Part one of Mad Men’s final season has to go out with a moonshot, right?
Here’s what’s up in the world of television for Sunday, May 25. All times are Eastern.
TOP PICK
Mad Men (AMC, 10 p.m.): Throughout their reviews of these first seven episodes of Mad Men’s final season, Todd VanDerWerff and Sonia Saraiya have held tight to one theory: That the Apollo 11 landing, a 20th century milestone placed smack dab in the middle of 1969, is going to provide the background for tonight’s midseason finale. Of course, setting an episode on July 20 wouldn’t split the year exactly in half—that’d be more accurately applied to late-June events like the Cuyahoga River catching fire or the Stonewall riots. But if Todd and Sonia will get a Mad Men moonshot before this half-season is out, even if they have to fake it, which would be an absolutely ludicrous thing to suggest
ALSO NOTED
Marvel’s Avengers Assemble (Disney XD, 8 a.m.): A season finale? On the precipice of summer? Marvel, you’re doing it all wrong—superheroes are for the summertime!
Blood Lake: Attack Of The Killer Lampreys (Animal Planet, 8 p.m.): Made-for-TV monster movies about the toothiest little freshwater critters aren’t necessary in a world where this photo exists. But this one has Christopher Lloyd, so we’ll let it slide.
The Normal Heart (HBO, 9 p.m.): Ryan Murphy adapted Larry Kramer’s autobiographical play about the early days of the 1980s AIDS crisis, but forgot to invite the wild stylist who made Nip/Tuck, Glee, and American Horror Story. You remember that guy? Ryan Murphy? Because surely he didn’t make the movie Brandon Nowalk calls “one long funeral procession.”
WHAT ELSE IS ON
Pacific Rim (HBO 2, 7:45 a.m.): With few exceptions (hello, Mad Men and The Normal Heart), Memorial Day weekend is one of the TV schedule’s traditional dead zones. In light of this, What’s On Tonight presents this all-day “movies on TV marathon,” beginning with the rock-’em, sock-’em kaiju of last summer’s city-stomping creature feature.