House Of Lies

 It's a great day for second-tier cable programming.

Girls is back, which is either the best news or a warning to avoid HBO for 10 weeks. Also: Premières of other pay-cable shows that are just as divisive. (Oh, who are we kidding—nothing’s as divisive as Girls.) 

Another list from The A.V. Club.

¡Rob!, Oh Sit!, and the other, non-exclamatory detritus of another banner year for TV.

And also several nods for Homeland and Django Unchained, so it’s not all bad.

It took a while, but Showtime has put together a solid little schedule, then filled in the cracks with some really bizarre stuff.

The Emmy nominations were announced this morning in Los Angeles. They mostly liked good things, but some of the things they liked were not as good.

A trip through the looking glass.

The Borgias brings the politics of Catholicism, the boobs of the Renaissance to your Easter Sunday. Also: Showtime’s “Strong-But-Troubled Female Power Pack” returns, and James Cameron give his “final” (sure) word on the Titanic.

It's a big night for TV. Game Of Thrones is back! Mad Men is on! Our Simpsons classic reviews are back! The Killing is... The Killing is also a show that will be on TV tonight!

The first (and only) derby day for Luck, and Dr. Steve Brule is here—for your health!

It wasn’t a good week for Luck—take sympathy on the series by watching its penultimate episode. Also: Ginnifer Goodwin is wanted for murder, and Homer versus the robots.

Bob’s Burgers is re-opened for business. Also: A new crime-fighting duo in Storybrooke, and Ryan Seacrest and Bravo join forces. (Terrifying, unstoppable forces.)

What is a GCB, anyway? Also: Russian hurlers, YouTube sensations, and neutered Tarantino.

The Simpsons hits 500 episodes. Also: Kenny Powers, Ricky Gervais, and Stephen Merchant are here to push your buttons. 

Come fill a virtual seat for the Grammys, won’t you? Also, return of The Walking Dead, rise of the Comic Book Men, and more.

Sound the thunderous NFL Films instrumentals, get Madonna out of storage, and set the DVR for Luck—it’s game day.

By once again opting not to send in the convenient 3x5 card cancelling their account, Showtime has automatically renewed its subscriptions to Californication, Shameless, and House Of Lies, and is now eligible to send a subscription to...

The veteran actor talks about a career that stretches from Peyton Place to Cooley High to Showtime’s House Of Lies. 

David Milch, Michael Mann, and Dustin Hoffman bring you Luck, which we've been waiting for for 4,000 years. Also: Fox animated shows, the Pro Bowl, and the SAG awards.

Tonight would be a good chance to sample Shameless and see where you land on it. That is, unless you're going to watch football, like most Americans. Also: American Idol, weirdly.

"My goal is that when he does something stupid, you go [sweetly], 'Oh, Jean-Ralphio!' Like a little kid who made a mistake."

Congratulations, fans of virtual currency! Tonight's episode of The Good Wife is for you! Also: Lots of brand new episodes, a Napoleon Dynamite cartoon, and football.

The TCAs are slowly winding down, and soon enough our own Todd VanDerWerff will be forced to say goodbye to his TCA friends, promising to write them lengthy, impassioned notes that include no modicum of meta-commentary on what the practice of writing note...

It's a big night in TV land, with new seasons of Downton Abbey, Shameless, and Californication; a bunch of new series; and a host of returning shows as well.