Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Tuesday, January 19. All times are Eastern.
Top pick
Marvel’s Agent Carter (ABC, 9 p.m.): One of the more delightful parts of Marvel’s conquest of the media landscape returns tonight, as Hayley Atwell is on hand to do some post-war crime-fighting and flawed but generally worthwhile upending of traditional gender norms. The first episode picks up with Peggy having moved to Los Angeles as she begins investigating the mysterious murder of a body that glow and gives off cold. Looking into this could somehow lead to “ramifications that could wreck her career and impact those who are near and dear to her,” so this must be one hell of a glowing, cold-emanating corpse. Oliver Sava is on hand to sort this all out.
Also noted
The Flash (The CW, 8 p.m.): The show returns from its winter hiatus with Barry considering whether to tell his girlfriend Patty that he’s the Flash. Which, obviously, go do that, Barry! Literally every character in both Arrow and The Flash gets so much more interesting the second they learn the main character’s secret identity. Scott Von Doviak can’t see any downside, frankly, though he’s a bit concerned about the team going after “a meta-human who can slow time itself.”
New Girl (Fox, 8 p.m.): Tonight’s episode readies Jess for her jury duty-caused, Zooey Deschanel pregnancy-accommodating absence, as she loses her excitement for jury duty as soon as she learns she might miss out on a promotion. Also, apparently “Nick hits the ceiling over the mess Cece’s made of the loft,” which we only really mention because … is “hit the ceiling” really a thing people say? We knew about “hit the roof,” but we weren’t aware of that variant. Erik Adams guesses it’s true what they say: You learn something new every day.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine (Fox, 9 p.m.): Among other plotlines tonight, Terry has to clean up Hitchcock and Scully’s mess. We can only hope that that’s a figurative rather than literal mess, but really, either way … LaToya Ferguson asks us all to pray for Terry. Hell, we’re atheist, and we’re still prepared to give it a shot for a cause this desperate.
Regular coverage
Grandfathered (Fox, 8:30 p.m.)
The Grinder (Fox, 9:30 p.m.)
Girlfriends’ Guide To Divorce (Bravo, 10 p.m.)
Hey, look, we didn’t forget about The Expanse!
The Expanse (Syfy, 10 p.m.): This now brings the number of consecutive weeks we didn’t forget about The Expanse to … one. One week in a row of not forgetting The Expanse is airing. Good job, us!
Elsewhere in TV Club
We’ve got a couple TV reviews, as Gwen Ihnat looks at the bloated sorta-fun of DC’s Legends Of Tomorrow, while Allison Shoemaker has more positive thoughts about the Zack Galifianakis cringe-comedy Baskets.
What else is on?
Marvel’s Captain America: 75 Heroic Years (ABC, 8 p.m.): It’s Captain America’s 75th anniversary, which is, as these things go, a pretty decent excuse for airing an hour-long, glorified hype video for the upcoming Captain America: Civil War, plus the various ABC Marvel shows. Chris Evans, Hayley Atwell, Stan Lee, a bunch of Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. cast members, and a few more Marvel creative types should be putting in appearances.
DC’s Legends Of Tomorrow/DC Films Presents: Dawn Of The Justice League (The CW, 9 p.m./9:30 p.m.): So it’s apparently superhero informercial night, as The CW is also airing glorified ads for upcoming DC Comics adaptations. The first half-hour looks at the latest Arrow and The Flash spin-off Legends Of Tomorrow, premiering this Thursday. The second special has Kevin Smith hosting a behind-the-scenes look at Batman V. Superman: Dawn Of Justice, Wonder Woman, and supposedly Suicide Squad, though not if the listed interviews have anything to say about it: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Zack Snyder, and Patty Jenkins are all named, but nobody to do with Suicide Squad. But however shall we learn about Jared Leto’s process!?
