Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Sunday, January 10. All times are Eastern.
Top pick
The 73nd Annual Golden Globe Awards (NBC, 8 p.m.): It’s fairly common practice for us to make fun of the Golden Globes, as it’s an awards show whose categories are so chaotic that they defy any attempts to mean something. Case in point, this year’s nominations put The Martian in the Musical or Comedy group next to Trainwreck and Spy, consider Empire and Narcos contenders for Best Drama, and gave Flesh And Bone a Best Limited Series nomination. That being said, the desire to be hip exhibited by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association means that a lot of things that don’t usually get Emmy nominations are recognized here (yay for Mr. Robot, Outlander and Penny Dreadful!), and there are always fun moments in the chaos, like how they can give Gina Rodriguez a much-deserved award one year and confuse her with America Ferrara the next. This year’s show will be hosted by Ricky Gervais for the fourth time, and the fact that he’s still getting invited back after various controversies hopefully means he’s done worrying about it and can just up the asshole quota tenfold. We at The A.V. Club, who never worry about our asshole quota, will be live-chatting the affair and trying not to be upset that we can’t play the Tina Fey/Amy Poehler drinking game from last year.
Top pick in perpetuity
Mad Max: Fury Road (HBO, 9 p.m.): The A.V. Club’s best film of 2015. To be honest, you should skip everything else that’s on television tonight for the chance to once again ride eternal, shiny, and chrome.
Also noted (season premiere edition)
Shameless (Showtime, 9 p.m.): The Gallagher family is back for its sixth season of scheming and scrambling to stay solvent in south side Chicago, and there’s already a mountain of problems for Fiona to deal with: Frank’s new outlook on life in the wake of Bianca’s death, Ian’s refusal to take his bipolar disorder medication, and Debbie’s unplanned pregnancy. And if that’s not enough, right when Fiona got Joshua Alston to stop crashing on her couch, Myles McNutt has moved into the Gallagher house for regular coverage and is offering all his thoughts on how the family is or isn’t keeping things together.
Also noted
Galavant (ABC, 8 p.m): With his kingdom turned into a democracy, King Richard is more than a little disheartened that no one seems to need him anymore. Possibly he’ll take Dan Caffrey’s suggestion and change his name to The Richard Formerly Known As King. Or maybe he’ll raise an army and take it all back by force and song. Either or.
The Simpsons (Fox, 8 p.m.): Homer purchases an off-brand milk substitute that causes early puberty, leading to increased hormones for Bart and bad acne for Lisa. Has The Simpsons ever jumped to teenage Bart and Lisa in its wide history of time travel? We’re not sure, but hopefully Dennis Perkins can fill us in, as he’s got a vast memory of what the show’s done in the past that frequently disappoints him when he sees what they do in the present.
Downton Abbey (PBS, 9 p.m.): We’re a massive fan of the P.G. Wodehouse canon, so tonight’s episode description including the line “Pigs cause trouble for Edith and Marigold” has us really stoked for a possible Blandings Castle crossover, with Lord Emsworth and the Empress of Blandings (an enormous black Berkshire sow) strolling onto the premises. Emily L. Stephens is more of a Jeeves fan herself, so she’s simply nodding at our delusions and saying “Very good, sir.”
The Good Wife (CBS, 9 p.m.): It’s a Good Wife bottle episode (maybe) as the entire Florrick family are crammed into a campaign bus bound for the Iowa caucuses, and Eli and Ruth are along for the ride. Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya is excited by the potential for close quarters wackiness, and even more excited by the descriptor of “entire Florrick family,” which offers the tantalizing hope of finally getting an answer to the longstanding Where Is Zach Florrick question.
Tomorrow in TV Club
We know all of you got really into Making A Murderer, and more than a few of you were left outraged by it. Well, since we think the more outrage the better, we’ve compiled a list of all the other miscarriages of justice that made it into pop culture that had us reaching for our pitchforks and torches.
What else is on?
Madam Secretary (CBS, 8 p.m.): “Elizabeth gets dragged into dealing with an emergency situation aboard the International Space Station.” Is Madam Secretary finally going to go to space? Because that would be pretty awesome. Hell, put Jason Sudekis back in his astronaut outfit as an ISS scientist and you’ve got a The Last Man On Earth crossover that writes itself! (Sorry, we just really miss The Last Man On Earth.)
Cooper Barrett’s Guide To Surviving Life (Fox, 8:30 p.m): Unfortunately for Cooper Barrett, his guide didn’t have tips for surviving the era of Peak TV, as the premiere ratings for this show were pretty bad. Well, maybe an appearance from Paula Abdul will turn the tide.
Bordertown (Fox, 9:30 p.m.): Also starting out at a low point ratings-wise was Bordertown, which brought the Animation but no Domination to Fox’s Sunday night lineup. On tonight’s episode, Bud finally gets a border wall erected but it costs him his job, and he has to make money smuggling people under the wall. It’s irony so thick you could dip your chips in it and call it guacamole.
