Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Monday, April 2. All times are Eastern.
TOP PICK
RuPaul’s Drag Race (Logo, 9 p.m.): Judging from the huge number of you who read and comment on this show every week, this should probably just be the top pick every Monday. Actually, this is the top reality show in TV Club most weeks, and its only real rival is Survivor. So to go along with how our most popular comedy is Community and our most popular drama is Mad Men, we can’t even do reality right, since even there, our most popular show is a little-watched cable example of the genre that’s as much about making fun of the genre as celebrating it. Anyway, tonight’s episode is called “Dads I’d Like To Frock.” Oliver Sava wants to know which dad you’d like to frock. We vote for Tim Allen’s character on Last Man Standing.
REGULAR COVERAGE
The Voice (NBC, 8 p.m.): It’s finally time for the live shows, and Emily Yoshida can’t wait for all the wacky chaos that will surely occur once the show goes live. We’re betting that Carson Daly will trip over his own shoes, and Christina Aguilera will unleash a terrifying torrent of obscenities at Blake Shelton.
Being Human (Syfy, 9 p.m.): There’s a character named Suren on this show now? Honestly? We probably should have known this from reading Phil Dyess-Nugent’s reviews every week, but we have to be honest that we don’t really remember much about this, beyond how many werewolves there are.
House (Fox, 9 p.m.): The wacky carnival that is America’s favorite medical procedural winds down the carousel next month, but that doesn’t mean it can’t contrive a reason to do a Wikileaks episode before that happens. Zack Handlen isn’t entirely sure why the show needs to do this, but, hey, Wikileaks!
Castle (ABC, 10 p.m.): Wot’s this then? A detective from Scotland Yard is helpin’ out Castle and Beckett? An’ our ridiculous attempts to suggest we’re speakin’ in a Cockney accent aren’t workin’? Well, it’s not like Phil Dyess-Nugent finished out our accent classes at theatre school. We’re ‘alf-assin’ it ‘ere.
Smash (NBC, 10 p.m.): “Karen and Ivy audition for the same orange juice commercial,” reads the episode summary from the network, and we’re honestly amazed at just how swiftly this show seems to have buried its critical goodwill. Noel Murray once sucked orange juice out of an orange with a straw.
TV CLUB CLASSIC
Scrubs (11 a.m.): Did you guys remember D.L. Hughley came on as Turk’s brother? Because we’d mostly forgotten all about that. Myles McNutt will be covering that episode, as well as a much better one about a young mother with a health condition that just might take her life. Complete with musical number!
Batman: The Animated Series (1 p.m.): Oh, good! The Clock King! What is it about people who write genre stories that makes them think, “Oh, hey, somebody who’s obsessed with clocks and time-keeping would be awesome here”? Because Oliver Sava has never thought that about anything in his life.
WHAT ELSE IS ON
Adventure Time (Cartoon Network, 7:30 p.m.): Want us to add this show? Check out Oliver Sava’s review of the season premiere tonight, and if the response is good, we’ll probably take it on, even though we’re not sure there will be much more to say about it every week beyond, “Hey, that was funny, right?”
Bones (Fox, 8 p.m.): Bones is moving back to the Monday night slot it left several years ago, because Fox can’t figure anything else out with its schedule, and the show usually draws an audience. In addition, Bones and Booth are finally having their baby, which is one of those things we’re so excited about.
American Masters (PBS, 9 p.m.): Two straight hours honor Southern female authors who wrote two of the biggest bestsellers of the 20th century. First, it’s Margaret Mitchell. Then, Margaret Eby and the show check out the reclusive To Kill A Mockingbird author, Harper Lee. We’ll bet they got an interview!
Diners, Drive-Ins, And Dives (Food, 10 p.m.): Oh, hey, what would be the best way to make this show even more inexplicable? Well, you could add Matthew McConaughey to the season premiere for no apparent reason. We’re hoping he and Guy Fieri decide to make a wacky buddy cop movie together.
Lullaby Of Broadway (TCM, 8 p.m.): Come along and listen to/ the lullaby of TV Club./ The wacky shows and reviews too/ ain’t they the… Ugh. We’re not going to do this anymore. Just because we have the song stuck in our heads doesn’t mean we need to… GOOOOOOOD NIIIIIIIIGHT, MAAAAAAD MEEEEN…
William Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo & Juliet’ (Cinemax, 8 p.m.): True story: When What’s On Tonight was a young teenager, it used to listen to the love theme from this movie while thinking back on a doomed summer camp romance, because when What’s On Tonight was a young teenager, it was totally clichéd.
NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship (CBS, 9 p.m.): There are but two states that start with K’s, and now their most prominent universities (shut up, Louisville and Kansas State fans! We’re making a point!) are facing off for all the cheez-its. Kansas Jayhawks? Kentucky Wildcats? One of you must win. Who will?
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
The Killing (Sunday): We got Mad Men back a week ago, and we got Game Of Thrones back last night. With The Good Wife still airing and a very good Shameless season just concluding, Sundays are still the best ever. And Girls and Veep are coming! So we’re okay that this show still exists. If that’s the price Todd VanDerWerff must pay for good TV, so be it.