Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Tuesday, October 25. All times are Eastern.
Top picks
MLB Special: World Series Game #1 (Fox, 7:30 p.m.): Usually, there’s a strict A.V. Club policy to never mention sports games in our What’s On Tonight coverage. The reason isn’t entirely clear, but it has something to do with A.A. Dowd not once mentioning that scary-ass goat in his review of The Witch. There are exceptions to this rule, of course: a colleague moving on from the WOT beat, for instance, and the Chicago Cubs getting to go to the World Series for the first time since 1945 (they haven’t won since 1908). Their opponents, the Cleveland Indians, also have bad luck when it comes to MLB championships. While they last got to play in the World Series in 1997, they haven’t won the title since 1948. That’s a combined title drought of 176 years without a championship. Get these fellas some water! Seriously, it feels strange to use centurial words when talking about baseball. How was the sport even played back then? Did they use a dodo egg as a ball and an actual dodo for the mascot? Why did we kill off the dodo so mercilessly? Why do we destroy what we don’t understand? Anyway, this is all a huge deal, and as Chicagoans, we desperately want the Cubbies to make their city proud, if only because Bob Newhart is so dang lovable.
The Flash (The CW, 8 p.m.): Almost as important as the Cubs going to the World Series is the return of Wentworth Miller as Captain Cold. In many ways, he’s The CW’s equivalent to the team, having been outcast from the Arrowverse (the closest thing the network has to a World Series) for five whole months. That comes out to roughly three episodes, but it may as well be 61 years. After all, what is time in a continuum-bending show like The Flash or DC’s Legends Of Tomorrow? Scott Von Doviak will ponder this question and likely shake his head over how easy it is to resurrect a dead character in this universe while writing his review.
The Real O’Neals (ABC, 9:30 p.m.): All this talk of baseball and how superhero shows relate to baseball makes it easy to forget about another important thing happening this season: Halloween! On The Real O’Neals’ annual Samhain episode, Kenny celebrates the holiday (which he dubs “the gay Super Bowl”) by heading to Chicago’s Boystown neighborhood to watch the costume parade. The thing is, Boystown is right next to Wrigleyville. Does this mean the first World Series game will slowly take over the episode, kicking The Real O’Neals off the airwaves just like it did to both Brooklyn Nine-Nine and New Girl? If the Series did that to two shows on its own Fox network, just imagine what it’ll do to a program from ABC. Also, if Kenny or Ashley Ray-Harris see any baseball players dressed like this, they should run:
Premieres and finales
Unless reality shows with punny names like Game Of Homes and Married At First Sight are your bag, there’s not a whole lot going on in the realm of premieres and finales tonight. It’s a real graveyard out there, so make sure you’re not whistling when you read this section.
Regular Coverage
WWE Smackdown! Live (USA, 8 p.m.)
Atlanta (FX, 10 p.m.)
Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. (ABC, 10 p.m.)
Drunk History (Comedy Central, 10:30 p.m.)
The Mindy Project (Hulu)
Streaming pick
Last Shift (Netflix): When wandering through the bowels of Netflix’s horror library, it’s easy to write this off as another straight-to-video cheapie. Don’t! Taking place in a police station that’s about to permanently close, Last Shift draws inspiration from two John Carpenter classics. The claustrophobic trapped-in-the-barracks business recalls Assault On Precinct 13, while the film’s left turn into Satanism is more akin to Prince Of Darkness. Tense, gory, and relentless, Last Shift is a B-movie done oh so right. And since this is the final Tuesday in October, it also marks the last spooktacular recommendation from the Tuesday edition of What’s On Tonight. That makes it kind of like our last shift… when it comes to horror movies, that is.