Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Monday, September 23. All times are Eastern.
TOP PICK
How I Met Your Mother (CBS, 8 p.m.): Ah, feel that crispness in the air? Smell the apple and pumpkin pies roasting in the oven? Feel the coolness of your own sweat after a long day raking leaves out in the front yard? Yes, fall TV is back, and with it comes one last season of How I Met Your Mother, complete with plenty of opportunities for one last run at Ted Mosby’s dream girl—now confirmed to be played by Cristin Milioti—and one last slate of reviews from our own Donna Bowman, whose tenure on this show is the longest in TV Club history. It’s a season of changes, but some things remain the same. Check out our pre-air review of the premiere here in our TV Reviews section.
REGULAR COVERAGE
Adventure Time (Cartoon Network, 7 p.m.): To save her kingdom, Slime Princess needs someone to marry her, and Finn agrees to do so. Way to be heteronormative, Finn! Who’s to say that Slime Princess’ kingdom couldn’t be saved by the love of another young lady? Oliver Sava says we’re post-post-gender.
Regular Show (Cartoon Network, 7:30 p.m.): C’mon, everyone! How can you not be watching a show where the plots include such exciting bits as “The guys clean their room”? That’s the kind of riveting television we like to celebrate here at TV Club. Alasdair Wilkins thinks we’re really not helping his case.
Sleepy Hollow (Fox, 9 p.m.): The early leader in the “new hit show” sweepstakes is a batshit program about a time-traveling Ichabod Crane. Zack Handlen’s ready for more action and ZACK HANDLEN’S GRAMMAR CORNER: “Farther” refers to physical distance. “Further” refers to metaphorical distance.
Mom (CBS, 9:30 p.m.): Every so often, Todd VanDerWerff gets crazy notions about covering a new multi-camera sitcom that shows promise but mostly seems likely to fall apart at any given moment. Will Mom prove to be his new 2 Broke Girls? Join us to watch his descent into gibbering madness. Read his pre-air review here to preview his downfall.
The Blacklist (NBC, 10 p.m.): We’re going to hang with this for a few weeks to see how many ways Phil Dyess-Nugent can come up with to call James Spader “hammy,” because that’s pretty much the best reason to tune in, outside of seeing what NBC thinks a version of Hannibal for the masses looks like. Read his pre-air review here.
Hostages (CBS, 10 p.m.): Finally, newest TV Club full-timer Sonia Saraiya (starting Tuesday) is going to begin her own descent into madness alongside Toni Collette, Tate Donovan, and the Dylan McDermott Dancers. Honestly, we’re just hoping this show can become our new version of The Following. Our pre-air review is here.
WHAT ELSE IS ON
The Voice (NBC, 8 p.m.): It being fall means it’s time for the singing competitions to spring up again, like so many pumpkin stands in your local farmers’ market. The current, reigning champion comes back tonight with the part everybody likes—where the judges hit buttons and their chairs spin around.
2 Broke Girls (CBS, 9 p.m.): We may not be covering it anymore, but that doesn’t mean this isn’t still a show that a lot of people watch—though not nearly as many as CBS might have liked, having moved Two And A Half Men out of this slot to watch the ratings sag. Anyway, another season begins tonight.
Esquire’s 80th (Esquire, 9 p.m.): A brand new television network based on the long-running magazine opens for business by celebrating that magazine’s 80th year of business. We hope none of you were fans of the Style network, because that’s going away so you can have this network instead. Enjoy!
Castle (ABC, 10 p.m.): Phil Dyess-Nugent drops in on everybody’s favorite crime-solving mystery novelist to see what happens after he proposes to his lady love. We’re just hoping Nathan Fillion continues his shuffle-stepping ways from the Emmys and works in a muslcal number—or two!—somewhere in there.
Love Me Tonight (TCM, 8 p.m.): At some point, your grandmother or great-grandmother probably had a bit of a swoony crush on Maurice Chevalier, and this terrific movie musical from the early ‘30s will give you an idea of just why she found him so crush-worthy in the first place. It’s also a really good movie.
Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (Cinemax, 9:20 p.m.): How many Jules Verne novels must be sullied by this franchise, which exists solely to sell tickets to unsuspecting families, who just want to see something in 3D? We hope the series never turns its sights toward 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, you hear?
Monday Night Football: Raiders at Broncos (ESPN, 8:25 p.m.): Now that the 49ers are apparently the worst team in human history, we’re putting all of our NFL eggs in the Broncos’ basket, because someone needs to stop the Seahawks, goddammit, and only the Denver Broncos have what it takes.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Boardwalk Empire (Sunday): The series has been rather overshadowed by the final seasons of Dexter and Breaking Bad, but this season has been quietly laying the groundwork for another series of episodes that will abruptly pull everything together in the season’s final third. Genevieve Valentine can’t wait.