Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Tuesday, March 1. All times are Eastern.
Top pick
Marvel’s Agent Carter (ABC, 9 p.m.): Between the show’s near non-existent ratings and Hayley Atwell already agreeing to play someone named Carter on some other show, there’s a really good chance that this second season finale is also the series finale. Which, yes, is a total bummer, given how terrific Atwell is (in this specifically, but also just generally) and how immediately this show knew just what it wanted to be (yes, Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D., that shot was directed at you). But we’re always of the opinion that any seriously low-rated show getting past a first season is cause for celebration, and it’s best just to enjoy the time we do get. So, yes, let’s join Oliver Sava for what may well be the last time, as he reports in on Peggy Carter and Howard Stark’s dangerous mission and last-ditch effort to get rid of Zero Matter.
Also Noted: Season Finales Edition
The Muppets (ABC, 8 p.m.): Oh, right, yep, this season is ending too, with The Muppets bowing out in a one-hour special. Again, cancellation is looking not unlikely for this show. We’ve already made our reservations with this whole thing pretty clear, so we won’t pile on. Just know that, if this is the end, this show intends to die as it lived—by dragging in someone like Jack White (in this case, Jack White) to give Kermit relationship advice. Dan Caffrey might have had it another way a couple months back, but at this point, sure, he wouldn’t have it any other way.
The Shannara Chronicles (MTV, 10 p.m.): It’s the first season finale, and let us tell you this much: This is not a show that you can ignore for an entire season and then expect to be able to fake your way through an explanatory blurb. We mean, just look at this: “In the Season 1 finale, Wil and Amberle race to reach the Ellcrys while Allanon and Ander lead the Elvin army into battle against the Dagda Mor and his demon horde.” We understand a few of the component words in that sentence, but, nah, we’re totally lost. We miss iZombie. Now there’s a show a What’s On Tonight correspondent can bluff his way through. Anyway, Dan Caffrey is also reviewing this, because Dan Caffrey is every-damn-where.
Regular coverage
New Girl (Fox, 8 p.m.)
Grandfathered (Fox, 8:30 p.m.)
Brooklyn Nine-Nine (Fox, 9 p.m.)
The Grinder (Fox, 9:30 p.m.)
American Crime Story: The People Vs. O.J. Simpson (FX, 10 p.m.)
What else is on?
Super Tuesday Coverage (Basically every network and news channel, 10 p.m.): In case you’re wondering what precisely unleashes the demonic, post-apocalyptic world of The Shannara Chronicles … well, this is airing opposite it at 10 p.m.
NCIS (CBS, 8 p.m.): “The NCIS agents’ personal plans are interrupted when each of them catches errors in a seemingly cut-and-dry closed case.” Hmm, it feels like NCIS is seriously playing with fire if it’s going to start calling attention to errors, logical issues, and other implausibilities in its cases. We’re officially now waiting for one of the characters to have a moment of horrible, world-shattering realization, whispering, “Wait, almost none of this has anything to do with the Navy.”
NCIS: New Orleans (CBS, 9 p.m.): Ah, but what of NCIS: Big Ol’ Pot Of Gumbo? Well then: “The team must protect a local DJ from a threatening perpetrator as they investigate the murder of a Navy captain who was attacked while on-air with his radio show.” We weren’t aware New Orleans talk radio is mostly interviews with Navy captains, but sure, that feels like a perfectly believable bit of world-building.
Finding Your Roots With Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (PBS, 8 p.m.): On tap this week are actress Julianna Marguiles, author Azar Nafisi, and chef Lidia Bastianich, all of whom had ancestors who apparently worked to “preserve cherished traditions.” In the case of Marguiles’ ancestors, we imagine one such tradition was refusing to appear in the same scene as Archie Panjabi’s ancestors, even if it meant busting out the old-timey split screen.
