TELEMOVIE PREMIERE: It’s been quite a year for Stephen King. Not only has a new version of his clown thriller It been a hit at the cinema, but on television, David E. Kelley has crafted a devilishly clever miniseries adaptation of King’s Mr. Mercedes, And now, today on Netflix, comes another deft character study from a King novel. This one is directed by Mike Flanagan and co-adapted by Jeff Howard, who previously worked together on Oculus and Ouija: Origin of Evil. Those horror films had some startling visual scares, but Gerald’s Game is much more cerebral and subtle. It features excellent performances from its two leads: Carla Gugino and Bruce Greenwood. I’ve been long-time fans of them both, and here they’re both full of surprises. They play a long-married couple who go on a remote lakefront retreat in hopes of spicing up their love life. But before long, their private encounter shifts from sexy to argumentative to downright horror – and all three elements involve, among other things, a pair of handcuffs. What sounds like a claustrophobic concept keeps opening up in surprising ways – flashbacks, fantasies, even an epilogue – and Gerald’s Game preserves, and even enhances, the most terrifying and relatable interior monologues from King’s original book.

TELEMOVIE PREMIERE: Jane Fonda, who’s already starring on Netflix in the comedy series Grace and Frankie (opposite Lily Tomlin), is paired in this new Netflix movie with another veteran former screen partner. This time it’s Robert Redford, who starred with Fonda in 1979’s The Electric Horseman. And this time, they play long-time platonic neighbors, who begin to know each other a bit more intimately when she suggests they sleep together. Just sleep, to stave off nighttime loneliness. But their relationship really shifts when her young grandson shows up for a few-week visit.  And you should recognize him: He’s Iain Armitage, who’s having an astounding year for any actor of any age. Already in 2017, he’s co-starred as the young boy in HBO’s Big Little Lies – and just starred, in the title role, in the premiere episode of the CBS sitcom Young Sheldon, the clever prequel to The Big Bang Theory.

MINISERIES PREMIERE: This documentary miniseries, a compilation of case studies about recent mass shootings in the U.S., begins with what may be the most depressing opening credits sequence ever presented. Each week, this series will recount and analyze a different case, utilizing 911 recordings, eyewitness accounts, security footage, and interviews with survivors, relatives, first responders and medical personnel. Tonight’s opener is devoted to the 2012 mass shooting at the suburban Colorado movie theater in Aurora, showing the midnight Batman premiere of The Dark Knight Rises. Seventy people were shot in 90 seconds – and this documentary shows how, relives the slaughter and its impact, and follows parents of victims as they seek changes in gun laws. “There are basic human things that should happen,” says the father of one victim, “and we shouldn’t have to legislate them.”

Last week, Mike Judge’s Tales from the Tour Bus premiered, and proved itself to be a very clever, mostly animated method of retelling old tales, tall tales, and tales from the road. Tonight’s installment promises more of the same – and has as its subject that legendary musical misbehaver, Jerry Lee Lewis.

Among the scheduled guests on tonight’s lineup: former Spy co-founder Kurt Anderson, and regular MSNBC contributor John Heilemann.