Save Me was one of NBC’s most intriguing pilots of the season—so, naturally, it’s premièring after that season has ended
Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Thursday, May 23, 2013. All times are Eastern.
TOP PICK
Save Me (NBC, 8 p.m.): In a year when NBC’s comedy strategy aimed wide—and missed across the board—the story of Anne Heche having a modern-day Joan Of Arc moment just didn’t fit anywhere alongside guys with kids, Friends with issues, normals with news, presidents with kids, and monkeys with medical degrees. Honestly, this kind of thing would’ve fit better on Showtime circa 2008, what with a heroine seeking redemption and showrunners who previously worked on United States Of Tara and The Big C. Todd VanDerWerff checks in at the top of the show’s burn-off, to determine if this programming curiosity belonged anywhere other than the back on the shelf.
REGULAR COVERAGE
Hannibal (NBC, 10 p.m.): The case of the week involves a grave-robbing killer who works in human totem poles. Our understanding of that term is considerably different from Hannibal’s—Molly Eichel suggests you keep your search history clean and not run “human totem pole” through Google.
TV CLUB CLASSIC
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (11 a.m.): Odo tries his hand once more at what we hu-mans call “love”—and Zack Handlen has so much love and respect for the constable that he can’t help but watch this whole thing with his hands over his eyes.
Gilmore Girls (1 p.m.): Season two opens with Richard voicing his disapproval of Dean, which is the most sensible opinion the most sensible of the Gilmore grandparents has ever expressed. Knowing what’s coming up in the next few episodes, David Sims is accepting early applications for membership on both Team Dean and Team Jess.
WHAT ELSE IS ON?
Swimming With Monsters (Animal Planet, 8 p.m.): A new underwater-exploration series begins with a dip into the Amazonian home of the anaconda. Fingers crossed this turns out better than the time Jon Voight went swimming with an anaconda.
Does Someone Have To Go? (Fox, 9 p.m.): We realize this a rhetorical question, workplace-reality series, but if there are to be any stakes in this thing, we’re going with “Yes.”
Showville (AMC, 9 p.m.): AMC puts America’s Got Talent On Wheels, starting in the tulip-strewn confines of Holland, Michigan. If the B-roll in this première doesn’t include at least one shot of a pair of wooden shoes, then someone hasn’t done their job properly.
Rookie Blue (ABC, 10 p.m.): The end of the television season means it’s time for everyone’s favorite Canadian co-produced cop drama to shine. Because the people of the Great White North, as they say, are a summer people.
Hook (BBC America, 7 p.m.): If the legacy of Ishtar can be un-tarnished by the sands of time, surely similar campaigns must be under way to clear the name of this other Dustin Hoffman-starring box-office bomb. Unless The Crazy Ones is set to make everyone sick of Hoffman’s Hook co-star, Robin Williams, all over again.
Last Days Here (Showtime, 9:30 p.m.): The troubled lead singer of revered metal act Pentagram gets the up-close-and-personal treatment, as Don Argott and Demian Fenton find him attempting not to end up like the subject of a Pentagram song.
Stanley Cup Playoff: Game 4: Blackhawks at Red Wings (NBC Sports, 7 p.m.): The Wings have taken an unexpected—and, frankly, unlikely—2-1 lead in their series against the heavily favored Hawks. Another win here and all that energy Chicago expended to go 24 straight games with a point during the regular season is going to seem mighty foolish.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
The Middle: Axl Heck is a high-school graduate—and all without a 90210-esque “Axl Heck graduates” campaign, even! Will Harris has a copy of Oh, The Places You’ll Go with your name on it, Axl.