Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Friday, June 14, and Saturday, June 15. All times are Eastern.
TOP PICK
Magic City (Starz, 9 p.m., Friday): The first season of this show took a while to get going, but it had built to a really good show by the end, and we’re hoping it gets even better in season two. We could use a new show to watch on Starz now that Spartacus has been taken from us, and it’s not like TV is really crawling in quality dramas right now. So even if the setting and crime genre feel a little derivative on their face, give this show a shot. You might like what you see. Will Harris hopes you watch. His kid’s gotta eat, man! Keep watching! Keep reading!
REGULAR COVERAGE
Borgen (LinkTV, 10 p.m., Friday): This week’s episode is entitled “Men Who Love Women.” As a man who loves Girls, Todd VanDerWerff hopes he makes an appearance, strutting down the halls of the capital, inexplicably speaking Danish, and shouting at people about misogyny at the drop of a hat.
Maron (IFC, 10 p.m., Friday): This week’s episode is entitled “Sex Fest,” which is pretty much what we call Fridays at The A.V. Club. Kyle Ryan, though, just stays in his office and looks out at the bacchanalia the rest of us are engaged in and sneers. “I will not be a part of sex fest!” he says. “I will not!”
TV CLUB CLASSIC
Babylon 5 (11 a.m., Friday): Rowan Kaiser is making his way through season three, and the theme is “The Point Of No Return.” If he’d like, we can sing the song of the same name from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom Of The Opera in one of his reviews. We’ll be waiting by the phone, Rowan!
The Larry Sanders Show (1 p.m., Friday): Did you forget about 1994’s Northridge earthquake? You probably did, because it rarely comes up in casual conversation. Because he’s such a fan of this show, however, Kyle Ryan works the 1994 Northridge earthquake into conversation every chance he has.
Wonderfalls (3 p.m., Friday): Sarah Drew—who would later be known as the improbably wonderful Hannah on Everwood (big shoutout to the two of you who loved this show as much as we did)—pops up as someone who wants to steal Jaye’s life. Les Chappell is plotting to steal your life right now. Look out!
The Twilight Zone (1 p.m., Saturday): There’s more life stealing going on in one of these, as two old folks decide to engage in body-swapping to prolong their lives. Todd VanDerWerff remembers when body-swapping was a wholesome family sort of affair. Now it’s been twisted beyond all recognition!
WHAT ELSE IS ON
Crossing The Ice (National Geographic, 8 p.m., Friday): A couple of guys decide to walk from the shores of Antarctica to the South Pole—like you do—and National Geographic’s camera crews are there to document it the whole way. And Ginger Rogers will be accompanying them backwards and in heels!
Breaking Magic (Science, 9 p.m., Friday): We genuinely have no idea if this is a new program or one of the many shows Science Channel picks up from other networks and reruns as “new programming,” because it’s a show about explaining magic tricks. If you’ve seen one show like this, you’ve seen ‘em all!
How We Invented The World (Discovery, 10 p.m., Friday): Discovery wants to tell us about how humans “invented” the world, but we all know that the world was regurgitated by a giant hippopotamus in the middle of his swooning cycle. And if you disagree on this, you will be banned from this site immediately.
Vice (HBO, 11 p.m. Friday): HBO’s latest stab at a newsmagazine/documentary series wraps up its first season with the episode that sent Dennis Rodman to North Korea. You remember that? It was in the news for a little while, because it was a slow news week. Well, now you can watch it happen again!
Pac-Man And The Ghostly Adventures (Disney XD, 11:30 a.m., Saturday): We’d really like to offer you a review of this new show about the adventures of Pac-Man, but Disney XD seems baffled—quite obviously, we’ll admit—by the thought of us needing a screener for it. C’mon, guys! It’s Pac-Man!
Zero Hour (ABC, 8 p.m., Saturday): If you’ve been waiting for the return of this gloriously bad show—and you probably have; you can be honest—well, ABC is burning it off two hours at a time over the next several weeks. We’ve heard the season’s ultimate “solution,” and it’s a doozy of dumbassery. Whee!
American Gigolo (Sundance, 8 p.m., Friday): Richard Gere is the titular gigolo in this Paul Schrader film that cemented the young star’s sex symbol status. Other than that, we couldn’t tell you anything about this film because we haven’t seen it. But we assume he’s very sexy in it and does some sexy dancing.
Gone (Showtime, 9 p.m., Friday): This serial killer thriller received terrible reviews and starred a veritable all-star cast of people who played supporting roles in TV shows. So why are we recommending it? Because we like Amanda Seyfried and wish her nothing but the best. What? We liked her in Big Love!
Monsters, Inc. (Disney, 8 p.m., Saturday): Get ready for the release of next weekend’s Monsters University by digging deep into the mythology of the original film. Then horrify yourself when you realize that the voice of Boo from this film is a senior in high school, and you have completely wasted your life.
U.S. Open Golf: Second-round play (ESPN, 8 p.m., Friday): We genuinely have no idea who’s supposed to be good in the world of golf right now because we’re awful people, but Phil Mickelson seemed to be doing all right after the first round, so maybe he’ll perform well in the second round, too. Could happen!
Stanley Cup Finals: Game 2: Bruins at Blackhawks (NBC Sports, 8 p.m., Saturday): The first game in this series was a three-overtime barn-burner, so now the Bruins get to see if they can come back from an agonizing defeat. Meanwhile, this is airing on NBC Sports instead of NBC proper for some reason.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
The Daily Show (Thursday): Kevin McFarland checks in on the first week of John Oliver’s stint as Jon Stewart’s replacement host on the venerable comedy program while Stewart’s away filming a movie. With the NSA scandal, Oliver surely had plenty to make jokes about. Kevin will see how he did.