Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Friday, November 18, and Saturday, November 19. All times are Eastern.
TOP PICK
A Gifted Man (CBS, 8 p.m., Friday): This is probably the last time we’ll ever cover this show, but we’re glad that someone in the production offices took a look at what they were paying for actors every week, said, “Hey, wait a second…” and realized they were giving Emmy winner Margo Martindale lots of money to stand around and not do a whole lot. Anyway, this episode appears to be something of a showcase for Ms. Martindale, plus it’s a Thanksgiving episode. So, of course, Todd VanDerWerff, sucker for holidays, is going to cover it before abandoning the show. (Frank Fisticuffs bids you a fond farewell.)
REGULAR COVERAGE
Late night round-up (6 p.m., Friday): Steve Heisler’s been watching a week of Late Show With David Letterman, and he’ll be happy to have you stop by and talk about it, in the second week of our new feature that collects tales from the late-night talking fellows.
Batman: The Brave And The Bold (Cartoon Network, 7 p.m., Friday): Cartoon Network has been slowly burning off the few remaining episodes of this series, and Simon Abrams marks its passing today, as he watches the series finale, “Mitefall!”
Chuck (NBC, 8 p.m., Friday): David Koechner guest stars in an episode that sends Chuck and Sarah to a Buy More sales convention where an assassin lurks. An assassin? Sounds like the 2007 American Copy Editors Society convention, are we right, fellow attendees? Ryan McGee is not a TV Club assassin.
Fringe (Fox, 9 p.m., Friday): Noel Murray checks out the fall finale of everybody’s favorite weird science fiction show. Tonight, the team investigates a genetic disorder that turns people pale white, and there’s probably some sort of hideously offensive joke we could make here, but we don’t think we will.
Grimm (NBC, 9 p.m., Friday): Kevin McFarland has but one question: When is this show going to do a damn episode about “The Mouse, The Bird, And The Sausage.” We like mice. We like birds. We definitely like sausages. This show is falling down on the job. (And, yes, we have a million obscure fairy tale jokes.)
Supernatural (The CW, 9 p.m., Friday): Sounds like this show is finally getting around to the Jersey Devil, and we say it’s about damn time. Doesn’t the Jersey Devil have, like, the feet of a goat, the wings of a bat, and the head of a fish or something? Zack Handlen’s from Maine, so he wouldn’t know.
Boss (Starz, 10 p.m., Friday): Long buried information comes to light, and the Kane camp tries to bury it again. We can only assume that the tapes of the mayor’s old call-in show have surfaced, and Meredith Blake will have to listen to them. (We have more Frasier jokes! We’re not afraid to use them!)
Saturday Night Live (NBC, 11:30 p.m., Saturday): Jason Segel is the guest host, and we’re going to bet anything that he’ll bring along some Muppets to hang out with him. David Sims is hoping that Lew Zealand is on the docket, because David Sims loves Lew Zealand.
TV CLUB CLASSIC
Veronica Mars (11 a.m., Friday): Rowan Kaiser’s a little ways into the second season by now, so he’s breaking out the power rankings to try to determine who the Big Bad might be. We know you’re avoiding spoilers, Rowan, but you can probably find the answers on Wikipedia. Pro-tip.
The Adventures Of Pete And Pete (3 p.m., Friday): There’s a pay phone. It’s been ringing for 27 years. Little Pete decides to pick up the phone and find out who’s on the other end. And it’s Marah Eakin! (Man, this season has a lot of great episodes of TV.)
The Twilight Zone (1 p.m., Saturday): There are monsters? They’re on Maple Street? When, exactly, would you say they’ll be arriving? Saturday? Cool. Todd VanDerWerff can probably deal with that then, but right now, he’s writing What’s On Tonight, so he can’t handle your monster shit.
Cowboy Bebop (3 p.m., Saturday): This show has one of the greatest theme songs of all time, but we prefer our own version, which is mostly just us caterwauling “COOOOOOWBOOOOOYYY BEEEEEBOP!” as loudly as we can, while Simon Abrams accompanies on the musical spoons.
WHAT ELSE IS ON
Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Cartoon Network, 8 p.m., Friday): Every so often, one of you will e-mail us and say, “Why don’t you cover this show?” The answer is, “None of us watches this show.” But use the comments section here to convince us we should!
Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys (Sundance, 9 p.m., Friday): This show is back, and we won’t be reviewing it, although we still remember when one of the people who starred on the show came to tell us in comments last year how the show didn’t represent his friend terribly well.
Kelly Clarkson Unplugged (VH1, 11 p.m., Friday): Kelly Clarkson is still around, and she’s got enough songs to do an Unplugged concert special. But, really, we’d be totally cool if she just performed “Since U Been Gone” in 15 or 16 different styles, including zydeco.
A Christmas Wedding Tail (Hallmark, 6 p.m., Saturday): Have you ever wanted to see Look Who’s Talking, only with dogs, but you didn’t want it to be Look Who’s Talking Now, and you wanted it to be set at Christmas? Well, we might have a movie for you.
Jodie Picoult’s Salem Falls (Lifetime, 8 p.m., Saturday): James “The Beek” VanderBeek gets involved in a good old-fashioned witch hunt. And by that, we mean that a bunch of Wiccans are hunting him for something he did. We guess that’s supposed to be ironic or something.
Donald Glover: Weirdo (Comedy Central, 11 p.m., Saturday): Donald Glover is everybody’s favorite guy right now, what with the Community and his new album and all of that. So why not check out his stand-up special, if you’re sitting at home alone for some reason?
Four Lions (Showtime, 7:30 p.m., Friday): Haven’t seen this dark comedy about a terrorist cell filled with bumbling, hapless guys who couldn’t manage an attack even if they tried? Then you’re missing out. It’s one of the funniest movies of the last several years. Check it out.
A Man Called Peter (TCM, 10 p.m., Friday): TCM’s spending the night on a Richard Todd marathon, so if you haven’t seen the greatest movie ever made about a Capitol chaplain, well, here’s the perfect opportunity to check it out. (Are there other movies about Capitol chaplains? Probably not.)
Splendor In The Grass (TCM, 8 p.m., Saturday): Warren Beatty made his screen debut opposite Natalie Wood in this Elia Kazan-directed version of the script by playwright William Inge of young lovers doin’ what young lovers do. Which is mostly stare misty-eyed at each other.
President’s Cup Golf: Day 3 in Melbourne (Golf Channel, 3 p.m., Friday): We keep feeling bad about always going with team sports here, so we thought we’d recommend you watch some golf, with a 12-man U.S. team taking on an international squad. Then we saw it was 660 minutes long.
College Football: LSU at Mississippi (ESPN, 7 p.m., Saturday): These two teams have met each other 100 times now, and we’re willing to bet that not a single one of those times has been a game that lasted 660 minutes. Because that’s insane. You golf fans need to calm down.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Community (Thursday): Everybody’s all “Save Community” this and “Save Community” that. But that means we’re all ignoring how this was a terrific episode of television about the Dean trying to produce a commercial. Todd VanDerWerff has the rundown and all the pretentious blather you could ever need.