Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Friday, January 15, and Saturday, January 16. All times are Eastern.
Top pick
Saturday Night Live (NBC, 11:30 p.m., Saturday): There are lots of reasons to get excited about an upcoming SNL—a legendary actor, a beloved former cast member, a great standup—but sometimes it’s the announcement of a host who is the last person you imagine would ever host SNL. On that note—Girls and Star Wars: The Force Awakens star Adam Driver is hosting, and Dennis Perkins genuinely has no idea what is going to happen. (He’s pretty excited, though.) Country-bluegrass musician Chris Stapleton is the musical guest.
Also noted
Reign (CW, 8 p.m., Friday): Elizabeth makes a shocking discovery, Mary has some serious suspicions, and there’s yet another unwanted marriage on this period drama about how reigning is not a barrel of monkeys. Genevieve Valentine suggests that there are some monkeys, but, no, probably not a barrel-full.
Elsewhere in TV club
Will Harris scores another great character actor for this week’s Random Roles, asking Fred Melamed about playing mellifluously improbable philanderers in things like A Serious Man and Casual (and a lot of other stuff on his expansive IMDb page). Then, in this week’s AVQ&A, your favorite AV Clubbers reveal the pop culture that inspired them to actually get up off their butts and try to make a difference in the world other than write reviews of it. Pilot Viruet heads north next as, in her TV Club 10 feature, she examines Degrassi’s top ten “very special episodes,” which means they are the most special special episodes of all time. (Just in time for the new season of Degrassi: Next Class to premiere on Friday! We cannot, however, confirm that any of these episodes will be in any way special.) Erik Adams chimes in with his pre-air TV Review of the new Rashida Jones cop comedy Angie Tribeca. Finally, Danette Chavez kicks off a week of extreme weather-themed, television-only Watch This series, checking out the time the Golden Girls got stuck dealing with a hurricane for two whole episodes.
What else is on
Degrassi: Next Class (Netflix, 3:01 a.m., Friday): Season 15 begins. And let’s just get this out of the way—if you’re going to make lame Canadian accent jokes, it’s not “aboot.” The actual sound is more akin to “aboat.” If we’re gonna make fun of our neighbors, at least let’s do it right, eh? (Dammit!)
Undateable (NBC, 8 p.m., Friday): “It’s live! That makes it good!”—NBC’s marketing strategy for this season of Undateable.
MasterChef Junior (Fox, 8 p.m., Friday): The kid chefs are brought to Gordon Ramsey’s house to make their latest dishes, once again raising their suspicions that this whole show is just a way for Ramsay to assemble an army of child chef servants on Fox’s dime.
Undercover Boss (CBS, 8 p.m., Friday): A CEO has to change a light bulb—high over Chicago. Which, you know, his employees will have to continue to do every day of their lives once he goes back to his CEO-type office. Where someone will change his lightbulbs for him.