How Much Watching Time Do You Have This Weekend?

‘All Creatures Great and Small’
When to watch: Sunday at 9 p.m., on PBS. (Check local listings)

Season 3 of this tender period drama is finally here, and wedding bells are ringing for our countryside veterinarian and his sweetheart (Nicholas Ralph and Rachel Shenton), though one can barely hear them over the mooing of ailing cows. If you wanted to catch up on earlier episodes, you certainly could, but if you just wanted to bask in something where an indulged dog is carried into a church on a cushion, you could start here and absolutely get the gist: utilitarian yet chic boots, good; impending war, not good; unceasing circle of life and death, neither good nor bad but the rich backdrop of our experiences.

… an hour, and I want something serious.

‘Boys in Blue’
When to watch: Friday at 8 p.m., on Showtime.

This four-part documentary, directed by Peter Berg, follows a high school football team in North Minneapolis, a team grappling with the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder — not only because of its local immediacy but also because the team’s coaches are police officers. Sports stories typically find their grander voice in metaphor, but “Blue” takes a fascinating and evocative opposite tactic, grounding itself instead in individuality, in specific people and their voices, ideas and questions. Do not miss the fourth episode.

‘The Lying Life of Adults’
When to watch: Now, on Netflix.

Once upon a time, we had a world with zero Elena Ferrante adaptations. That time has ended! Now it is Netflix’s turn with this lush but grimy coming-of-age story that follows Giovanna (Giordana Marengo) through her adolescence in Naples in the 1990s. She becomes fascinated with her estranged aunt, whom her father warns is emotionally poisonous — as if anything could make the aunt more appealing. This is perhaps not as elevated as “My Brilliant Friend,” but it is mesmerizing and perceptive, capturing the permeable border between ripeness and rot. If your favorite episode of “My So-Called Life” is “Other People’s Mothers,” or if you couldn’t get enough of “The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem,” watch this.