Top pick
Macy’s 4th Of July Fireworks Spectacular (NBC, 8 p.m., Saturday): Featuring performances by the likes of Ed Sheeran, Dierks Bentley, Kelly Clarkson, Brad Paisley, Flo Rida and Meghan Trainor, all of whom, presumably, are wearing fire-retardant costumes. Did you know they can do cowboy hats now?
Also noted
Catastrophe (Amazon, noon, Friday): An Irish lass and an American goof accidentally have a baby in London, and Molly Eichel continues to approve, as this British sitcom starring Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney finds the funny in unprotected sex and unintentional parenthood. This week: things aren’t going well for either of them. Luckily, they each have the person they sort-of know for support.
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell (BBC America, 10 p.m., Saturday): Strange returns from the wars only to find himself assisting Norrell in trying to cure the quite historically mad King George III with their forbidden magics. Caitlin PenzeyMoog’s read the book this is based on, so she’s not telling if that works out or not. She’s honorable that way.
Classic coverage
Doctor Who (Classic): It’s a suitably melancholy choice for Christopher Bahn’s last classic Doctor Who review, as he takes us through the final adventure of the original series, with Sylvester McCoy and his companion Ace find the Earth taken over by cheetah people. With McCoy’s Seventh Doctor’s final speech echoing, let’s all say goodbye (at least until Christopher Eccleston shows up in all due time):
“There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, the sea’s asleep, and the rivers dream. People made of smoke, and cities made of song. Somewhere there’s danger, somewhere there’s injustice, and somewhere else the tea’s getting cold. Come on, Ace — we’ve got work to do!”
Elsewhere in TV Club
With the year half over, your favorite AV Clubbers are looking back, this week’s AVQ&A listing all of our favorite pieces of media from the first half of 2015. Books, movies, TV, webseries, skywriting—the field was wide open, people. Then, because making lists is fun, the more literate among us tackle the best books of 2015 so far. And, because we also like round numbers, AV Clubbers look back over the 20 years of Foo Fighters time to their first impressions of the band. Then Marah Eakin chimes in with her 11 Questions with character actor and Broadway star Victor Garber, who’s cool no matter what time of year it is. Finally, why not cap off your patriotic weekend with a little anti-Commie paranoia as Ignatiy Vishnevetsky brings a Watch This review of the loony but affecting Red Scare melodrama My Son John.
What else is on
Teen Titans Go! (Cartoon Network, 6 p.m., Friday): The 100th episode of a fun DC Comics property not even Zack Snyder could turn into a gloomy bummer.
Jaws (AMC, 7:45 p.m., Friday): Just in time for the big beach-going holiday weekend, the movie that taught everyone never to go in the ocean ever again. Thanks, AMC—we almost forgot about that!
Shaun Of The Dead (IFC, 8 p.m., Friday): Never a wrong time to watch Shaun Of The Dead. Don’t even think about stopping us now.
Defiance (Syfy, 8 p.m., Friday): It’s the Omec and the Votanis Collective, with we poor, puny human stuck in the middle. Isn’t that always the way?
Killjoys (Syfy, 9 p.m., Friday): The sexy space bounty hunters discover that their latest assignment taking in a migrant worker on a distant planet is—spoiler!—slightly less straightforward than they were led to believe.
Dirty Jobs Down Under (Animal Planet, 9 p.m., Friday): That just sounds filthy. Filthy.
Dark Matter (Syfy, 10 p.m., Friday): Everyone’s got amnesia, they’re all just knows by numbers, and they’re stumbling around a space station trying to figure out what the hell is going on. Also—how come that person got to be Number One?
An Hour With Bobby Jindal (Fox News, 10 p.m., Friday): Just an hour?!
Jaws 2 (AMC, 10:45 p.m., Friday): Eh, let’s go swimming. No big whoop.
Rectify marathon (Sundance, starting at 2 p.m., Saturday): In advance of the July 9th return of this mesmerizing series about released death row prisoner Daniel Holden (the haunting Aden Young), Sundance is running all original 16 episodes for your catchup needs. Erik Adams will be back to guide us through the third season, so this is also a perfect time to catch up on his reviews of the first two seasons as well.
The Millers (CBS, 8 & 8:30 p.m., Saturday): Returning from hiatus with back-to-back episodes, this sitcom about Will Arnett’s divorced reporter moving back in with parents Margo Martindale and Beau Bridges promises more of the “respected actors caught on the can” laughs the world has come to expect. Sure, the show’s already been cancelled, but don’t you dare call this a burn-off. Don’t…you…dare.
Atlantis (BBC America, 9 p.m., Saturday): After killing an Oracle, Jason’s in big trouble, but perhaps Hercules can save him. Because Hercules is totally on Atlantis, you guys.
The McCarthys (CBS, 9 & 9:30 p.m., Saturday): In the second hour of CBS’ “shows we thought could be the next Big Bang Theory but were so, so not” summer burn-off marathon, this show about a garrulous Boston Irish family dealing with a gay son sitcom returns for more ethnic yuks.
For the sports enthusiast
Wimbledon: Third Round (ESPN, 7 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Friday & 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday)
MLB: Marlins At Cubs (ESPN2, 2:10 p.m., Friday)
MLB: Giants At Nationals (ESPN, 6 p.m., Friday)
MLB: Rays At Yankees (FS1, 1 p.m., Saturday)
Karate: ISKA World Championships (ESPN2, 9 p.m., Saturday)
In case you missed it
Futurama (Classic): Zack Handlen reviewed that episode where Fry drinks an alien king made out of water, and that’s still not enough to balance the tears he (and we) shed rewatching “Jurassic Bark.”