Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Tuesday, July 31. All times are Eastern.
TOP PICK
Home Movies (3 p.m.): We’ve been meaning to begin our coverage of the Loren Bouchard-Brendon Small joint Home Movies for quite a while, but things—like the TCA Summer Press Tour—kept getting in the away. Now, however, IT’S TIME TO PAY THE PRICE, as Erik Adams begins his look at the low-key, semi-improvised animated series that flamed out on UPN, only to be reborn as a less-squiggly phoenix in the early years of Adult Swim.
REGULAR COVERAGE
2012 Summer Olympics (NBC, 7 p.m.): Ryan McGee warms the podium as two of the United States’ great golden hopes—the women’s gymnastics team and Missy “The Missile” Franklin—prepare for their primetime close-up.
White Collar (USA, 9 p.m.): The show does a little classic film noir, as Matt Bomer and friends investigate the suspicious death of a man whose widow is collecting a big life insurance check. Kenny Herzog composes his review entirely in inner monologue, basked in the neon light that cuts through the nearby venetian blinds.
Workaholics (Comedy Central, 10:30 p.m.): The show’s third season flashes back to Adam, Blake, and Ders’ college days. Kevin McFarland considers the half-hour a cautionary tale as well as an origin story.
TV CLUB CLASSIC
Dawson’s Creek (11 a.m.): Having finally succumbed to sexual tension (and the fact that, y’know, they’re teenagers), Dawson and Joey must deal with the implications of their first-season-ending kiss. And Brandon Nowalk must deal with a fresh shipment of brooding.
Six Feet Under (1 p.m.): Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, a man dies when a lunchpail falls on his head and a surprise baby comes into the world. John Teti’s not saying things are cyclical on Six Feet Under—but it does make you wonder…
WHAT ELSE IS ON
All The Right Moves (Oxygen, 9 p.m.): A high-school senior looks to make professional football his ticket out of a Pennsylvania steel town… in the Tom Cruise film that shares its title with this reality series, where Travis Wall looks to make his new dance crew his ticket out from under the shadow of So You Think You Can Dance.
HGTV Design Star All Stars (HGTV, 9 p.m.): To make the grade on this reality series, one must not only be a star, but an all-star star. Non-all-star stars of interior design need not apply.
Jane By Design (ABC Family, 9 p.m.): Thanks to ABC Family’s staggered broadcast schedule, this series is just ending its first season—even though it feels like it ought to be getting around to starting its fourth. We should be hearing about an Andie MacDowell-centric spin-off any day now.
Rat Bastards (Spike, 10:30 p.m.): Springing forth from the seemingly limitless boundaries of reality TV’s own Hazzard County, six brave beards and the arms-bearing-arms that live beneath them protect the bayou from 30-pound rats. Dennis Perkins can’t wait to see how them Rat Bastards get out of this mess—and every mess that follows.
Anaconda (Syfy, 7 p.m.): Now that Syfy more or less fills its weekend schedules with made-for-TV variations on Anaconda, it’s nice to see the network airing the original, Owen-Wilson-squeezing, Jon-Voight-vomitting creature feature—the type of film that’ll really have a hold on you. [Wink.]
The Scarlet Pimpernel (TCM, 8 p.m.): Leslie Howard stars as Baroness Emma Orczy’s famed adventurer, a precursor to costumed do-gooders whose sympathies, nonetheless, are a little more Lex Luthor than Bruce Wayne.
Wakeboarding: Red Bull Wake Open (NBC Sports, 8 p.m.): After hitting a televised, silver-short-suit-wearing low, professional wakeboarders gloss over WakeBrothers by doing what they do best: Riding a board being towed by a boat, which ought to keep them busy enough to refrain from coining stupid terms like “triple S.”
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
About Face: Supermodels Then And Now: Beauty is only skin deep, but can a documentary starring women who are paid to be beautiful go deeper? Molly Eichel has the report from the catwalk.