Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Tuesday, June 16. All times are Eastern.
Top pick
Tyrant (FX, 10 p.m.): Look, all of us out there who happen to have a sibling know a little something about rivalries and competitions, and how sometimes there’s just no good way to resolve differences than with a little coup d’etat. That’s just opening up healthy lines of communication! But yeah, it does kind of leave the other sibling in that tricky situation of executing one’s own bro or just leaving him to rot in prison. Joshua Alston will wrestle with these universal moral quandaries in his pre-air review.
Also noted
Finding Carter (MTV, 10 p.m.): With Inside Amy Schumer off another week, Finding Carter is all that’s left of the once robust Tuesday night regular coverage lineup. Which could be a very good or a very bad thing, depending on which version of Finding Carter shows up in a given week. Only a fool would predict the episode quality of a show this mercurial, and Joshua Alston is no … well, he’s not going to predict the quality of this episode, okay?
Elsewhere in TV Club
Will Harris calls up Bradley Whitford for another installment of Random Roles, so this is as good a time as any to remind you that Bradley Whitford is in every damn thing: The West Wing, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Trophy Wife, The X-Files, The Sarah Silverman Program, The Good Guys, Transparent, and so, so many more. Meanwhile, Marah Eakin talks to music supervisor extraordinaire Alexandra Patsavas about picking just the right song for shows ranging from The O.C. to Mad Men.
What else is on?
Nick News With Linda Ellerbee (Nickelodeon, 8 p.m.): The Walter Cronkite of the pre-teen set examines electronic safety devices in terms of kids’ right to privacy. Who wants to go ahead and guess this is going to be the most complicated, nuanced discussion of the tradeoff between privacy, security, and freedom on TV this year, give or take John Oliver’s Edward Snowden interview?
Southern Fried Homicide (ID, 9 p.m.): “A family rebuilds after a hurricane.” We appreciate that this show is so committed to bringing the lurid misery even before the inevitable murder, Southern-style. Heaven forfend we tackily recreate the last days of some family that hadn’t already been devastated by a hurricane.
Rizzoli & Isles (TNT, 9 p.m.): In the sixth season premiere, a detective appears responsible for the shooting of an unarmed man. We’re torn here: This is either going to be some heroically ham-fisted social commentary on the recent increased coverage of police shootings of unarmed men … or it’s all going to take place in a weird alternate universe where that isn’t by far the biggest police-related story of the last year and this is all just about Rizzoli and Isles clearing some innocent detective’s good name. Either way, we’re feeling nervous about this one.
Proof (TNT, 10 p.m.): Jennifer Beals IS Dr. Carolyn Tyler, a brilliant—yet troubled!—surgeon hired by a dying billionaire to investigate the possibility of life after death. We imagine there’s going to be some sort of supernatural element to all this, but we kind of hope it’s just going to be multiple seasons of Jennifer Beals scamming some gullible rich dude by repeatedly pretending the operating room is haunted, or something.
Apollo 13 (AMC, 10 p.m.): So, we unapologetically love this movie, to the point that it’s our second favorite mainstream movie of the ‘90s, second only to L.A. Confidential. It’s all just so damn heroic and upright and all-American, dammit! (Yeah, space exploration is the one thing we’re not completely cynical about. Also, our dad had the real Gene Krantz sign the inside of our VHS cover for this movie, and the message he wrote is easily one of our most cherished possessions.)
Inside Llewyn Davis (TMC, 10 p.m.): This is actually one of the few Coen Bros. movies we haven’t yet seen, but we did just see Oscar Isaac in A Most Violent Year, so we’re ready to vouch for pretty much anything he’s in. He’s like 50 percent of the reason we’re excited about the new Star Wars movie, honestly. (The other half is John Boyega, obviously.)
NBA Finals: Game 6: Warriors at Cavaliers (ABC, 9 p.m.): Stephen Curry hit peak Stephen Curry at the end of Game 5, and it was absolutely glorious for everyone not named Matthew Dellavedova. LeBron James has spent this entire series redefining what peak LeBron James even means. An NBA Finals this gloriously ridiculous—this has basically been the drunkest basketball we’ve ever seen, in the best possible way—surely deserves one more ludicrous display in Cleveland before a deciding Game 7. On the other hand … how the hell do LeBron and the Cavs have anything left, especially on just a day’s rest? Either way, yeah, go watch this.
In case you missed it
The Whispers: Yep, so this is still on.