Sundance brings Rectify, its first original series, to the air, and, surprise, it's arty
Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Monday, April 22. All times are Eastern.
TOP PICK
Rectify (Sundance, 9 p.m.): Every so often, we get asked if “art TV” could exist, by which people usually mean, “Hey, will there ever be a TV show that’s essentially non-narrative?” to which the answer is probably no, because it’s hard to see someone carving out a space for that in the current program lineup. But something like Rectify—which has a story and “mystery” but is more interested in the interactions of its characters and their back-stories—is a pretty neat step on the road toward whatever “art TV” might be. It starts up tonight, and Erik Adams will have thoughts later in the day.
REGULAR COVERAGE
Adventure Time (Cartoon Network, 7:30 p.m.): The Ice King needs a man inside at the princess potluck, so he sends Gunter in disguise, which sounds like just about the best thing we’ve ever heard of. Oliver Sava would totally buy a Gunter-disguised-as-a-princess plushie. He loves penguins in dresses.
Regular Show (Cartoon Network, 8 p.m.): Muscle Man tries to get a song he wrote for Starla on the radio. Still having never seen this show, we’re wondering if Muscle Man has ever yelled, “STARLA! HEEEEEY, STARLA!” outside of her window at some point? We should ask Alasdair Wilkins, huh?
The Following (Fox, 9 p.m.): The FBI plans to storm the mansion where Joe’s hiding out but is apparently unaware that Joe has an escape plan in place. It’s strange to us to imagine that the FBI wouldn’t have considered this possibility, but David Sims wants us to know that the FBI on this show is pretty stupid.
RuPaul’s Drag Race (Logo, 9 p.m.): So. Tonight is the finale of RuPaul’s Drag Race, yet there are still three episodes of RuPaul’s Drag Race left in the season. How does this work? We don’t know. It’s some sort of weird “reality show physics” thing. Oliver Sava could explain it to us but it would take weeks.
Bates Motel (A&E, 10 p.m.): You guys really need to be watching this. It’s something else, like a weird assemblage of leftover storylines from other series that somehow got glommed onto a Psycho prequel, and nobody knows how to tell that particular story. Todd VanDerWerff enjoys watching it lurch about.
Revolution (NBC, 10 p.m.): This week’s episode was originally supposed to be last week’s episode, until the tragic events in Boston meant it had to be postponed. Les Chappell is glad that the network had the forethought to not air it last week, but he’s also been missing all of you something fierce all this time.
TV CLUB CLASSIC
Peep Show (11 a.m.): Would that all shows had seasons that were only six episodes long! Phil Dyess-Nugent has been covering this show for just eight weeks, and he’s already in the middle of season three. At this rate, he’ll be done with everything by the end of summer. (No, that’s true. We just checked.)
Batman: The Animated Series (1 p.m.): Bruce Wayne falls in love and decides to give up his superheroic ways, until somebody somewhere reveals it’s a sinister plot. Oliver Sava thinks that’s kind of stupid. Bruce Wayne should be allowed to fall in love, free of sinister plots! Free Bruce Wayne’s heart!
WHAT ELSE IS ON
An Apology To Elephants (HBO, 7 p.m.): We’re actually quite disappointed that this isn’t just a generalized apology to elephants but, instead, appears to be a show that actually aims to apologize to elephants for shitty things humans have done to them. You fools! Elephants don’t understand English!
Rules Of Engagement (CBS, 8:30 p.m.): Even though the other CBS comedies are in repeats, the network tosses out a new Rules Of Engagement to entertain you, as the show continues its improbable crawl to 100 episodes. It’s like a cat that got hit by a car and somehow dragged itself up onto your porch to die.
Bravo’s Top 10 Weddings (Bravo, 9 p.m.): Sadly, this isn’t a countdown of the top 10 weddings ever, which wouldn’t exactly be useful but at least would sort of make sense as a way to kill an hour. No, it’s a countdown of the top 10 weddings featuring Bravo reality show personalities. We are all going to die.
Defiance/Lost Girl (Syfy, 9/10 p.m.): Enough of you read about Defiance last week that Rowan Kaiser will take a look at the second episode and see if you’re still into it once the pilot haze wears off. Meanwhile, Kevin McFarland checks into his old Lost Girl stomping grounds for the season finale.
Spider-Man 2 (FX, 8 p.m.): This is still one of our favorite superhero movies ever made, right down to that dorky “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head” sequence around the movie’s midpoint. And that’s in spite of our general lack of excitement about Tobey Maguire! On the other hand, Alfred Molina. Woo!
The Wizard Of Oz (TCM, 8 p.m.): Is this the most-seen movie of all time? We doubt such a thing could ever be determined, but we’d wager with its constant rebroadcasts on TV over the last however many decades that it has to be in the running. If you haven’t seen it before, you are probably a small baby.
MLB Baseball: Yankees at Rays (ESPN, 7 p.m.): The Rays were supposed to have a great shot at winning this division. Instead, after three weeks, they find themselves at 8-10. The Yankees, meanwhile, find themselves chasing the Red Sox. It’s early days, still, but this could be a big series for either team.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Game Of Thrones (Sunday): Dude. Did you see those last 10 minutes? Did you check out the way that Daenerys… well, we’ve already said too much by admitting it involved her. Just go and watch, then check out reactions from David Sims (if you’re a newbie) and Todd VanDerWerff (if you’re an expert). Trust us.