Cougar Town ends a hilarious but embattled third season it somehow emerged from with its life
Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Tuesday, May 29. All times are Eastern.
TOP PICK
Cougar Town (ABC, 8 p.m.): It’s been an embattled season for America’s favorite show about middle-aged people who hang out and drink wine, but the series has emerged from low ratings and an awful time slot to land a fourth season and a new network home after TBS came courting. In tonight’s third season finale—an hour long—Jules and Grayson decide to elope to Napa, but their friends come along. Also, there will be references to Groundhog Day, which should be fun for everybody. Ryan McGee is glad he won’t have to say goodbye to the Cul-de-Sac Crew, and we’re glad we’ve finally learned proper AP style for cul-de-sac.
REGULAR COVERAGE
Frontline (PBS, 10 p.m.): The good folks at PBS love having a good time, and they’d love to tell you all about what’s up with Al Qaeda’s activities in South Yemen, particularly timely given the recent suicide bombing and drone attacks in the area. Meredith Blake checks out just how far things have escalated.
TV CLUB CLASSIC
Six Feet Under (1 p.m.): Summer TV Club Classic officially kicks off with John Teti’s look at the second season of the seminal HBO series about the Fisher family and their many co-workers, lovers, and friends. Mostly, though, he’s just happy to be back, surrounded by all those talking corpses. Who isn’t?
Police Squad (3 p.m.): With just six episodes in the show’s first and only season, Erik Adams is going to take his time with Police Squad, tackling one episode per week. His initial pitch involved tackling only one episode per year, but we quickly talked him down to a six-week run writing about the show.
WHAT ELSE IS ON
Alien Surf Girls (TeenNick, 7:30 p.m.): We could probably look up what this new teen show is all about, but we’re just going to assume that Alien Surf Girls says it all. It almost sounds like something we would have come up with in a fevered dream state while screwing around in high school study hall.
The Catalina/The LA Complex (The CW, 8/9 p.m.): Margaret Eby takes on the former, a new reality show about the lives of a hotel staff in Miami Beach, Fla. Myles McNutt looks at the season finale of the latter, which was one of the most intriguing new dramas of the spring and was completely ignored.
Meet The Hutterites (National Geographic, 10 p.m.): National Geographic hasn’t met an obscure American subculture it couldn’t make a reality show about yet, and damned if it’s going to let the Hutterites stop it! The first episode is called “Harvest Party Scandal.” You can’t see that on Mad Men!
Workaholics (Comedy Central, 10:30 p.m.): This sitcom took some big steps up in its second season, and we’re interested to see what it pulls off in season three. We’ll have a review of it up tonight, and if you like the show, be sure to drop in and offer up your page views and comments. We might just keep it up!
Beginners (Cinemax, 8 p.m.): Mike Mills’ enjoyable film about Ewan McGregor dealing with his 75-year-old father coming out of the closet, among other things, sparked divided reactions when it was released last year, but Christopher Plummer won his first Academy Award for his role as the father.
Carmen Jones (TCM, 8 p.m.): This musical adaptation of Carmen is notable for its significance as one of the first critically successful, big-budget films to feature a primarily African-American cast and for Dorothy Dandridge being the first African-American woman to get a Best Actress nomination.
MLB Baseball: Tigers at Red Sox (ESPN, 7 p.m.): Detroit’s at 23-25 and just four games out of first place in its division, while Boston’s 24-24 and four-and-a-half games out of first place in its division. That means this series could help one team and hurt the other or just leave both still mired in place.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Hatfields & McCoys (Monday): Scott Von Doviak watched the entirety of this History Channel miniseries and found it wanting. But how could that be? What could be more interesting than building a miniseries around one of the country’s longest-running feuds? Starring Kevin Costner and Bill Paxton?