Ed Helms Headlines New Michael Schur Comedy Rutherford Falls

Michael Schur has a pretty stellar record when it comes to TV comedy. After getting his start writing for SNL and The Office, he's created four shows of his own to date: Parks and Recreation, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Good Place, and now Rutherford Falls, which reunites Schur with his one-time Office collaborator Ed Helms. The new series bows today on Peacock.

Also today: Traditional Oscars precursor The Independent Spirit Awards gets a rare Thursday night airing, Anna Kendrick journeys to space in Stowaway, and TV celebrates Earth Day with Cher, Greta Thunberg, David Attenborough and others. Here's what's new and noteworthy on TV this Thursday:

SERIES PREMIERE: The small Northeast town of Rutherford Falls and the Native American reservation it borders face a crisis when local legend Nathan Rutherford (Ed Helms) fights the moving of a historical statue of his patriarchal ancestor. Jana Schmieding co-stars. Watch trailer. Streaming on Peacock

AWARDS SHOW: Our favorite awards show of the season is ditching the tent this year as The Film Independent Spirit Awards goes virtual in its first Thursday night ceremony in the show's 34 year history. SNL's Melissa Villaseñor hosts. 10:00 PM ET / 7:00 PM PT on IFC and AMC+

ORIGINAL MOVIE: A three-person crew on a mission to Mars faces an impossible choice when an unintended Stowaway jeopardizes the lives of everyone on board. Anna Kendrick, Daniel Dae Kim, Shamier Anderson and Toni Collette star. Watch trailer. Streaming no Netflix

DOCUSERIES PREMIERE: Sir David Attenborough returns to Netflix with the new nature series Life in Color, which uses new camera technologies to reveal for the first time how some of Earth's most remarkable creatures use color to win a mate, to fight off rivals and to warn enemies. Read our review. Streaming on Netflix

DOCUSERIES PREMIERE: Travel with the world’s best-known climate activist as she takes her fight to a global stage. Greta Thunberg: A Year to Change the World follows Thunberg over an extraordinary year as she embarks on a mission to ensure world leaders work to limit global warming. Watch trailer. 8:00 PM ET on PBS

SPECIAL PRESENTATION: When she learned about an elephant that had spent 35 years alone in captivity, Cher put her star power to work. Cher and the Loneliest Elephant follows the international superstar as she leads a herculean effort to relocate the four-ton elephant across an entire continent. Watch trailer. Streaming on Paramount+

SERIES PREMIERE: Ellen DeGeneres and her pal Scott Foley channel Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn in Ellen's Next Great Designer, a new reality competition thhat pits seven of the best up and coming furniture designers against each other for a chance to win $100,000. Watch trailer. Streaming on HBO Max

DOCUMENTARY: Picking up where the hugely popular Netflix docuseries Wild Wild Country left off, Searching for Sheela follows the dangerously charismatic Ma Anand Sheela as she returns to India after 34 years in exile, where people just can't get enough of her. Watch trailer. Streaming on Netflix

SPECIAL PRESENTATION: The CW presents a special Earth Day broadcast of 2040, in which Australian filmmaker Damon Gameau shines a light on how new approaches and solutions to climate change could stop and reverse the planet's carbon overload. Watch trailer. 8:00 PM ET on The CW

SERIES PREMIERE: Master magicians and best friends Chris Ramsay, Eric Leclerc, Wes Barker, and Alex Boyer bring their Big Trick Energy out into the real world as they shock unsuspecting spectators with their unique brand of extreme, provocative, mind-blowing magic. Watch preview. 10:30 PM ET on truTV

Mike Attebery is Senior Editor at Primetimer and the author of seven mystery thrillers. Follow him on Twitter at @mikeattebery.