The season never ends for sports docuseries. Now, the “The Clubhouse: A Year with the Red Sox” premiering tomorrow on Netflix, guides audiences into the Fenway Park dugout, onto the field, and behind-the-scenes. It’s an eight-episode look at the Red Sox in their 2024 fight through 162 games in search of World Series glory. No spoilers: They didn’t host the series at Fenway Park last year despite their nine past wins and the 2004 lifting of the Curse of the Bambino. However, the agony of injuries and booing fans, and the ecstasy of great play are both on full display.
What else clicks this week?
1. “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman,” Tomorrow on Netflix. Letterman hosts an extended dialogue with WNBA basketball superstar Caitlin Clark. Credited for filling arenas and expanding the league’s popularity, while modestly recognizing her teammates and previous female legends, Clark is a charismatic player with a drop-dead 3-point field goal. Like Letterman, the 6-footer is a Midwesterner — she is from Iowa, he from Indiana — who rose to the top of her field. She broke through playing college ball with the University of Iowa Hawkeyes before becoming the number one draft pick and leading the Indiana Fever into the playoffs last year. As she enters her second year in professional ball, the straight-shooting hoopster makes for a lively interview subject for Fever fan Letterman.
2. “G20,” Thursday on Prime Video. Viola Davis (“How to Get Away with Murder”) plays the US president in this streaming movie thriller. The commander in chief heads to the international G20 summit in South Africa with her husband, played by Anthony Anderson, and kids tagging along. When armed terrorists besiege the heads of state, threatening the summit and her immediate family, the president kicks off her heels, tears her silky long skirt, and goes full-on action heroine to fight for democracy and her children’s survival.
3. “Hacks,” Thursday at 9 p.m. on Max. At the end of the last Emmy-winning comedy season, comeback comedienne Deborah Vance (Emmy winner Jean Smart) has left Las Vegas in the rearview mirror for her dream gig: hosting her own late-night talk show. In the process, she’s terminally pissed off her much-younger mentee, Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder), by not inviting her to be the new show’s head writer. In season 4, the two frenemies are at odds. But comedy writer Daniels has learned from the best: How far will she go to unseat her mentor? Will the diva dynamos kiss and crack up?
4. “Your Friends & Neighbors,” Friday on AppleTV+. “Mad Men”’s Jon Hamm breaks very, very bad as an entitled stock broker living the American dream. When Andrew Cooper’s boss fires him for a sexual indiscretion and his wealth dries up, Cooper crosses into illegal territory. If he can’t make the big bucks investing other people’s money, he can turn to breaking and entering to steal their precious wealth. He discovers that thievery is messier and more hands-on than his previous employment, but has its rewards.
5. “The Last of Us,” Sunday on HBO and Max at 9 p.m. The Emmy winner based on a video game franchise returns for more post-apocalyptic action pairing Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey. Set five years after the last season ended, in season 2, monsters still swarm, while secrets and betrayals threaten the bond between the man and the young woman he protects in the hope that her survival will preserve humanity.
