Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Friday, January 17, and Saturday, January 18. All times are Eastern.
TOP PICK
Flowers In The Attic (Lifetime, 8 p.m., Saturday): When stealth Mad Men star Kiernan Shipka wins an Oscar one day we’ll look back on her participation in this Lifetime remake of Flowers In The Attic and laugh and laugh and laugh.
Be sure to tune in now so in 2027—on National Kiernan Shipka Appreciation Day— you can tell your kids you watched the most infamous broadcast in TV history. “It’s just too bad Kiernan had to go down with the Shipka,” you'll joke as you polish your 32-piece collection of Shipka commemorative plates.
ALSO NOTED
Enlisted (Fox, 9:30 p.m., Friday): Les Chappell leads the charge to draw attention to this delightful new Fox comedy. His current slogan is: “Be All That You Can Be By Watching Enlisted.” (He’s still working on it.)
Saturday Night Live (NBC, 11:30 p.m., Saturday): Drake is the host and musical guest on this week’s SNL. David Sims hopes Jaden Smith shows up wearing a shirt with a picture of Drake wearing a shirt of Jaden’s face. Shirt-ception!
REGULAR COVERAGE
Grimm (NBC, 9 p.m., Friday)
Raising Hope (Fox, 9 p.m., Friday)
TV REVIEWS
Sonia Saraiya checked in on The Following’s second season: “Even if The Following continues to be a bad television show, this is a better version of “bad” than it put forth last year. The characters are more tangibly real; the creepiness, when it crops up, is less splashy, more psychological. (Both murder scenes in “Resurrection” are distinctly horrifying in their own ways.) The Following is an irresponsible proponent of the type of violence that numbs audiences to gore, but in this second-season opener it takes a few necessary steps to begin the process of interrogating itself.”
Myles McNutt reviewed the return of BBC’s Sherlock:“There is much pleasure to be had with Sherlock, but the attempts to balance the dramatic implications of Sherlock’s return, the intense stakes of a national terrorist attack, and the character’s sense of fun becomes a tonal mishmash (especially when the show mistakes fan service for character development).”
Todd VanDerWerff took a look at HBO's Looking: “The word ‘looking’ is spoken dozens of times in the first three episodes of this show, but it’s nothing so clumsy as the series trying to remind viewers what its title is. Instead, it’s about all of the different contexts that word might crop up in when one is in the process of searching for something, anything. Checking out OKCupid at work? Well, that’s just looking. Getting involved in a three-way? That’s just looking for a way to spice up a potentially moribund sex life. Going to a club or a bathhouse or just wandering around, checking out guys? That’s looking as well.”
Josh Modell on Neal Brennan’s new comedy special: “Neal Brennan’s chief professional accomplishment and door-opener is that he co-created Chappelle’s Show, writing—mostly just he and Chappelle—the sketches that made the show both famous and great. So, though Brennan has been doing stand-up off and on for 20 years, it’s not where he made his name: Only the most die-hard comedy fans will probably even recognize his face.”
WHAT ELSE IS ON?
Oprah: Where Are They Now (OWN, 9 p.m., Friday): We’re still not convinced this episode isn’t the start of some bizarre joke: So William Shatner, Debbie Allen, and two Facts Of Life stars walk into a bar.
Undercover Boss (CBS, 8 p.m., Friday): Although this episode is set at Mohegan Sun Casino, we like to imagine a crossover with our next entry…
Real Time With Bill Maher (HBO, 10 p.m., Friday): …in which Bill Maher goes undercover at his show to see what the craft service crew really think about him.
Win, Lose or Draw (Disney 10:10 p.m., Friday): Game show enthusiasts will be jazzed to hear this ’80s series is getting a Disney Channel revamp. Two teams of normals join forces with Disney channel stars for an epic game of Pictionary.
Screen Actors Guild Awards (TNT, 8 p.m., Saturday): Tired of insulting the fashion choices, acceptance speeches, and censor flubs of The Golden Globes? The SAG Awards are here to provide fodder for more snarky tweets!
Sex Sent Me To The ER (TLC, 10 p.m., Saturday): This show exists. This episode is called “Valentine’s Surprise.” We’d make a joke, but we don’t really think we have to.
Moulin Rouge (TVGN, 8 p.m., Friday): Come what may! Cooooome what may! We will watch you! Because we have nothing to do on Friday!
The Spirit Of St. Louis (TCM, 8 p.m., Friday): Only Jimmy Stewart could make sitting alone in an airplane talking to a fly a compelling piece of film drama.
Zombieland (SyFy, 9 p.m., Saturday): Enjoy Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, and Woody Harrelson irreverently take out zombies, crack jokes, and talk to a zombie-fied Bill Murray.
NBA Basketball: Clippers at Knicks (EPSN, 7 p.m., Friday): The Clippers start off their second seven-game trip in two months playing The Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Free agent Hedo Turkoglu officially joined the team on Thursday—one guess as to who will have to carry everybody’s luggage on the trip.
Australian Open: Early-Round Play (ESPN 2, 9 p.m., Saturday): Kangaroos! Vegemite! Outback! Also some tennis. Lots and lots of tennis.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Parks And Recreation: Someone got engaged on last night’s Parks And Rec! Was it Tom? Ann? A regenerated Lil Sebastian?! Only Alasdair Wilkins knows for sure.