Netflix, 3:00 a.m. ET
SEASON PREMIERE: This is not necessarily a recommendation. It’s qualified, because I’m not really impressed by Lucifer, and never have been. (I’m talking about the show, not the fallen angel – I don’t need any more bad vibes aimed in my direction right now, especially from below.) But this former Fox series, picked up by Netflix, last season began producing new episodes for that streaming service, and they’re not only streaming, they’re steaming. So if you like Lucifer, this continuation, which presents the first half of Season 5 today, is hotter than hell. Or, at least, relatively sizzling. Tom Ellis stars in the title role, and this season he returns to Earth (again), and, for the first time, stars in a sort of satanic film noir (pictured), circa 1946.
Disney+, 3:00 a.m. ET
MOVIE PREMIERE: This new Disney movie, premiering today on Disney+, is like a companion movie to the studio’s live-action remake of Dumbo. It’s a family movie in which some actors, led by Bryan Cranston as a circus ringmaster, play human characters, while others, including Sam Rockwell, Angelina Jolie, Helen Mirren and Danny DeVito, provide the voices of animals whose mouth movements and most actions come courtesy of CGI. Jolie gives voice to the elephant Stella, and Rockwell provides the voice of Ivan, a silverback gorilla who becomes the star of the carnival barker’s road show – especially once it’s discovered that this particular silverback is so smart, he can draw. And, in this new movie, surely will be one.
Movies On Demand, 3:00 a.m. ET
MOVIE PREMIERE: In this new Movie On Demand offering, premiering today for a price as a streaming film, Ethan Hawke portrays inventor Nikola Tesla, who worked with, without, and against Thomas Edison in pursuing his vision of electrical power and the concept of electric illumination. Kyle MacLachlan plays Edison, and this fact-based film may answer one chicken-and-egg-type question: When Edison and Tesla had their initial “Eureka!” thoughts about electricity, did imaginary light bulbs go off over their heads? Some of you, like me, will be fascinated by this electrifying story. Others, less fascinated with technology and history, and especially the history of technology, may react very differently, and ask, “So watt?”
BBC America, 8:00 p.m. ET
Last week, BBC America presented a wonderful compare-and-contrast double feature by showing, back to back, the two movies based on Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – one starring Gene Wilder, the other starring Johnny Depp. Tonight, BBC America does it again, this time presenting the two movies based on Philip K. Dick’s short story We Can Remember It for You Wholesale. First is the very entertaining 1990 movie Total Recall, directed by Paul Verhoeven and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sharon Stone. That’s followed by the 2012 Total Recall remake, a vastly inferior version directed by Len Wiseman and starring Colin Farrell and Kate Beckinsale.
HBO, 10:00 p.m. ET
Helping Bill Maher to react to this week’s Democratic National Convention, and the very fresh news about the arrest of Steve Bannon on financial fraud charges, are such socially distanced guests as former Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who spoke at the Democrat’s virtual convention earlier this week (pictured), and filmmaker Oliver Stone, who didn’t.