CSI: Cyber (CBS, 10 p.m.): It’s “the world’s first case of cyber-hijacking” as a plane vanishes following a hack into an air traffic control communication system. Is the CSI: Cyber team going to solve Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 for us? Or uncover the truth about what happened to Amelia Earhart? C’mon, push those boundaries!
The Royals (E!, 10 p.m.): The monarchy is in trouble this week’s episode as the death of the king is being looked into. Hopefully Helena and Cyrus have a butler lined up to take the fall.
Hoarders (A&E, 9 p.m.): There’s an odd bit of duality to this week’s episode as Adult Protective Services gets involved with a woman pushed to her car by hoarding and Child Protective Services threatens to take the children of a woman whose house has become unlivable. Wouldn’t it be crazy if those women turned out to be the same woman and both Protective Services got into a turf war?
Worst Cooks In America (Food Network, 9 p.m.): “Recruits… go head-to-head to win steps for an incomplete recipe.” This game would be even better if the runners-up also got steps for their recipe, except they were chosen at random. The exquisite corpse of cooking.
Finding Bigfoot (Animal Planet, 9:30 p.m.): Maine is the sight of this week’s investigation, which involves “recordings of multiple howls.” Is it really Bigfoot, or are the teams just hiding around the homes of The A.V. Club’s Maine-based writers? Zack, Dennis, and Emily get together all the time to howl at the moon and scream out their disappointments at bad television and their not-so-charmingly racist Tea Party governor.
Cutthroat Kitchen (Food Network, 10 p.m.): “Challenges include… completing a sorbet while dragging around a giant action movie poster.” What poster, we wonder? And does the quality of the movie reflected on the poster have any correlation to the quality of the sorbet? This show asks so many questions.
Work Out New York (Bravo, 9 p.m.): Fitness trainers compete for the business of New York’s rich and famous. We’re guessing it’s a lot like The Apprentice, but with squat thrusts.
The Karate Kid (AMC, 7:30 p.m.): If you haven’t watched this movie with the theory that Daniel is the film’s true villain in the back of your mind, do so. It’s kind of mind-blowing.
Finding Nemo (ABC Family, 7:30 p.m.): With Finding Dory on our list of anticipated entertainments for 2016, it’s a good time to re-familiarize yourself with the delightful original.
About Time (FXX, 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.): Slight creepiness of the premise and dicey rules of time travel aside, there’s a lot of charming moments in this romantic comedy, and a great turn from Domnhall Gleeson (who’s coming off a pretty spectacular year between Ex Machina and Star Wars: The Force Awakens).
Twister (Syfy, 8 p.m.): Normally we hate repeating movies after we’ve already referenced them in prior What’s On Tonight installments, but when reading the description of this one we were taken aback by learning this was the first Hollywood feature film released on DVD. So yeah, keep that in your back pocket for your next trivia night.
Syriana (IFC, 8 p.m.): Traffic for the international espionage set, this thriller knots its way through Middle East politics and American intervention, carried by a selection of terrific performances that includes an Oscar-winning turn by George Clooney.
Ender’s Game (Spike, 8 p.m.): A film that managed to be a fairly decent adaptation of a book once in the unfilmable category, this film lost a lot of points prior to release thanks to author Orson Scott Card continuing to be a prolific homophobic asshole. So it goes.
Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All By Myself (TNT, 8 p.m.): We know you can, Tyler Perry, and you put your name on all of your movies to remind us of that fact constantly. But here you at least helped us all realize that Taraji P. Henson is capable of truly operatic levels of grandeur, and all of us who enjoy Empire thank you for that.
Maximum Overdrive (Flix, 10 p.m.): Stephen King’s only directorial effort (and one where he’s admitted he was so coked up he doesn’t remember any of it) where semi trucks come to life and terrorize a North Carolina gas station. A movie with a mind-blowing history, an AC/DC soundtrack, and acting that’s beyond ludicrous. Only Fury Road’s presence is keeping us from naming this the most essential film you could watch tonight. (Plus it has Giancarlo Esposito in a bit part that’s worth watching.)
Sportsball!
NFL Playoff, Seahawks at Vikings (NBC, 1 p.m.)
NFL Playoff, Packers at Redskins (Fox, 4:30 p.m.)
College Basketball, VCU Rams at Saint Louis Billikens (NBC Sports, 4 p.m.)
College Basketball, Ohio State at Indiana (CBS, 4:30 p.m.)
PGA Golf Tour, Hyundai Tournament of Champions (Golf Channel, 5 p.m)
College Basketball, Villanova at Butler (Fox Sports, 7:30 p.m)
College Basketball, North Carolina State at Wake Forest (ESPNU, 8 p.m.)
NHL Hockey, New Jersey Devils at Minnesota Wild (NBC Sports, 8 p.m.)
College Basketball, Stanford at Oregon (ESPNU, 10 p.m.)
In case you missed it
Steven Universe: We’re dusting ourselves off in the wake of the last Steven Bomb, where so many things happened: Steven’s birthday! Garnet’s origin story! First appearance of Yellow Diamond! Peridot’s moment of truth! And as always, Eric Thurm was there to save the day. (And if you think he can’t, he’ll always find a way.)