Return of the Liars who are Pretty, Little

By Erik Adams  |  June 10, 2014 | 5:00am
Aux Features Fargo

Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for June 10. All times are Eastern.

TOP PICK

Pretty Little Liars (ABC Family, 8 p.m.): Five seasons and approximately a million plot twists later, ABC Family’s signature program continues apace—its central mystery a wee bit tortured, its stars slowly but surely aging out of this kind of thing. But PLL is ready for that kind of maturity: The show celebrates its 100th episode this year, and it’s gone ahead and revived the dead friend that got this whole mess started, because a show its age shouldn’t string its viewers along anymore. The A.V. Club’s attempt to get its readership interested in this show also continues apace, turning now to LaToya Ferguson, who’d be annotating the show anyway. We bet she saw Alison’s resurrection coming from a mile away.

ALSO NOTED

Chasing Life (ABC Family, 9 p.m): The network’s newest offering has timing on its side: It has a cushy lead-in from Pretty Little Liars, and it’s debuting the Tuesday after America fell in love with cancer all over again. Carrie Raisler has pre-air thoughts, none of which involve the hilariously overwrought promos in which star Italia Ricci runs full sprint from a disease that, judging by The Fault In Our Stars’ box office receipts, is about to make her a whole lot more popular.

Fargo (FX, 10 p.m.): And now it’s time for What’s On Tonight’s new, weekly series, “What’s Up With Pepper And Budge?” Still in that file room, gentlemen? Okay! Join us, Todd VanDerWerff, and Zack Handlen next week for the second and final installment of “What’s Up With Pepper And Budge?”

TV CLUB CLASSIC

The Shield (11 a.m.): In all the excitement of TV Club Classic premiere week, What’s On Tonight neglected to mention that Brandon Nowalk’s reviews of The Shield have reached the point at which Glenn Close is on the show. What’s On Tonight regrets this error, and apologizes to Brandon and American treasure Glenn Close.

WHAT ELSE IS ON THAT’S PRETTY

Royal Pains (USA, 9 p.m.): USA’s summer series about the rich and good looking (and the rich, good looking doctors who keep them that way) begins its sixth season in the Hamptons.

Inside U.S. Soccer’s March To Brazil (ESPN, 7:30 p.m.): They still call it the beautiful game, even though New York Times Magazine’s notorious “Boys Of Soccer” photo spread is 12 years behind the national squad.

WHAT ELSE IS ON THAT’S LITTLE

American Ninja Warrior (Esquire, 8 p.m.): Your chances of ever completing the Ninja Warrior obstacle course, that’s what.

Kindergarten Cop (CMT, 8 p.m.): Also little: The students who serve to enrich Detective John Kimball’s life (and provide him with clues) while Arnold Schwarzenegger attempts to serve and protect.

WHAT ELSE IS ON THAT’S A LIAR

Little Women L.A. (Lifetime, 9 p.m.): This is not a Los Angeles-based update of a Louisa May Alcott novel—it’s about little people living in L.A.

Dave (TVGN, 10 p.m.): Kevin Kline is not the U.S. president in this 1993 comedy—he just looks like him!

NEW ON HOME VIDEO

For anyone who hasn’t caught up with the show via HBO Go (or other, ahem, means), here’s your chance to catch up with True Detective. And just in time for Emmy voting! What convenient timing! (Though convenience is an illusion that mind teaches itself to reconcile with occurrences that are too close together and/or too good to be true. But what’s truth, anyway? Really just a combination of societal rules about what’s “right” tangled up with neurochemicals rewarding us with false feelings of satisfication—which is probably something The Yellow King invented anyway.)

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Peep Show: Like Glenn Close’s arrival at The Barn, we forgot to note the return of Peep Show reviews last week. Phil Dyess-Nugent is back in Mark’s and Jez’s heads, in a valiant effort to catch up with the latest season when it debuts stateside (and also because Jez’s head is a fun place to hang out for 60 minutes every week.

 
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