Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Friday, June 7, and Saturday, June 8. All times are Eastern.
TOP PICK
The Larry Sanders Show (1 p.m., Friday): Look, guys: We know you really wanted Kyle Ryan’s Larry Sanders Show reviews back, and we know that when we told you they had a rather, er, limited audience, you simply didn’t care. But, really, the hunger strike was unnecessary. It’s just a series of TV Club Classic reviews! You didn’t have to endanger yourselves like that! And, while we’re at it, could we please have our dog back? I mean, we brought the reviews back. The least you could do is return Mimzy. Please?
REGULAR COVERAGE
Borgen (LinkTV, 10 p.m., Friday): Watching this show has mostly just made us want to visit Copenhagen, but we’re pretty sure getting there would cost an arm and a leg. Todd VanDerWerff married someone with Danish blood. Couldn’t she maybe sneak him into the country in a suitcase or something like that?
Maron (IFC, 10 p.m., Friday): One thing is for certain about the reaction to this show: Nobody can agree on anything. Someone will tell us the latest episode was the best yet, while someone else will tell us the show is falling apart. In times like these, only Kyle Ryan can make the truly tough calls. Godspeed, Kyle.
TV CLUB CLASSIC
Babylon 5 (11 a.m., Friday): We’re really enjoying Rowan Kaiser’s Babylon 5 reviews, but we also have some notes. Chiefly: Has he ever thought about writing a fan-fiction sequel called Babylon 6 and parceling it out, piece by piece, in the stray observations? It’s really something to consider, we’d say.
Wonderfalls (3 p.m., Friday): Now that Jaye has learned she’s the universe’s bitch, it’s time for more trinkets to come to life and relay particular tasks for her to complete to make the world a better place. Les Chappell thinks that sounds like an excellent recipe for 13 episodes of TV! But no more than that.
The Twilight Zone (1 p.m., Saturday): Every time we watch one of these episodes, the voice of Rod Serling unnerves our cat. (Not our dog, who is still being held hostage by the Larry Sanders fans. Guys! Really! Give!) Zack Handlen thinks it’s smart to know that if Serling pops up, ironic twists will follow.
WHAT ELSE IS ON
Epic Log Homes (Animal Planet, 8 p.m., Friday): The TV Guide description for this indicates that the log cabins profiled on this show will be especially “luxurious.” Which is too bad. We were hoping “epic” would mean they were outfitted with flamethrowers or 700 feet tall or something similarly cool.
Da Vinci’s Demons (Starz, 9 p.m., Friday): We gave up on good ol’ Leonardo when we thought the first few episodes of this show were patently ridiculous. But a somewhat sizable audience—for Starz, at least—disagrees, as the show will be back for a second year. Phil Dyess-Nugent checks out the finale.
What Would You Do? (ABC, 9 p.m., Friday): The venerable hidden camera newsmagazine amalgam returns to the airwaves to once again dangle situations in front of the unsuspecting then see what they do. Which is all right there in the title, and as always, we appreciate when it’s all right there in the title.
Continuum (Syfy, 10 p.m. Friday): The sometimes enjoyable, sometimes enervating Canadian time-travel series returns for its second season. Alasdair Wilkins drops in yet again to see if Rachel Nichols has figured out how to get back to 20X6 to do battle with Eh! Steve! (Yes, we’re mixing up our shorts.)
Sam And Cat (Nickelodeon, 8 p.m., Saturday): Dan Schneider strikes again with another new sitcom aimed at the young’uns, and MS Word just auto-corrected young’uns, so now we know there’s an apostrophe in it. Marah Eakin kindly reminds us that that’s something just about everybody knows.
Sinbad/Primeval: The New World (Syfy, 9 p.m., Saturday): It’s a night of imports, as Syfy offers the American debut of two British series, one of which stars Naveen Andrews and one of which stars dinosaurs. Simon Abrams checks both out to let you know which is which. But we’re not telling you.
The Maltese Falcon (TCM, 8 p.m., Friday): Humphrey Bogart got his big break in this enormously entertaining John Huston film, which is also one of the foundational documents of film noir. Oh, and in case you were wondering, the titular falcon isn’t a bird that flies around. We were disappointed, too.
Vampires Suck/The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1 (FX/TMC, 8 p.m., Friday): If you’re in the mood for shitty films about vampires, we have a couple of them. First, there’s the parody of the Twilight films; then, there’s an actual Twilight film, this one even more devoid of dramatic tension than usual!
Dog Day Afternoon (Sundance, 8 p.m., Saturday): Al Pacino and John Cazale are mesmerizing in this Sidney Lumet film, one of the best American films of the ‘70s, a damn good decade for American film. Charles Durning and Carol Kane also star, but, really, you wanna see it for Pacino and Cazale.
Track and Field: NCAA Outdoor Championships (ESPNU, 7:30 p.m., Friday): We can always do with some good track and field, even though it’s not an Olympic year. Watch young, athletic people run and jump and show off how awesome they are at everything and how much you need to hit the gym.
Stanley Cup Playoff: Game 5: Kings at Blackhawks (NBC, 8 p.m., Saturday): We’re writing this before Thursday night’s game four, so we don’t know if the Kings are going into game five down 3-1 or if they tied it at 2-2. Instead, we’ll assume game four will still be going on when this one begins. Makes sense.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
In The Flesh (Thursday): Zombies are “in” right now, or so we’ve been led to believe by the lamestream media, so BBC America is airing this three-part miniseries Thursday night, tonight, and Saturday night. Genevieve Valentine is there to let you know if it’s shuffling along toward greatness—or even okayness.