If you'll be its Dixie chicken, Nashville will be your Tennessee lamb
Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Wednesday, October 10. All times are Eastern.
TOP PICK
Nashville (ABC, 10 p.m.): Is this new soap set in the capital of country music going to live up to its very good pilot? We don’t know, but we do know that you can check it out tonight, then see if you disagree with Todd VanDerWerff and Noel Murray’s opinion of the series. Then, Todd’s going to review this week to week, because if there’s anybody we want reviewing a soap opera week to week, it’s a man who once wrote Glee fan fiction about Mike Chang, Sr., and tried to pretend it was an actual review. (It wasn’t, Todd. We’ve had quite enough of you.)
REGULAR COVERAGE
Animal Practice (NBC, 8 p.m.): Dr. Yamamoto has his 15 minutes of fame after he saves a famous dog. If you’re reading this 100 years in the future, hello. No, we can’t tell you who Dr. Yamamoto is, either, because Yamamoto fever has failed to catch on with the country at large or with Margaret Eby.
Arrow (The CW, 8 p.m.): The CW’s latest attempt to pillage sibling company DC Comics involves the tale of Oliver Queen, better known as the Green Arrow. Or, if you’re The CW and don’t have time for “adjectives,” just Arrow. Check out Erik Adams and Alasdair Wilkins’ thoughts on Abs: The Series.
The Middle (ABC, 8 p.m.): The family decides the best way to help out Brick is to get him a pet, thanks to advice from a therapist, but the pet he ends up with is a terrifying rabbit. Will Harris hopes Aardman gets involved and makes this the Wallace & Gromit: Curse Of The Were-Rabbit crossover of his dreams.
Survivor (CBS, 8 p.m.): When one castaway is nearly voted out of the game, they share a shocking childhood story to try to win the jury’s sympathies. Carrie Raisler hopes that the story involves a young boy cross-dressing on Halloween or someone who has to relieve themselves on the set of Cougar Town.
The Neighbors (ABC, 8:30 p.m.): America’s favorite new sitcom about aliens hasn’t lit the world on fire, but it’s doing just well enough that it will probably be with us for several more months to come. Dennis Perkins can’t help but hope this show runs for 17 years, but he’s not sure he’ll get his wish.
Modern Family (ABC, 9 p.m.): Tonight’s doubleheader includes one episode focused on Lily’s first day of kindergarten. Wait a second. Wasn’t Lily just a tiny baby in the fall of 2009? How can she be in kindergarten just three years later? Donna Bowman hopes this show slowly moves to the far future.
Supernatural (The CW, 9 p.m.): Every time we see the names “Sam and Dean,” we sort of think it should be “Sam and Diane,” and then we start thinking about the Winchester shippers and the weirder corners of Internet fandom, and we shudder a bit. Phil Dyess-Nugent wishes they were “Sam and Duane.”
South Park (Comedy Central, 10 p.m.): Cartman installs a home-security system, in a plot that will probably end with him spying on a Marine he’s come to believe was turned against his country while held captive by terrorists. Ryan McGee knows we’re just kidding. Homeland isn’t a cable reality series!
Key & Peele (Comedy Central, 10:30 p.m.): The sketches this week include Ice-T as an adorable puppy! Why don’t more shows involve famous folks playing dogs? It’s pretty much just this episode and Wilfred, right? Steve Heisler once played a dog in his friend’s one-act play. He hopes the tapes never surface.
TV CLUB CLASSIC
Carnivàle (1 p.m.): Todd VanDerWerff reaches the ending of the series, which comes far too soon. Still, the whole rigamarole ends with a fantastic confrontation between Ben Hawkins and Justine Crowe, and since that’s what we’ve been waiting for all this time, it promises to be one amazing series finale.
WHAT ELSE IS ON
Nature (PBS, 8 p.m.): The PBS standby begins its latest season with a journey into the middle of the frozen wastes to track down the Siberian tiger, greatest of all big cats and a really great guest at parties, at least if you know him well enough. If you don’t, he’s at least approachable, if you know what he likes.
Bid & Destroy (National Geographic, 9 p.m.): Have you been waiting for a reality show about a demolition crew? No? Well, National Geographic doesn’t care that you haven’t, because it’s come up with one anyway. In today’s series premiére, the company at the show’s center destroys some stuff.
Chicago Fire (NBC, 10 p.m.): It’s the most exciting new show of 1993, as NBC debuts its newest drama series, this one about firefighters who live in Chicago. Also, there are some paramedics. It’s mostly all there in the title. Zack Handlen and Todd VanDerWerff know whatever it is, it’s the Chicago way.
Ted Nugent’s Gun Country (Discovery, 10 p.m.): Here’s another show where it’s pretty much all in the title. We haven’t even researched this one, but we feel reasonably confident in saying that it will involve a.) Ted Nugent and b.) guns. We’re also reasonably confident Nugent will rant about those guns.
The Haunting (TCM, 8 p.m.): If your taste in horror movies leans more toward suggestion than actual depiction, then this movie—the original ‘60s version, not the 1999 remake—is going to be your new favorite. A bunch of people gather in a supposedly haunted house and scary stuff happens. It’s great.
Burlesque (Starz, 9 p.m.): If you’re missing The Voice, and considering how highly rated it is, there’s a good chance you just might be, then you can check out Christina Aguilera as one of the stars of this glitzy, campy musical that’s mostly awful. But, hey, Cher and Kristen Bell in the same place!
Women’s Volleyball: Tennessee at LSU (ESPNU, 8 p.m.): Sure, the baseball playoffs are on tonight, and some of these series are looking like they could be pretty good. But if it’s volleyball action you want—and you can admit that you do—then this is pretty much your only option. Set up for some spikes.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Vegas (Tuesday): Was Jonathan Banks able to carry his Breaking Bad cachet over to this stuck-in-middling-but-could-be-awesome series and pull it out of the B range? Or did he get mired in the competence like Michael Chiklis has been? Phil Dyess-Nugent asks us to just give this a few weeks.