Spartacus asks you to celebrate its season finale by saying "I'm Spartacus!" from the comfort of your living room
Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Friday, March 30, and Saturday, March 31. All times are Eastern.
TOP PICK
Spartacus: Vengeance (Starz, 10 p.m., Friday): Will good ol’ Spartacus have his vengeance? Signs point to yes, since he gets his satisfaction on what feels like a near-weekly basis. The bigger question is whether anything will live up to that awesome fifth episode of the season. Ryan McGee’s seen this already, and he’s let us know, with a wink, that, hey, it’s pretty good. We’re taking this to mean that it’s the biggest television event since the debut of It’s Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown, and we’re anxiously awaiting the scene when Spartacus enters a busy club filled with throbbing music, lets down his hair, and just… lets go. Go, Spartacus, go!
REGULAR COVERAGE
Fringe (Fox, 9 p.m., Friday): The nice thing about this season’s whole setup? The show can totally repeat old cases! At least, that’s what we’re assuming happens in tonight’s episode, in which a case seems familiar to Peter but unfamiliar to everybody else. Noel Murray thinks it may be time for a clip show.
Grimm (NBC, 9 p.m., Friday): Nick and Monroe investigate the murder of a spice shop owner. No! Not a spice shop owner! Without the spice shop owners of the world, where will Kevin McFarland get his spices? He’s not just going to shop in the spice aisle at the supermarket like a commoner. Heavens!
Supernatural (The CW, 9 p.m., Friday): Sam and Dean battle a demon that can only be seen when somebody is drunk in an episode with a premise that’s either the greatest thing we’ve ever heard or the final desperation move by a series that’s run out of ideas. Phil Dyess-Nugent thinks the former, for sure.
TV CLUB CLASSIC
Veronica Mars (11 a.m., Friday): Who killed the Dean? Rowan Kaiser doesn’t know, but we do, because we’ve seen this show before. We suspect the answer is in the library, somewhere near the knife and/or candlestick. Honestly, though. Who’s going to kill someone with a candlestick? That’s amateur hour.
Angel (1 p.m., Friday): Now that there are two vampires with souls out there, how on Earth is the Shanshu prophecy going to be fulfilled? Noel Murray has his own prophecy, and he’s pretty sure it calls for at least a dozen more ensouled-vampire-on-ensouled-vampire fights. To arms, boys!
The Adventures Of Pete And Pete (3 p.m., Friday): Little Pete goes to his first school dance, while Big Pete develops a crush on the band’s bassist. Marah Eakin remembers those days, when she would just randomly fall for the bassists of bands playing at junior high dances. But, then, didn’t we all?
The Twilight Zone (1 p.m., Saturday): Look out, Agnes Moorehead! There are alien invaders in your house! And we’re quite certain that once you figure out where they’ve come from, there won’t be anything ironic about it at all. Todd VanDerWerff is even more excited for Dick York in the next episode.
WHAT ELSE IS ON
Great Performances (PBS, 9 p.m., Friday): The San Francisco Symphony is apparently 100 years old. We know you probably don’t care one bit about this fact, but we thought you’d like to know that PBS is airing an anniversary concert, just in case you’d like to feel super smart and cultured tonight.
True Justice (Reelz, 9 p.m., Friday): Or, instead, you could watch the first original series from the Reelz channel, which stars Steven Seagal as an undercover cop. Ryan McGee reviews the first episode, and we’re super stoked because the show made its debut on a Spanish network called Nitro. Nitro!
In Plain Sight (USA, 10 p.m., Friday): The final season of that other drama that’s shot in Albuquerque continues to wind its way to its close. Can you imagine a universe where this show and Breaking Bad have switched places, and Mary McCormack has three Emmys? That doesn’t seem like such a bad place.
Magic City (Starz, 11 p.m., Friday): TV Club’s “Night Of 1,000 McGees” continues with his take on the first three episodes of this brand new series about Miami in the 1950s. Would you believe that organized crime was involved in the operation of a fancy hotel? We were positively shocked.
Escape Routes (NBC, 8 p.m., Saturday): What’s up with the major networks picking up weird reality shows and burning them off on Saturday nights with little-to-no promotion? Fox had that Latin music competition;, now we’ve got an NBC Amazing Race ripoff where the prize is a Ford Escape. (Get it?)
Seattle Superstorm (Syfy, 9 p.m., Saturday): It seems pretty insensitive of Syfy to rub salt in the wounds of Seattle Superstorm fans who just can’t get their fix, now that the Superstorm has become the Oklahoma City… oh… Supersonics? Well, color us embarrassed. Carry on with the Superstorm, then.
‘Crocodile’ Dundee (CMT, 7:45 p.m., Friday): What was up with that brief period in the ‘80s when America just couldn’t get enough of Australians doing Australian things? And how did the end of that period not somehow take Outback Steakhouse with it? We’ll have a Bloomin’ Onion. No, just for us.
The Seven Year Itch/The Long Weekend (TCM, 8 p.m., Friday): Billy Wilder in two different moods. First, we have a comedy about a married man tempted by Marilyn Monroe’s skirt blowing up over a grate. Then, we have his early Oscar success with a darker drama about a man battling alcoholism. Good stuff.
Dreamgirls (Bravo, 8 p.m., Saturday): For a while there, Dreamgirls was everywhere, and Jennifer Hudson’s performance of “I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” was the greatest thing since sliced bread. Now you, too, can pretend it’s the end of 2006/beginning of 2007 by watching the movie all over again.
NBA Basketball: Mavericks at Magic (ESPN, 8 p.m., Friday): The Mavericks are struggling a bit after their championship season (though they’ll still make the playoffs), while the Magic are having what looks to be their strongest year since the days of Shaq and Penny Hardaway. Ah, Penny. So great.
NCAA Basketball Tournament: Final Four (CBS, 6 p.m., Saturday): So it all comes down to this: The final four teams in the men’s basketball tournament meet in two semifinal games, with the winners playing in the championship on Monday. Place your bets, folks. A moment of silence for the mighty Jackrabbits.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Punk’d (Thursday): MTV has brought back Punk’d for some reason, and Jessica Jardine was there to see what happened when Justin Bieber pranked his good friend, Taylor Swift. Honestly, just typing all of that made our eyes roll back in our heads from sheer nausea, so we’re glad Jessica watched and not us.