Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Monday, January 23. All times are Eastern.
Top picks
Adventure Time (Cartoon Network, 7:30/7:45 p.m.): Adventure Time is back for its eighth and penultimate season with a week of new episodes, starting with tonight’s “Two Swords” and “Do No Harm.” In the former: “Finn and Jake contend with a mysterious, but familiar, new being.” In the latter:
Just kidding: “Finn makes amends at the Candy Hospital while Jake tries to connect with their unexpected houseguest.” Is the “unexpected houseguest” possibly a monkey that’s been known to eat its young? Hopefully Oliver Sava’s review has all the answers.
Supergirl (The CW, 8 p.m.): Tonight, Supergirl returns with the episode “Supergirl Lives.” Sorry, the show is obviously saving “Supergirl Returns” for a later date. Roulette (Dichen Lachman) is back, and this time, she’s trafficking humans on a planet called Slaver’s Moon. Clearly, this is a job for Supergirl! Only, Slaver’s Moon has a red sun, “which means Kara and Mon-El are stripped of their powers and stuck on the planet with no way home.” Whoops. Kryptonian problems. Hopefully Kara and Mon-El figure something out in time for Caroline Siede’s review of the Kevin Smith-directed episode.
Quantico (ABC, 10 p.m.): Breath of fresh air Eliza Coupe is back as Hannah Wyland in this episode: “The recruits are schooled in the art of seduction, which Alex sees as a perfect opportunity to get closer to Owen, but will it hurt her relationship with Ryan?” What a dumb question. Of course it will! New time slot, same:
Premieres and finales
Vanity Fair Confidential (Investigation Discovery, 9 p.m.): Investigation Discovery’s Vanity Fair Confidential has its third season premiere with “The Fugitive Son.” Fair warning: Vanity Fair Confidential is coming back strong. “A star athlete from a wealthy family allegedly rapes several teen girls and threatens to kill them if they tell anyone. A manhunt ensues, and he eludes capture by the FBI and Interpol.”
American Greed (CNBC, 10 p.m.): What does it mean to be a “Deadly Gold Digger?” CNBC’s true crime series American Greed (a series which “examines the dark side of the American Dream”) intends to answer that in its season 11 premiere, as “Nanette Johnston stands trial for the murder of her former fiancé, multimillionaire Bill McLaughlin.”
Beware The Slenderman (HBO, 10 p.m.): Really, the premieres in this section for tonight are just downer choices. “This documentary examines a 2014 incident in which two 12-year-old girls stabbed a friend on the orders of a fictional character called the ‘Slenderman.’”
Murder Calls (Investigation Discovery, 10 p.m.): Investigation Discovery’s Murder Calls makes its time slot premiere tonight with “Down By The River”: “A terrified woman tries to give police clues on a 911 call: there’s a gun, she’s near a river and her children are at risk. When the police find her body in the river, it leads them to a killer who’s been a predator for years.” Maybe not exactly like the Neil Young song, but there’s a killer and a river.
Rattled: A Paralyzed Mother’s Story (TLC, 10 p.m.): In what is possibly the most uplifting choice down here, we have Rattled: “A woman who was paralyzed at her bachelorette party becomes a mother through a surrogate.”
Hate Thy Neighbor (Viceland, 10 p.m.): “Up and coming British comedian Jamali Maddix confronts racism around the world head-on.” That will probably solve everything, right? The pilot, by the way, is title “America’s Far White.” Oh boy. (Does this feel like deja vu? That’s because the episode was originally supposed to air on the 9th.)
Regular coverage
Sneaky Pete (Amazon)
Gotham (Fox, 8 p.m.)
WWE Monday Night RAW (USA, 8 p.m.)
Jane The Virgin (The CW, 9 p.m.)
Lucifer (Fox, 9 p.m.)
The Young Pope (HBO, 9 p.m.)
Timeless (NBC, 10 p.m.)
Streaming pick
Superman Returns (Amazon Video/Google Play/iTunes/Netflix/vudu/YouTube): As far as we know, Superman doesn’t return in this week’s episode of Supergirl, but you can always rectify that in your mind with the “much-maligned” Superman Returns film.