Live, from New York (again): It’s 30 Rock!
Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Thursday, April 26. All times are Eastern.
TOP PICK
30 Rock (NBC, 8:30): In the spring, a young NBC executive’s fancy turns to generating robust ratings while the Nielsen people peer through the windows. And thus passes the first rite of the May sweeps period: 30 Rock’s second live episode, a gambit which paid lopsided, botched-line dividends last season, even as it added another clip to Jon Hamm’s stellar commercial-parody portfolio. Meredith Blake is standing by to track every mishap, intentional or otherwise.
REGULAR COVERAGE
The Big Bang Theory (CBS, 8 p.m.): Wil Wheaton (Hey, did we mention it’s sweeps?) returns as his evil Big Bang Theory alter ego, presumably to ruin Wolowitz’s bachelor party. Wheaton has already bribed Oliver Sava to shout “Don’t blame Wesley!” when the dead hooker falls out of the cake.
The Vampire Diaries (The CW, 8 p.m.): Kids and vampires alike will be doing the Charleston, sitting on flagpoles, and exclaiming “23 skidoo!” as they shake their gams at a totally jake 1920s-themed dance. Should the show’s slow procession through the 20th century continue—it did the 1910s a few weeks back—Carrie Raisler looks forward to the ’30s episode set in a Depression-era Hooverville.
American Idol (Fox, 8 p.m.): Tonight’s special guest: The Queen Extravaganza, not Queen but an incredible simulation produced by the band’s drummer, Roger Taylor. And also Katy Perry, but Claire Zulkey is too busy prepping her own arrangement of “Somebody To Love” to care.
Community (NBC, 8 p.m.): The return of Michael K. Williams’ Professor Kane could be occasion for a full-episode homage to The Wire, but this Community installment’s going after one of the 10 other series that have featured Richard Belzer’s Detective John Munch: Law & Order. In the television-review system, the people are represented by Todd VanDerWerff.
The Secret Circle (The CW, 9 p.m.): Like the Wu-Tang Clan, the leads on The Secret Circle live by the credo “C.R.E.A.M.”—only, in this case, its an acronym for “crystals rule everything around me.” And whoever’s stealing those crystals best protect their neck. From now on, Katherine Miller would like you to refer to her as “Big Baby Jesus.” (And thus the chamber of easy Wu-Tang jokes was emptied.)