Bonnie & Clyde: American Experience (PBS, 9 p.m.): This documentary looks at the now notorious Depression-era outlaws, though it sounds like part of what this special is going to explore is the fact that nobody really knew about them for much of their crime spree, which should be interesting.
Frontline (PBS, 10 p.m.): Tonight’s latest piece of journalistic excellence is looking at a slightly off-beat topic, at least by Frontline’s usual hard-hitting geopolitical standards, as the show examines the dangers of vitamins and supplements and the issues with their marketing and regulation.
Total Divas (E!, 9 p.m.): The new season of the WWE tie-in reality show—albeit not kayfabe, if our quick Google search is to be believed—puts the spotlight on the Bella twins and their significant others, which means this show could be everyone’s best chance to see the injured John Cena and the very, very injured (or maybe not at all, depending on who you ask!) Daniel Bryan in a wrestling context for the foreseeable future.
Just Jillian (E!, 10 p.m.): Oh look, a Jillian Michaels globetrotting reality show! The premiere sees her traveling to the U.K. and then home to Los Angeles, so expect to see her scream at Big Ben and the La Brea tar pits to shape up and stop being fat, because that’s helpful.
Mine Hunters (National Geographic, 10 p.m.): This new show about people hunting for things in mines—as opposed to, like, hunting actual mines, which is technically what the title indicates, if we’re being pedantic, and you damn well know we are—sees a group of strangers headed to Colombia to find gems.
Fit 2 Fat 2 Fit (A&E, 10 p.m.): This is about a dude losing weight or something. We’re mostly just noting this one because that title is so gloriously stupid. It’s like the logical endpoint of what 2 Fast 2 Furious started 13 years ago.
Desperate Hours/Meet Joe Black (Flix, 8 p.m./10 p.m.): If you want to see two of the very, very many movies in which the enormously talented Anthony Hopkins just kind of showed up and got paid, look no further. These were also the second-to-last films Michael Cimino and Martin Brest directed—the latter followed Meet Joe Black with Gigli—so if these aren’t exactly career killers, they’re certainly career wounders.
22 Jump Street (Starz, 9 p.m.): We’ve noted the greatness of this film before, but this is a movie that we feel would appreciate a little redundancy here and there. We would say this is the superior of the two Jump Street movies, for whatever this one loses in not having the charming Brie Larson in the cast, it gains back by not making the audience ask, “Wait, is the very adult Jonah Hill’s love interest really meant to be a high schooler, even if it is one played by the charming Brie Larson?”
Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (Sundance, 9:50 p.m.): This would be our pick for the better of the two Kill Bills, not that you’re really going to go far wrong with either of them. Ne’er-do-well Michael Madsen almost succeeding where everyone else utterly failed is always a hoot.
Face/Off (Cinemax, 10 p.m.): This is probably John Woo’s best American film, right? We’re mostly just noting this because it’s really funny, but this movie has a 92 percent “fresh” rating at Rotten Tomatoes. That’s better than the rating for 1997’s Best Picture winner, Titanic. Hell, 92 percent is the same rating as Saving Private Ryan and The Seventh bleeping Seal. (And yes, we’re the first to rant about how silly the Rotten Tomatoes methodology is as any sort of judge of a film’s quality. We’re just amused by this.) Anyway, the point is, this movie has Nicolas Cage and John Travolta swapping faces and attempting to out-crazy each other—and we’re pretty sure Travolta is the winner!—and doves just flying around everywhere. This is peak John Woo, basically.
Australian Open: Second-round play (ESPN2, 9 p.m.): This is running until three in the damn morning, so this is perfect insomniac viewing, especially since the time difference means it’s all happening under the bright Australian sun.
In case you missed it AKA the Tuesday Morning Random Wrestling Corner
WWE Monday Night Raw: It feels like it’s been kind of a rough start to 2016. Let’s take our minds off all the sadness by watching one of our most beloved movie stars and one of our most eloquent memoirists beat the crap out of each other.