Our coverage of Batman: The Animated Series comes to an end with an abrupt cut to black
Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Monday, June 17. All times are Eastern.
TOP PICK
Batman: The Animated Series (1 p.m.): It’s taken us several years and two writers—with breaks for Justice League coverage along the way—but Oliver Sava is finally wrapping up his journey through this influential animated superhero series with the Batman Beyond movie. Does this mean we won’t be covering Batman Beyond someday? you ask. Well, we don’t know about that just yet, but be sure to ask us again in 2016. As for Oliver, he’s returning to Justice League after the completion of this feature, and after that, maybe we’ll mix in some Superman or some something else.
REGULAR COVERAGE
Adventure Time (Cartoon Network, 7:30 p.m.): Did you enjoy the 10 graybles we’ve gotten previously? Well, maybe you’ll enjoy another five of them, as the show returns to even shorter, even more whimsical storytelling than usual. Oliver Sava will tell you five short graybles about your stupid face.
Regular Show (Cartoon Network, 8 p.m.): Mordecai meets Margaret’s dad and hopes that he’ll get a handshake of mutual respect. Now, we’re pretty sure that Mordecai is the Bird Thing, and we’ve made our peace with that, but Alasdair Wilkins is much less certain Margaret’s dad will be cool with it.
Switched At Birth (ABC Family, 8 p.m.): Bay is shaking things up all over, first finding out surprising things about Ty’s time in the military, then causing friction when she wants to stay with Regina. Carrie Raisler hopes that the whole season ends with a giant Bay rising out of the Pacific to destroy Tokyo.
Defiance (Syfy, 9 p.m.): A mysterious plague hits Defiance, so everybody moves into the mines, because that’s a good idea in event of plague. In fact, just cram everybody into the same space after a plague. There’s no way that could go wrong. Ageless Rowan Kaiser lived through the Black Death, so he knows.
Teen Wolf (MTV, 10 p.m.): Where’s Firefly? We canceled it. But would you accept a Teen Wolf episode named “Fireflies”? That’s pretty much the same thing, right? Like, if Shepherd Book showed up, and he had a bad case of the lycanthropy, that would be pretty cool, right? Phil Dyess-Nugent agrees with us.
TV CLUB CLASSIC
The IT Crowd (11 a.m.): And just like that, we’re at the end of series one, as we make our way through the course of this comedy in just one summer. Caroline Framke is keeping things real by time traveling back to the original airdates and watching them with her British pals. Way to be, Caroline. Way to be.
Scrubs (3 p.m.): We’ve got two brothers coming in to mess things up in this week’s two episodes, including Tom Cavanagh as J.D.’s brother and Freddy Rodriguez as Carla’s brother. Myles McNutt has a brother, but he won’t be making a guest star appearance in this week’s review because Myles is a jerk.
WHAT ELSE IS ON
The Voice (NBC, 8 p.m.): So it’s come to this. The finalists of The Voice—and yes, that show is still going on, which surprised us, too, when we realized how long it would last back in May—show down tonight, with the winner being crowned tomorrow night. Quick! Name all of the finalists in comments! Go!
The Goodwin Games (Fox, 8:30 p.m.): Oh yeah! This show is still airing! And now that Scott Foley has been added as a regular on Scandal—which, how is that going to work?—you can toss several more nails into this show’s coffin. We gave up on it a while ago. Maybe you can tell us how it’s been going.
Love, Marilyn (HBO, 9 p.m.): HBO thinks that you can do a television program about Marilyn Monroe and make it just a documentary, rather than a musical spectacular filled with throwback songs and a plot that doesn’t make any sense no matter how much you squint at it. Yeah! Good luck with that, HBO!
Honey Do (TLC, 10 p.m.): Handymen help a woman whose husband isn’t able to perform certain household chores by making the fixes they require. While this might sound like the setup for a ‘70s porno, it’s actually a new reality show, and, yes, those are still your gender roles if you’re on TLC.
Blast From The Past (FX Movies, 7 p.m.): We’re not going to recommend this movie, but we don’t think it’s all that bad. We can’t help but like that Brendan Fraser, and the premise—guy who was raised in a bomb shelter wanders into the modern era—is pretty winning. Also, Sissy Spacek is in it! We love her!
That Thing You Do! (Sundance, 8:15 p.m.): Here’s another solid little comedy that’s easy to get sucked into, with Tom Hanks directing his own script and appearing in the film as well, following a one-hit wonder band that writes the catchiest fucking song that you will have stuck in your head now.
Stanley Cup Finals: Game 3: Blackhawks at Bruins (NBC Sports, 8 p.m.): The first two games of this Stanley Cup Final went to overtime, which suggests this might be one of those series that passes into legend. Naturally enough, NBC is airing it on this out of the way channel, so it can show The Voice.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
The Borgias (Sunday): Showtime unexpectedly canceled this show, even though it got pretty good ratings, probably because it was really expensive. Les Chappell mourns the show that was and feels relieved that it managed to go out on an episode so good. See what all the fuss was about while you can.