Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Sunday, October 18th. All times are Eastern.
Top pick
Bob’s Burgers (Fox, 9 p.m): As Fox’s first scripted comedy on Sunday nights, Bob’s Burgers is always the most in danger of being steamrolled by an overrunning football game or baseball playoffs. This week however the Belchers are getting a promotion to the coveted Family Guy time slot, and in further good news are getting that bump in time for Halloween. The chaos, sugar high, and fantasy elements of the holiday bring out the best in the anarchic and imaginative Bob’s Burgers writers’ room, with its prior Halloween episodes “Full Bars,” “Fort Night,” and “Tina And The Real Ghost” clear standouts in their respective seasons. And with a visit to a haunted house on the agenda for this evening as the family attempts to scare the normally unflappable Louise, Alasdair Wilkins is clutching his trick-or-treat bag with the highest expectations.
Also noted
The Simpsons (Fox, 8 p.m): Speaking of Halloween episodes, The Simpsons’s annual Treehouse of Horror is still a week away, but Springfield is getting a head start on the holiday as Homer and Lisa find themselves under siege by a mob of haunted house employees who’ve lost their jobs thanks to Homer. Also besieging the Simpson home is Dennis Perkins, though that siege is mostly because he can’t remember the last time the writers felt like they gave a shit.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine (Fox, 8:30 p.m.): Maybe it’s the proximity to Halloween but the description of tonight’s episode makes everything about it seem terrifying. “Jake enlists Holt’s help to investigate a serial killer. Rosa and Amy are forced to comply with an old adversary’s demands. Terry finds a new obsession.” Every one of these plots feels like it could be leading to a horrifying conclusion that kills at least one detective, which (assuming it’s presented in a standalone manner) LaToya Ferguson would be on board with. Fingers crossed that the last shot of the episode is the reveal that Terry loves murder.
The Walking Dead (AMC, 9 p.m.): Last week’s season premiere compensated for Fear The Walking Dead’s lack of zombie mayhem by including all the zombie mayhem, and more walkers than Morgan could shake his stick at. Tonight’s focus switches back to the group at Alexandria, who now find the horde coming their way with all their best fighters out of town. Zack Handlen is hoping in the midst of the chaos we also find out what happened to that missing peanut butter energy bar.
The Leftovers (HBO, 9 p.m.): The show checks in with Laurie and Tom this week, who are licking their wounds after failing to find what they were looking for in the Guilty Remnant and Holy Wayne respectively. Joshua Alston feels their pain: he tried a two-week stint with the Movementarians back in the day, and lima bean farming just didn’t provide the fulfillment he was promised.
The Good Wife (CBS, 9:30 p.m.): Stockard Channing returns tonight as Alicia’s mother Veronica, as Eli tries to persuade the two to boost Peter’s campaign by participating in a mother/daughter cooking show. This sounds so delightful—and the Lockhart, Agos, and Lee stuff feels so pointless this year—that Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya is hoping the legal plots are jettisoned this week and the entire episode is presented as just the cooking show, Queen Of Jordan-style.
The Last Man On Earth (Fox, 9:30 p.m.): It’s been a rocky road back to acceptance for Phil from the Tuscon/Malibu crew, but evidently tonight he redeems himself “in an uncharacteristically heroic way.” Vikram Murthi assumes Phil’s characteristically heroic way would be soiling himself as a defense mechanism.
The Affair (Showtime, 10 p.m.): “Alison discovers a surprising truth about how to sustain a marriage.” Hey Allison, Carrie Raisler has a surprising truth for you about sustaining your marriage: Don’t have an affair!
Regular coverage
Once Upon A Time (ABC, 8 p.m.)