Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Tuesday, December 29. All times are Eastern.
Top pick
Girlfriends’ Guide To Divorce (Bravo, 10 p.m.): As 2015 rushes forward to a much-needed conclusion, we’re left with precious few shows to accompany us into the new year. So why not let Lisa Edelstein and Girlfriends’ Guide To Divorce ferry you to 2016 with an episode all about a 1990s-themed prom? That’s just the kind of temporally illogical tribute 2015 would want us to give it. Anyway, this show is coming off a series-best episode all about the (re)failure of Abby’s marriage, so now is as good a time as any to give this one a try. Gwen Ihnat will be around later to unpack the show’s considerable charms.
Regular coverage
The Expanse (Syfy, 10 p.m.): Why did no one inform us that Space Detective Tom Jane is wearing such an awesome Space Detective Hat? That is the kind of Space Detective Hat that only the most serious Space Detective Tom Janes would wear. Say, do you think that hat is the great-great-great-grandhat of Maria Bello’s Prime Suspect Hat? Zack Handlen will admit this would explain its impeccable crime-solving acumen.
Jessica Jones (Netflix): Oliver Sava is in his final week of working through Jessica Jones, as tonight he turns his attentions to the season’s penultimate episode. While the show has some bumpy moments toward the end, at least today’s episode does have plenty of Luke Cage, and we’re going to go on record as saying that’s a good thing. That early-season bar fight in which Luke looked so utterly bored remains one of the funniest things we’ve seen all year.
What else is on?
King Of The Hill (adult swim, 8 p.m.): While tonight’s King Of The Hill rerun isn’t the New Year’s-themed—and pretty much perfect—“Hillennium,” this one is just as good, as Peggy takes on an unapologetically sexist, Alan Rickman-voiced king at the Renaissance Faire. But, as Hank would be quick to point out in the guy’s defense, he does have some seriously robust propane needs. It’s important to hear both sides with these things, you know?
Kennedy Center Honors (ABC, 9 p.m.): This year list of honorees includes singer Carole King, actress Cicely Tyson, EGOT winner Rita Moreno, conductor Seiji Ozawa, and George Lucas, which figures to be the interesting one, in that we can easily imagine a tribute to the cinematic achievements of George Lucas—especially right after the release of a generally acclaimed Star Wars movie he had pretty much nothing to do with—being ever so slightly awkward. Or maybe this will just be the THX-1138 tribute we’ve been waiting lo these many decades for
All The Best, All The Worst 2015 (CNN, 9 p.m.): Wait, there were “best” things that happened in 2015? That does not sound like the 2015 we remember. (Well, we guess the Golden State Warriors were fun. But everything else … woah nelly.)
Almost Genius (truTV, 10 p.m.): For anyone wondering what kind of show randomly premieres on New Year’s Eve Eve Eve (what, that’s not what you call December 29?), it’s apparently a comedy about people trying crazy things and not quite succeeding. Tonight’s episode features “pole dancing in India and a unique way to put on pants,” which we really hope is something to do with this.
Edge Of Tomorrow (Cinemax, 8:05 p.m.): Two of our random favorite movies are airing tonight, so while we’ve definitely featured both of these before, how better to close out our 2015 What’s On Tonight duties than by spotlighting these? First up, this terrific time travel action caper with Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt, which features the latter being badass and the former being badass and horribly killed countless times. So, something here for all possible kinds of moviegoers, is what we’re saying.
Super Troopers (MovieMax, 9 p.m.): And second, one of the all-time great dumb comedies. The fact that Broken Lizard has never really come close to recapturing the stupid genius of this comedy only adds to the fun of this one, though we’re still willing to get unreasonably optimistic about that sequel. Surely Vermont state troopers are just Broken Lizard’s muse!
Russell Athletic Bowl: North Carolina Tar Heels at Baylor Bears (ESPN, 5:30 p.m.): This game matches up a pair of teams whose season-long arcs pointed in very different directions, as Baylor went from perennial championship contender to ridiculously injured also-ran while UNC went from just another ACC mediocrity that vomited up a season-opening loss to South Carolina to a super fun offensive juggernaut that reeled off 11 straight wins and came damn close to handing Clemson its first loss of the season. Assuming Baylor has healed up at all in the interim, this one ought to be fun.
Texas Bowl: LSU vs. Texas Tech (ESPN, 9 p.m.): Meanwhile, the Texas Bowl pits the most handsomely coached team in college sports—for those not in the know, Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury is basically Ryan Gosling moonlighting as a football coach—against the most chaotically coached one, as the grass-chomping, nonsensically orating Les Miles leads the LSU Tigers for the first time after surviving a failed coup, which is pretty much the most Louisiana thing imaginable.
In case you missed it AKA one last wrestling video for 2015
WWE Monday Night Raw: We realize we’re just one aspect of the larger What’s On Tonight gestalt, and that we’ll be back next Tuesday with another installment, so it’s weird to treat this as any kind of special occasion. But it’s our last What’s On Tonight for 2015, and so we’ll just quickly say we’ve had a ton of fun writing these little absurdist TV listings every week that most of you just immediately skip over to find out what happened on Jeopardy! (which we get and respect, for the record). And part of what’s made this so fun is getting to share a bunch of random wrestling videos with you all, for no particular reason beyond our latter-day discovery that pro wrestling is kind of awesome. So let’s close out 2015 with the WWE’s lovely tribute to one of the all-time legends who died this year.