American Experience: Space Men (PBS, 9 p.m.): In the days just beforethe dawn of the Space Age, the United States was curious to know what effects cosmic rays might have on the human body. To solve this problem, the U.S. did what anyone would do: Send an Air Force colonel 101,000 feet into the stratosphere inside a balloon gondola. And, as a followup, have another guy go 102,800 feet up and parachute jump back to Earth. Yeah, this all ought to be awesome.
Tour Group (Bravo, 10 p.m.): This new show follows three tour guides and some strangers as they head around the world, starting in Marrakech, Morocco. Sounds fine, we guess, though we like that this sentence is just appended to the basic description of the show without explanation: “Also: A playboy sets his sights on estranged twin sisters.”
Not Safe With Nikki Glaser (Comedy Central, 10:30 p.m.): Among other topics, this week’s episode has Glaser research her parents’ sex lives. This show became Finding Your Roots With Henry Louis Gates, Jr. … AFTER DARK way, way faster than we expected.
The Railway Man (Showtime 2, 7:40 p.m.): We’re pretty sure this movie, in which a former World War II POW tracks down the Japanese interpreter who tortured him, isn’t all that good. Still, we’re very much enjoying the current phase of Colin Firth’s career, in which he wears neat glasses and broods intensely at things.
Sense And Sensibility (TCM, 8 p.m.): “Oscar-nominated adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel about the still-single Dashwood sisters and how they cope with men, marriage and money after their father dies. The screenplay was the sole Oscar winner out of seven nominations.” That seems like an unnecessarily passive-aggressive way to describe the fact that Sense And Sensibility won an Oscar. How many Oscars have you ever won, TV Guide listings?
Grosse Pointe Blank (TMC, 8 p.m.): Oh, this movie is a delight. Dan Aykroyd should play a treacherous, waddling assassin in way more movies than he currently does.
Romeo Must Die (VH1, 10 p.m.): We’d like to think this movie is the Romeo And Juliet Shakespeare would have written if he had had access to Jet Li. You know, Jet Li really could have altered the whole course of British literature if he had lived 400 years ago and somehow been a member of Shakespeare’s theatrical company. Makes you think. (We realize that no, no it does not.)
NHL Hockey: Pittsburgh Penguins at Washington Capitals (NBC Sports, 7:30 p.m.): The Capitals are the runaway favorites to take the Presidents’ Trophy for best regular season record, as they are more than 10 points up on their closest competition for best record in the NHL. This particular contest is the latest matchup between 2004 and 2005 first overall picks Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby, who thanks to that stupid lockout both hit the league in 2005-06 and, give or take Crosby’s injury woes, have been tearing the place up ever since. There’s a bunch more awesome players on both teams, admittedly, but the Ovechkin-Crosby rivalry is always something worth savoring.
College Basketball: Indiana at Iowa (ESPN, 9 p.m.): The 12th-ranked Indiana Hoosiers are gunning for an outright Big Ten title, but the 16th-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes have a chance to play spoiler, but they’ve dropped a bunch of games lately and look to be limping into the conference tourney.
In case you missed it AKA still defiantly posting wrestling clips for no particular reason
Supergirl: As ever, we’re going to not bother talking about the actual show we linked to—Supergirl is a fun show and Caroline Siede’s reviews are really good, there, sorted—so that we can instead devote this space to posting a wrestling clip, both because it amuses us and because it confuses people, and we’re just enough of a jerk to enjoy that. Even so, we were shocked and saddened to discover Les Chappell, our own What’s On Tonight brother, betrayed us by declaring in his Sunday listings that he “still think it’s weird” that we do this. We can only think of one comparison point for such audacious perfidy.
In mapping the What’s On Tonight correspondents to this scenario, Les is Seth Rollins, we are Dean Ambrose, and LaToya Ferguson is Triple H, we guess, because LaToya is pretty clearly the cerebral assassin of TV Club, and we’re pretty sure LaToya would kill us if we said she was Roman Reigns, so hopefully Dennis Perkins doesn’t mind taking on that role. Uh, nobody tell Caroline Siede she’s Randy Orton.