TV Club Classic's summer debut week continues by bobbing along in a barrel with Wonderfalls
Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Friday, May 31, and Saturday, June 1. All times are Eastern.
TOP PICK
Wonderfalls (3 p.m., Friday): Now that Hannibal is the number one show on television (okay, maybe not that, but it’s definitely one of the biggest shows here at the ol’ A.V. Club), we thought it would be “fun” for all of you to take a look back at some of the earlier work of Bryan Fuller, particularly when he’s paired up with the ever-enjoyable Caroline Dhavernas. And that meant we had but one place to turn: to 2004’s Wonderfalls, which managed to air only a handful of episodes, then debuted a bunch more on DVD. Les Chappell is bobbing along in a barrel.
REGULAR COVERAGE
Borgen (LinkTV, 10 p.m., Friday): Okay! So this week’s episode is called “The Art Of The Possible,” which sounds about right, since we’ve heard that politics is the art of the possible. Todd VanDerWerff wonders if that’s true everywhere or just in the U.S. Maybe in Denmark, peanut butter is the art of the possible.
Maron (IFC, 10 p.m., Friday): Marc’s dating adventures continue, as our hero gets burned out on dating younger women and decides to find someone closer to his own age. Kyle Ryan assumes Marc has heard the “half plus seven” rule of dating, which means a 7-year-old can date a 10-and-a-half-year-old. Gross!
Orphan Black (BBC America, 9 p.m., Saturday): For the big finish, Caroline Framke hopes that season one winds up with a giant semi-truck pulling up, the back door of its trailer opening, and thousands of Tatiana Maslanys spilling out and engulfing the city. It’s the least the series can do to entertain us!
TV CLUB CLASSIC
Babylon 5 (11 a.m., Friday): Once again, we have no idea what these episodes are about, but they’re called “Comes The Inquisitor” and “The Fall Of Night,” which makes them sound like they could be awesome prog-rock opuses. Rowan Kaiser wishes we would just watch this show already.
The Twilight Zone (1 p.m., Saturday): In one of this week’s episodes, an astronaut becomes a god to a race of tiny people on a planet he lands on. Todd VanDerWerff is just glad that he’s finally gotten an episode of this show he can personally relate to. In related news, Todd has gone mad with power.
WHAT ELSE IS ON
Space Warriors (Hallmark, 8 p.m., Friday): When three astronauts are stranded on the International Space Station, it’s up to the kids at space camp to make sure they don’t get stuck in space forever! Because that could happen. We’re just looking for more ways to use the word “space” in this capsule.
Richard Pryor: Omit The Logic (Showtime, 9 p.m., Friday): The life of the great stand-up comedian is chronicled in this new Showtime documentary. Josh Modell will personally vet this program for you, then encourage you all to listen to Chris Mills’ “Living The Dream,” which is a really great song.
Merlin (Syfy, 10 p.m., Friday): Evidently, this show about young Arthur and Merlin is reaching its series finale tonight. Now, you might think that’s a sad thing, but, really, this show is just being locked away in a tree, and it will return at Syfy’s hour of greatest need. So as you can tell, this is all turning out just fine.
Treehouse Masters (Animal Planet, 10 p.m. Friday): Have you been waiting for a show about people who build treehouses? We presume that’s not the case, but Animal Planet has come up with a show about just that, in case you were. And guess what! One of those trees might open and reveal Merlin!
The Aquabats! Super Show! (The Hub, 1 p.m., Saturday): The people we know who know anything about kids’ programming told us that the first season of this show was a vivid, colorful delight, so we’re letting you know that season two is beginning today. Isn’t that kind and generous of us? We thought so.
Norman Rockwell’s Shuffleton’s Barbershop (Hallmark Movie Channel, 9 p.m., Saturday): Hallmark Movie Channel is making a series of movies based on Norman Rockwell paintings, because why not? We hope Lady Holding That Turkey While Her Family Contemplates Eating Her gets the greenlight.
The Lives Of Others (Sundance, 8 p.m., Friday): If you haven’t seen this German film about a man in East Germany hired to spy on citizens to determine if they are somehow plotting against the government, you should really watch it right now. Maybe you shouldn’t even wait for tonight. We mean it. Now.
Mallrats/Chasing Amy (Flix, 8 p.m., Friday): Flix loads up on the Kevin Smith movies, with his hugely uneven second feature—that nonetheless commands a devoted cult audience—followed by his third (and probably best) feature, all about a guy who falls in love with a lesbian. Complications ensue.
Milk (USA, 8 p.m., Saturday): Gus Van Sant’s stately, largely solid biopic has made its move to the basic cable universe, where it will run endlessly every other weekend, until you’re sick of it. Which, considering that this is a film about a pioneer of gay rights, is a pretty cool sign of our progress.
College Baseball: St. Louis at South Carolina (ESPN2, 7 p.m., Friday): As always, we don’t have the first clue what to make of college baseball, but we assume that the fact that this game is on in primetime on one of the ESPNs suggests it will be an entertaining match-up. Or maybe it will end with a score of 22-0.
Stanley Cup Playoff: Game 1: Kings at Blackhawks/Bruins at Penguins (NBC Sports, 5 p.m., Saturday): If you enjoy the “hockey,” well, here’s six straight hours of it, as the four teams remaining in the Stanley Cup Playoffs begin their march through the conference finals. As always, we’re pulling Pittsburgh.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
National Spelling Bee (Thursday): That’s right, you little bastards. It’s time for the National Spelling Bee, and Caroline Framke is the only one who knows how to spell all the words correctly. At this point, we’ll encourage you to have your own spelling bee in comments. First up: Spell “sangfroid.” Sangfroid.