Nearly 50 years have passed since the fall of Saigon marked the end of a war that divided the nation as unprecedented TV coverage brought combat and its terrible cost into our living rooms like never before. With you-are-there immediacy and first-person emotional intimacy, a stirring six-part Apple TV+ docuseries relives the turbulent era by blending raw archival footage with dramatic testimony from those whose lives were never the same (sometimes watching coverage of themselves in action). “Believe it or not, it’s me!” declares a former Marine watching footage of him guarding the American Embassy in Saigon during the shattering final days of desperate evacuation. We believe him, and we feel it anew. (See the full review.)
The network’s Friday lineup returns (with NCIS: Sydney returning next week) for the first time since 2010 without its anchor show Blue Bloods. Timelier than ever in the wake of the L.A. wildfires, Fire Country offers an episode directed by series star Kevin Alejandro, whose character Manny risks his future freedom by searching for his missing daughter Gabriela (Stephanie Arcila), trapped amid the blazing Chezem Valley fire. While Bode (Max Thieriot) and Audrey (Leven Rambin) work to save themselves, Eve (Jules Latimer) heads to rescue her father (Phil Morris) and the family ranch.
Taking over the Blue Bloods time period, the long-running police drama S.W.A.T. returns with an episode directed by series star Jay Harrington, who as Deacon clashes with Tan (David Lim) over his changes to S.W.A.T. Academy. A more urgent storyline involves Hondo (Shemar Moore), who learns there’s a $1 million bounty on his head, and the team shifts into high gear to find out who’s out for revenge this time.
In a pivotal episode, the steamy drama The Couple Next Door ups the sexual tension when Becka (Jessica De Gouw) invites their neighbors, a very eager Evie (Eleanor Tomlinson) and a more skeptical Pete (Alfred Enoch), to join her and Danny (Sam Heughan) on a luxury spa weekend. “I promise to behave myself,” Becka insists, and while Danny reminds her of their “no friends” rule regarding their open relationship, anything can happen after a little wine and a little weed. Back on the suburban block, Becka’s obsessive stalker Alan (Hugh Dennis) takes his smear campaign online while using the neighbors’ absence to his perverse advantage. This all makes me miss the relative innocence of Knots Landing.
The weirdness just keeps getting weirder in the corridors of Lumon Industries as the MDR team gets back to work — though little work is done while each quenches their curiosity over their bizarre severed workplace. (Did someone say “goats?”) Helly — or is it Helena (Britt Lower) — has another testy encounter with Cobel (Patricia Arquette), with new recurring cast members including Game of Thrones’ statuesque Gwendoline Christie and the always compelling Merritt Wever.
Inside the 67th Annual Grammy Awards (8/7c, CBS): Producers of the music awards show pull back the curtain for a preview of this year’s Grammys. Sunday’s broadcast takes on extra significance as the first major ceremony of its kind to be staged in Los Angeles since the devastating wildfires, for which the Grammys will act as a fund-raising tool for relief efforts. During the special, experts offer opinions on their favorites, with Beyoncé leading nominations with 11, and Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift, and Best New Artist nominees Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan not far behind.
