Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Friday, August 10, and Saturday, August 11. All times are Eastern.
TOP PICK
Gravity Falls (Disney Channel, 9 p.m., Friday): Back when Alasdair Wilkins reviewed the premiére of this new, weirdly charming Disney Channel series, he never dreamed that it would so rapidly become a show he looked forward to as much as he did. And then bunches and bunches of you kept insisting we needed to check it out all over again. So Alasdair is back at it, with an episode in which Dipper clones himself to impress Wendy. If we had a nickel for every time we’d cloned ourselves to impress a girl, we’d definitely have four nickels.
REGULAR COVERAGE
The 2012 Summer Olympics (NBC, 8 p.m., Friday/Saturday): It might be hard to believe, but the 2012 Summer games are just about over. All that’s left is pretty much the culmination of a bunch of events, including track and field. Cory Casciato and Dennis Perkins bring us into the homestretch. Go, team!
Lost Girl (Syfy, 10 p.m., Friday): Every time we type this show’s title on this sticky keyboard, we inevitably leave out the letter “R,” which leaves us with “Lost Gil,” which sounds like an altogether different show, perhaps about a certain desperate salesman? Kevin McFarland would watch for sure.
TV CLUB CLASSIC
Babylon 5 (11 a.m., Friday): It’s been a long, rough road to this point, but Rowan Kaiser swears this series starts to kick into gear now that we’ve reached its first, big two-parter. We don’t know what happens in it, but we have to assume that some shit will go down, and it will be super epic.
Chappelle’s Show (3 p.m., Friday): One of this week’s episodes offers up “one of the most disturbing puppet-based pieces of comedy in modern times” in Ryan McGee’s estimation. We would take issue, as he clearly hasn’t seen our Puppet Goatse production, every first Friday of the month at the Wiltern.
Animaniacs (11 a.m., Saturday): The Warners head to the Garden of Eden and try to switch up the entirety of human history by keeping Adam and Eve from eating that fruit. Genevieve Koski thinks if old myths and legends were literally true, it would make time travel movies that much more interesting.
The X-Files/Millennium (1 p.m., Saturday): Zack Handlen checks out an unsung classic episode, with Scully hanging out with a photographer who’s attempting to capture death on film. Wondering why it’s a classic? Look no further than the involvement of its writer, a young Mr. Vince Gilligan.
WHAT ELSE IS ON
Unusual Suspects (Discovery, 8 p.m., Friday): The new season technically begins at 9, but Discovery is going to precede it with an episode—also listed as new—about the “Texas Bathtub Killer.” We don’t know precisely what he did, but we’re guessing from the words “bathtub killer” it was pretty low.
Great Performances (PBS, 9 p.m., Friday): A whole host of great performers gather together to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Tanglewood Musical Festival in Massachusetts. If you’ve got a “celebrating something that’s 75 years old” sized hole in your evening, this might be just the thing.
Comedy Bang! Bang! (IFC, 10 p.m., Friday): We’ve enjoyed this weird spin on talk shows most of the way through, and we’re hoping it can somehow get a second season. Erik Adams takes a look at the season finale, then makes several prayers to the TV gods that this isn’t the end of the series.
Common Law (USA, 10 p.m., Friday): We’ll admit to having mostly checked out of this one after we weren’t that fond of the premiére. But maybe you hung in there and want to tell us that it got really good, and we’re missing out! Anyway, the season finale is tonight. Convince us that we should watch.
NYC 22 (CBS, 8 p.m., Saturday): We’ll bet you didn’t even notice that CBS was burning off the episodes of this misbegotten cop show—one of the few outright flops in the network’s recent history—on Saturday nights, often against the Olympics, acting like if it hid them away there, you’d never notice.
Tanked (Animal Planet, 9 p.m., Saturday): Meanwhile, we know how much you guys just love shows about people who construct giant fish tanks, so we’re pleased to let you know this show is back for a third season. Presumably, even more elaborate fish tanks will be installed in even more gigantic homes.
Double Jeopardy (TNT, 8 p.m., Friday): You were probably trying to actively forget when this preposterous Ashley Judd vehicle/bit of hokum was briefly the most-talked-about movie in America, before we all realized there really was no way to get out of jail free when trying to kill your husband.
Hondo (AMC, 8 p.m., Friday): Need a way to entertain yourself right now? Try saying “HONDOOOOO!” in your best ultra-masculine voice, wherever you’re sitting. You can try on a John Wayne accent for fun. Your co-workers and/or your cat will surely find you that much more awesome when you’re done.
Blue Velvet (Sundance, 8 p.m., Saturday): It’s been a while since we’ve seen this one, but many of its finest moments and sequences are seared so indelibly on our brains that we don’t really need to see it again. But we’ll probably still fall into watching it when it airs. After all… Pabst! Blue! Ribbon!
Little League Baseball (ESPN, 7 p.m., Friday): If your only desire is to watch the dreams of children be horribly crushed this evening, perhaps because your own dreams have been crushed, and you need to assuage that bitterness, then ESPN has a full evening of watching kids let each other down just for you.
UFC 150 Prelims: From Denver (FX, 8 p.m., Saturday): Meanwhile, FX has just the ticket if what you really want to watch is some dudes kicking each other in the face. Maybe that’ll be just the pick-me-up you’ll need after all those weeping children. It probably will be. You sadist. Why do we even talk to you?
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Suits (Thursday): Carrie Raisler straps in for a flashback episode, because who doesn’t like a good flashback episode. This weekend, we’ll be doing TV Club flashback, in which the only things we’ll cover will be Tell Me You Love Me and the third season of How I Met Your Mother. Enjoy!