CLEVELAND, Ohio — A new season of “Homeland” and a new romantic drama anthology series from writer-executive producer Ava DuVernay are among the week’s top viewing choices:
“Homeland” (9 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 9, Showtime): The espionage thriller’s eighth and final season begins in riveting fashion with CIA agent Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) reeling from months in a Russian gulag without her bipolar meds. President Warner (Beau Bridges) asks National Security Advisor Saul Berenson (Mandy Patinkin) to negotiate a treaty with the Taliban, and Saul asks the unsteady Carrie for her help. If the first few episodes of this new season are any indication, “Homeland” seems to be rebounding from an uneven seventh season, setting up a gripping stretch run to the finale.
“Ali & Cavett: The Tale of the Tapes” (9 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 11, HBO): This documentary looks at Muhammad Ali through the lens of his many appearances on Dick Cavett’s talk shows. Ali sat down for lively conversations with Cavett several times between 1968 and 1979, discussing everything from boxing and religion to issues of racial and political injustice. “There was a period in my life when I felt that Muhammad Ali was my best friend,” Cavett says in the documentary.
“For Life” (10 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 11, WEWS Channel 5): Nicholas Pinnock has top billing in this new ABC legal drama based on the true story of Isaac Wright Jr., a wrongfully convicted inmate who, while incarcerated, became a licensed lawyer, helping to overturn the wrong convictions of 20 fellow inmates. The supporting cast includes Indira Varma (“Game of Thrones”), Joy Bryant (“Parenthood”) and Mary Stuart Masterson (“Blindspot”).
“Cherish the Day” (10 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 11, OWN): DuVernay’s cable anthology series spotlights key moments in the relationship of a couple (Xosha Roquemore and Alano Miller), with each episode looking at the events of a single day. The entire season will follow them over a span of five years.
“Survivor” (8 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 12, WOIO Channel 19): The granddaddy of reality shows premiered 20 years ago. So, averaging two editions each year since its debut, “Survivor” is fielding its 40th competition, “Winners at War,” which brings together winners from previous seasons.
“Visible Out of Television” (Friday, Feb. 14, Apple TV-Plus): Narrated by Janet Mock, Margaret Cho, Asia Kate Dillon, Neil Patrick Harris and Lena Waithe, the five-part documentary miniseries combines archival footage with interviews to chart “the importance of TV as an intimate medium that has shaped the American conscience, and how the LGBTQ movement has shaped television.”
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