‘One Day,’ ‘Halo,’ ‘SVU’s Balancing Act, NFL Honors

Spanning nearly 20 years over 14 addictive episodes (most of them averaging 30 minutes, avoiding the usual bloat), a moving new adaptation of David Nicholls’ novel gives its protagonists the space and time to develop and to nurture our rooting interest in their enduring but often rocky friendship. The story opens on July 15, 1988, as Emma (the wonderful Ambika Mod) and Dexter (The White Lotus’ dreamboat Leo Woodall) meet fairly cute during graduation, sparking a mostly platonic friendship that ebbs and flows over time. Each episode moves a year forward, always on July 15, as we watch the entitled Dexter and the struggling Emma seek purpose and happiness, the latter only truly possible when they’re in each other’s lives. Once started, it’s nearly impossible to stop watching this not-quite-romcom.

The stakes are higher in Season 2 of the sci-fi action series based on XBox’s popular first-person shooter game. Or so Master Chief John-117 (Pablo Schreiber) believes, as he tries to convince skeptics that the alien threat known as the Covenant is planning a devastating attack on humanity’s greatest stronghold. The season opens with two episodes, including a deadly evacuation mission and a search for missing Spartans.

This week’s case hits close to home when the daughter of hot-headed Chief McGrath (Terry Serpico) reveals she was sexually assaulted. Benson’s (Mariska Hargitay) challenge is to conduct a professional investigation while trying to curb the chief’s emotional and impulsive response to the crime. Followed by Law & Order: Organized Crime (10/9c), where Stabler’s (Christopher Meloni) family dinner erupts into chaos.

Maybe you’ve heard the Super Bowl is airing on CBS in a few days? One of the best pre-game traditions is the annual ceremony presenting the NFL’s top awards, now in its 13^th year. Keegan-Michael Key, who hosted in 2017 and 2022, is back as the emcee at Resorts World Theatre in Las Vegas, where awards include the naming of the Walter Peyton NFL Man of the Year, the NFL Inspire Change Tribute, the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2023, and the AP’s MVP, Coach and Assistant Coach of the Year, Comeback Player of the Year, Offensive and Defensive Players and Rookies of the Year.

INSIDE THURSDAY TV:

• The Power of Film (8/7c, Turner Classic Movies): Parting is such sweet sorrow. The clip-filled docuseries hosted by UCLA professor emeritus Howard Suber wraps its rapturous course in film appreciation with a study of Hollywood love stories that end with some kind of separation, or even death. Followed by a screening of 1971’s black comedy Harold and Maude (9/8c).
• Jersey Shore Family Vacation (8/7c, MTV): The seventh season opens with Mike throwing a party for himself—some things never change—while Angelina meets her biological father for the first time.
• Truth and Lies: The Final Dive of the Titan (9/8c, ABC): The docuseries examines the tragic 2023 implosion of the Titan submersible, interviewing friends and colleagues of entrepreneur Stockton Rush, who led the ill-fated expedition to view the wreckage of the Titanic.
• Genius: MLK/X (9/8c, National Geographic): The docudrama reaches its halfway point as Martin Luther King Jr. (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) and Malcolm X (Aaron Pierre) assume leadership positions in the civil rights struggle, while at home their families grow.
• I Wasn’t Expecting a Baby! (10/9c, Lifetime): A new reality series focuses on women experiencing “cryptic pregnancies,” unaware they’re even pregnant until it’s almost time to give birth. In the premiere, Kayla gets a surprise nine months after attending a frat party, and medical assistant Tiffany discovers the cause of her abdominal pain.
• Impractical Jokers (10/9c, truTV): Saturday Night Live veteran Bobby Moynihan is the guest as hidden-camera pranksters Brian “Q” Quinn, James “Murr” Murra and Sal Vulcano return for their Season 10 winter premiere.

ON THE STREAM:

• Couple to Throuple (streaming on Peacock): Three’s a crowd—or is it—in a relationship experiment hosted by Access Hollywood’s Scott Evans and mediated by sexologist Shamyra Howard, wherein four couples head to a tropical resort to invite a third party into their romantic lives.
• They Called Him Mostly Harmless (streaming on Max): An offbeat docu-mystery from Investigation Discovery involves the search for the identity of a dead hiker in the Florida woods who lived off the grid and introduced himself only as “Mostly Harmless.” Amateur online sleuths pursued the puzzle for years.
• Tokyo Vice (streaming on Max): The buzzy crime drama, filmed in Tokyo, returns for a second season, starring Ansel Elgort as American journalist Jake Adelstein, whose investigation into the yakuza underworld puts his life in danger.
• Finales include the Season 1 climax of contemporary supernatural drama Sanctuary: A Witch’s Tale on Sundance Now and the final two chapters of Jason Momoa’s On the Roam on Max.