May the Fourth be with Star Wars: The Bad Batch
Here’s what’s happening in the world of television for Tuesday, May 4. All times are Eastern.
Top picks
It’s May the Fourth! Did you think Disney+ was going to pass up such a golden branding opportunity? Not a chance. Here’s a brief rundown on what’s arriving today; provide your own soundtrack by belting “bah BAH bahbahbah BAH bah bahbahbah BAH bah bahbahbahBAH” as you read.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Disney+, 3:01 a.m., first-season premiere): This is the main event, folks. Jarrod Jones will recap this promising animated series, which kicks off today with a 70-minute premiere; new episodes will arrive Fridays (including this Friday!) Here’s Danette Chavez in our May TV preview:
The Bad Batch follows the eponymous squad of elite clones—Hunter, Wrecker, Tech, Crosshair, and Echo, who are all voiced by Dee Bradley Baker—also known as Clone Force 99, as they deal with the rise of Emperor Palpatine. This sequel/spin-off of The Clone Wars is created by Dave Filoni, who’s also worked on Star Wars: Rebels and The Mandalorian, which means this latest addition to the franchise is in good hands. This new animated series is full of familiar faces/voices: Ming-Na Wen reprises the role of Fennec Shand (though this is a younger version of her Mandalorian character). Tarkin (Stephen Stanton) and Captain Rex (Baker again) will also be back, as well as Saw Gerrera (Andrew Kishino).
Maggie Simpson in “The Force Awakens From Its Nap” (Disney+, 3:01 a.m., premiere): Here’s the Maggie Simpson x Star Wars collab you never knew you always wanted. It’s a short film in which the ever-capable Maggie encounters “young Padawans, Sith Lords, familiar droids, Rebel scum, and an ultimate battle against the dark side.”
Star Wars Vehicle Flythroughs and Star Wars Biomes (Disney+, 3:01 a.m., premiere): Think of these as the Star Wars equivalent of those yule log holiday videos that run for six hours and sometimes feature Nick Offerman drinking whiskey. The former is a chance to wander the Millennium Falcon and an Imperial Star Destroyer; the latter sends viewers to Hoth, Tatooine, and other planets from a galaxy far, far away.
Regular coverage
The Flash (The CW, 8 p.m.)
Supergirl (The CW, 9 p.m.)
More from TV Club
Selena: The Series (Netflix, 3:01 a.m., complete part two, series finale): “The first nine episodes of Netflix’s Selena: The Series handled the life of the Queen Of Tejano with a lot of heavy-handed sentiment but nowhere near as much nuance. With the late singer’s father Abraham Quintanilla and sister Suzette Quintanilla serving as executive producers, the first half of the series dug deep into the lives of the different family members as Selena y Los Dinos rose to stardom, and it wasn’t until the last few episodes that it began to focus on the singer herself. Part Two of Selena: The Series picks up where Part One left off, and attempts to give viewers a closer look at her experiences and conflicted feelings as she became more famous and got closer to recording her first English album. While the singer does get more of the spotlight in Part Two, she’s still singing backup to the rest of her siblings in what remains more of a family drama than a revealing biopic series.” Read the rest of Marissa De La Cerda’s pre-air review.
Wild cards
Finding Your Roots (PBS, 8 p.m., seventh-season finale): Dr. Gates wraps things up for the season with a climb up the family trees of Lewis Black and Roy Wood Jr.
Young Rock (NBC, 8 p.m., first-season finale): It’s almost time for the 2032 Presidential Election starring candidate Dwayne The Rock Johnson.