Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Sunday, October 14. All times are Eastern.
TOP PICK
The Walking Dead (AMC, 9 p.m.): At last, Rick and the gang seem to have found sanctuary in the unlikeliest of places: An abandoned prison that, at the very least, ought to inspire a few hours of claustrophobic scares—before everyone starts getting comfortable and the pacing of the series slackens and Zack Handlen starts to feel like he’s in a prison of his own. How ya like that for symbolism?
REGULAR COVERAGE
The Thick Of It (Hulu, 5 p.m.): The Thick Of It catches up with the biggest controversy to go down during its hiatus: the News Of The World phone-hacking scandal. David Sims looks forward to being attacked with a pie of hilarity.
Once Upon A Time (ABC, 8 p.m.): Emma and Mary Margaret’s adventures through the fairy tale realm continue. Oliver Sava’s advice: Don’t eat any apples of any variety.
Call The Midwife (PBS, 8 p.m.): Jenny befriends an elderly veteran, and Call The Midwife would like to know when you last called your grandparents. Brandon Nowalk can wait for you to do so.
Revenge (ABC, 9 p.m.): Everything has two faces on Revenge—even a title like “Confidence” is loaded with multiple meanings. See if you can come up with a greater number of interpretations than Carrie Raisler.
The Good Wife (CBS, 9 p.m.): Dear The Good Wife: If you’re going to push the current Kalinda subplot to extremes, please avoid calling future installments anything remotely close to “Two Girls, One Code.” The moment an hour with the name “Tub Girl” comes down the pike, David Sims is bolting.
Boardwalk Empire (HBO, 9 p.m.): This Gyp Rosetti’s certainly making his impact felt in the third season. It’s as if the erstwhile cave dweller was brought in exclusively to be a nuisance to Nucky’s operation. Noel Murray doesn’t want no trouble in his place, Mr. Rosetti.
Dexter (Showtime, 9:30 p.m.): Look out, Dex: That Bay Harbor Butcher case file is just itching to be re-opened. If Joshua Alston didn’t know (this show) better, he’d say now isn’t the time to make killing serial killers the family business.
666 Park Avenue (ABC, 10 p.m.): Every word a journalist writes is coming true—a horrifying prospect that is (thankfully) so far not the case for Zack Handlen’s zombie-based works.
Copper (BBC America, 10 p.m.): Last week was election day, so that must mean Thanksgiving is just around the corner—and sure enough, there’s Farihah Zaman ready to slice up what’s hopefully not a turkey of a Copper episode.
Treme (HBO, 10 p.m.): All of Treme is about a community rebuilding itself, but that feels especially true this week, as nearly every thread of plot has to do with new business, new jobs, rebirths, reinventions, and digging out from under a pile of lies. Keith Phipps declares this episode a hardhat area.
Homeland (Showtime, 10 p.m.): You know what’ll really put the kibosh on Brody’s political aspirations? If the bomb maker gets pinched by the feds. Todd VanDerWerff would like to moderate the debate where Damian Lewis has to act his way through the accusations stemming from such an arrest.
TV CLUB CLASSIC
Doctor Who (Classic) (11 a.m.): One Doctor, two Doctors, three Doctors! Ah ah ah! [Lightning and thunder.] Christopher Bahn goes absolutely batty for a 10th-season story that gathers Jon Pertwee, William Hartnell, and Patrick Troughton all in the same serial.
WHAT ELSE IS ON?
Made Of Honor (Lifetime, 7 p.m.): In which Patrick Dempsey is literally composed of 100 percent honor, a superhero who—wait, false alarm. It’s a play on “maid of honor.” Readjust expectations for a single guy realizing he’s in love with best friend Michelle Monaghan.
The Shining (BBC America, 8 p.m.): While not necessarily the proper meteorological match for the season, it just wouldn’t be Halloween without watching the ghosts of the Overlook Hotel drive Jack Nicholson slowly insane.
Sunday Night Football: Packers at Texans (NBC, 8:20 p.m.): My how fortunes change: After going nearly undefeated in in 2011, the 2-2 Packers run headlong into Houston—which, a year after the team’s first-ever playoff birth (and second winning season in its 10-year history), sits atop the AFC South at 5-0.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Firefly (Friday): No power in the ’verse could stop Noel Murray and Donna Bowman’s Firefly coverage—save for the series’ cancellation and the release of the spin-off film Serenity, which makes a fitting farewell to the crew of its eponymous space craft.