Comedy Central would like you to please pause your Labor Day barbecues and watch it roast James Franco
Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Monday, September 2. All times are Eastern.
TOP PICK
The Comedy Central Roast Of James Franco (Comedy Central, 10 p.m.): What better way to spend a couple hours of your Labor Day than with a guy whose held roughly a thousand jobs in just the time it took us to type this sentence? Look forward to better jokes than that from comics like Natasha Leggero, Nick Kroll, Bill Hader, Sarah Silverman, and host Seth Rogen. Or it could become This is the End: 2 Insidery 2 Stoned and we could eat our words. Who knows with that wacky James Franco!
REGULAR COVERAGE
Regular Show (Cartoon, 7:30 p.m.): It seems like only yesterday that Regular Show’s fourth season ended, which is absurd, because that was an entire three weeks ago. Alasdair Wilkins doesn’t know where the time goes, but he’s at least going to do his damndest to help Mordecai get over Margaret.
Under The Dome (CBS, 10 p.m.): We haven’t really been keeping up with Under The Dome, and yet we are intrigued by the summary of, “Big Jim turns the townspeople against Barbie.” But on the off chance that this doesn’t mean a Clint Eastwood-type cowboy is leading a spirited revolt against the patriarchy, we’ll wait to see Scott von Doviak’s verdict.
TV CLUB CLASSIC
Justice League (1 p.m.): Hawkgirl helps the gang to deal with a college necromancy project gone horribly awry. Oliver Sava wishes he had known to call the Justice League after his college necromancy project went horribly awry, but hey, c’est la vie.
WHAT ELSE IS ON?
Parks And Recreation marathon (FXX, 7 a.m.): While we here at What’s On Tonight? think that a Parks And Rec marathon is just about the only thing that could upstage a Labor Day barbecue, we’re actually mentioning this because it marks the beginning of a brave new world in cable television: FX’s new comedy spin-off channel, FXX. Please direct your attention this-a-way for the returns of The League, Archer, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, i.e. the loss of your autumnal social life.
Uncle Grandpa (Cartoon, 8 p.m.): We’ve watched several previews for this new series and we still couldn’t tell you what Uncle Grandpa means. But our benevolent overlord Erik Adams promised us that it includes a sentient slice of pizza, so, there is that.
Writers’ Room (Sundance, 10 p.m.): The first season of Jim Rash’s roundtable wraps up with the minds behind American Horror Story, who will hopefully spend the entire half hour discussing Jessica Lange’s “Name Game”.
Below Deck (Bravo, 10 p.m.): Andy Cohen hosts a reunion special for a show we can barely remember premiering. How this failed to be tonight’s top pick is a mystery for the A.V. ages.
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1 (Showtime): We were pretty thrilled when we saw that The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1 was going to be on, because making pithy comments at the expense of things like The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1 is an incredibly easy way to fuel our snarky fire, but now we’re so exhausted from typing out The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1 that the fire has gone out. R.I.P. Our Snarky Fire.
An Edison Album and Lumiere’s First Picture Shows (TCM, 9:30 p.m.): Get the bad taste of us saying The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1 so many timeswith back-to-back collections of some of the earliest films ever made. We’re grateful we weren’t the first to make films, as we have a feeling no one would be particularly impressed by our one-woman performance of My Fair Lady.
U.S. Open Tennis (ESPN2, 7 p.m.): We’ve made it to the Round of 16, and today’s schedule has Federer and Nadal battling it out to meet each other in the quarterfinals. Either this sentence has you rushing to find a bar — any bar — that will play tennis for your poor cable-less soul, or your eyes have glazed over and you’ve already skipped ahead to “In Case You Missed It.” (To no one’s surprise, we are already in the bar.)
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Olbermann: Seems to us like Olbermann’s return to sports reporting is the closest we’ll get to a revival of Sports Night, but Kevin McFarland watched the first week of shows and seems to think there’s a little more to it than that.