Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Sunday, April 29. All times are Eastern.
TOP PICK
The Good Wife (CBS, 9 p.m.): David Sims was overjoyed by the reunion of the original Lockhart and Gardner crew in last week’s episode—too bad it looks like those good vibes and renewed partnerships will be short-lived. Michael J. Fox and Martha Plimpton’s characters return to destroy their shared rivals, so at least if Lockhart and Gardner’s ship has to go down, there’ll be some fan favorites around to pick through the wreckage.
REGULAR COVERAGE
Once Upon A Time (ABC, 8 p.m.): August continues to prove his helpfulness to the good citizens of Storybrooke—but if he wanted to help the people in the show’s audience, he’d reveal his fairy-tale alter ego already. Oliver Sava bets August is Pinnochio, because Eion Bailey looks like the type who could survive a few months inside a whale.
The Amazing Race (CBS, 8 p.m.): Scott Von Doviak was pleased with how the contestants conducted themselves in the 20th season’s previous India-set episode. But with another India adventure unfolding tonight, there’s still plenty of time for one of the teams to pull out an unintentionally insulting “Thank you, come again.”
The Simpsons (Fox, 8 p.m.): Fox’s Sunday-night staple makes an appeal to the literati, with a half-hour that alludes to both the subject matter and title of David Foster Wallace’s 1996 essay, “A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again.” If the show really wanted to impress Rowan Kaiser, this episode would be stuffed with dense footnotes.
Bob’s Burgers (Fox, 8:30 p.m.): Bob’s Burgers, meanwhile, keeps things nice, simple, and farcical, with Bob and Linda butting heads after a hopped-up Bob comes home from the dentist’s office and kisses his wife’s sister. Rowan Kaiser can’t wait for the web-video spin-off, “Bob After Dentist.”
The Killing (AMC, 9 p.m.): We thought we read the word “misdirections” in the synopsis for the latest episode of The Killing, and were all like “Haha, good one, synopsis for the latest episode of The Killing.” Turns out the word was “indiscretions,” which Brandon Nowalk knows The Killing can eventually turn into misdirections.
Family Guy (Fox, 9 p.m.): For all his megalomania and desire to kill his mother (and the other members of the Griffin clan), Stewie is also the Griffin with the most malleable persona. When the homicidal tot meets his female equal, Kevin McFarland gains an understanding of where “world-conquering Stewie” goes whenever “annoyingly insistent Stewie” or “Hope-and-Crosby Stewie” show up.
Game Of Thrones (HBO, 9 p.m.): The atrocities witnessed last week at Harrenhal were bad enough—now you mean to tell us that the fortress of torture also houses g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-ghosts? David Sims crosses his fingers and hopes the spirits are metaphorical, while Todd VanDerWerff would love to see the series depart from its source material just so Arya can say “I ain’t afraid of no ghosts.”
Celebrity Apprentice (NBC, 9 p.m.): Donald Trump charges his celebrity contestants to write a jingle for a roadside-assistance program—and everyone watching wishes this task was assigned while Dee Snider was still in contention. Margaret Eby can just hear it now: “I’ve got a flat! / FLAT! / I’ve got a flat!”
Nurse Jackie (Showtime, 9 p.m.): Nurse Jackie’s been on a tear since the start of its fourth season, though it’s hard not to feel like it left a new setting—rehab—behind too hastily. Jackie’s feeling that herself this week, as the foundation beneath her begins to crumble, and Phil Dyess-Nugent considers that his “Doris, the roommate with the ‘fuck you’ letters” fan fiction could be irrelevant after a few more episodes.
The Big C (Showtime, 9:30 p.m.): Cathy and Paul look into adoption—because if there’s an environment into which an orphaned child should be introduced, it’s the crazy world of a Showtime half-hour dramedy. As Phil Dyess-Nugent sees it, better the kid end up in the Jamison house than, say, the Nancy Botwin homestead.
Mad Men (AMC, 10 p.m.): A post-acid, newly single Roger Sterling joins his co-workers in the search for new business, which has “potential disaster” written all over it. Then again, Todd VanDerWerff often runs quotes from Bardo Thodol past potential TV Club contributors, so what could it hurt?
