Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Sunday, April 10. All times are Eastern.
Top picks
Togetherness (HBO, 10:30 p.m.): Once again, one of HBO’s small yet affecting comedies dies a premature death in its sophomore season, as Togetherness reaches its series finale. Tonight, Michelle rallies Brett, Tina, and Alex together in an effort to save the charter school she’s trying to put together, in a move that Gwen Ihnat identified as having more than a few real-world parallels to the end of the show: “For the Duplasses and Zissis, for the chance to work with their friends and make something they love… finally reaching fruition, only to close due to lack of financial support.” We’ll miss this show and we’ll miss Gwen’s reviews, and we await with bated breath the final installment of the Togetherness Power Rankings.
Fear The Walking Dead (AMC, 9 p.m.): You thought you were free of the grip of zombies with last week’s The Walking Dead finale, didn’t you? And you were welcoming the quiet after the garbage fire of said finale that displays the thinly veiled contempt this creative team holds for the audience that’ll turn up every week regardless of what nonsense they put on the air? (That might just be us, because we hated that finale with a fiery passion.) Well, the joke’s on you, as AMC’s efforts to solidify control of Sunday night continues with the prequel’s second season premiere. Our motley crew of survivors sets out on a yacht to escape from LA (no, not that one or that one), and remain uncertain about their benefactor, Colman Domingo’s mysterious Mr. Strand. We’re just excited that he’s still alive since he’s the only interesting character on the show, with the possible exception of Ruben Blades’ ex-torturer. Plus, Domingo played a priest on Lucifer earlier this season! That’s a fun fact for us, let’s see if new reviewer Danette Chavez finds it as equally amusing.
Elementary (CBS, 9 p.m. and 10 p.m.): It’s an Elementary double feature tonight, and both episodes revolve around mysterious women: one who’s a friend of Mycroft and manages high-stakes poker games, and one who died in connection to a piece of artwork and a crime she committed in college. Are you mysterious enough to move in this company, Genevieve Valentine?
Premieres and finales
The Girlfriend Experience (Starz, 8 p.m.): Of the first few episodes of Starz’s latest series that reboots the 2008 Steven Soderburgh film, Kenji Fujishima had this to say: “The Girlfriend Experience is a deliberately off-putting experience, wholly uninterested in ingratiating the viewer in trying to dissect its main character. And yet, if you’re willing to bridge the distance the filmmakers impose, the show exerts an icy fascination.” The fact that Boardwalk Empire’s Paul Sparks plays a recurring role had our curiosity, and this analysis now has our attention. (Apologies to Calvin Candide.)
Billions (Showtime, 10 p.m.): The first season of Showtime’s high-stakes Wall Street drama concludes tonight, with Chuck and Axe heading into an “explosive confrontation.” That’s more than a little disconcerting to Joshua Alston, who previously said “the best episodes are the ones that make the show look like there’s more at stake than Chuck and Bobby’s massive egos,” and now it appears that’s all there will be tonight. But if necessary, he’s happy to provide them with the necessary swords or dueling pistols to take things to the next level.
House Of Lies (Showtime, 9 p.m.): Miles Ahead, Don Cheadle’s recent biopic on the life of Miles Davis, took an interesting take on the jazz legend’s life by just making a bunch of shit up. Cheadle’s life of bullshitting continues with the fifth season premiere of House Of Lies, wherein Marty deals with co-parenting his child with Kristen Bell’s Jeannie and gets an offer from “a familiar face from the past.” Is it Miles Davis, who happens to be Marty’s identical twin? Please, please, please let this be the case.
Dice (Showtime, 9:30 p.m.): In the abusively long pilot for Vinyl, comedian and actor Andrew Dice Clay distinguished himself as a horribly coked up radio mogul who became the albatross around Richie’s neck. Now, he’s getting his own series to spotlight his particular flavor of outrageousness, playing a fictionalized version of himself who gets into scrapes alongside Natasha Leggero and Kevin Corrigan. Corrigan’s character is called “Milkshake,” which we hope augurs a There Will Be Blood-inspired diatribe from Dice. Molly Eichel said that fans of Dice will get what they want, largely because “Andrew Dice Clay spent so much time constructing his persona that he can’t really do anything else with it.”
Stranger In The House (Lifetime, 7 p.m.): Lifetime’s latest original movie gives a twist on the evil stepmother narrative, as a woman hires her father a caregiver who goes on to marry him and evidently mastermind his death after getting him to change his will. But then, the twist… it’s her real mother!!! Probably not, though. We’re assuming the dad wound up killing the first one. This is a Lifetime film, after all.
2016 MTV Music Awards (Comedy Central, MTV, TV Land, 8 p.m.): This year’s awards are hosted by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Kevin Hart, stars of the upcoming Central Intelligence. As with the film, here’s hoping that the suavity of Johnson can overcome the punchability of Hart. The show only rated a “Mildly Irritating” on the final installment of the Tolerability Index (sniff), so we’re cautiously optimistic.
Shahs Of Sunset (Bravo, 9 p.m.): It’s the fifth season premiere of this reality show focusing on a group of Los Angeles Iranian-Americans, a show whose impact on culture one cast member has equated to the struggles of Rosa Parks. Yep. That happened.
Spring Baking Championship (Food Network, 9 p.m.): In the second season premiere, the chefs are thrown into the world of berries, concocting shortcakes that have to do without that traditional topping and then developing naked cakes. In our opinion though, nothing will ever beat a bowl of Oops! All Berries.
Doctor Foster: A Woman Scorned (Lifetime, 9 p.m.): The title makes this sound like your stock Lifetime offering—“a woman scorned” practically begs to be their default subtitle—but the network’s website says that it “premiered last October in the UK as the highest rated new drama of 2015 with an average of 8.2 million total viewers.” So perhaps Lifetime has aspirations of filling that Downton Abbey gap and aspires to be your purveyor of across the pond material.
Regular coverage
Once Upon A Time (ABC, 8 p.m.)
The Simpsons (Fox, 8 p.m.)
Bob’s Burgers (Fox, 8:30 p.m.)
The Family (ABC, 9 p.m.)
Vinyl (HBO, 9 p.m.)
The Carmichael Show (NBC, 9 p.m.)
The Last Man On Earth (Fox, 9:30 p.m.)
Girls (HBO, 10 p.m.)
Streaming pick
Enlightened, “Consider Helen” (HBO GO/HBO NOW): The end of one short-lived yet beloved HBO comedy has us thinking of another, and in particular its late season one episode that wound up being a transcendent showcase for Diane Ladd. So why not reconsider Helen?