What to Watch This Weekend: Affleck’s ‘Animals,’ a Do-or-Die ALDS Game 5, and the New Avatar

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2026 — October weekends don’t get better than this. Friday hands you a Ben Affleck kidnap thriller on Netflix and an Aaron Sorkin Facebook drama in theaters. Saturday is a winner-take-all ALDS Game 5 with a trip to the ALCS on the line, stacked on top of four ranked college football games. Sunday opens the NLCS in Milwaukee, then the NFL takes over with a London morning kickoff, a 4-0-vs.-3-1 NFC West showdown, and back-to-back primetime heavyweight fights. Here’s the whole weekend, sorted.

Friday night: stay in, it’s worth it

The headliner is Animals, streaming on Netflix today (and in select theaters). Ben Affleck directs, co-writes and stars as Mark Kimball, an independent candidate for mayor of Los Angeles whose young son is kidnapped — with a $7 million ransom demand landing while his campaign has already drained the family’s money. Kerry Washington plays his wife Abigail, with Gillian Anderson and Steven Yeun in support. Affleck told USA Today he made the film to wrestle with “the performative nature of morality” in politics, and the early word is that the marriage-on-the-brink scenes are the real engine. Our full Animals breakdown is here.

If you’d rather leave the house, The Social Reckoning opens exclusively in theaters today. Aaron Sorkin writes and directs this companion piece to The Social Network, dramatizing the Facebook Files: Mikey Madison plays whistleblower Frances Haugen, Jeremy Allen White plays Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff Horwitz, and Jeremy Strong — who stayed in character as Mark Zuckerberg even between takes, per Sorkin — plays the man himself. Bill Burr shows up as a hostile ex-Facebook adviser who grills Zuckerberg. It’s rated R, runs 112 minutes, and it’s the rare October release that gives you something to argue about on the drive home.

The weekend’s biggest TV premiere is Avatar: Seven Havens, debuting on Paramount+ today with its first three episodes. Original creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko return for the first new Avatar canon series in 12 years, set 225 years after The Legend of Korra: 9-year-old earthbender Pavi discovers she’s the next Avatar, except this world treats the Avatar as a destroyer instead of a savior. Book 1 (“Survival,” 13 episodes) rolls out in weekly batches through October 30. Catch up on the Avatar universe here.

Rounding out the couch queue: The Housemaid makes its streaming debut on HBO Max today; the Oasis reunion documentary Don’t Look Back in Anger lands on Disney+ and Hulu; Apple TV+ drops the toy-box action movie Matchbox; Netflix adds Haunted Hotel season 2 and the Halloween edition of Is It Cake?; and if you started the week early, the Josh Hartnett sea-creature limited series Below (Netflix, Thursday) and Mike Flanagan’s 8-episode Carrie (Prime Video, Wednesday) are both waiting.

Horror fans get a theatrical option too: Other Mommy, based on Josh Malerman’s Incidents Around the House, with Jessica Chastain in a dual role. It’s the weekend’s R-rated alternative to the Sorkin talkfest.

Saturday: winner-take-all baseball and a loaded college slate

Clear the evening. The White Sox and Guardians play a winner-take-all Game 5 Saturday at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT at Progressive Field on TBS, with a trip to the ALCS against the waiting Rays on the line. Cleveland stormed back in Chicago, taking Games 3 and 4 — Thursday’s 9-5 win featured homers from José Ramírez and Patrick Bailey and a six-run sixth inning that broke the White Sox bullpen. Chicago is still chasing its first ALCS berth since 2005 and has never clinched a postseason series at home. Everything about this series says it goes down to the last out. Relive how Game 4 slipped away here.

The Rays, meanwhile, are resting. They swept the Yankees 3-0 on Wednesday night — a 4-3 Game 3 win sealed when Anthony Volpe’s would-be tying homer was overturned to an RBI double on fan interference, a Jeffrey Maier mirror-image 30 years later. The ALCS starts Monday; the Rays will host whoever survives Saturday.

College football gives you an all-day undercard. At noon ET on FOX, #7 Indiana (5-0) visits Nebraska (5-0) with Big Noon Kickoff on site in Lincoln — the defending national champions against a Cornhusker team that hasn’t beaten a ranked opponent since 2016. At 3:30 ET on ABC it’s the 122nd Red River Rivalry: #1 Texas (4-0) vs. Oklahoma (2-2) at the Cotton Bowl, Arch Manning against John Mateer. Then the nightcap double: #2 Georgia at #6 Alabama (7:30 ET, ABC) opposite #19 USC at Penn State (7:30 ET, NBC/Peacock). And tonight’s appetizer: #20 Iowa at Washington at 9 p.m. ET on FOX.

Fight fans: UFC Fight Night runs Saturday from the Meta APEX in Las Vegas, headlined by middleweights Brendan Allen and Christian Leroy Duncan (main card 8 p.m. ET on Paramount+), and DAZN carries Floyd Schofield vs. Lucas Bahdi from Chicago at 8 p.m. ET.

Sunday: the NLCS begins, then football takes over

October baseball’s second act starts Sunday: NLCS Game 1, Dodgers at Brewers, 5 p.m. PT / 8 p.m. ET on FOX from American Family Field. It’s the rematch — these two met in last year’s NLCS too, and in 2018, with L.A. winning both. This time Milwaukee has the hammer: 103 wins, the best record in baseball, and home-field advantage. Joe Davis and John Smoltz have the call.

The NFL’s Week 5 Sunday is stacked around it. It starts early: Eagles vs. Jaguars in London at 9:30 a.m. ET on NFL Network. The late window gives you 49ers (4-0) at Seahawks (3-1) at 4:25 p.m. ET on FOX. Then Sunday Night Football: Ravens (3-1) at Falcons (2-2) at 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock — watch Lamar Jackson’s ankle after he sat out the second half of Week 4, and note the Falcons have hung 35+ in back-to-back wins since Michael Penix Jr. returned. The week closes Monday with a genuine heavyweight bout: Bills (3-1) at Rams (2-2) at 8:15 p.m. ET on ESPN and ABC, Josh Allen vs. Matthew Stafford.

Still digesting Thursday? The previously winless Buccaneers stunned the Cowboys 24-16 in Dallas behind undrafted rookie Jalon Daniels’ first career win and 165 rushing yards from Bucky Irving — and Dallas lost CeeDee Lamb to a quad injury. The Cowboys get 10 days to think about it before visiting Green Bay.

The soundtrack and the wild card

New Music Friday’s headliners: Pitbull’s Pitcoin — 24 tracks with a guest list that runs from Bon Jovi to KISS to Lil Jon — and Troye Sivan’s fourth album She’s the Best. The depth is real too: new albums from Greta Van Fleet, Remi Wolf, Dominic Fike, Pet Shop Boys, Sheryl Crow and Chase & Status, plus singles from Carly Rae Jepsen, Lil Mosey & Hurricane Wisdom, Lainey Wilson and Slayyyter. Get the full New Music Friday breakdown here.

And the wild card: Dragon’s Dogma 2: Dark Arisen launches today on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC and — for the first time — Nintendo Switch 2. It’s a $29.99 expansion ($49.99 bundled with the base game) adding the snowy northern region of Norgan, 12 new dungeon challenges and fresh character customization. If the games are blowouts, you know where to go.