Unless you’re a big fan of Kevin James or hackneyed crime procedurals, this list won’t concern you.
In other TV News
Our old friend Damon Lindelof wrote a letter to critics ahead of the premiere of The Leftovers in which he sides with Joss Whedon on the issue of binge watching, gives Fleabag some much deserved love, and makes a dig at Mad Men‘s Matthew Weiner which is best explained here. Anyway, here’s the letter:
Dear Critical Community,
G’day! Welcome to the third and final season of THE LEFTOVERS. On behalf of our entire team, I just wanted to say one thing before you embark on the journey.
Bingeing is bad.
I am old school. And not just because I agree with Joss Whedon about everything. Never before in the history of the English language has “binge” been associated with something healthy or productive. Just because there is an entire can of Pringles in front of you does not mean you should eat them all in one sitting. Every time I have done this, I feel sad and guilty, and then mad at The Pringles Corporation. Which is probably not even a thing. But I also must acknowledge times have changed. I must acknowledge there is not just too much television, but too much good television (“Fleek TV?”) and in order to make any kind of dent, we folks who produce it have to get out of our rocking chairs and get hip to the times. Which probably includes not ever saying “hip” again. Anyhoo…
We’re providing you with seven of our eight episodes. Watch them however you see fit. Review them however you see fit. It’s not my place to suggest how to do your jobs. I’d rather you not spoil some stuff, but I ultimately think it’s ridiculous to list that stuff, as it would seem completely arbitrary. All I ask is that if you were surprised by something that happens on the show (either positively or negatively), it would be cool to maintain that same surprise for the audience. For example, when Liv Tyler shoots lasers out of her eyes in Episode 4, we want that to be as shocking for them as it was for you.
Liv Tyler does not shoot lasers out of her eyes in Episode 4.
It’s Episode 6, actually.
But aren’t you bummed that I told you?
You get it. You’re pros. The point is, I’ve never sent out this many episodes in advance and I feel scared and I am trying to mitigate that fear by controlling things, but the way I’m controlling them is by trying to convince you that I’m okay with not controlling them. I also ate an entire can of Pringles last night while watching the entire first season of FLEABAG until three in the morning, so y’know, hypocrite.
One last thing. Please do not reveal the year this season takes place nor the new architectural design of STERLING, COOPER, PRYCE, GARVEY & JAMISON.
Your Pal,
Damon
Speaking of The Leftovers, here is an interesting piece in which the creator and producer, Tom Perrotta, compares the series to The Walking Dead.
And here is our friend Damon, again, talking about the cardinal sins of television writing.
Although, I would kindly remind our friend Damon of the following:
Over in Game of Thrones news, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau just teased a potential spoiler about Cersei and her romantic life.
Orphan Black has released a mobile game ahead of its final season premiere.
Here are a bunch of pictures from Twin Peaks including David Duchovny back in drag.
So Artie Lange got himself arrested for all kinds of drugs and now he’s claiming that Crashing has fired him, but Crashing’s producers are like, “No? We haven’t?”
This is confusing, but four episodes of season two of Lucifer is being moved to season three — even though Fox ordered those extra four episodes for season two. I don’t know.
Chris Brown is going to appear on black-ish in an upcoming episode. BUT WHY.
So here’s a crazy story: a guy who won a Daytime Emmy for producing a soap opera that no longer exists has been sentenced to prison for 13 years after stabbing his tenant over an argument about whether or not one day he would win 5 Oscars. Question: Why 5? Why not 10 Oscars or all of the Oscars? But the most interesting part of this story: the producer/stabber once wrote and starred in an independent film about a landlord who murdered his tenants. That probably didn’t help his case.
Fun fact: 82% of kids raised in a Netflix-only house have no idea what commercials are. But that … kinda makes sense?
The Carmichael Show will probably not be tackling Trump this summer, in small part because they worry he won’t be President by then. One can hope.
