Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Friday, March 14, and Saturday, March 15. All times are Eastern.
TOP PICK
Banshee (Cinemax, 10 p.m., Friday): We opted not to cover the second season of this, because of the terminally low readership we’ve had the times we’ve dropped in on it before (and the just-as-low readership for Strike Back, which suggests to us that you guys just don’t have Cinemax, but anyway). But we’ve had our share of hearty back-and-forths about the series in the months since it debuted, so we’ve sent Les Chappell into the breach to talk about the season as a whole. He’ll have a spoilery look at what made season two what it was going up immediately after the finale airs.
ALSO NOTED
Raising Hope (Fox, 9:30 p.m., Friday): Now that Fox has canceled this show, wouldn’t it be funny if you guys turned it into a massive, massive hit? Phil Dyess-Nugent, certainly, wouldn’t mind if you all piled on for the show’s last few weeks.
Hannibal (NBC, 10 p.m., Friday): Sure, the show’s ratings might stink in the real world, but here in A.V. Club word, Hannibal is the hottest show going, especially since those True Detectives have kindly gone away for a while. Genevieve Valentine fills in for Molly Eichel and checks out Will’s day in court.
Black Sails (Starz, 9 p.m., Saturday): Banshee isn’t the only premium cable finale this week. Rowan Kaiser would like to remind you of the existence of Starz’s pirate drama Black Sails and will also try to convince you it got pretty good last week. What would we know? We didn’t watch!
REGULAR COVERAGE
Enlisted (Fox, 9 p.m., Friday)
Grimm (NBC, 9 p.m., Friday)
Helix (Syfy, 10 p.m., Friday)
TV CLUB CLASSIC
The X-Files (Saturday, 1 p.m.): This week, Todd VanDerWerff’s inner conservative Christian recoils from the notion of God looking a lot like Burt Reynolds, or as Todd knew him for far too many years, “The guy from Evening Shade?!”
ELSEWHERE IN TV CLUB
Sunday night brings the debut of NBC’s brand-new “let’s make some serialized dramas that will remind everyone of all of those 24 and Lost ripoffs from 2006!” shows. Our TV Reviews section already saw Brandon Nowalk check in on Believe. Now, Todd VanDerWerff has a Crisis alert.
And our weeks are always a little better when we can offer you one of Will Harris’ exhaustive, epic Random Roles interviews. This week, he checks in with Matt LeBlanc in advance of the Episodes finale.
WHAT ELSE IS ON
Live From Space (National Geographic, 8 p.m., Friday): See, this is why NASA can’t have nice things. You’re going to take us live from space, but you’re going to schedule it on a Friday, when everybody is off doing other things? That’s a terrible idea, NASA! Just terrible!
Rake (Fox, 8 p.m., Friday): The Fox network is leaving Greg Kinnear stranded on Fridays like he’s in Saigon in 1975. Sorry, Greg! We tried to get you on the last chopper out, but now you’re just going to have to fend for yourself! The Chances of Raising Hope have done well enough! *maniacal laugh*
Colin & Brad: Two Man Group (The CW, 9 p.m. Friday): Lustily salivating after the ratings lucre brought to it by Whose Line Is It Anyway last summer, The CW has just started airing all of the Whose Line related content it can find, including this comedy special.
Amy Winehouse: One Shining Night (Smithsonian, 10 p.m., Friday): Why has this intimate Amy Winehouse concert from 2006 been turned into a TV special now? Why is the Smithsonian Channel airing it? Do you get the Smithsonian Channel? These are all questions we cannot answer.
Garfield’s Pet Force (Cartoon, 8 p.m., Saturday): “What if we made Garfield, Odie, and Jon into superheroes?” some marketing asshole asked, and then this special was born. But who’s going to make Lyman into a superhero? We vote that his name be The Green Lyman.
Swamp Hunters (CMT, 9 p.m., Saturday): Look, if we’re going to go hunting, we’re not going to go wandering around a swamp. That just seems like a lot of work. Just bring the animals to us, and we’ll shoot them. How does that sound?
Christmas In Connecticut (TCM, 8 p.m., Friday): IT’S CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Have you ever really looked at that spare “c” in “Connecticut”? What’s that doing there?)
The Conjuring (Cinemax, 8:05 p.m., Friday): We quite enjoyed this smash hit horror movie from last year, especially its production design. But we mostly think you should watch it as part of Vera Farmiga’s career reinvention as the most interesting thing in a bunch of weird horror projects.
Super 8 (FXX, 8 p.m., Saturday): Holy shit, remember this movie?! Like, we guess it was pretty good, but we can’t tell you a thing about it beyond the advertising campaign and a vague sense of Steven Spielberg homage. Oh, and Kyle Chandler and Elle “The Other” Fanning were both pretty good.
ACC Basketball Tournament (ESPN, 7 p.m., Friday): Things are tightening up, as teams play for all of the marbles! Okay, most of the marbles. Okay, a few marbles. Okay, maybe just one marble, but if you get it, then you get a chance at all of them! And isn’t that chance the biggest prize of all?
NBA Basketball: Kings at Bulls (WGN, 8 p.m., Saturday): Remember when the Kings almost moved to Seattle, because the Supersonics moved to Oklahoma City for some reason? And then that didn’t happen, because Sacramento needs something to live for? Well, now you do.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Suits (Thursday): With both Vikings and Suits airing in that timeslot, Thursdays at 10 p.m. has become the perfect time for shows with very descriptive titles. Carrie Raisler did a heck of a job with her review of this episode of everybody’s favorite show about a pair of anthropomorphic suits.