Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Thursday, October 6. All times are Eastern.
Top picks
RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars (Logo, 8 p.m.): Oliver Sava has always lived by a simple code: The family that drags together, stays together. So it’s a pretty crazy coincidence that tonight’s episode of Drag Race just happens to be called “Family That Drags Together.” What are the odds? Anyway, it’s down to the top five queens this week, so RuPaul decides to surprise them each with a visit from a family member. Family-centric episodes are a classic reality show staple designed to inject some pathos into the proceedings. Which means the queens (and Drag Race viewers) should definitely wear waterproof mascara tonight.
How To Get Away With Murder (ABC, 10 p.m.): Annalise presents a murder case to the Keating Five that even they find morally questionable. And given how many dubious things the Keating Five have gotten up to in the past two seasons, that’s no small feat. After finding the first two episodes of this season to be something of a rollercoaster in terms of quality, Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya straps in for yet another wild and crazy HTGAWM adventure. Here’s hoping this episode is more of a peak than a valley.
Those Who Can’t (TruTV, 10:30 p.m.): Those Who Can’t returns for a second season tonight. Adam Cayton-Holland, Andrew Orvedahl, and Ben Roy star as three trouble-making teachers at Smoot High, while Maria Thayer plays the slightly more practical school librarian. In her review of the show’s first season, Allison Shoemaker wrote:
So what, exactly, keeps Those Who Can’t from drowning in its own bitterness? It might be really down on education, and parenthood, and people, and the world, but it is utterly and unabashedly in love with jokes. Cayton-Holland, Orvedahl, and Roy lead a cast that’s committed to finding every last opportunity for a punchline… They’re like truffle pigs, rooting for humor, and they find it with a frequency that’s damn impressive. It’s not subtle, it’s not realistic, and it’s not reinventing the wheel. It’s just plain old funny—relentlessly, defiantly funny.
And in its second season, Those Who Can’t is set to mine more comedic set pieces from the appearance of SNL alum Cheri Oteri, who shakes things up as Smoot High’s new principal.
Premieres and finales
The iHeartRadio Music Festival Night (The CW, 8 p.m.): Whether you heart radio or just heart music, The iHeartRadio Music Festival has something for everyone. CW’s coverage of the first night of the festival includes performances from U2, Usher, Sting, Billy Idol, Britney Spears, Drake, and Pitbull. In other words, it’s the ’80s, ’90s, and now.
Halloween Wars: Most Monstrous Scares (Food Network, 8 p.m.): Sure, Halloween is still weeks away, but the Food Network is here to ease you into the spooky season with a clip show that looks back at the best treats from Halloween Wars past. Just consider it Halloween Wars: CliffsNotes Edition. And, yes, there will be a test at the end.
Million Dollar Listing: Los Angeles (Bravo, 9 p.m.): Fan favorite Madison Hildebrand returns to Million Dollar Listing: Los Angeles as a regular for the first time since season six, which also double as a reminder that Million Dollar Listing: Los Angeles has been on for eight whole seasons and returns for a ninth tonight.
Ice Road Truckers (History Channel, 10 p.m.): History buffs will be sad to learn that the 10th season of Ice Road Truckers is coming to an end tonight. But first, shit gets real in the season finale. The polar boss agrees to an “epic deal” with two rivals in order to arrange a “four-truck convoy over a closed road.” With the History Channel staple on hiatus, social studies teachers will now have to find a different way to teach their students about the ice road trucker period of history.
Regular coverage
The Good Place (NBC, 8:30 p.m.)
Pitch (Fox, 9 p.m.)
Better Things (FX, 10 p.m.)
Streaming pick
Smallville (Hulu): If you’re looking for someone to save you and you don’t care how they do it, then, boy, are you in luck! For the first time ever, all 10 seasons of Smallville are now streaming online. Hulu—apparently the hero we need and deserve—stepped up to the plate to make Smallville accessible to the masses just in time for the show’s 15th anniversary. And if tackling all 218 episodes of the series seems intimidating, we’ve got you covered with a TV Club 10 that breaks down the best of what the series has to offer (including a weird Amy Adams cameo).