Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Tuesday, April 16. All times are Eastern.
TOP PICK
Awkward. (MTV, 10 p.m.): Between cable shows wrapping their seasons and network programs taking a brief, pre-May sweeps sabbatical, it falls to Awkward. to carry Tuesday nights for a couple weeks. Not that that simple truth would occur to MTV’s high-school comedy, now entering its third season—it’s probably busy over-analyzing what it did or said to scare off TV cool kids like New Girl and The Mindy Project. At least the show knows Myles McNutt will always be its best friend.
TV CLUB CLASSIC
The Shield (11 a.m.): Brandon Nowalk’s first season with the Strike Team comes to a close. And what has he learned? He’d tell you, but then Vic and company would have to, er, insure his silence.
Home Movies (1 p.m.): Home Movies’ second season closes on a brighter note, with Brendon bringing a guest known only as “The Crab” to his father’s wedding. Erik Adams, meanwhile, knows this is no cause for celebration.
WHAT ELSE IS ON
Storage Wars (A&E, 9 p.m.): The storage-locker-excavating series begins season four, it’s first without catchphrase-boasting star Dave Hester. Somehow, Hester’s lawsuit against the producers didn’t lead them to subtitle this season “Nooope!”
The Central Park Five (PBS, 9 p.m.): Following its brief theatrical run, an atypical documentary from Ken Burns traces how the rush to “justice” irrevocably altered the lives of five young New Yorkers.
Who Gets The Last Laugh (TBS, 10 p.m.): The latest iteration on Punk’d, TV’s Bloopers & Practical Jokes, and Candid Camera adds the twist of competition—and prime synergy for TBS, if the promos spotlighting The Big Bang Theory’s Kunal Nayyar and Men At Work’s Danny Masterson are any indication. They will not get the last laugh, however—Will Harris will.
Nikki & Sara Live (MTV, 11:03 p.m.): MTV’s anti-Chelsea Lately wraps its first season after the one-hour Awkward. première, which argues that its true purpose is to be a Talking Dead-style coda to the latest misadventures of Jenna Hamilton.
Coyote Ugly (ABC Family, 6:30 p.m.): Having seen how the network promoted its recent airing of Batman Begins, we’re intrigued to see how it sells this “Piper Perabo dances on bars for big tips” vehicle. Though we guess the employees of Coyote Ugly count as “a different kind of family”…
The Iron Lady (Showtime, 8 p.m.): It’s so sad that Meryl Streep passed a little more than a year after winning her second Best Actress Oscar for—oh, Margaret Thatcher died? Well, that’s different then—explains that hysterical Ian Rubbish sketch from the most recent SNL, too.
NBA Basketball: Trail Blazers at Clippers (TNT, 10:30 p.m.): Having clinched its first division championship in franchise history, the Clippers get the chance to improve its unprecedentedly great season by beating up on the Blazers.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Defiance: It’s the science-fiction show that’s also a game—and yet somehow it isn’t Captain Power And The Soldiers Of The Future. Warning: The Rowan Kaiser will fire back!