In other TV-political news
In his press conference yesterday, in response to questions about the Trump campaign colluding with Russia to throw the election, Sean Spicer accused CNN of colluding with Hillary Clinton on the debates. 1. There is no evidence of that — Donna Brazile acted separately from CNN and recently admitted that she gave Clinton AND Sanders debate topics, but 2. Dude, even if that were true (which, again, it is not), THOSE TWO THINGS ARE NOT EVEN REMOTELY COMPARABLE. One is unethical and the other IS TREASON.
The producer of that TERRIBLE “Commander-in-Chief” forum on NBC in which Matt Lauer grilled Hillary Clinton on her emails for 30 minutes and then proceeded to give Donald Trump a forum for all of his terrible ideas for the remaining half hour has been fired. NOT SOON ENOUGH.
House of Cards creator Beau Willimon has a lot of thoughts on what is going on in the world these days, mostly, “Fuck you, Devin Nunes.” House of Cards also tweeted at Sean Spicer that his loyalty has been noticed after he came out wearing his American flag pin upside down last week.
Late Night Takes
Seth Meyers takes on the GOP health care bill and the growing Russia scandal:
The Daily Show notes that the GOP can’t get their shit together:
Jimmy Kimmel reminds you who is President and who is not:
And not even Patton Oswalt can make Mike Huckabee’s Twitter “jokes” funny:
Trailer park:
We have yet another The Handmaid’s Tale trailer and, you guys, it’s really prescient and upsetting. I’m going to watch it — but it’s going to hurt. It debuts on Hulu on April 26:
Casting JonBenet is a very unusual hybrid documentary-narrative feature about the JonBenet murder and it looks REALLY GOOD. It begins streaming on Netflix on April 28.
Dimension 404 is a new sci-fi anthology series. It debuts on Hulu on April 4:
Renewals
Ink Masters lives to see a 10th season on Spike.
Cancellations
The Knick has been cancelled over on Cinemax after two seasons. Apparently, Cinemax has chosen to focus on more action series rather than old-timey doctors with heroin addiction series.
In Development
- Netflix is getting into the Mark Burnett/Roma Downey religious business with Messiah, a present-day Jesus drama.
- Amazon is close to picking up three comedy pilots, including one from the wonderful writer George Saunders who is having a moment right now.
Casting News
- Tina Fey, Jon Hamm, Daveed Diggs, Laura Dern, Rachel Dratch, Ray Liotta, Andrea Martin and Maya Rudolph will all make appearances on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt in the third season.
- Adrien Brody is going to join the cast of Peaky Blinders for the fourth season.
- Eliza Dushku is joining Bull for this season, maybe next.
- Mario Lopez is going to be the host of Candy Crush because OF COURSE HE IS.
- Kate Bosworth (Blue Crush), Sarah Wayne Callies (Prison Break, The Walking Dead), Jason Ritter (Parenthood) and Jeremy Sisto (Law & Order) will star in the NatGeo miniseries, The Long Walk Home.
- Daniel Sharman (Teen Wolf) is joining the cast of Fear the Walking Dead next season.
- Bret Harrison (Reaper) has been cast in Real Life, a comedy pilot from CBS.
- Natalia Tena (Game of Thrones) and Jake Matthews (Bosch) are joining Wisdom of the Crowd on CBS.
- Parvesh Cheena (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, The Goldbergs) and Ayden Mayeri (New Girl) are joining Unit Zero, ABC’s dramedy pilot.
- Allen Maldonado (Black-ish) is going to co-star in the unnamed Tracy Morgan comedy for TBS.
- Tommy Bastow and John D’Leo (Unbroken) have been added to the cast of The Crossing, an ABC drama pilot.
- Peter Onorati (Murder in the First) is joining S.W.A.T., CBS’ drama pilot.
- Eric Winter (Witches of East End) has joined the cast of Las Reinas, NBC’s drama pilot.
- Jenny Wade (Wedding Band) has been added to the cast of Redliners, NBC’s supernatural drama pilot.
- Jacqueline Obradors (NYPD Blue) has been added to the cast of Mayans MC.
- Nikki M. James (BrainDead) is joining the cast of NBC’s untitled medical drama pilot.
