Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Monday, April 16. All times are Eastern.
TOP PICK
Adventure Time (Cartoon Network, 7:30 p.m.): Hey, did you hear? We added Adventure Time a couple of weeks ago, and you guys seem to appreciate that decision. Well, we thought we’d make it even more official by giving Adventure Time the top pick it was supposed to get last week before we forgot about that promise we made ourselves. Oliver Sava is disappointed in us for that. After all, Finn and Jake would never do such a thing. They remember everything everybody’s ever told them. Anyway, check out the show tonight, because the Top Pick told you to. You wouldn’t go against the Top Pick, would you?
REGULAR COVERAGE
How I Met Your Mother (CBS, 8 p.m.): Even though the title of this show is a declarative statement, we always have to stop ourselves from sticking a question mark at the end of it, probably because it begins with the word “How,” and our journalism training demands it. Donna Bowman hates question marks.
The Voice (NBC, 8 p.m.): It’s time for the quarterfinals, which is something this show has over all other singing competitions but still isn’t nearly as cool as the “battle rounds.” Emily Yoshida got to the quarterfinals of the TV Club reviewers competition thanks to her mean Fleetwood Mac covers.
2 Broke Girls (CBS, 8:30 p.m.): Caroline helps Max complete her first tax return, which sounds like it might make for an entertaining enough episode. Oh, who is Todd VanDerWerff kidding? This episode is going to be filled with Liberty Tax Service gags and then lots of fart sounds. And then his weeping.
House (Fox, 9 p.m.): House and the team take on the case of a man bleeding from the eyes, and House’s favorite hooker leaves the business. It’s momentous developments like this that let you know that the show is in its final season, since Zack Handlen knows House’s favorite hooker is a fixture of the show.
Castle (ABC, 10 p.m.): Things have gotten tense with Beckett, so Castle decides to take on a new partner, and we’re betting that goes perfectly smoothly. Oh, Adam Baldwin’s in this episode? Well, we’re betting that could be a lot of fun. Phil Dyess-Nugent likes that he’s playing “Detective Slaughter.”
Smash (NBC, 10 p.m.): Uma Thurman is in this episode again, and we’re incredibly hopeful that every episode just features 30 seconds of her standing around at the end and that she doesn’t have anything to do. Now, like Noel Murray, we like Uma Thurman just fine, but we think that would be hilarious.
TV CLUB CLASSIC
Scrubs (11 a.m.): One of this week’s episodes takes a point-of-view other than J.D.’s, and Myles McNutt will be turning his review over to his evil alter-ego, Styles O’Grunt. He’s a Ferrari-driving pig with a bad attitude, and he’s coming to put all those other TV reviews to shame. Styles O’Grunt: all up in your biz.
Batman: The Animated Series (1 p.m.): What better preview will there be for this summer’s Dark Knight sequel than watching this episode that features Bane, who will apparently be Batman’s main nemesis in the upcoming film. Oliver Sava is already working on his Bane mask and scary impersonation.
WHAT ELSE IS ON
Top Gear (BBC America, 8 p.m.): Everybody’s favorite series about making cars go super fast and vroom vroom returns, with a two-hour premiere. Honestly, if you spent your evening watching this instead of any of the programs talked about above, we wouldn’t blame you one bit. Godspeed with that.
American Pickers (History, 9 p.m.): It’s “The Return Of Hobo Jack.” We’re not sure what that means, we’re always in favor of hobo-related material. Why, our favorite song is “Big Rock Candy Mountain,” our favorite author is John Hodgman, and our favorite Mad Men episode is “The Hobo Code.”
Hart Of Dixie (The CW, 9 p.m.): We’d like to say that this small town dramedy has turned the corner and become the Rachel Bilson star vehicle of our dreams, but it remains stubbornly on the other side of “good enough to get somewhat invested in.” Anyway, if you care at all, watch, as renewal is uncertain.
Eden’s World (Logo, 10 p.m.): RuPaul’s Drag Race offers up a clip show that recaps the season tonight, so we won’t be covering that. Instead, we guess you could check out this new reality show, in which a 6-year-old pageant queen goes around offering other young pageant competitors advice. Super odd.
The Core (Showtime 2, 8 p.m.): Hillary Swank and Aaron Eckhart travel to the Earth’s core to start it spinning again or somesuch, in one of the great bad movies of the last couple of decades. Come for the scenes of mass bird death; stay for the goofy and obligatory love story. You’ll have a good time!
Where The Boys Are (TCM, 8 p.m.): Here’s another title our copy editor lizard brains want to stick a question mark after, though we know we shouldn’t, since the title is a definitive statement. Dolores Hart and George Hamilton know where the boys are. They’re at the beach, we’d guess.
MLB Baseball: Twins at Yankees (ESPN, 7 p.m.): We’re gonna win, Twins. We’re gonna score. We’re gonna win, Twins. Watch that baseball soar! Knock out a home run; shout a hip-hooray! Cheer for the Minnesota Twins today! (Okay, yeah, they’re probably not going to win. But we can dream, hey?)
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Mad Men (Sunday): Was this tale of the slow dissolution of Pete Campbell and Lane Pryce one of the best episodes the show’s ever produced? Todd VanDerWerff would make that argument. Agree? Disagree? It’s probably time to tell us about it, unless you’re working on your next story, Cosgrove.