Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Friday, September 23, and Saturday, September 24. All times are Eastern.
Top picks
MacGyver (CBS, 8 p.m., Friday): Put down that remote made from popsicle sticks, chewing gum, and a toilet paper tube and get your soul ready for the series premiere of this all-new, totally necessary reboot of the terminally goofy adventure series where a guy with floppy hair saves the day using only his junk drawer. New floppy-haired adventurer Lucas Till—taking over for Richard Dean Anderson, who, reportedly, isn’t too happy about the whole deal—is your MacGyver now, whether you like it or not. Will he find new and exciting uses for duct tape and baking soda? Will Anderson somehow be lured onto the series, only to take a poke at his weedy little replacement? Will Patty and Selma chime in with their takes during the upcoming season of The Simpsons? Was the original series marginally better than its present-day punchline status suggests? (Our own Zack Handlen said “sort of!” at one point.) Or is CBS’ Anderson-less MacGyver destined to be rebooted right into the ol’ dumpster? Gwen Ihnat used aluminum foil and a paper clip to write her pre-air review.
Audrie & Daisy (Netflix, 3:01 a.m., Friday): You know how people are awful? Well brace yourself for this searing documentary about the sexual assaults of two young women—and how the public response (especially but exclusively related to the demon internet) was predictably horrific. Says reviewer Noel Murray of the film’s approach:
Audrie & Daisy could’ve done more to connect up the way the internet looms over both cases: the former with the way Audrie was cyber-bullied by her classmates after she was assaulted, and the latter with the way both Daisy and Maryville were pilloried online. What the documentary does well, though, is critique a culture that allows young men to disregard other people’s humanity.
Iliza Shlesinger: Confirmed Kills (Netflix, 3:01 a.m., Friday): Standup Shlesinger traditionally goes to the edge of propriety, a bold style that, as Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya says about Shlesinger’s new special, means sometimes falling right off onto your butt. From Kayla’s review:
Her attempts at social commentary are where everything starts to fall apart. Her dissection of the different generations is full of obvious jokes and also pretty dismissive of race. Shlesinger admits that it’s easy for her to romanticize past generations as a white woman, but again, awareness of privilege isn’t a funny or interesting point of view for comedy.
Gringo: The Dangerous Life Of John McAfee (Showtime, 9 p.m., Saturday): Perhaps the most intriguing part of this documentary about the bizarrely improbable life of antivirus-software mogul McAfee—whose Colonel Kurtz-style sojourn in Central America saw him accused of murder, among other things—is whether Halt And Catch Fire is going to have Lee Pace’s McAfee-clone Joe MacMillan follow suit. It would be a bold choice, admittedly.
Premieres and finales
Longmire (Netflix, 3:01 a.m., Friday): As the fifth season of this crusty Wyoming Western series returns, we must all take the time to remind our dads how their Netflix works.
Transparent (Amazon, 3:01 a.m., Friday): Fresh off Emmy wins for creator Jill Soloway (for directing) and Jeffrey Tambor (for being Maura), and Tambor’s acceptance speech—calling for himself to be put out of a job with increased opportunities for transgender actors—this acclaimed sort-of comedy series returns for its third season.