A great week for TV concludes with a great Hannibal finale

By Emily St. James  |  May 23, 2014 | 9:57am
TV Features TV

Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Friday, May 23, and Saturday, May 24. All times are Eastern.

TOP PICK
Hannibal (NBC, 10 p.m., Friday): This has just been a fantastic week for television, no? That makes it all the more disappointing that there’s so little going on this weekend—although we’re pleased to tell you that the Hannibal finale will make the perfect capper to your great TV week. (Maybe spend Saturday getting some sun. You could use it.) Will and Jack launch their plot to ensnare Hannibal, and the season finally catches up to the flash-forward from the premiere. Molly Eichel will have the usual post-episode thoughts, while Todd VanDerWerff has thoughts on the whole season.

ALSO NOTED
Orphan Black (BBC America, 9 p.m., Saturday): Those wacky Brits don’t celebrate our “American holidays,” so they’re not taking Memorial Day weekend off. (Shhhh… don’t point out to us that they have nothing to do with this show.) Caroline Framke isn’t taking it off either. What a trooper!

TV CLUB CLASSIC
TV Club Classic is on hiatus for the weekend. It will return… next weekend! Except we might be doing a Simpsons Classic review. We can’t remember.

ELSEWHERE IN TV CLUB
We’re laying low for the big weekend, but we have some thoughts from Genevieve Valentine in our TV Review section. Specifically, she’s talking about this batch of Mad Men episodes and how the show has drawn upon its past to push forward toward its inevitable endpoint. Go read it!

WHAT ELSE IS ON
America’s Gun: The Rise Of The AR-15 (CNBC, 8 p.m., Friday): Get your patriotism on with this celebration of a deadly, deadly assault rifle. We told you there was nothing else on this weekend. But did you listen? No. Go outside!

Labyrinth (The CW, 8 p.m., Friday): We thought about reviewing this miniseries that aired in Britain several years ago, then decided… nah! Instead, we’ll just tell you it’s on. Sadly, it’s not just a rebroadcast of the ‘80s film.

Chrome Underground (Discovery, 10 p.m. Friday): There are massive reservoirs of chrome underground, according to the Discovery Channel. But it’s up to us to dig it all up! Let’s get to it, gang!

Vice (HBO, 11 p.m., Friday): HBO sent us a screener of this episode, promising it was a good ‘un, but it’s also a holiday weekend, so we don’t know if we can be roused to review it. If we do, we promise it will be worth you staying home from the beach.

I Married Who? (Hallmark, 9 p.m., Saturday): Two things: First of all, it should be I Married Whom?, not this particular title. Second of all, you’d really think you’d know.

Man-Eating Super Squid: Monster Invasion (Animal Planet, 9 p.m., Saturday): We don’t know what we’ve done to receive such a wondrous bounty of shows about man-eating animals, Animal Planet, but we surely thank you.

Dead Calm (Sundance, 8 p.m., Friday): This Phillip Noyce-directed thriller is a lot of fun, though it does ask you to somehow buy that the young Nicole Kidman has married Sam Neill. That could be a step too far for a lot of you.

Winter’s Bone (Lifetime Movie Network, 10 p.m., Friday): To think there was a time when Jennifer Lawrence was just that actress you’d heard good things about coming out of Sundance, thanks to her work in this movie. And now she’s Jennifer Lawrence, who needs italics.

The Dirty Dozen (TCM, 8 p.m., Saturday): Memorial Day weekend strikes us as a good time to watch a movie with your dad, and they don’t get much more “watching movies with your dad” than this one. It’s some tight, two-fisted war movie action is what it is.

Women’s Softball: Tennessee at Oklahoma (ESPN2, 7 p.m., Friday): Two of our states face off in what is referred to as “a super-regional playoff game.” Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves throwing superlatives at this game just yet!

NBA Playoffs: Game 3: Pacers at Heat (ESPN, 8:30 p.m., Saturday): The series is all tied up at 1-1, and it’s been a much more interesting one than the Western Conference Finals—at least so far. Here’s hoping the Pacers can pull it out. Did we just curse them? We just cursed them.

HOW GOOD WAS GODZILLA?
Godzilla (in theaters now): So good! We got this up late so we could go see it! (Also, because we forgot about it again. You guys really need to remind us about this stuff.)

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Mixology (Wednesday): There’s not so much going on, so we recommend that you go back and take a look at Myles McNutt’s look at just what made this show such a fascinating boondoggle. It’s a long read, but we promise you it’s worth it.

THE FIERI BEAST WILL RETURN IN FIERI AMONG THE RUINS

 
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