Person Of Interest goes where (we assume) no show has gone before: Upstate New York!
Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Tuesday, February 3. All times are eastern.
Top pick
Person Of Interest (CBS, 10 p.m.): It’s been too many damn weeks—two, by our count—since Person Of Interest occupied its rightful Tuesday-night slot, and it’s been far more damn weeks since we made the show our official top pick. And in case anyone is thinking, “Ah, but surely that’s why you designated it the people’s top pick, now and forever, right?”—oh, how you little you understand about the arcane rules and strictures of what is and is not a true top pick. (For the record, we don’t understand them either.) Anyway, What’s On Tonight politics aside, this latest episode finds Reese and Root looking for Shaw in “a small town in upstate New York,” which by network television standards, could totally just mean the Bronx. Alexa Planje is standing by to give any necessary geography lessons.
Also, no big deal, but this is maybe our favorite promo photo ever
This feels like a slight break from the look Jim Caviezel is typically going for. And is Root’s luggage full of rocks, or what? Basically, if this isn’t a setup for the long-awaited spin-off Person Of Interest: Upstate New York Farce, then we don’t know what’s going on.
The people’s other top pick, now and forever (or just this once)
Justified (FX, 10 p.m.): Incidentally, there was some chatter in the comments last week that Justified should slide into Person Of Interest’s spot as the people’s top pick. To anyone who suggested that, all we can really say is, “You just don’t get it, do you?” Alasdair Wilkins thinks it’s a crying shame that Time Chasers was left out of that montage, even if they didn’t quite get the line right. (Come on, it’s Time Chasers: What did you expect?) Oh, and tonight’s Justified involves illegal explosives, so yeah, definitely tune in for that.
Also noted
The Flash (The CW, 8 p.m.): Hey, Barry Allen is going on a date tonight! Except it’s not with his comics-mandated love interest, nor is it with the woman from the other CW superhero show with whom he shares serious mutual attraction, nor is it even with the other female lead of the show with whom it’s hard to see a relationship being on the cards—what with her fiancé having been turned into a nuclear-powered fireball—but where at least the actors have some chemistry. So, uh, Scott Von Doviak isn’t exactly shopping for anniversary gifts just yet, you know?
MasterChef Junior (Fox, 8 p.m.): This episode features what we can only hope is some guest yelling from Gordon Ramsay’s daughter Matilda, who is on hand to introduce an elimination challenge featuring salmon en croute. Actually, now that we think about it, wouldn’t it be much more thematically in keeping with the whole “junior” concept if Matilda Ramsay just hosted the whole damn show? Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya doesn’t want to say that Gordon Ramsay is stealing a primetime hosting gig from his own daughter, but she’s not totally sure how to finish that sentence.
New Girl (Fox, 9 p.m.): Per the episode description, “Schmidt and Nick fashion a suit made from sweatshirt material and call it the “Swuit,” so Jess decides to help by pitching the item to entrepreneur Lori Greiner.” You know, it’s always sad to see a once proud show debase itself with product placement. We mean for the swuit. Lori Greiner probably doesn’t need the extra publicity, though Erik Adams would kind of weirdly respect it if a Fox show became a half-hour promo for ABC’s Shark Tank.
Regular coverage
Parks And Recreation (NBC, 8 p.m.)
Marvel’s Agent Carter (ABC, 9 p.m.)
Marry Me (NBC, 9 p.m.)
The Mindy Project (Fox, 9:30 p.m.)
Kroll Show (Comedy Central, 10:30 p.m.)
Elsewhere in TV Club
Don’t miss Matt Crowley’s fantastic 100 Episodes appraisal of Monk, in which he explains just why the Tony Shalhoub-starring detective series is one of the best spins on the Sherlock Holmes story. Here’s a sample:
While Monk shares many of the qualities of his fellow sleuths—narcissism, a strong sense of justice, uncanny deductions—he lacks any of their coolness.Monk too can be offputtingly square at first glance, with its goofy sense of humor and preoccupation with puzzles. The macho aspects of Sherlock Holmes, his boxing background and occasional cocaine use, are gone. What remains is a fragile and lonely genius. Monk is the cowardly lion of the sleuthing set, terrified of everything from germs and heights to ladybugs and milk.
What else is on?
Street Art Throwdown (Oxygen, 9 p.m.): This new series features street artists competing for a $100,000 prize. While such a hefty prize really should be enough to sustain viewer interest, we kind of hope this show insists on teasing the possibility that every contestant is actually Banksy. Like, if every last commercial break doesn’t feature a dramatic voiceover asking “But is this person secretly Bansky?” and then returning with the answer “No, he or she isn’t,” we will be gravely disappointed.
Being Mary Jane (BET, 10 p.m.): This Gabrielle Union-starring drama about a TV news anchor trying to balance the myriad pressures of her life kicks off its second season tonight, and it has what may be our new favorite episode title: “People In Glass Houses Shouldn’t Throw Fish.” We’re not sure what would be better: If that title is the payoff to an entire first season’s worth of buildup and makes perfect sense to the show’s hardcore fans, or if it’s totally baffling to everyone but does presage a lengthy fish-throwing sequence in tonight’s premiere. Either way, we’re hoping something along these lines is involved.
Ground Floor (TBS, 10 p.m.): Bill Lawrence’s other TBS sitcom is in the home stretch of its second season, as tonight’s episode is titled “The Proposal: Part I.” And oh yes, you better believe next week’s episode is “The Proposal: Part II.” Big things are afoot on this ground floor, and possibly on floors beyond! (Yeah, even by our standards, we really haven’t seen this show.)
Hack My Life (truTV, 10:30 p.m.): A list of things that apparently require hacking, according to the entire description of this episode: “Opening a beer bottle; cleaning a house; throwing a party; using a pen.” Look, we’ll admit that we maybe don’t use our pens at optimal efficiency. It’s entirely possible. But the day that actually becomes something to aspire to…
Point Break (Starz, 6:50 p.m.): My goodness, does this movie have everything. Put it this way: When Gary Busey is on hand to play a grizzled, profane federal agent named Angelo Pappas and that’s only the fifth or sixth most delightfully crazy thing about the movie, you know you’re in for a good time. Could have stood to have more John C. McGinley yelling, though.
Commando (MovieMax, 9 p.m.): Of all the great Arnold Schwarzenegger shoot-em-ups—really, “kill-em-alls” is probably a more accurate term—this is easily the one that features the most shots of Arnold feeding a baby deer to indicate he has a soft side. We’ll still never forgive this movie for not just calling his character “John Commando,” even if John Matrix is pretty damn awesome in its own right.
NCAA Basketball: Indiana at Wisconsin (ESPN, 7 p.m.): This is a weak night for college basketball (and nationally televised sports in general, if a game between the Blackhawks and Wild is the best the NHL has to offer), but this matchup does at least feature the fifth-ranked Badgers taking on a Hoosiers squad that has acquitted itself fairly well thus far. Whether that “fairly well” is good enough to give Wisconsin a game in Madison is another question, but you really don’t want us steering you toward that Florida-Vanderbilt tilt.
In case you missed it
Star Wars Rebels: Hey, a Disney XD show aired a new episode, and only a couple weeks after the previous one! We’re as shocked as you are! (Speaking of which, new Gravity Falls airs Monday after next.) Anyway, Kevin Johnson is pleased with what he saw, especially since this could prove to be a pivotal episode for the season as a whole.