Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Thursday, August 27. All times are Eastern.
Top pick
Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll (FX, 10 p.m.): It’s a theatrical bonanza this week as Broadway legend Kelly Bishop (a.k.a. Gilmore Girls’ Emily Gilmore) guest stars as Johnny’s mom. Not only does theater vet Roger Bart play her fiancée, the episode specifically deals with her failed showbiz career and her hatred of Mary Poppins. Gigi learns how the British nanny ruined her dad’s childhood when she finally meets her grandmother. Since Michael Roffman is practically perfect in every way, he’ll have no problem parsing the theatricality at the center of “Supercalifragilisticjuliefriggingandrews.”
Review (Comedy Central, 10 p.m.): This week Forrest sets out to review both fishing and sleeping in a haunted house. Emily L. Stephens wonders if it’s too much to hope that he tries both at the same time.
Documentary Now! (IFC, 10 p.m.): After kicking off with a niche parody of Grey Gardens, Documentary Now! sets its sights on a slightly easier target this week with a parody of edgy Vice exposés. In “DRONEZ: The Hunt For El Chingo,” Jack Black, Bill Hader, and Fred Armisen try to track down a notorious Mexican drug lord. Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya can’t wait, bro. UPDATE: In light of the shooting deaths of Alison Porter and Adam Ward, IFC has postponed the broadcast of “DRONEZ: The Hunt For El Chingon,” airing the Nanook Of The North spoof “Kunuk Uncovered” in its place.
Comedy Bang! Bang!(IFC, 10:30 p.m.): Fresh Off The Boat’s Randall Park joins Scott Aukerman to play “Title These Tunes.” Then Scott tries to pick out an “unusual hat” for an award show. Emily L. Stephens thinks a Beefeater’s chapeau is tasteful for all occasions.
Futurama(10 a.m.): Zack Handlen joins the cult of Yivo as he reviews “The Beast With A Billion Backs.” Fry deals with girl trouble, everyone in the universe gets a date, and David Cross is typecast as a planet-sized, omnipotent alien with tentacles.
Elsewhere in TV Club
Josh Lucas opens up about his career in a particularly honest Random Roles that touches on everything from the highs of American Psycho to the career-halting lows of Poseidon.
Elsewhere, Nathan Rabin re-examines John Mulaney’s short-lived multi-camera sitcom Mulaney in a new My World Of Flops. He writes:
It would be an exaggeration to say that the show gets good toward the end, but it does get less awful. By the end of 13 episodes, the woefully underwritten, underrealized, and wasted cast at least merits the faint praise of being appealing and attractive. There are funny lines and ideas throughout, but they cannot survive the show’s toxicity, the hermetic sense that it takes place in a poisoned realm where no comedy can survive. Mulaney took an innately funny, tremendously talented young man and placed him in a context where he could not succeed, no matter how extensive the re-tooling.
What else is on?
Regular Show (Cartoon Network, 7:30 p.m.):Regular Show is going Under The Dome! A giant glass dome seals in the park, leaving Benson and the crew to try to survive the “Dome Experiment”
Project Runway (Lifetime, 9 p.m.): Mad Men’s Kiernan Shipka is the guest judge for this week’s “Fashion Flip,” in which the designers are required to put a modern twist on a classic design. No matter what the designers create, however, it’s almost guaranteed that Shipka will be the best dressed person at the final runway.
Katrina Ten Years Later (PBS, 9 p.m.): 10 years after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, PBS examines the impact of the storm and how the city has bounced back.
Power & Ice (History, 10 p.m.): Yet another reality series centered on tough jobs in remote locations. Power & Ice follows three power companies that compete to provide service to remote Alaskan power grids as well as the day-to-day linemen who tackle dangerous work in sub zero temperatures.
For Your Eyes Only (BBC, 8 p.m.): Roger Moore’s fifth appearance as James Bond would definitely have been improved by this Arrested Development music:
Molly And Me (TCM, 9:45 p.m.): Gracie Fields stars as a vaudeville actress who takes a job as a wealthy man’s housekeeper in order to make ends meet in this 1945 comedy.
Little League World Series (ESPN, 8 p.m.): Just like the regular World Series only smaller.
In case you missed it
The Carmichael Show: Check out Molly Eichel’s pre-air thoughts on this intriguing new NBC sitcom that aims for both laughs and political discourse.
