What to watch this weekend September 13, 2024: TV awards contenders

Sometimes old is good. 

Oscar winner Jeff Bridges and six-time Emmy winner John Lithgow are a perfectly odd pairing in the second season of “The Old Man,” FX’s drama about a dangerous spy who fled the CIA decades ago and never looked back. In Season 2, the first episode of which is now streaming on Hulu, the series finds former associates Dan Chase (Bridges), the aforementioned ex-spy, and Harold Harper (Lithgow), now the FBI’s assistant director for counterintelligence, teaming up to rescue their “daughter” (Alia Shawkat) after she was kidnapped by her biological father, an Afghan tribal leader, at the end of Season 1. The off-the-books mission takes the duo to Afghanistan in a beautifully filmed sophomore outing that, when combined with excellent work from Bridges and Lithgow, makes “The Old Man” the awards contender to watch this weekend.

SEE Experts slugfest: Our final 2024 Emmy winner predictions

Of course, if that’s not up your alley, other contenders include:

• “My Brilliant Friend”: Based on the popular Neapolitan quadrilogy by Elena Ferrante, the acclaimed series from HBO and Italy’s RAI traces the lives of friends Lila (Irene Maiorino) and Lenù (Alba Rohrwacher) in post-war Italy, covering several decades along the way. The fourth and final season finds the pair, now middle-aged, back in Naples in the late 1980s after years apart. It’s the culmination of what has been a thoughtful, if sometimes emotionally devastating, look at the complexities of relationships across time. The Season 4 premiere is now streaming on Max.
• “How to Die Alone”: Created by and starring Natasha Rothwell, this Hulu series from Onyx Collective takes a fairly familiar setup and turns it into a charming comedy full of potential. After a close brush with death, Mel (Rothwell), a personally and professionally stagnant airport employee in her mid-30s, makes the decision to stop standing still and work to become a better version of herself. The show’s unique setting helps set it apart, while the supporting cast is a delight. The first four episodes are now streaming on Hulu.
• “Emily in Paris”: The second half of the Emmy-nominated comedy arrives on Netflix this week. The popular streaming service is cheekily marketing these new episodes as “Emily in Rome” since our titular heroine (Lily Collins) travels to the beautiful Italian city on a last-minute trip that mixes business with pleasure. But one has to wonder if Netflix is also laying the groundwork for a new series in the process. Here’s hoping they go to Mallorca next. All five episodes of Part 2 are now streaming on Netflix.

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