Join Stephen Colbert for his final Indecision (Oh, there’s some sort of election on, too)
Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Tuesday, November 4. All times are Eastern.
Top pick
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart/The Colbert Report (Comedy Central, 11 p.m.): With Stephen Colbert wrapping up The Colbert Report in just a few weeks to prepare for his move to The Late Show, tonight marks the last time he and Jon Stewart will team up for a live election night broadcast as part of their Indecision 2014 coverage. To be reminded of just what it is we’re losing with the end of The Colbert Report, I can think of nothing better than to share the full title of their half of the Indecision broadcast. Deep breath, everyone: “Midterms ‘014: Detour to Gridlock: An Exciting Thing That I Am Totally Interested In—Wait! Don’t Change the Channel. Look at this Video of a Duckling Following a Cat Dressed Like a Shark Riding a Roomba! ‘014!” Yeah, I’m not ready for this to end.
Also noted
Election Night Coverage (Pretty much every other channel, various times): ABC, CBS, and NBC are all rolling out hour-long election coverage starting at the 10 o’clock hour—sorry, Person Of Interest!—while the truly brave can head to the 24-hour news networks for even more exhaustive coverage. Fox News and MSNBC get things started at 6 p.m., while CNN starts up an hour later.
Selfie (ABC, 8 p.m.): The cancellation of Manhattan Love Story means that ABC has an extra half-hour to kill on Tuesdays, and it’s decided to just burn off an extra Selfie episode this week. So, good news, Selfie fans: We are officially living in a time when there is more Selfie available than ever! And, bad news, Selfie fans: It’s all just hastening the show’s likely demise. Gwen Ihnat is there for anyone who needs comforting.
Regular coverage
Marry Me (NBC, 9 p.m.)
New Girl (Fox, 9 p.m.)
The Mindy Project (Fox, 9:30 p.m.)
Benched (USA, 10:30 p.m.)
Hey, how long is Sons Of Anarchy overrunning this week?
Sons Of Anarchy (FX, 10 p.m.): Buckle up everyone, because tonight’s episode is 135 minutes long, meaning it’s overrunning by 75 minutes. And all because, per the six-word episode description, “The club deals with internal conflict.” That is going to require everyone to stay up until 12:15 a.m. to sort out!
A brief programming note about shows starting with “30”
Erik Adams will be back next week with his latest 30 Rock review. We won’t be covering tonight’s 30 For 30 about baseball’s Hernandez half-brothers, but Noel Murray should be back in December with a look at The U Part 2.
What else is on?
MasterChef Junior (Fox, 8 p.m.): The show in which Gordon Ramsay has to at least pretend he doesn’t want to verbally eviscerate every contestant returns for a new season, and Libby Hill offers the highest praise in her pre-air review, in which she calls the show TV’s most joyous offering.
NCIS: New Orleans (CBS, 8 p.m.): Special agent DiNozzo pops over from the NCIS flagship to help the N’awlins team deal with an outbreak of bubonic plague among naval crewmen. One can only guess how sorely CBS was tempted to awkwardly overdub every mention of “bubonic plague” with “ebola.” Got to be timely, after all!
Marvel: 75 Years, From Pulp To Pop! (ABC, 9 p.m.): No Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. this week, but that just means Disney can be marginally more blatant in using that hour of programming to promote Marvel Studios’ output. This retrospective documentary traces Marvel’s origins as a 1930s comic book publisher to its status today as a maker of superhero blockbusters. I’m guessing there will be slightly more emphasis on the latter than the former, but I’m willing to be surprised.
The Curse Of Oak Island (The History Channel, 9 p.m.): Hey, you know Oak Island, that island off the coast of Nova Scotia on which there’s this famously mysterious pit, which may contain some kind of buried treasure but probably isn’t really a thing at all, and has certainly never actually yielded anything of substance? Yeah, somehow the History Channel is now two seasons into a reality series devoted exclusively to that money pit. Tonight’s premiere involves Spanish coins or something.
The Godfather/Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel/Admission (HBO, 6 p.m./9 p.m./10 p.m.): While a sane person would probably just choose to watch either one of the greatest films ever made or Bryant Gumbel’s latest special report on head trauma in football or a decently charming Tina Fey and Paul Rudd comedy, watching all three in order feels like the makings of a delightfully absurd evening, for anyone who’s got a spare six hours or so.
The Dead Pool (Sundance, 8 p.m.): One of these days, I’m going to make peace with the fact that the fifth Dirty Harry movie doesn’t actually involve Clint Eastwood investigating the murder of a swimming pool. But not today.
College Football: Bowling Green at Akron (ESPN2, 8 p.m.): That’s right, college football fans, it’s time for some spicy hot midweek MACtion! Unfamiliar with what MACtion is? Go here to be enlightened, then know that this particular slice of MACtion prominently involves one of the lesser Bowdens and a team that beat Indiana the week before the Hoosiers somehow upset Missouri.
In case you missed it
Gotham: Kyle Fowle steps onto the Gotham beat in Oliver Sava’s stead, and his first assignment is to consider Oswald Cobblepot’s past. Also, this show is at least sort of getting a little better. Maybe!