- Amy Hill (Just Add Magic, Preacher, Unreal) has been added to the cast of Rob Riggle’s unnamed ABC pilot.
- Kim Matula (UnReal) has been added to the cast of LA – > Vegas, a Fox comedy pilot.
- Nigel Thatch (Selma) and Corbin Reid (How to Get Away with Murder) are joining the cast of Valor, The CW’s military drama pilot.
- Sullivan Jones, Virginia Kull (Gracepoint) and Louis Cancelmi (The Amazing Spider-Man 2) are all joining Hulu’s The Looming Tower.
- Falk Hentschel (Transcendance, White House Down) is joining the cast of The Alienist.
WATCH THIS
FRIDAY
RuPaul’s Drag Race: Mama Ru moves to a new channel, day and time for the 9th season of her groundbreaking drag competition. Series premiere. 7 p.m. VH1
Grace & Frankie: The ladies have dildo issues. Entire season available for streaming. Netflix
Ingobernable: A Mexican political thriller in which the First Lady of Mexico is on the run after the President dies mysteriously. Netflix
SATURDAY
American Jihad: A look into how young men are radicalized and what can be done to prevent it. 8 p.m., Showtime
The Godfather marathon: All three movies (but you can probably skip the last one). 2 p.m., AMC
Starship Troopers: The most misunderstood movie of our time. 5:59 p.m., Starz Action
SUNDAY
Bob’s Burgers: Back-to-back episodes. 6:30 p.m., Fox
To Walk Invisible: The Bronte Sisters: A look into the lives of the Bronte sisters. 8 p.m., PBS
The Walking Dead: A group member has to make a heart-breaking decision. 8 p.m., AMC
Late Night: Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (Friday): Morgan Freeman, Norman Reedus, Joe Zimmerman Watch What Happens Live (Sunday): Kandi Burruss, Sanaa Lathan
| FRI. | 7:00 | 7:30 | 8:00 | 8:30 | 9:00 | 9:30 |
| ABC | Last Man Standing (new) |
Dr. Ken (new) |
Shark Tank (repeat) |
20/20 (new) |
| CBS | NCAA Basketball (live) |
| CW | The Originals (new) |
Reign (new) |
Local |
| FOX | Rosewood (repeat) |
Sleepy Hollow (new) |
Local |
| NBC | Grimm (new) |
Dateline NBC (new) |
—
| SAT. | 7:00 | 7:30 | 8:00 | 8:30 | 9:00 | 9:30 | 10:00 | 10:30 | 11:00 | 11:30 |
| ABC | Over the Hedge | >20/20 Saturday | News/Local |
| CBS | Ransom (new) |
48 Hours (repeat) |
48 Hours (repeat) |
News/Local |
| FOX | Shots Fired (repeat) |
Empire (repeat) |
News/Local |
| NBC | Despicable Me | Saturday Night Live (repeat) |
News/Local | Saturday Night Live (repeat) |
—
| SUN. | 6:00 | 6:30 | 7:00 | 7:30 | 8:00 | 8:30 | 9:00 | 9:30 |
| ABC | America’s Funniest Home Videos (repeat) |
Once Upon a Time (new) |
Time After Time (new) |
American Crime (new) |
| CBS | 60 Minutes (new) |
NCIS: Los Angeles (new) |
Madam Secretary (new) |
Elementary (new) |
| FOX | The Simpsons (repeat) |
Bob’s Burgers (repeat) |
Bob’s Burgers (new) |
Making History (new) |
Family Guy (new) |
Last Man on Earth (new) |
| NBC | Little Big Shots (repeat) |
Little Big Shots (new) |
Chicago Justice (new) |
Shades of Blue (new) |
Re the “Fun fact: 82% of kids raised in a Netflix-only house have no idea what commercials are. But that … kinda makes sense?”: At Christmas time this past December, my 8 year old turned to me and said, “I don’t know what I want for Christmas – I don’t watch TV any more and so I don’t see commercials to know whats out there.” Thank you Netflix for saving me money.