Pose
AIDS can’t stop the party for Blanca and the rest
of the trans women of color in Ryan Murphy’s
often exuberant series about New York City’s
underground ball culture circa 1990. In the
finale of a second season in which the epidemic’s
toll mounted, ACT UP activism flared, and the
subculture won brief mainstream exposure with
Madonna’s “Vogue,” Mj Rodriguez’s Blanca
Evangelista works to return to ballroom competi-
tion while Billy Porter’s Pray Tell confronts past
traumas. Tuesday, Aug. 20, at 10 p.m., FX
This Way Up
Seeking a new Fleabag? This new series from
Catastrophe’s Sharon Horgan delivers similarly
antic, incisive humor featuring a whip-smart
female lead. Irish comedian Aisling Bea stars as
a wisecracking English-as-a-foreign-language
teacher who’s trying to get her London life
restarted after a nervous breakdown and a stint
in a rehab facility. Horgan co-stars as the pro-
tagonist’s sister, and Game of Thrones’ Tobias
Menzies plays a love interest. Available for
streaming Wednesday, Aug. 21, Hulu
Jawline
The path to fame has never been clearer for
teens. This documentary profiles 16-year-old
Austyn Tester, a Tennessee kid with Bieber-esque
good looks and a talent for baring his soul in
live social media broadcasts. Adored by thou-
sands of faceless peers, Tester dreams of escaping
rural poverty, but reconciling the real and online
worlds proves a complex challenge at a crucial
stage of personal development. Available for
streaming Friday, Aug. 23, Hulu
Hitsville: The Making of Motown
No one can fully measure the cultural impact of
the music of Motown, but this new documentary
does the label’s story justice. It’s the first film that’s
won the participation of Motown founder Berry
Gordy, who hangs out with Smokey Robinson
in the place where it all started, a little house on
Detroit’s West Grand Boulevard. The pair’s remi-
niscences knit together a grand revue of archival
performance footage and incomparable hits from26 ARTS Television
The Week’s guide to what’s worth watching
Sh
owtime,^
NetflixMonday, Aug. 19
Dirty Dancing
You probably won’t have
the time of your life, but
Patrick Swayze and Jennifer
Grey’s classic summer
fling remains an entertain-
ing watch. (1987) 8 p.m.,
Movieplex
Tue sday, Aug. 20
Anna and the Apocalypse
The zombie genre gets
an unlikely jolt in a musi-
cal comedy about teens
battling the undead at
Christmastime. (2018)
6:25 p.m., Epix
Wednesday, Aug. 21
Sullivan’s Travels
In Preston Sturges’ peerless
satire, Joel McCrea plays a
comedy director who hits
the road disguised as a
hobo in an ill-advised bid to
create a socially meaningful
drama. (1942) 8 p.m., TCM
Thursday, Aug. 22
Prisoners
Hugh Jackman, Viola Davis,
and Jake Gyllenhaal co-
star in a boundary-pushing
thriller about a father who
goes rogue after his young
daughter and a friend
disappear. (2013) 8 p.m.,
Cinemax
Friday, Aug. 23
Thelma & Louise
Susan Sarandon and
Geena Davis ride off into
Hollywood history while
playing friends who turn
outlaws after fending off a
sexual assault. (1991)
4 p.m., Ovation
Saturday, Aug. 24
Empire of the Sun
Christian Bale plays an
English boy caught up in
the brutal 1937 Japanese
takeover of Shanghai in an
opulent Steven Spielberg
war epic. (1987) 8 p.m.,
Cinemax
Sunday, Aug. 25
The Graduate
Dustin Hoffman tests how
far youthful solipsism
can take a person in Mike
Nichols’ evergreen comedy
drama co-starring Anne
Bancroft and Katharine
Ross. (1967) 8 p.m., TCMMovies on TV
Forget tariffs and trade wars. When a Chinese
billionaire decided in 2014 to revive a shuttered
General Motors plant outside Dayton, Ohio, he
threw a stark light on the gap between U.S. and
Chinese economic cultures. Skilled Chinese and
American laborers were soon working alongside
one another, but optimism faded quickly when
reduced wages and strict rules fueled talk among
the locals of unionization. Filmmakers Steven
Bognar and Julia Reichert captured the folly from
all angles, creating a jarring examination of the
long-term viability of the American dream. Avail-
able for streaming Wednesday, Aug. 21, NetflixShow of the week
Can’t auto glass bring us together?American Factorythe Supremes, the Temptations, Stevie Wonder,
Gladys Knight, Marvin Gaye, the Jackson 5, and
more. Saturday, Aug. 24, at 9 p.m., Showtime
On Becoming a God in Central Florida
Kirsten Dunst brings a passion project to life in a
dark dramedy series about a water-park employee
and new mother whose family is nearly brought
to ruin after her husband sinks their savings in an
Amway-like company running a pyramid scheme.
But Dunst’s Krystal Stubbs decides to strike back,
then seizes on her own chance to convert hustle
and bluster into impossible personal wealth.
Sunday, Aug. 25, at 10 p.m., Showtime
Other highlights
Power
A showdown looms as the final season begins
for 50 Cent’s series about a drug lord trying to
go clean. Sunday, Aug. 25, at 8 p.m., Starz
The Affair
In a final season that leaps forward in time, Anna
Paquin joins the cast as the adult daughter of
Noah and Ruth, now back in Montauk, N.Y.,
where all the trouble started. With Dominic West
and Ruth Wilson. Sunday, Aug. 25, at 9 p.m.,
Showtime
Good Eats: The Return
Food-science geek Alton Brown breaks down
the appeal of shakshuka, steak tartare, and other
recipes in a reprise of his popular series. Sunday,
Aug. 25, at 10 p.m., Food Network- All listings are Eastern Time.
Dunst’s Central Florida: Selling what they’re buyingTHE WEEK August 23, 2019