Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Thursday, February 28, 2013. All times are Eastern.
TOP PICK
Legit (FX, 10:30 p.m.): At last, America is ready to forgive Andy Dick—or at least let him learn a few ballroom steps in the service of entertaining your mom on Dancing With The Stars. But before he can do so, he must survive the absolution gauntlet previously conquered by Dane Cook: A self-effacing cameo as himself on an FX half-hour comedy. Steve Heisler watches Jim Jefferies seek career advice from Dick and wonders why he didn’t go to, like, literally anyone else.
REGULAR COVERAGE
Community (NBC, 8 p.m.): There’s a light at the end of the dank, depressing tunnel of “Conventions Of Space And Time”: There’s no new Big Bang Theory airing opposite tonight’s Community! Hooray and huzzah for potentially better ratings! Now here’s Todd VanDerWerff to bring you back down with the news that a two-hour American Idol is stealing Greendale’s lunch this week…
Project Runway (Lifetime, 9 p.m.): Joan and Melissa Rivers guest-judge a challenge revolving around fashionable looks for senior citizens. Sonia Saraiya has $10 on Joan Rivers saying “The most fashionable look for a senior is a coffin” before the end of the runway show.
Archer (FX, 10 p.m.): Archer, Lana, and Cyril’s latest mission takes them deep into the belly of a celebrity chef’s restaurant. Is the restaurant owned by Chef Paul Prudhomme? Todd VanDerWerff really wants it to be owned by Chef Paul Prudhomme.
TV CLUB CLASSIC
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (11 a.m.): It’s Zack Handlen’s worst nightmare: A trip to the Mirror Universe back-to-back with a visit from Lwaxana Troi. You know, you wouldn’t have these problems if you were covering a less-sprawling sci-fi franchise, Zack. There’s no Lwaxana Troi in, say, Buck Rogers In The 25th Century—just loveable gold-plated Twiki.
WHAT ELSE IS ON?
The Annoying Orange (Cartoon Network, 7:30 p.m.): Exasperated parents, your proverbial wandering the desert is at an end—The Annoying Orange wraps its first season tonight. Now you only have to deal with irritating citrus on the Internet, on your smartphone, in your kids’ toybox, on their T-shirts…
Hacking The Planet (Weather, 8 p.m.): Taking a break from endowing winter storms with ludicrous names, The Weather Channel pauses to tamper in God’s domain, profiling scientists who seek to weaken or downright prevent cataclysmic weather.
The Ben Show (Comedy Central, 10 p.m.): In the first of the night’s Comedy Central premières, comedian Ben Hoffman weaves sketches around man-on-the-street interviews where the show’s star, say, solicits advice about buying a gun. It’s a premise that doesn’t work on paper as well as…
Nathan For You (Comedy Central, 10:30 p.m.): …in which Jon Benjamin Has A Van co-star Nathan Fielder offers comically horrible advice to real-life business owners—and sometimes creates viral advertisements for them that fool major news outlets.
The Road (Fox Movie Channel, 8 p.m.): It’s almost March, which means winter’s almost over—so why not take some residual seasonal affective disorder into the next month courtesy of the man, the boy, and Cormac McCarthy’s grim epic of apocalyptic survival.
The Graduate (TCM, 8 p.m.): 31 Days of Oscars forges on, undaunted by all the negative fallout from this year’s ceremony. It’s sort of like the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has been stuck in the final scene of this movie since Sunday, with Seth MacFarlane in the Dustin Hoffman role and the Academy played by Katharine Ross. (Oh, who are we kidding—there are no women in the Academy!)
NBA Basketball: 76ers at Bulls (TNT, 8 p.m.): We have no idea how the last-place 76ers snuck past TNT’s bouncers, but here they are, facing off against a Chicago squad that might not see Derrick Rose until next fall. This is your time to rise and claim your spot among the only five teams that ever play on TNT, Philadelphia!
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Psych: Do you like fake psychics? Would you like to see more writing about them on The A.V. Club? Then let us know by reading Kevin McFarland’s review of Psych’s seventh-season première!