Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Friday, July 29 and Saturday, July 30. All times are Eastern.
Top picks
Tallulah (Netflix, 3:01 a.m., Friday): Ellen Page and Allison Janney star in this indie dramedy making its debut on Netflix. Page is one of those “free spirits” (paging Nathan Rabin) who decides that she’d be a better mother to a neglected infant than the child’s irresponsible mom, and steals the kid. Passing the child off as the result of her relationship with an ex-boyfriend, she shows up on the doorstep of her ex’s mom (Janney), explaining that the baby is Janney’s grandchild. (Conveniently, Janney is estranged from her son, allowing for all manner of misunderstandings before she gets around to giving the guy a call.) Decent reviews all around for this film from writer-director Sian Heder (Orange Is The New Black), and Page and Janney should certainly have teamwork enough to raise a child at this point, having already worked together in both Juno and Touchy Feely.
The Great British Baking Show (PBS, 9 and 10 p.m., Friday): The amateur bakers have to take on Victorian delicacies and patisserie in these back-to-back episodes. Check out Kate Kulzick’s deliciously insightful For Our Consideration for a Paul Hollywood/Mary Berry-esque dissection of just why this cooking competition show should be your Friday night feel-good reservation. Or just tune in if you like looking at cake.
Sharknado and Sharknado 2: The Second One (Syfy, 7 and 9 p.m., Saturday): Syfy’s going all-in with this whole “sharks in unlikely places” thing, having proclaimed the seven days leading up to Sunday’s premiere of (sigh) Sharknado 4: The 4th Awakens, “Sharknado Week.” (Sadly, if you’re reading this, you already missed Atomic Shark, Dam Sharks!, Ice Sharks, Planet Of The Sharks, and, yes, Ozark Sharks.) Look, we’re all to blame here, people, what with our hashtags and our postmodern, ironic appreciation of the deliberately terrible. We have reaped the Sharknado, friends.
Stride Gum Presents Heaven Sent (Fox, 8 p.m., Saturday): In this week’s example of “please don’t do this, we can find other ways to entertain ourselves without someone dying” programming, a skydiver and stunt man jumps out of a plane without a parachute. But don’t worry, it’s only from… 25,000 feet?! C’mon, dude—we can watch literally anything else. The 42-year-old husband and father (c’mon, dude) claims that, using only air currents and whatnot, he will not be horrifically killed while advertising some sort of “extreme” chewing gum product, but will instead waft gently to Earth, presumably before unwrapping said chewing gum product with hands not horribly crushed and mangled. So, good luck. Buy a particular brand of gum!