who killed her best friend with an ax in early 1980s suburban Dallas. Season two of Girls5eva (Thursday, Peacock) finds the group taking the next steps after reuniting. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (Thursday, Paramount+) follows the pre-Kirk crew of the Enterprise. The second season of The Wilds premieres Friday on Prime Video. Also Friday, on Amazon’s newly renamed Freevee (formerly IMDb TV), is Bosch: Legacy, a sequel/continuation to the Prime Video show. Apple TV+ premieres season two of spy thriller Tehran on Friday.

On broadcast …

Finale: Blue Bloods has been calmly rolling along since 2010, racking up ratings wins week in and week out in its Friday night home. The drama ends its 12th season at 10 p.m. Friday on CBS, with an episode that features Danny (Donnie Wahlberg) and Jamie (Will Estes) teaming up when two cases converge and Frank (Tom Selleck) and Erin (Bridget Moynihan) at odds over a new policy in the DA’s office.

Also: Several other shows end their seasons as well. In order of airdate: Good Sam (10 p.m. Wednesday, CBS); Magnum P.I. (9 p.m. Friday, CBS); Call the Midwife (8 p.m. Sunday, PBS); American Song Contest (8 p.m. Monday, NBC); and Naomi (two episodes starting at 8 p.m. Tuesday, The CW).

On cable …

Finale: Spoiler alert: The Lakers are going to win the 1980 NBA championship in the finale of HBO’s Winning Time (9 p.m. Sunday, HBO). There will, of course, likely be more to the episode than just what happened on court as the highly stylized series (which has been picked up for a second season) calls game on season one.

Also: Martin Freeman and Daisy Haggard face more trials of parenthood in the third season premiere of Breeders (10 p.m. Monday, FX).

In case you missed it …

Under the Banner of Heaven is based on Jon Krakauer’s best-selling book about a murder case in an otherwise (outwardly) quiet Mormon community in the 1980s. The series (streaming on Hulu) stars Andrew Garfield as a detective working the case and also flashes back to the 19th century founding of the church. Writer Dustin Lance Black gives the show a “quiet confidence,” THR critic Angie Han writes. The criminal case “supplies the narrative suspense, but it’s the show’s sense of empathy that proves truly difficult to shake.” Produced by FX, Under the Banner of Heaven streams on Hulu.