Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Monday, May 2. All times are Eastern.
Top picks
Jane The Virgin (The CW, 9 p.m.): It’s Mother’s Day on Jane The Virgin, and as far as we can tell, Julia Roberts’ wig is nowhere in sight. Qué lástima. (Oliver Sava actually just breathed a sigh of relief over that.) “The Villanueva women have a tradition for Mother’s Day and Jane is excited to get to participate in her first one as a mom. However, their plans are thwarted when Petra invites everyone to a brunch instead.” Brunch problems—who’s got ’em?
Houdini And Doyle (Fox, 9 p.m.): Drumroll, please! It’s the series premiere of Houdini And Doyle, a show that is exactly what you think it is:
“On this new mystery adventure drama, two great men of the 20th Century – HARRY HOUDINI (Michael Weston, House, Six Feet Under), master magician, escape artist and paranormal debunker; and ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE (Stephen Mangan, Episodes), prolific writer, creator of Sherlock Holmes and paranormal aficionado – join forces with ADELAIDE STRATTON, New Scotland Yard’s first female constable ever to work for the London Metropolitan Police Force (Rebecca Liddiard, Man Seeking Woman), to investigate unsolved and inexplicable crimes with a supernatural slant.”
And you people were complaining about Lucifer solving crimes.
NCIS: Los Angeles (CBS, 10 p.m.): You know what? Screw it. The season is ending, so why not give it up to NCIS: LA, just this once? Sure, LL Cool J and Chris O’Donnell are no Houdini and Doyle, but really—besides Weston and Mangan, who are? “When Sam receives a distress code from his son Aiden (Tye White) that his school has been taken over by an extremist group, Sam, Callen, Kensi and Deeks rush to San Francisco to protect Aiden and free the hostages.” We’re not trying to tell anyone how to do their job, but: If this particular episode were to end with the NCIS squad saving the day and transitioning into an LL Cool J music video (he plays Sam, after all), we wouldn’t be opposed to that. Because we really can’t see any way this ends without a surprise LL Cool J music video, even if we have to do it ourselves:
Premieres and finales
E! Live From The Red Carpet: The 2016 Met Gala (E!, 7:30 p.m.): This is just a reason for us to bring up “Fashion”:
The Odd Couple (CBS, 9:30 p.m.): This is the new time slot for The Odd Couple, which means this is our outlet to talk about how this second season of The Odd Couple has been kind of fun so far. It’s amazing how a show can improve when it decreases the gay jokes and concept of ladies’ man Matthew Perry by about 85 percent. Actually, that might just be “pretty reasonable” instead of “amazing,” but you know what we mean. Plus, as Supergirl’s season finale means no more national treasure Cat Grant on a weekly basis, at least The Odd Couple has brought in Lois Lane. “Oscar attempts to impress Charlotte (Teri Hatcher) by purchasing a table for a fundraiser to benefit The New York Philharmonic. At the event, Felix reminds Oscar about the importance of being honest and Teddy introduces his wife, Diane (Sheryl Underwood), to Dani for the first time.”
Regular coverage
Reign (The CW, 8 p.m.)
Gotham (Fox, 8 p.m.)
WWE Monday Night RAW (USA, 8 p.m.)
Bates Motel (A&E, 9 p.m.)
RuPaul’s Drag Race (Logo, 9 p.m.)
12 Monkeys (Syfy, 9 p.m.)
The Detour (TBS, 9 p.m.)
Streaming pick
Dirk Gently (Amazon Instant Video): Back in 2010, BBC made a pilot for a series based on the novel Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, and in 2012, the series came back with three episodes. Each episode starred Stephen Mangan (you know—Arthur Conan Doyle) as Dirk Gently and Darren Boyd as his sidekick Richard McDuff (which isn’t as cool a name as Harry Houdini—we know). Max Landis is currently working on his own Dirk Gently series, but you can’t stream or talk about Houdini And Doyle in relationship to that, now can you?