Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Friday, May 1, and Saturday, May 2. All times are Eastern.
Top pick—Kickass Heroine Overload!
Orphan Black (BBC America, 9 p.m., Saturday): Surprise! The male clones are all weirdo creeps! Sarah, Alison, Cosima, Helena, and all the other Maslanys have their many hands full this week kicking ass (but with their fists), as everyone hunts for some original clone DNA. Caroline Framke wonders if they’ve looked somewhere with, like, beakers and stuff.
Outlander (Starz, 9 p.m., Saturday): Claire and Jamie’s return to Jamie’s ancestral home last week yielded some powerful and unexpected moments. This week, an old Redcoat deserter pal of Jamie’s turns up to keep the drama ratcheted up. Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya’s sure Caitriona Balfe’s Claire can take it—possibly through the employment of ass-kicking.
Saturday Night Live (NBC, 11:30 p.m., Saturday): Sure, Scarlett Johansson is riding high as co-star of the biggest movie of the summer, but Dennis Perkins knows that she’s really only excited that she’s now only one SNL hosting appearance away from the Five-Timer’s Club. That’s pretty kickass! Musical guest Wiz Khalifa just wants her to warn her that Danny DeVito practically lives in there.
Also noted
Other Space (Yahoo): Tune in at noon on Friday for Molly Eichel’s continuing review of the second episode of this delightful sci-fi comedy series from Paul Feig. This week, she has to untangle an episode rife with party games, fudge, and a shape-shifting alien. If anyone can do it, Molly can.
Childrens Hospital (Adult Swim, 11:59 p.m., Friday): The show goes behind the scenes again, expanding the delightfully ludicrous world of the actors of the show within the show. LaToya Ferguson gives it an ‘A,’ so you can guess how it went.
Grimm (NBC, 8 p.m., Friday): A series of killing in town have the monster-hunters wondering if Jack The Ripper is back. Les Chappell says, “Again with Jack The Ripper.”
Comedy Bang! Bang! (IFC, 11 p.m., Friday): Humorous alien incursion Friday continues, as Colin Hanks’ visit to the CB!B! set is interrupted by a legally-distinct-from Alien xenomorph. David Kallison can see the strings.
Elsewhere in TV Club
In a feature sure to make you wonder whether we can ever just relax and enjoy a damned thing (we can’t—it’s our curse), this week’s AVQ&A features various A.V. Clubbers listing pop culture they like but don’t agree with. After that, Mike D’Angelo bucks the trend by bringing us his Scenic Routes examination of the fascinating fantasy sequence in Éric Rohmer’s Chloe In The Afternoon. Then Kristin Yoonsoo Kim’s For Our Consideration examines the changing nature of lead roles for Asian male leads on television, and Kenneth Arthur interviews NFL draftee and Star Wars fan film enthusiast Chris Conley. Could this be the beginning of the prophesied nerd-jock convergence?
What else is on
NBA Playoffs:
Atlanta at Brooklyn (ESPN, 8 p.m., Friday)
San Antonio at L.A. Clippers (TNT, 8 p.m., Saturday)
NHL Playoffs:
Tampa Bay at Montreal (NBCSN, 7 p.m., Friday)
Minnesota at Chicago (NBCSN, 9:30 p.m., Friday)
Washington at N.Y. Rangers (NBC, 12:30 p.m., Saturday)
NFL Draft Rounds 2-3 (ESPN, 7 p.m., Friday), Rounds 4-7 (ESPN, 12 p.m., Saturday): Rounds two and three decide who’s gonna be maybe, possibly playing for a team near you. Or, as a cynical Dan Rydell might ask, “Why should we care?”
America’s Ballroom Challenge (PBS, 9 p.m., Friday): The description of this ballroom dancing competition says that “the International Latin division features suggestive costumes and seductive steps.” [Clutches pearls, swoons.]
The Messengers (CW, 9 p.m., Friday): The angels try to hunt down the first Horseman of the Apocalypse. Have they tried calling each other “Leftenant” a lot?
Bitten (Syfy, 9 p.m., Friday): Elena wakes up in a secret werewolf testing lab, undergoing tests. It’s just a parvo booster, Elena, don’t sweat it.
Flipping Ships (Animal Planet, 9 p.m., Friday): That just sounds dangerous.
Mayweather Pacquiao Weigh-In (Showtime, 9:30 p.m., Friday): Wherein two grown men step on scales in their underpants for your entertainment. To reiterate—this is being shown on television. The fight itself takes place in Saturday—on pay-per-view for a ridiculous amount of money. They will be fighting in underpants, although significantly larger ones. Oh, and one of the guys is an unrepentant woman-batterer, so align your sympathies accordingly. Like this fellow:
Blue Bloods (CBS, 10 p.m., Friday): In the season five finale, one of the coppiest cop families in New York gets shot, presumably by someone unaware that there are approximately a dozen cops with the same last name lining up to swear a blood vengeance oath.
Voces On PBS (PBS, 10 p.m., Friday): PBS’ Latino arts and culture documentary series continues with this installment about Mexican poet Javier Sicilia on his mission to meet with American government officials after his son was killed in the so-called “war on drugs.”
Lost Girl (Syfy, 10 p.m., Friday): Succubi in Japan!
The Grace Helbig Show (E!, 10:30 p.m., Friday): Hilary Duff, GloZell Green & Shane Dawson
Vice (HBO, 11 p.m., Friday): The news magazine series investigates the epidemic of jerks looting stuff from Egyptian tombs and the more puzzling epidemic of white dudes being essentially rented out in China.
When Calls The Heart (Hallmark, 8 p.m., Saturday): The episode is called “Trials Of The Heart”—this show has a lot of heart going on.
Cleveland Abduction (Lifetime, 8 p.m., Saturday): Raymond Cruz (a.k.a. Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul’s Tuco Salamanca) stars as notorious woman-imprisoning dirtbag Ariel Castro in a Lifetime movie that must have seemed utterly necessary to the people at that particular network. Molly Eichel runs down how that went.
Ana Maria In Novela Land (Oxygen, 8 p.m., Saturday): A depressed young woman finds herself transported inside her favorite telenovela. Sounds fun, except for…The Generalissimo!
Murder, She Baked: A Chocolate Chip Cookie Mystery (Hallmark, 9 p.m., Saturday): Wait, is someone murdering cookies? Because that is so not cool.
Tatau (BBC America, 10 p.m., Saturday): Our two British heroes continue to blunder and tattoo their way across the Cook Islands in this BBC mystery series.
In case you missed it
The Big Bang Theory: Sure, Thursday belongs to Louie, but not every sitcom can be an award-winner. What’s that—this show has won an ungodly amount of awards? Well, still, here’s to Kyle Fowle who continues to apply his highest critical acumen to analyzing a show with a B- ceiling. And hey—this week’s episode got a B-!