Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Friday, March 18 & Saturday, March 19. All times are Eastern.
Top pick
Pee-wee’s Big Holiday (Netflix, 3:01 a.m., Friday): Pee-wee’s back! While it’s been 28 years since Mr. Herman (“paging Mr. Herman”) graced the big screen, his new feature (co-written by Herman alter ego Paul Reubens and Love’s Paul Rust) finally comes… to Netflix. Okay, so maybe that’s not the biggest screen—although maybe you have a really enormous TV, we don’t know your life—but Pee-wee’s back and hitting the road again. This time, everyone’s favorite weirdo sets out on a cross-country trip in pursuit of his first ever vacation, running into the likes of Alia Shawkat, Joe Manganiello, Stephanie Beatriz, Jordan Black, David Arquette, and more along the way. And don’t forget about Caseen Gaines’ For Our Consideration about why our Pee-wee nostalgia is what Reubens, Rust, and producer Judd Apatow are counting on. Meanwhile, in his review, Erik Adams says “nostalgia-shmostalgia,” Pee-wee’s return stands just fine on its own, possibly on tippy-toes in platform shoes.
Marvel’s Daredevil (Netflix, 3:01 a.m., Friday): And here’s another guy in a funny suit running around on Netflix. Matt Murdock may have defeated Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin at the end of last season, but his Hell’s Kitchen is hardly out of the woods, as both The Punisher (The Walking Dead’s Jon Bernthal) and Elodie Yung’s Elektra show up to complicate his super-heroics. In his pre-air review, Dennis Perkins says this season ramps up the body count and the moral dilemmas (and takes a good swing at outdoing that famous hallway fight) and provides star Charlie Cox with a chance to show off some new moves, acting-wise, just as the now armored-up Daredevil tries out some new moves, kicking-wise. Reviewing-wise, Oliver Sava’s back doing twice-weekly reviews, while Caoline Siede’s got her eyes propped open for the big weekend binge-watch.
Also noted
The Characters (Netflix): Dennis Perkins’ reviews of this comedy anthology series conclude with one each on Friday (Tim Robinson’s) and Saturday (Dr. Brown’s).
House Of Cards (Netflix): Scott Von Doviak reviews episodes eight and nine of this fourth season on Friday. SPOILER: Frank Underwood may not be on the up-and-up.
Sleepy Hollow (Fox, 8 p.m., Friday): “A surprise supernatural event forces Abby and Ichabod to ally themselves with their natural enemies.” Wait, a “supernatural event?” Way to spoil things, Sleepy Hollow synopsis writers, jeez. But seriously, Zack Handlen’s almost certain that this show is about supernatural things on a weekly basis. He’ll review this one and get back to you.
Grimm (NBC, 9 p.m., Friday): Monster Mexican wrestlers? Monster luchadores! Les Chappell will, as ever, be on hand to revie—What!? Les Chappell has just been knocked out with a steel chair by LaToya Ferguson! Now she’s claiming the review! But… my God, that’s Kyle Fowle’s music! This is going to be one slobberknoker of a review the likes of which The A.V. Club has never seen!
Childrens Hospital (Adult Swim, 11 p.m., Friday): It’s an episode called “Childrens Horsepital,” so, yeah, the Chief hides a champion racehorse in the hospital. LaToya Ferguson’s sure that, with that plot, someone’s getting surgical gloves glued to his hands and someone else gets into a tug-of-war with her old college barbershop quartet. Let’s just check that out—whoa, yup. Latoya nailed it once again.