Olympics Opening Ceremonies, Spartacus Finale, Early Streaming of Knights and Industry

Let the Games begin! A few sports already are underway (see nbcolympics.com/schedule for details), but the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics officially gets underway with the Opening Ceremonies, adopting the theme of “Armonia (Harmony)” as athletes from across the globe gather at Milan’s historic San Siro Stadium (home of AC Milan and Inter Milan soccer clubs) for the iconic Parade of Nations. Performers include Mariah Carey, homegrown superstar tenor Andrea Bocelli, pianist Lang Lang, and Emmy-nominated actress Sabrina Impacciatore (The White Lotus, The Paper). In a first, two cauldrons will be lit in the grand finale: one at Milan’s Arco della Pace and another in the mountains at Cortina d’Ampezzo’s Piazza Dibona. Hosting the event for NBC: Mary Carillo, substituting for Savannah Guthrie as the Today anchor, attends to the family tragedy of her mother’s kidnapping in Arizona, alongside sports broadcaster Terry Gannon and contributions from gold-medal snowboarder Shaun White. All events can be livestreamed on Peacock, with highlights featured in the prime-time broadcast at 8/7c.

The gleefully gory Spartacus spinoff began with revisionist fictional history, resurrecting its title character, Ashur (Nick E. Tarabay), with an alternate timeline in which he wasn’t slaughtered. The season finale indulges in even more shocking revisionism, likely to leave fans breathless for a second season. The centerpiece is a showdown between two fierce female gladiators: Achillia (Tenika Davis), the “Goddess of Death” from the House of Ashur, and the Amazonian Scythian (Annie Mossman) from the devious House of Proculus (Simon Arblaster). Lust and bloodlust intertwine during the funeral games in honor of the slain Senator Gabinius (Andrew McFarlane), whose grieving daughter Viridia (India Shaw-Smith) carries a forbidden torch for the Syrian Ashur while chafing under the lecherous guardianship of her newly arrived uncle, Servius (Adam Gardiner), a promisingly putrid new adversary.

Getting ahead of the Super Bowl tsunami, HBO makes this week’s episodes of its Sunday night dramas available for early streaming. (The episodes air Sunday in their regular time periods.) The Game of Thrones prequel picks up after the game-changing revelation exposing the true identity of young bald squire Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell), with a disgruntled and imprisoned Ser Dunk (Peter Claffey) facing the consequences of his chivalrous actions. “It is never wise to strike a king’s grandson,” Prince Baelor Targaryen (Bertie Carvel) reminds the naïve hedge knight. To salvage his reputation and perhaps his life, Dunk will need to find other selfless knights to stand beside him in a trial of combat. It won’t be easy.

The high-finance drama shifts its focus entirely on the fledgling and rapacious hedge fund SternTao in a thrilling episode that sends the anything-but-Sweetpea (Miriam Petche) and Kwabena (Ted Lasso‘s Toheeb Jimoh) to the Ghanian capital of Accra to get the goods on upstart banking app Tender’s shady practices. Back in London, their bosses Harper (Myha’la) and Eric (Ken Leung) have a heart-to-heartless talk after both receive unhappy family news. “I’m very f***ing annoyed at how empty I feel,” laments Harper. We couldn’t be less surprised.

All week long, TCM has featured the indomitable Bugs Bunny as its animated “Star of the Month,” with classic shorts assembled by theme. The final night of the Bugs-fest features two of the wild hare’s greatest scene partners, starting with the hapless Elmer Fudd in a “Hunting Trilogy” that includes 1950s fan favorites “Rabbit Fire,” “Rabbit Seasoning,” and “Duck! Rabbit, Duck!” — which provides a nice segue to a second batch of episodes at 10:30/9:30c co-starring the ever-apoplectic Daffy Duck, including “Ali Baba Bunny,” “Show Biz Bugs” and “The Abominable Snow Rabbit.” Th-th-that’s all, folks!

INSIDE FRIDAY TV:

• RuPaul’s Drag Race (8/7c, MTV): Musician Amy Taylor (Amyl and the Sniffers) is guest judge for the conclusion of the “Rate-a-Queen” talent show.
• The Philly Special (9/8c, ESPN): A 30 for 30 documentary celebrates the classic play that helped propel the Philadelphia Eagles to their first Super Bowl championship in an upset over the New England Patriots in 2018’s Super Bowl LII — since immortalized on T-shirts, tattoos, restaurant menus, and even a statue to rival that of Rocky Balboa. Then-head coach Doug Pederson relives the victory with the four players who handled the ball: Jason Kelce, Corey Clement, Trey Burton, and Nick Foles.
• The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (11:35/10:35c, NBC): A special post-Opening Ceremonies episode from 30 Rock features actor Chris Hemsworth (Crime 101), MrBeast, and music from Lil Uzi Vert.

ON THE STREAM:

• Queen of Chess (streaming on Netflix): In what feels like a real-life version of The Queen’s Gambit, a documentary profiles groundbreaking Hungarian chess prodigy Judit Polgár, considered the great female player of all time, who faced world champion Garry Kasparov in a controversial 1994 match.
• The White House (streaming on Fox Nation): An eight-part historical docudrama (two episodes weekly) depicts the early years of the iconic presidential residence, beginning with its first inhabitants, John and Abigail Adams.
• Movies making their streaming debuts include the animated Boys Go to Jupiter (HBO Max) and the independent revenge thriller Violent Ends (Sundance Now).