Sexy Beasts says Happy Valentine’s Day with latex (Get your mind out of the gutter)
Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Friday, February 13, and Saturday, February 14. All times are Eastern.
Top pick
Sexy Beasts (A&E, 10 p.m., Saturday): Sexy singles get made up as monsters and go on blind dates in this remake of a British dating show intended to prove, categorically, that love is only expert monster mask-deep. Or that everyone involved is secretly a furry, one or the other. Snuggle in with your significant monster for four straight episodes of serious art, perhaps even entertainment.
Saturday Night Live (NBC, 11:30 p.m., Saturday): While Sunday’s big 40th Anniversary special will bring back memories (alongside a small army of SNL alums), Saturday’s the place to see where it all began with NBC re-broadcasting the very first Saturday Night Live ever from October 11, 1975. Of course, it was called NBC’s Saturday Night then (because Howard Cosell, of all people, had started a show called Saturday Night Live earlier in the year). Our SNL nerds would also like you to know: Inaugural host George Carlin (who later confessed to being coked out of his mind) refused to be in any sketches at the last minute, and dressed in a t-shirt and three-piece suit as a compromise with standards and practices. (He did drug and religion jokes that pissed them off anyway.) The Not Ready For Prime Time Players are barely in the show (and had to play the Bees, which infuriated John Belushi). Instead, there are two musical guests (Billy Preston! Janis Ian!), four monologues from Carlin, one monologue from standup comic Valri Bromfield, and Andy Kaufman lip-syncing to the Mighty Mouse theme. The show’s format is almost unrecognizable, SNL’s future unimaginable to a group of shockingly young performers and writers cranking out a ragged, rude, boldly ambitious little late night show no one expected to last a season. Plus Gilda’s there. Gilda should always be there.
Also noted
Bosch (Amazon, Friday): Warm up your computer-box for the premiere of this Amazon cop series starring the always-formidable Titus Welliver, and created by novelist Michael Connelly and The Wire’s Eric Overmyer. Look for The Wire alums Jamie Hector and Lance Reddick, too. Noel Murray checks in with a TV Review of the first four episodes.
Constantine (NBC, 8 p.m., Friday): It’s curtains for Constantine. While he may (or may not) survive his climactic battle with Papa Midnite for his soul, the pitiless axe of NBC sits poised to cut his tale short after this, the season—and most likely series—finale. Brandon Nowalk is on hand, as ever. But all he can do is watch—such is his tragic fate.
Glee (Fox, 9 p.m., Friday): Speaking of Brandon Nowalk’s tragic fate, he’s pulling double duty tonight, reviewing the sputtering last notes of Glee. At least last week brought Brandon some joy, him describing its triumphant gay marriage plot as “a neocon nightmare. It may also be a no-holds-barred gay-pride bacchanalia.” Tonight, Will teaches the school’s bullies about tolerance—because bullies always respond to musical theater.
12 Monkeys (Syfy, 9 p.m., Friday): In “The Night Room,” Cole finally finds the mysterious Night Room which promises the answers to all his time-traveling, plague-preventing problems. Emily L. Stephens hopes he’s not disappointed at what he finds:
Night Man – watch more funny videos
Banshee (Cinemax, 10 p.m., Friday): After debating the merits of the best-regarded episodes of this over-the-top Cinemax crime drama, Les Chappell concludes his review of last week’s “Tribal” with this: