The Olympics open on NBC’s second night of coverage, which hopefully makes sense to someone
Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Friday, February 7, and Saturday, February 8. All times are Eastern.
TOP PICK
The 2014 Winter Olympics (7:30 p.m., Friday; 8 p.m., Saturday): Well, look what’s the top pick for the second day in a row. Honestly, you can probably just check out of this feature until the end of the month, because What’s On Tonight is always the Olympics. You can hang out with us for a live chat of the Opening Ceremony tonight (and why do so many Americans call this the “Opening Ceremonies?”), and then Eric Thurm takes you through the first Saturday of official competition. In the meantime, go check out the Sochi Problems Twitter feed and have yourself a laugh, how about?
ALSO NOTED
Enlisted/Raising Hope (Fox, 9 p.m., Friday): Putting new episodes of its comedies on against the Opening Ceremony—and following a rerun of Bones, no less—indicates the foremost of confidence on the part of the Fox network. Les Chappell and Phil Dyess-Nugent will be there for you, Fox.
Helix (Syfy, 10 p.m., Friday): Sonia Saraiya is still waiting for the story to really take off on this one, though that whole thing with the monkeys was pretty cool, right? (We’re just basing this on what y’all were saying in comments. We still haven’t caught up.)
Black Sails (Starz, 9 p.m., Saturday): Somehow, every episode of this show isn’t just the characters running around the Caribbean collecting notes that will make up a pirate song. The Assassin’s Creed franchise lied to Rowan Kaiser, and he’s not letting it go!
TV CLUB CLASSIC
The X-Files (Saturday, 1 p.m.): TV Club Classic sleeps for no one but your apathy, so it will be new throughout the games. Today, Zack Handlen takes a look at the first two “monster of the week” episodes of X-Files season nine and spends a lot of time cringing.
Doctor Who (Classic) (Saturday, 3 p.m.): Christopher Bahn begins making his way through the “Trial Of A Time Lord” story, a couple of weeks at a time, alternating with stories from other Doctors. It looks like it’s pretty ambitious and epic, so… uh… good luck, Christopher!
ELSEWHERE IN TV CLUB
It’s TV Review day, after that section took a couple of days off. First, Alasdair Wilkins has some thoughts on Space Dandy, and he stands up for the show’s frivolousness, as well as how it’s not the second coming of Cowboy Bebop. Then, Sonia Saraiya calls The Making Of A Lady “nonsense” and gives it an F, so you know you’ll want to read that.
After you’re done with those two articles, we know how much you love our Random Roles feature, and we’re thrilled to let you know that Jason Lynch has corralled John Goodman to talk to him about his many great roles in film and TV, including his time on Roseanne and his guest spot on Community.
WHAT ELSE IS ON
Law & Order (Sundance, 8 p.m., Friday): TV Guide or Sundance Channel or someone keeps listing these reruns as “new,” despite the fact that this episode debuted in 1994. Everyone: 20 years ago does not equal “new,” even if it’s new to Sundance Channel. Thank you for your time.
American Masters (PBS, 9 p.m., Friday): PBS’ series profiling great American artists turns its lens toward Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple, for which she was one of the rare authors to win both the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for the same book.
Banshee (Cinemax, 10 p.m. Friday): Banshee is also new tonight, and we’re guessing there will be lots of amazingly over-the-top violence and nudity, because we’ve seen this show before. Would that the bobsled competition at the Olympics could say the same!
Diners, Drive-Ins, And Dives (Food Network, 10 p.m., Friday): Guy Fieri begins his latest season with a special one-hour episode in which he goes to his hometown of Ferndale, California, and visits spots that have a personal resonance for him. You could watch this, but would you really be happy with yourself?
Lil BUB’s Special Special (Animal Planet, 9 p.m., Saturday): Amy Sedaris babysits famous cat of the Internet Lil BUB, and then she and her other cat friends get into all manner of mischief in this new half-hour special. If it’s successful, can we get A Very Lil BUB Independence Day next?
When Calls The Heart (Hallmark, 9 p.m., Saturday): Hallmark has been quietly airing this Jeanette Oke inspired series on Saturday nights, and you probably didn’t even notice, did you? Well, your grandmother did, and she’s wondering why you didn’t call her to talk about it.
Attack The Block (The CW, 8 p.m., Friday): The CW usually counterprograms big sporting events with movies it picked up the rights to air for a song, and that usually results in a lot of crap. But, unexpectedly, it’s resulted in the network airing this awesome alien invasion movie this time.
The Muppets (Disney Channel, 8 p.m., Friday): Kermit and the gang try to come back from a lengthy period in exile with the help of their new friends Jason Segel, Amy Adams, and Walter the newest Muppet. Walter should have been a singing octopus. That’s the only real error here.
The Heiress (TCM, 8 p.m., Saturday): Olivia de Havilland won her second Oscar for her role in this adaptation of Henry James’ Washington Square. This is also the second William Wyler film What’s On Tonight has recommended this week. William Wyler? Can get it, as the kids say.
NBA Basketball: Trail Blazers at Pacers (ESPN, 7 p.m., Friday): The Trail Blazers narrowly held off the Pacers in a victory over them in December. Now, will the Pacers have their revenge?! This game features two pretty great teams and should be fun to watch. Or not! Who knows?
College Hockey: Maine at Notre Dame (NBC Sports, 8 p.m., Saturday): Now that the Olympics are totally fine with professional hockey players playing in their grand gala, college hockey players are stuck playing their own games on NBC Sports. Oh well. Everyone in Maine will be watching.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
The Vampire Diaries (Thursday): Mourn the disappearance of regular television by reading Carrie Raisler’s final review of this show for a while. We haven’t been keeping up with what’s happening, but we know that Nina Dobrev is now playing 16 different characters, at least.