Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Friday, October 12, and Saturday, October 13. All times are Eastern.
TOP PICK
Strike Back (Cinemax, 10 p.m., Friday): If anything, the second season of this show has been even explodier than the first one, and as we all know, the level of explode-y the show achieves is the only way Myles McNutt knows to grade it. In tonight’s episode, the team attempts to stop Knox from causing significant harm with his nuclear arsenal, but you can admit it: You kind of want to see all of those bombs go off, so you can watch the characters blow things up in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. That would automatically be the best show on television, from a McNutt-ian perspective.
REGULAR COVERAGE
Boss (Starz, 9 p.m., Friday): Chicago’s going bankrupt, and Tom Kane is in trouble because of it. Sonia Saraiya finds the very idea of a budgetary crisis in Chicago to be an impossible fiction that would never come true. Chicago running out of money to pay for necessary services? That’s just crazy!
Fringe (Fox, 9 p.m., Friday): The Fringe team finds itself in a forest full of people dedicated to recording the history of humankind, in a premise that sounds like something out of Lois Lowry’s Giver series. Noel Murray hopes that there’s a scene where Peter Bishop is forced to remember the death of an elephant.
Grimm (NBC, 9 p.m., Friday): This episode’s called “The Bottle Imp,” and visions of big, blue genies are dancing in Kevin McFarland’s head. We don’t have the heart to tell him that Aladdin is full of dumb stuff. He’s all on about the accuracy of Robin Williams’ Ed Sullivan impression, like it was funny or something.
Young Justice (Cartoon Network, 10:30 a.m., Saturday): Blue Beetle and Miss Martian come along on a mission during which “shocking secrets” will be revealed. Oliver Sava has his own shocking secret he’ll reveal in tomorrow’s review: He has an evil twin named Avas Revilo, who is dictator of Ruritania.
Saturday Night Live (NBC, 11:30 p.m., Saturday): Christina Applegate guest hosts, while Passion Pit is the musical guest, which will likely prompt lots of people you kind of know from high school to start listening to them on Spotify. David Sims listens to Passion Pit only when he needs to do a montage.
TV CLUB CLASSIC
Firefly (1 p.m., Friday): Noel Murray and Donna Bowman come to the end of their voyage through the series, as they tackle Serenity, the film sequel to the series. Then we can all argue about if that one scene means Joss Whedon uses a certain storytelling technique to manipulate audiences unfairly.
The X-Files/Millennium (1 p.m., Saturday): Zack Handlen loves him some purple prose, so we’re expecting him to love “Milagro,” an excellent X-Files episode that features some of the most over-the-top narration in a series full of such narration. Also, Millennium is named “Bardo Thodol,” which… what?
WHAT ELSE IS ON
Halloween Tricked Out (HGTV, 8 p.m., Friday): If you’ve been looking for some way to decorate your house for Halloween beyond haphazardly throwing fake cobwebs everywhere, here’s a show full of people who go all out for the holiday. Can we recommend a “haunted strip mall” theme for you?
Yukon Men: Hunt For Survival Revealed (Discovery, 8 p.m., Friday): Dig into two hours worth of cut footage from the reality show about dudes living out in the wild in the Yukon. Some dude will fight a bear, and we can only hope it will happen bare-handed, just like Teddy Roosevelt would have liked.
Dog With A Blog (Disney Channel, 9:40 p.m., Friday): Good science fiction answers compelling “what if” questions. What if you could travel through time? What if a man could restore life to the dead? What if aliens visited our planet? Tonight, the Disney Channel asks, “What if a dog had a blog?” Be there.
Deadly Women (Investigation Discovery, 10 p.m. Friday): Tonight’s episode is all about KILLER TEENS, so if you enjoy watching teenagers kill other people—or each other—we think we’ve found your diversion for the evening. And even if you don’t like that, there’s really nothing else on. This is it.
Too Cute! (Animal Planet, 8 p.m., Saturday): Tonight’s episode promises “fluffy puppies” and “baby goats,” so you know what we’ll be glued to for most of the weekend. C’mon, Animal Planet! Send us the screeners! We want to see what happened after last season’s amazing cliffhanger with all the ducklings.
American Horror House (Syfy, 9 p.m., Saturday): Hm. A movie about a “horror house” with lots of scary business that probably won’t make sense, as it’s airing on Syfy on a Saturday night. This… reminds us of something, but we can’t put our finger on what. (Remember that pig-head guy? How weird that was!)
Born Yesterday (TCM, 8 p.m., Friday): Judy Holliday won an Academy Award for Best Actress for this winningly fizzy comedy confection about a businessman and his mistress who take a trip to Washington, where she reveals surprising and hidden depths. Some solid, old-fashioned laughs in this one.
Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy (Cinemax, 8:20 p.m., Friday): Go ahead, everyone. Do your thread on the funniest lines and moments from this movie down in comments. We’ve got the rest of the day. We can wait. (For the record, the best part is the giant fight scene. Is there any other choice?)
The Descendants (HBO, 8 p.m., Saturday): Was this George Clooney vehicle, nominated for several Academy Awards but winner of only one, over-obvious Oscar-bait, or was it another high for Alexander Payne, a director who’s had many of them? Join that debate tonight, as the film makes its HBO debut.
MLB Playoffs: NLDS/ALDS: Orioles at Yankees/Cardinals at Nationals (TBS, 5 p.m./8:30 p.m., Friday): Every single Division Series went to five games, and now the Orioles and Yankees and Cardinals and Nationals face off to see who will face the Tigers and Giants, respectively. Go Orioles. Go Nationals. Go baseball.
College Football: Southern California at Washington (Fox, 7 p.m., Saturday): Two Pac-10 teams face off in the night’s only primetime network game. (ABC, for whatever reason, is airing a NASCAR race.) Remember when USC was unstoppable? Man, we Californians were annoying then, huh?
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia (Thursday): Guess what? The eighth season of this show began last night, and we’ve got our fourth reviewer covering it, even though we’ve only covered five of those seasons. Welcome Emily Guendelsberger to the Sunny reviewing team with all your usual decorum.