Introduce your visiting grandparents to the conceptual stoner comedy of Comedy Bang! Bang! (and Kevin Smith)
Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Friday, November 28, and Saturday, November 29. All times are Eastern.
These are dark times for your What’s On Tonight editors. I mean, I don’t have it as hard as poor, poor Caroline Siede did yesterday (she had to write about two dog shows, for Christ’s sake), but holiday weekends mean everyone involved in all branches of entertainment slack off, making our televisions nothing more than fishtanks filled with images of desolate landscapes scoured by howling wind, and leaving us to, what, talk? To our visiting relatives? Not on my watch. Hold on tight—we’re going deep here, people.
Top pick
Comedy Bang! Bang! (IFC, 11 p.m., Friday): The three-headed review monster that is LaToya Ferguson, Emily L. Stephens, and David Kallison has been uniformly delighted with this season of Scott Aukerman and Reggie Watts’ intellectually loopy faux talk show (with a few exceptions). Tonight, it’s David’s turn to evaluate the oddity, as filmmaker/raconteur Kevin Smith drops by. David was concerned it was a Kevin Smith imposter, but then he saw that the episode was entitled “Kevin Smith Wears A Hockey Jersey And Jean Shorts” and he was like, “That checks out.”
Also noted
Constantine (NBC, 10 p.m., Friday): At least Constantine doesn’t observe our colonial traditions, as he attempts to convince a family that he’s the best man to exorcise a demon from their son. “Hey, no sweat. I’ve done this before, and the little girl I accidentally sent to Hell haunts my dreams—let’s do it!” Brandon Nowalk is sure it’ll go fine.
Regular coverage
The Legend Of Korra (12 p.m., Friday)
TV Club Classic
(Zack Handlen’s Twilight Zone reviews will be back next week.)
Elsewhere in TV Club
The holiday season has the A.V. Clubbers feeling all warm and nostalgic and nog-y, so everyone wrote down their favorite movie, music and television traditions. Then, Jenni Miller says that if you’re tired of the great character actress Catherine Keener being adorably quirky in Nicole Holofcener movies, why not check out the time she played a psychotic, evil torture-mom. And if that’s not creepy enough for you, then pop over to Mike D’Angelo’s Scenic Routes dissection of Marina de Van’s 2002 exquisitely squirmy body horror film In My Skin. (“Dissection”—see what I did there? Good night, everyone!)
What else is on
College football: Everyone at Everyone Else Tech (Everywhere, Friday and Saturday): See, this is where college football knows what it’s doing, as there’s a full slate of games on both Friday and Saturday to keep everyone all occupied and distracted from awkward family political conversations. Plenty to choose from, but for Friday, you’ve got Arizona State at Arizona (3:30 p.m., Fox), and Saturday, there’s always Auburn at number one ranked Alabama (7:45 p.m., ESPN).
Groundhog Day mini marathon (Sundance, 9:15 a.m., Friday): You’re gonna watch all three consecutive showings of this movie until you get it just right.
Clerks II, Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back, Fast Times At Ridgemont High, The Big Lebowski (IFC, starting at 1:45 p.m., Friday): I mean, IFC’s not calling it a “hide out from your racist uncle who wants to tell you what’s really going on in Ferguson and get baked” marathon, but…
Kristin Chenoweth: Coming Home (PBS, 9 p.m., Friday): Now this is more like it—if you’ve got elderly relatives still hanging around in a tryptophan haze, just plop them down in front of this one-woman night of show tunes from every aunt’s favorite pint-sized, huge-voiced Broadway superstar. Luckily, Mandy Patinkin doesn’t join her at any point—the confluence of both of them would certainly overload some mom circuits.
Grimm (NBC, 9 p.m., Friday): Nick still hasn’t got his Grimm powers back. Maybe this guy will help:
Z Nation (Syfy, 10 p.m., Friday): Last week, it was radioactive zombies, and now there are zombies all hepped up on goofballs when Murphy gets kidnapped by some drug enthusiasts trying to break into “the Fort Knox of Oxycontin.” Say what you will about how hard the Walking Dead gang has it but this just isn’t fair.
The Birthday Boys (IFC, 11:30 p.m., Friday): The new sketch comedy kids on the block get a visit from the grand old men of brain-melting conceptual weirdness when Tim & Eric drop by.
Vikings (History, 3 p.m., Saturday): In a recent, top secret poll for the best TV series of the year that I can’t tell you about, I wasted one precious vote on this scrappy, stabby History Channel show, so I think we should all be grateful that they’re running a marathon of the entire second season all Saturday. They’re not showing the season two premiere, for some reason, but you can catch up—they’re Vikings, they do Viking stuff. Plus, I’ve been holding onto this picture of the awesome Lagertha for about a year:
Grumpy Cat’s Worst Christmas Ever (Lifetime, 8 p.m., Saturday): Libby Hill wants you to know that she doesn’t hate the cat. It’s just a cat. Libby likes cats. She would like you to know that.
Punkin Chunkin: Superchunk! (Discovery, 8 p.m., Saturday): The punkin chunkers continue to attempt to chunk punkins over great distances. If they chunk their punkin more th—nope, I cannot write those words any more. But there’s two hours of this, if that’s your…punkin. [Sighs. Pours drink.] (Next time: Punkin Chunkin 2: The Chunkening.)
Christmas Under Wraps (Hallmark, 8 p.m., Saturday): Wait, this isn’t about some sort of Christmas mummy? Pass.
Atlantis (BBC America, 9 p.m., Saturday): The battle for the throne continues while everyone just laughs at Atlantis’ one boatbuilder, saying, “Oh, you dumb boatbuilder—why don’t you get a real job. Atlantis doesn’t need boats. Dry as a bone over here, etc.”
In case you missed it
Gravity Falls: Alasdair Wilkins liked but didn’t fall head-over-heels for this love potion-themed episode, but he was quite pleased that the love god behind all the shenanigans was “a big fat party slob voiced by John DiMaggio.” I think we can all get behind that image.