Veep (HBO, 10 p.m.): In the political worlds of Armando Iannucci, nothing travels faster—and through more twisted paths—than information. Veep could change all of that tonight, as a nasty stomach bug passes through the White House ranks quicker than news of Selina’s latest victory. To avoid spreading infection, Meredith Blake will compose her review while wearing a surgical mask.
The Borgias (Showtime, 10 p.m.): Looks like all those jokes about the similarities between The Borgias and Assassin’s Creed II finally paid off: Here’s an hour of the historical drama that plays as bloody and revenge-driven as Desmond Miles’ deadly campaign through Florence. Unfortunately, Les Chappel can’t say if the episode features a cameo by any hooded badasses with knives up their sleeves.
Girls (HBO, 10:30 p.m.): Looks like Hannah got something from an ex-boyfriend, and it’s not a mix CD or an interest in Southeast Asian street food. And thus Girls follows “The One Set In The Abortion Clinic” with “The One Where Hannah Has An STD,” giving Todd VanDerWerff further occasion to laugh at the horrors of Lena Dunham’s sex life.
TV CLUB CLASSIC
Doctor Who (Classic) (11 a.m.): War! [hunh!] Machines! [hunh!] What are they good for? Following the orders of an evil supercomputer and attempting take over the world in a season-three serial of Doctor Who (and absolutely nothing). Say it again now, Christopher Bahn!
The Simpsons (Classic) (3 p.m.): Every Halloween, Simpsons fans eagerly await the latest iteration of “Treehouse Of Horror.” That’s good. After 22 versions of the special, the horror-show coffers are nearly empty. That’s bad. However, Nathan Rabin’s classic Simpsons reviews are just getting to “Treehouse Of Horror III.” That’s good. If we said, “But ‘Treehouse Of Horror III’ is cursed,” you’d know where to take this, right?
WHAT ELSE IS ON?
Breakout Kings (A&E, 9 p.m.): The second season wraps with a two-part finale, the first hour of which concerns the hunt for a fugitive who used to be an escape artist. Well, being a fugitive technically still makes him an escape artist, but who needs to get semantical with Breakout Kings?
TV Land Awards (TV Land, 9 p.m.): Cues other award shows could pick up from the meaningless (but still fun) TV Land Awards: Book The B-52s as the house band, hand out statuettes to works like Pee-wee’s Playhouse and In Living Color, and restrict the ceremony to 90 minutes of airtime. Host Kelly Ripa should stay a “TV Land Awards only” commodity, however.
James Cameron’s Journey To The Bottom Of The Earth (National Geographic, 9 p.m.): On March 25, 2012, James Cameron took a 70-minute trip to the bottom of Mariana Trench’s Challenger Deep—the deepest part of the Pacific Ocean. If there’s any proof that Cameron spent the entire expedition alternately muttering “I’m the king of the bottom of the world” and “Suck it, Richard Branson” to himself, it’d be in this retrospective on his record-breaking solo dive.
Metalocalypse (Cartoon Network, 12:30 a.m.): Dethklok gets a jump on its fourth season of death-metal death and destruction by visiting a place that turns even its members’ ironclad stomachs: A Dethklok fan convention. Finally, a chance to see the guys act like they can’t stand their fans.
Goodfellas (Encore, 8 p.m.): As far back as we can remember, we always wanted to feature this gangster film in What’s On Tonight? Martin Scorsese’s masterwork is a ballet of violence, profanity, career-best performances, and breathtaking cinematography—and let’s not forget that sequence scored to Derek And The Dominos’ “Layla,” a lyrical soundtrack choice for a scene of extreme ugliness.
Tiny Furniture (Sundance, 8 p.m.): Get your Lena Dunham fix tonight by preceding Girls with Dunham’s first chronicle of quarter-life crisis: The low-key 2010 comedy that put the young filmmaker’s name on the map and led to her eventual collaboration with Judd Apatow.
NBA Playoff: Game 1: Celtics at Hawks: Having met a little more than a week ago to decide which team would receive home-court advantage in this first round matchup, the Celtics travel to Atlanta. They bring ailing star Ray Allen with them; whether he suits up for the game is another story.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Space Twister (Saturday): Spaaaaaaaaaaaaace twister! Spaaaaaaaaaaaace twiiiiiiiiiiiiiiister! Phil Dyess-Nugent checked out this outlandish SyFy original, using more than just variations on the phrase “Spaaaaaaaaaaace twister!”