White Collar closes its fifth season with a treasure hunt
Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Thursday, January 30. All times are Eastern.
TOP PICK
White Collar (USA, 9 p.m.): Tonight, the fifth season of White Collar draws to a close. We have been hoping against hope this whole time for White Collar to reboot itself, Archer-style, into a screwball comedy about a dry cleaners. Peter would be the gruff man behind the desk; Neal, the handsome, careless inheritor of a dry-cleaning fortune; Mozzie, the owner of the rival laundromat down the street; and Elizabeth, I don’t know, she could be everyone’s boss. But anyway, as lovely as this fantasy is, it’s not happening tonight. Instead, in “Diamond Exchange,” Neal and Peter run around looking for a treasure that is beneath New York City, which is not somewhere we have looked. Kenny Herzog will be extra-attentive the next time he’s on the subway.
ALSO NOTED:
The Big Bang Theory (CBS, 8 p.m.): Sheldon can’t get tickets to Comic-Con, so he stages one of his own. We’re alarmed to discover that Sheldon hasn’t been hosting his own comic-con in his apartment for the last nine seasons. Oliver Sava, what is this show about, anyway?
Parks And Recreation (NBC, 8:30 p.m.): Leslie throws a party for Ann and Chris, as the couple spends their last night in Pawnee. Everyone else tries to find a good going-away present. Alasdair Wilkins bought them a Snuggie. Michigan is cold, yo.
Saturday Night Live Presents a SNL Sports Spectacular: (NBC, 9 p.m.): SNL presents a clip show of a bunch of times in which they were funnier than they are now! Or at least, perhaps, more topically funny about sports, probably especially football. Seth Meyers hosts.
REGULAR COVERAGE
Community (NBC, 8 p.m.)
The Vampire Diaries (The CW, 8 p.m.)
Reign (The CW, 9 p.m.)
Rake (Fox, 9 p.m.)
Spoils Of Babylon (IFC, 10 p.m.)
Elementary (CBS, 10 p.m.):
ALSO IN THE A.V. CLUB
Molly Eichel takes a look at the much-promoed Lifetime original movie, The Gabby Douglas Story—and gives it a D+. Besides the fact that the film wastes the considerable talents of S. Epatha Merkerson, it also ignores how Douglas’ race factored into America’s perception of her:
It’s impossible to ignore that Douglas is a black woman competing in a sport that is predominantly white. Even while Douglas was a favored presence at the games, her race was an issue of discussion, ranging from NBC’s botched coverage of her time in London to arguments about her hair. Douglas has not been silent on the issue, either. In a 2012 interview with Oprah Winfrey, Douglas explains she felt so isolated because of the racism she experienced at her original Virginia Beach gym, it was one of the reasons for her move to Iowa.