‘Outlander’ Returns to Scotland, ‘Blitz’ and ‘Piano Lesson’ Herald Oscar Season, Crazy for Patsy Cline

It only took a year and three months, but the romantic time-travel fantasy adventure Outlander has finally returned to finish out its seventh season. (An eighth and final season has already finished production.) For many, it will have been worth the wait to watch Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan), Claire (Caitríona Balfe) and Young Ian (John Bell) reunite with the loved ones they left behind in Jamie’s native Scotland. (Frankly, can’t say I miss Revolutionary War-era America.) “Home is where the heart is. It’s also the place where it can be broken,” Claire tells Jamie as the homecoming bears bittersweet results. In another timeline, Roger MacKenzie (Richard Rankin) and his ancestor Buck (Diarmaid Murtagh) begin their search for kidnapped Jemmy (Matthew Adair) in the 18th century.

Reminiscent of 1917 in its propulsive sweep through a nightmarish war-torn landscape, director/writer Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave) delivers a gripping drama set in 1940 England, when masses of children are being evacuated for safety from bombed cities during the Nazi Blitzkrieg. This is the story of 9-year-old George (wonderful newcomer Elliott Heffernan), the mixed-race son of munitions worker Rita (glorious Saoirse Ronan), who’s sent away against his wishes and impulsively jumps off the train an hour outside London. His picaresque journey home, which includes a Dickensian interlude with vulture thieves targeting bombed ruins, is harrowing, and Rita’s desperation to find her lost son equally compelling. Not to be missed.

Ghosts of a troubled past haunt a Black family’s legacy in a powerful film adaptation of August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play The Piano Lesson. Samuel L. Jackson (who originated the role of Boy Willie in the 1987 pre-Broadway production), John David Washington, Ray Fisher, and Michael Potts recreate their roles from the Tony-nominated 2022-23 Broadway revival. First-time feature director Malcolm Washington (son of Denzel, brother of John David) helms the drama, set in the Pittsburgh home of the Charles family, depicting a battle of wills between Boy Willie (Washington), who’s arrived from the South, and sister Berniece (Danielle Deadwyler). He wants to sell the family’s heirloom piano, featuring carvings that reflect their enslaved past, to purchase land on which their ancestors worked. Berniece is just as determined to hold onto the instrument that symbolizes the family’s survival.

Patsy Cline: Walkin’ After Midnight: Though she died more than 60 years ago at the young age of 30 (in a tragic plane crash), the legacy of country-music legend Patsy Cline continues to influence a new generation of performers. In a concert filmed at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium, her home stage, an eclectic cast from country, rock, pop and Broadway backgrounds gathers to sing her hits. Wynonna Judd has the honor of interpreting “Crazy” and “Sweet Dreams,” with Tony winner Kristin Chenoweth delivering “I Fall to Pieces,” Mickey Guyton on “Walkin’ After Midnight,” and more from the likes of Crystal Gayle, Rita Wilson, Beverly D’Angelo, Pam Tillis, Ashley McBryde, Kellie Pickler, Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo. Archival interviews with Cline’s husband, Charlie Dick, and close friends including Loretta Lynn, Dottie West and Roy Clark provide context to the memorable music.

Get your tissues ready for an emotionally uplifting film based on Sharon M. Draper’s novel about Melody Brooks (Phoebe-Ray Taylor), a sixth grader with cerebral palsy who’s determined to have her voice heard despite a condition that renders her non-verbal. When an idealistic educator helps Melody integrate into a regular classroom, she gets her chance. Rosemarie DeWitt and Luke Kirby are her supportive and loving parents, and Jennifer Aniston provides Melody’s inner voice.

INSIDE FRIDAY TV:

• S.W.A.T. (8/7c, CBS): Hondo (Shemar Moore) and his squad investigate whether fatal shootings at two women’s clinics are politically motivated. Followed by Fire Country (9/8c), with Jared Padalecki continuing his arc as new boss Camden and Station 42 working with Three Rock to save a protected eagle’s nest from an encroaching park fire.
• Christmas on Call (8/7c, Hallmark Channel): NFL mom Donna Kelce makes a cameo appearance in a 911-oriented holiday romance starring Sara Canning as ER doc Hannah and Ser’Darius Blain as West, an EMT.
• True Crime Watch: On Dateline NBC (9/8c), Andrea Canning reports on the investigation into the 1996 murder of Atlanta millionaire entrepreneur Lance Herndon. ABC’s 20/20 (9/8c) revisits a manhunt by sex-crimes investigator Det. Kim Mager for serial killer Shawn Grate.
• Blue Bloods (10/9c, CBS): Commissioner Frank (Tom Selleck) doesn’t see it coming when the mayor (Dylan Walsh) sends in the National Guard to patrol New York City’s subway system.
• The New York Times Presents: Weight of the World (10/9c, FX): A new installment explores the rise of new weight-loss drugs including Ozempic.

ON THE STREAM:

• Jim Gaffigan: The Skinny (streaming on Hulu): The observational comic presents his 11th special from Boston’s Wilbur Theater, launching the streamer’s “Hulu’s Laughing Now” stand-up comedy brand.
• Spellbound (streaming on Netflix): With music from Alan Menken and Glenn Slater, an animated fantasy follows Ellian (voiced by Rachel Zegler) as she goes on a quest to break a spell that turned her parents, the rulers of Lumbria, into monsters. The all-star voice cast features John Lithgow, Nathan Lane, Tituss Burgess, Javier Bardem, Nicole Kidman, and Jenifer Lewis.
• Joy (streaming on Netflix): An historical drama profiles the scientific pioneers behind the controversial birth of “test-tube baby” Louise Joy Brown in 1978 as they sought to treat infertility issues through in vitro fertilization. Thomasin McKenzie stars as nurse and embryologist Jean Purdy, with James Norton as scientist Robert Edwards and Bill Nighy as surgeon Patrick Steptoe.
• Bread & Roses (streaming on Apple TV+): A documentary depicts the struggle of three Afghan women as they seek to reclaim their autonomy after the return to power of the Taliban.