Here’s what’s up in the world of television for Thursday, May 25. All times are Eastern.
Top pick
Red Nose Day (NBC, 10 p.m.): Until 2015, the British charity organization Comic Relief and its biennial fundraising event, Red Nose Day, were most familiar to American audiences as either a) the inspiration for our own Comic Relief or b) the richly ironic backdrop for David Brent’s termination from the Wernham Hogg Paper Company. Now an annual occasion on NBC, the Stateside Red Nose Day special mimics the original’s star-studded telethon format, but probably won’t contain the Alan Partridge or Toast Of London segments that the U.K. got on its Red Nose 2017. A headline-making reunion is jumping across the pond, however: No, not the onstage re-teaming of French And Saunders, but a Love Actually “sequel” that came together in part because, wouldn’t you know it, Love Actually director Richard Curtis is also the co-founder of Comic Relief. And while that whole thing rings of an exercise in empty nostalgia, take comfort in knowing that it’s raising money for people in need. Then take further comfort in the teaser, which shows that Andrew Lincoln didn’t win Keira Knightley over with his cue cards. Because that’s a super creepy thing to do, something that should by no means be attempted in real life, because real life is not a movie, and you’re going to feel like a real scumbag about it for years afterward, and it’s not like we’re writing this from experience or anything.
Regular coverage
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix)
Wild card
Love Connection (Fox, 9:01 p.m.): Speaking of bad dating strategies and things with the word “love” in their titles: Andy Cohen has resurrected this kitschy syndication favorite, in which contestants go on offscreen dates and head back to the studio to dish about how they hit it off. In accordance with contemporary standards, there are ample hook-up-app references, and the set looks like The Voice without spinning chairs.