Let’s all register our feelings about the Simpsons/Family Guy crossover in real time
Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Sunday, September 28. All times are Eastern.
Top pick
Family Guy (Fox, 9 p.m.): There’s reason to believe that the Griffins’ visit to Springfield won’t wipe out all of the goodwill The Simpsons re-built through the FXX marathon and a delightful 25th-anniversary stage show at the Hollywood Bowl. (Current Family Guy showrunner Rich Appel, who wrote “Mother Simpson” among other Simpsons scripts, says it’ll “do justice to both shows”!) Then again, there’s reason to believe that the whole endeavor will be a flaming car wreck. (In early preview footage, Stewie tries to emulate Bart by prank-calling Moe’s, and says “Your sister is being raped.” [What’s On Tonight tugs comedically at shirt collar.]) Rather than allowing these competing expectations to wage night-long war in our heads, we’ll be spilling them out on the Internet, with a live chat during the episode. Join many of your favorite A.V. Club writers as we meet in the web’s infinite living room to confront our big, yellow trepidation head on.
Also noted
The Simpsons (Fox, 8 p.m.): Tonight, one character that earned a performer who isn’t Hank Azaria an Emmy will… die. And not “die” as in the German for “the,” a reference that now has Dennis Perkins worrying about a potential “The Sideshow Bob the” situation in the season-26 premiere, “Clown In The Dumps.” (Yeah, that’s not assuring either, is it?)
Brooklyn Nine-Nine (Fox, 8:30 p.m.): The cops of the 99th precinct move to a new night with a new TV Club reviewer (LaToya Ferguson). Still the same: The dependably dry wit of Captain Holt, who’s probably been holding the same blank, steely glare since the end of the first season.
Finales and farewells
Once Upon A Time (ABC, 8 p.m.): The season-four premiere will be the happily ever after for regular Once Upon A Time coverage at The A.V. Club, though we still plan to drop in on any notable episodes that air in the future—notable episodes like this one, which has Gwen Ihnat investigating the more organic of the night’s crossovers: The arrival of Frozen characters in Storybrooke.
Revenge (ABC, 10 p.m.): Carrie Raisler’s weekly tracking of Emily Thorne/Clarke/Grayson’s quest for vengeance ends tonight as well, with a quick sweep of the season-three aftermath. Though with a plot this twisty, who knows if season three even happened?
Masters Of Sex (Showtime, 10 p.m.): Meanwhile, Masters Of Sex heads into hiatus on a real-life turning point: Masters and Johnson’s research goes public. And Gwen Ihant will go public with her opinion on the episode once the episode has ended.
Regular coverage
Boardwalk Empire (HBO, 9 p.m.)
The Good Wife (CBS, 9 p.m.)
The Strain (FX, 10 p.m.)
TV Club Classic
Clone High (3 p.m.): It seems like only yesterday that the students of Clone High were going back to school. But time passes quickly at two episodes per week, and amusing genetic copies grow up right before your eyes, so here we are: A prom two-parter and the conclusion of Clone High. Caroline Framke wants all of you to know that you’re 2 Cool 2 Be 4gotten—and she’s preparing to tell you so in your yearbook.
What else is on
Ray Donovan (Showtime, 9 p.m.): Say, what’ve those old Donovan kooks been up to? Aside from losing a showrunner? You know, the usual: Planning heists, dealing with potential arrests. Fun stuff as always, Ray Donovan!
Resurrection (ABC, 9 p.m.): In light of ABC’s premiere-week performance, prepare for plenty of stories about the network’s 2014 resurrection, which wouldn’t be possible without this Resurrection.
CSI (CBS, 10 p.m.): The old war horse of the CBS procedural stable warms up to its new Sunday-night digs. There it will regale The Good Wife and Madam Secretary with tales of the good old days, before the proliferation of DVRs, when all a drama needed was a sexy investigative hook and a Who single in the opening credits.
Jaws (IFC, 8 p.m.): Summer’s over, but What’s On Tonight regrets to inform residents of Amity Island that it’s still not safe to go back in the water.
Metropolitan (TCM, 8 p.m.): While bingeing on Amazon’s Transparent, why not take a break for a taste of what future Amazon Studios shows might have to offer—namely, the chatty, urbane humor of The Cosmopolitans creator Whit Stillman, as seen in this, his debut film.
Sunday Night Football: Saints at Cowboys (NBC, 8:20 p.m.): Only one of these teams is owned by a man who dropped some fake rap in a commercial for America’s least-compassionate pizza chain. We guess what What’s On Tonight is trying to say is “Geaux Saints.”
MLS Soccer: Los Angeles vs. New York (ESPN2, 8:30 p.m.): Hey, remember when you loved the other football this summer? Look, here’s a match between the soccer teams that represent the two largest cities in the country. Hey, where are going?
Tomorrow in TV Club
We’ll leave the full rundown of the day’s TV content to tomorrow’s What’s On Tonight correspondent, but here are some teasing hints on a day when the programming is almost nothing but teasing hints: The moonwalk. The Tenth Doctor meets Skyler White. The worst pilot of the new TV season. Memories of Cab 804. Memories of Stars Hollow. No deaths of beloved and/or remembered characters.
In case you missed it
Outlander: The series has entered a portal that transported the rest of season one to April 2015. Elswehere, Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya leads a valiant search to learn of Outlander’s whereabouts.