Any show that kicks off with a character played by John Goodman being chased by giant bugs gets my attention right away. “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters” begins streaming on Apple TV+. A fully authorized variation on the Godzilla franchise, it explores the story of the Monarch Corporation, a shadowy entity associated with the creature and its many spooky spawn.
But it’s not all crushing and stamping. There are many flashbacks and a complicated backstory that takes us to 21st-century Tokyo in the mid-teens just two years after a monster attack on San Francisco. Goodman’s bugged-out account takes place in 1973. And a further backward jump takes us to a radiation-soaked Soviet Republic in the late 1950s.
Anna Sawai stars as Cate, a young woman who barely escaped Godzilla’s San Francisco rampage. She travels to Tokyo two years later to settle her late father’s affairs. The city’s signage is littered with “Godzilla Escape Route” notifications. There she meets Kentaro (Ren Watabe). In an awkward encounter, she discovers that the father she lost two years earlier had kept a second secret family in Japan. Kentaro is Cate’s half-brother. Both join forces with surly American coder and tech genius May (Kiersey Clemons) to research Monarch and discover its origins and role in unleashing so many monsters on the unsuspecting world.
I’m just scratching the surface here. “Monarch” has larded the plot line with decades of intrigue. You need all those complications to transform a two-hour movie into a 10-episode Godzilla epic.
— John Goodman also narrates the strenuously silly 2023 comedy “Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain,” streaming on Peacock.
John Higgins, Martin Herlihy and Ben Marshall (the Please Don’t Destroy comedy troupe) star as overgrown 20-something adolescents who work at Trout Unlimited, a theme park sporting goods store clearly inspired by Bass Pro Shops.
The loose plot takes them on a treasure quest to retrieve a hidden statue of Marie Antoinette, but the accent is on their virginal dorkiness. Look for Conan O’Brien as their boss. Half the fun is trying to watch him act. No stranger to retail comedy, Nicole Sakura (“Superstore”) also appears.
— A media heavyweight presents “Maxine’s Baby: The Tyler Perry Story,” streaming on Amazon Prime, an autobiographical glimpse at Perry’s hard upbringing and the strength of a woman who saw him through tough times.
— Netflix streams “Rustin,” a biography of Bayard Rustin (Colman Domingo), Dr. Martin Luther King’s right-hand man and organizer. At a time when the FBI used innuendo about “deviance” or “subversive” activity to silence dissent, Rustin never shied away from his homosexuality or links to left-wing organizations.
— Who needs to dance with the stars when you have “The Secret Life of Dancing Dogs,” a docuseries streaming on Hulu?
— The superhero film “Blue Beetle” begins streaming on Max.
— A musician (voiced by Michael Cera) meets the girl of his dreams only to discover that she has seven evil ex-boyfriends in the animated comedy series “Scott Pilgrim Takes Off,” streaming on Netflix.
— Freevee streams the holiday romantic comedy “EXmas,” starring Leighton Meester (“Gossip Girl”) and Robbie Amell (“Upload”). Another early holiday romantic fantasy, “Dashing Through the Snow,” streams on Disney+.
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— While visiting her son on a remote island over the holidays, a recently divorced woman bonds with the brusque owner of the local lighthouse in the 2023 holiday romance “Navigating Christmas” (8 p.m., Hallmark, TV-G).
— “Great Performances” (9 p.m., PBS, TV-G, check local listings) commemorates the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s First Folio.
— An overheard conversation casts a shadow on Eddie and Jamie’s big day on “Blue Bloods” (10 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14).
CULT CHOICE
After taking an impetuous trip downtown, a boring office drone (Griffin Dunne) finds himself in an arty urban nightmare in director Martin Scorsese’s 1985 comedy “After Hours” (9:45 p.m., TCM). The cast includes Rosanna Arquette, John Heard, Cheech and Chong, Linda Fiorentino, Catherine O’Hara and Terri Garr.
SERIES NOTES
“Let’s Make a Deal Primetime” (8 p.m., CBS, TV-PG) … “The Wall” (8 p.m., NBC, r, TV-PG) … “WWE Friday Night SmackDown” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-PG) … “Shark Tank” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-PG).
“Raid the Cage” (9 p.m., CBS, TV-PG) … “Dateline” (9 p.m., NBC) … “20/20” (9 p.m., ABC).
LATE NIGHT
Jimmy Fallon welcomes Scarlett Johansson, Hunter Schafer and Tina Friml on “The Tonight Show” (11:35 p.m., NBC) … Magic Johnson, Jose Andres and Jordan Davis appear on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” (11:35 p.m., ABC, r).
Leslie Jones, Judd Apatow and Rett Madison visit “Late Night With Seth Meyers” (12:35 a.m., NBC, r) … Tommy Davidson, Ryan Sickler, Jen Kober, Alfred Robles appear on “Comics Unleashed With Byron Allen” (12:35 a.m., CBS).
