Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Friday, June 21, and Saturday, June 22. All times are Eastern.
TOP PICK
Degrassi: The Next Generation (TeenNick, 9 p.m., Friday): This fall, TV Club will turn six. You might remember all of the good times we’ve had together—like that one time that we tried to convince you 2 Broke Girls would be worth your time or that other time that we all fought about whether that episode of Mad Men deserved a B+ or a B—but what we’re most surprised by is that we somehow haven’t ever written anything about America’s most Canadian show, Degrassi: The Next Generation. We’re sending Pilot Viruet undercover into dangerous Canadian airspace to see what’s up with those crazy teens.
REGULAR COVERAGE
Magic City (Starz, 9 p.m., Friday): Both Ike and Ben are trying to get rid of each other, which suggests an ending where everyone learns mutually assured destruction leads to both parties getting destroyed. Or, rather, they’ll probably back down, because this is a TV show. Will Harris has seen TV before.
Borgen (LinkTV, 10 p.m., Friday): This week, there’s a state visit (in an episode of the same name), which could be boring, unless the leader visiting Birgitte and pals is from Finland. If there’s one thing Todd VanDerWerff knows about Europe, it’s that the Finns love to party, and they’re great at it.
Maron (IFC, 10 p.m., Friday): No one would call this the most serialized show on TV, but we’ve been enjoying watching the connections develop between episodes every week. This week, Marc’s new “friend” from last week’s “Sex Fest” makes plans to move to L.A. Kyle Ryan advises him to run.
TV CLUB CLASSIC
Babylon 5 (11 a.m., Friday): In “Dust To Dust,” Bester comes to Babylon 5 in search of a dust dealer. Sadly, it’s not a futuristic detective show about married detectives Mr. and Mrs. Roberto Dust, solving crimes and cracking wise through the Ivanov Sector. Rowan Kaiser is writing the spec pilot already.
The Larry Sanders Show (1 p.m., Friday): We somehow doubt that Larry or any of his fellow talk show pals are going to win a People’s Choice Award in the episode entitled “People’s Choice,” but they might win a “Kyle Ryan’s Choice” Award, if they’ll just attend the awards ceremony in his basement. Please?
Wonderfalls (3 p.m., Friday): Jaye meets a nun who encourages her to tell others she sees tiny plastic objects talk to her. Les Chappell doesn’t get advice from plastic objects, but he does talk to sandwiches. “Hello, sandwich!” he says. “I am going to eat you!” And then he laughs maniacally and does just that.
The Twilight Zone (1 p.m., Saturday): Speaking of things that can talk and move of their own volition that shouldn’t be able to, one of this week’s episodes of this show involves a creepy-ass ventriloquist’s dummy. We’re thankful Zack Handlen is braving this one, because it terrified us as 7-year-olds.
WHAT ELSE IS ON
Bridezillas (We, 8 p.m., Friday): We’ll be honest: We didn’t realize this show was even still around. But if you’re into Bridezillas, there’s a new episode of it on tonight, and it’s followed by a spinoff where the Bridezillas go to something called “Marriage Boot Camp.” It’s good American marriage remains safe!
You Live In What? (HGTV, 9 p.m., Friday): Somehow, we doubt that the title of this show is meant to be the starting prompt for an AV Q&A, but we’ll start: What’s On Tonight lives inside of a computer, where it exists as a word document opened for necessary editing and love but once per week. Hug us! Please!
Stevie TV (VH1, 10 p.m., Friday): We weren’t too thrilled by this sketch comedy series when it debuted last year, but VH1 obviously saw something it liked in broad, super-obvious takedowns of reality TV stars, because it renewed the show for a second season that begins tonight. Hooray for mediocrity!
Dave Foley: Relatively Well (Showtime, 11 p.m. Friday): In a career that includes Kids In The Hall, NewsRadio, a couple Pixar projects, and that celebrity poker show, we’re pleased to see Dave Foley doing anything but especially pleased to see him with a new stand-up special. Check it out maybe.
Jodi Arias: Dirty Little Secret (Lifetime, 8 p.m., Saturday): Hey! It’s Tania Raymonde—better known as Rousseau’s ill-fated daughter (raised by Ben Linus) on Lost! And she’s playing convicted murderer Jodi Arias in a movie that will certainly treat the story with tact and sensitivity! Josh Modell checks it out.
666 Park Avenue (ABC, 9 p.m., Saturday): ABC yanked this “Satan runs an apartment building” show from the schedule long ago, but we stopped making Zack Handlen cover it even longer ago. Regardless, the few remaining episodes are being burned off, so if you were curious about it, you can watch them.
Dark Shadows (HBO, 8 p.m., Friday): Johnny Depp and Tim Burton reunite for the 5,000th time in this film version of the hugely influential daytime soap. Needless to say, Depp and Burton come up with something that feels like most of the other films they’ve made together, only with more “jokes.” Maybe.
The Dark Knight (TNT, 9 p.m., Friday): Yeah, if you poke at the story of this movie enough, a lot of it doesn’t really make sense, and that conclusion is almost completely incoherent, but, man, when this movie is in its groove, there are few blockbusters as riveting or enthralling from the last 10 years.
The Searchers (TCM, 8 p.m., Saturday): John Ford and John Wayne worked together a lot, sort of like Tim Burton and Johnny Depp, except awesome, and this might have been the finest film the two made together, a haunting and probing exploration of a kind of American obsession, set in the Old West.
College World Series: Game 12 in Omaha (ESPN, 8 p.m., Friday): The way ESPN bills this makes it seem like the competing teams have to play a certain number of games in Omaha, then move on to some other location, like they’re part of the old Buffalo Bill Cody Wild West Show or something similar.
Stanley Cup Finals: Game 5: Bruins at Blackhawks (NBC, 8 p.m., Saturday): Chicago won yet another game in overtime—in a 6-5 offensive battle, no less—and we will once again remind you this is shaping up to be a finals for the ages. With both teams locked up at two games won, this one should be critical.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (Thursday): Zack Handlen reaches the end of the show’s fifth season (out of seven), and he gets unexpectedly emotional while doing so. His write-ups will go away for a bit, so he can cover Monty Python’s Flying Circus again, but fear not. They’ll be back once he’s done with that.