Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Friday, March 13, and Saturday, March 14. All times are Eastern.
Top pick
Banshee (Cinemax, 10 p.m., Friday): At the opening to his review of last week’s penultimate episode of Banshee’s third season, Les Chappell had this to say:
Sometimes, it’s hard to know how much of a plan Banshee has for its story and how much of it is just the result of throwing its various plots and characters together to produce maximum madcap exhilaration.
Fair enough, although, as Les has laid out pretty convincingly all season, Banshee is a fun ride, no matter if anyone’s at the wheel. Tonight, fake sheriff Lucas Hood and his allies (including the awesome Job, pictured above right) try to stay alive while dealing with the surprising number of violent bad guys a small town in Pennsylvania somehow continues to generate.
Also noted
House Of Cards (Netflix): Kevin Spacey’s Frank Underwood is the president, which has, if anything, made him even more of a devious, manipulative monster. Scott Von Doviak has been binge-watching the entire third season in one, huge dose, which has everyone keeping an eye on him suspiciously. Check out his reviews of episodes seven and eight at 2 p.m. on Friday—unless that’s just what Scott’s expecting you to do.
12 Monkeys (Syfy, 9 p.m., Friday): Cole’s mission to prevent the world-devastating plague hits a bit of a snag when he time travels to 2017, when the plague is really finding its legs. Emily L. Stephens has been similarly buffeted around by the ups and downs of this Syfy sci-fi series, but she’s hanging in there just like Aaron Stanford’s Cole. Sure, she’s only got one timeline to deal with, but she’s still a trooper.
Glee (Fox, 9 p.m., Friday): The title of this episode is “We Built This Glee Club,” and Brandon Nowalk is goddamn terrified that that means an entire Jefferson Starship/Starship musical montage. Brandon’s put up with a lot—a lot—this final season, but there is just some crap up with which he will not put. Not…at…all.
Comedy Bang! Bang! (IFC, 11:30 p.m., Friday): Fun fact: Zach Galifianakis was the very first guest in Comedy Bang! Bang! history! Now he’s back to act weird with Scott and Reggie for the fourth season Spring finale (which is a milestone, of sorts). Plus, a super nerdy additional guest star, nerds! Emily L. Stephens loves nerds, it’s okay.
Elsewhere in TV Club
With the release of Ethan Hawke’s documentary Seymour: An Introduction, Gwen Ihnat gives us her Watch This review of the young Maggie Smith’s portrait of another inspiring teacher The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie. Then check out the new installment of the A.V. Club not-a-game show Pick A Choice—this week our own John Teti makes Greg Proops make a choice involving Sesame Street and wife swapping. It gets weird. After that, your favorite A.V. Clubbers let you in on their super-secret favorite music to write to. Our brains are not like normal brains.
What else is on
Helix (Syfy, 10 p.m., Friday): The CDC team goes looking for some tree sap that might provide a cure for the deadly plague, or maybe just liven up their pancakes.
Sex Box (We, 10 p.m., Friday): Super sexy people punching each other.
ShoBox: The New Generation: Douglas-Lamanna (Showtime, 10 p.m., Friday): People having sex in a box. What? Wait—reverse the last two entries. Apologies.
Vice (HBO, 11 p.m., Friday): The HBO news magazine show takes on Ferguson and immigration and other topics sure to angry up the blood.
The Jack & Triumph Show (Adult Swim, 11:30 p.m., Friday): It’s Triumph vs. Siri in a battle of voices you hear in your sleep after a night of watching Triumph and Siri argue a lot.
Hot Package (Adult Swim, 12:30 a.m., Saturday): Like if Tim & Eric ran Entertainment Tonight. Wrap your heads around that one.
Wuthering High School (Lifetime, 8 p.m., Saturday): James Caan and a daughter of Clint Eastwood star in this Lifetime TV movie adaptation of the Emily Brontë classic about forbidden love set in an exclusive prep school. Amazingly, only one part of that sentence is inaccurate. Molly Eichel draws the short straw to review this one.
Portrait Of Love (Hallmark, 9 p.m., Saturday): Two photographers make goo-goo eyes at each other, but one of them is played by Veronica Mars’ favorite bad boy Jason Dohring, so that means it gets a mention.
Black Sails (Starz, 9 p.m., Saturday): The A.V. Club isn’t covering this season of pirate intrigue, but people are saying season two has found its sea legs. Should we drop back in? I mean, it is pirate intrigue.
The Musketeers (BBC America, 9 p.m., Saturday): When the Queen is accused of treason, the Musketeers stab everything until it all comes out all right.
Jay Mohr: Happy. And A Lot. (Showtime, 10 p.m., Saturday): Standup and radio host Mohr had a cup of coffee at SNL a long time ago, but now he’s talking about his experiences as a husband and father. And punctuation rules, one assumes.
In case you missed it
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya continues her daily binge-reviewing of this pretty damned delightful new series from 30 Rockers Tina Fey and Robert Carlock. This episode was directed by Nicole Holofcener and has a robot in it—what more do you need, people?