Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Sunday, October 2. All times are Eastern.
Top picks
Westworld (HBO, 9 p.m.): Let’s be honest, is there anyone who isn’t interested in seeing how Westworld turned out? Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy’s adaptation of the 1973 sci-fi western thriller was announced all the way back in 2013, and since then has added a legion of terrific actors and actresses to its roster: Sir Anthony Hopkins, Evan Rachel Wood, Jeffrey Wright, Shannon Woodward, James Marsden, Ed Harris, Thandie Newton, Sidse Babbett Knudsen, Tessa Thompson, and Lili Simmons. (One or more of whom may turn out to be a killer robot, or engage in some genital-on-genital sexytimes.) However, excitement has been tempered by some behind-the-scenes issues—including a two-month hiatus in the middle of production—and the recent broken record of Vinyl proved that even at HBO, excellent casts and years of development time do not by default make a successful series.
In this case, however, it looks like they might. Erik Adams donned the white hat of the pre-air review (leaving the black hat of weekly coverage to Zack Handlen), and finds the world of Michael Crichton and Yul Brynner bridges four decades surprisingly well:
It does so by advancing the ideas and the execution of Jurassic World, Ex Machina, Game Of Thrones, and other post-modern Prometheuses. The new Westworld is an expansive techno-thriller with ongoing workplace storylines; it’s a revisionist western with keen interest in Nolan family pet themes like identity, memory, and entropy. Most crucially for the cable channel that airs it, Westworld is a stylish, expensive prestige drama with a hint of titillating trashiness and a sprawling cast of strong performers, a sign that HBO won’t soon be without an award- and viewer-baiting drama whose setting begins with “West.”
Ash Vs. Evil Dead (Starz, 8 p.m.): Moving from 1970s sci-fi adaptation to 1980s horror adaptation, Ash Vs. Evil Dead is strapping on its chainsaw and loading its boomstick for season two. Bruce Campbell’s swaggering hero Ash is living the high life in Jacksonville, Florida after the apocalyptic season one finale, but dark forces once conspire to drag him to hell—or worse, his hometown of Elk Grove, Michigan. Michael Roffman’s looked at the early episodes, and couldn’t be happier that the show’s “tasteless ingenuity” continues to make the show worlds better than expected: “It’s chewy popcorn television, where everything zips by at face value, from the laughs to the thrills to the kills, and once again, Ash Vs. Evil Dead delivers this mayhem with gutsy results.” Our one-word review remains, as ever: Groovy.
Fear The Walking Dead (AMC, 9 p.m.): The gory delights of Ash vs. Evil Dead come as a welcome corrective to Fear The Walking Dead, where no one is having any fun. Chief amongst the misery brigade is Danette Chavez, who gave last week’s penultimate episode the show’s lowest grade to date, bashing it for “déjà vu and boredom,” “a continuous distortion of Mexican culture,” and “characters [who] remain underdeveloped or inconsistently written.” But it looks like Travis might have killed Chris, so yay for that! Hopefully tonight’s two-hour (ugh) finale will confirm that as fact, or at least take advantage of its newly refugee-packed hotel to transform the show into the first level of Left 4 Dead 2.
Premieres and finales
Guy’s Grocery Games (Food Network, 8 p.m.): It’s the latest installment of Guy Fieri’s mad food contests, this time returning to some seasonal favorites in “Halloween Spooktacular.” Tonight, one challenge involves contestants cooking a “mummified dish.” Please, like that’s so hard! Your What’s On Tonight correspondent’s fridge contains leftovers that could meet that definition in an instant.
Blunt Talk (Starz, 8:30 p.m.): Once again Patrick Stewart’s Walter Blunt is ready to bring truth and justice to the airwaves—or at least he’s going to try to, between all his own bad decisions and the personal drama of his show’s staff. We’re just cheered to see that the show remains a contender for our Longest Episode Title awards, with the premiere “I Remember That Time More Like a Movie I Saw Than a Life I Lived.” Walter remembers that time well, but real life probably didn’t have as many Vulcans, or the Borg.
Alaska: The Last Frontier (Discovery, 9 p.m.): Honestly, how much frontier can be left in Alaska after all the episodes of this show? It’s gotta be a finite resource, you’d think.