Television Premieres and Notables: March 30-April 5, 2015

Monday, 3/30

The Big Picture With Kal Penn; Nat Geo. 8 pm CST. Series Premiere.
Penn hosts this series that uses data points to discuss pop culture.


Tuesday, 3/31

Weird Loners; Fox. 8:30 pm CST. Series Premiere.
Another comedy that I'm sure will not meet my (at this point) pretty low expectations.

Younger; TV Land. 9 pm CST. Series Premiere.
Sutton Foster plays a 40-year-old who has to pretend to be 26 to get a job.
Sounds pretty slim, but I thought Foster was fantastic on Bunheads, so I'm going to give it a try.


Wednesday, 4/1

Best Bars in America; Esquire. 9 pm CST. 2nd Season Premiere.


Thursday, 4/2

Olympus; Syfy. 9 m CST. Series Premiere.
A Greek-mythology era series that's probably going to be as dull as most of Syfy's other originals.

Lip Sync Battle; Spike. 9 pm CST. Series Premiere.
LL Cool J and Chrissy Teigen host this show based on the Tonight Show bit.

The Red Road; Sundance. 9 pm CST. 2nd Season Premiere.


Friday, 4/3

Backstreet Boys: Show 'Em What You're Made Of; VH1. 8 pm CST. Special

The Grace Helbig Show; E!. 9:30 pm CST. Series Premiere.
Helbig stars in this talk show thta sounds like it'll be anything but ordinary-- or consistent.

Derek Special; Netflix. Streaming. Special.


Saturday, 4/4

Outlander; Starz. 8 pm CST. Mid-season Premiere.


Sunday, 4/5

Sinatra: All or Nothing at All; HBO. 7 pm CST. Special.

A.D. The Bible Continues; NBC. 8 pm CST. Mini-series Premiere.

American Odyssey; NBC. 9 pm CST. Series Premiere.

Wolf Hall; PBS. 9 pm CST (check local listings). Mini-series Premiere.

Mad Men; AMC. 9 pm CST. Final Season Premiere.
The final seven episodes begin tonight.

The Lizzie Borden Chronicles; Lifetime. 9 pm CST. Mini-series Premiere.
Christina Ricci stars in this 8-part series that comes from last year's TV movie.

Salem; WGN. 9 pm CST. 2nd Season Premiere.

China, IL; adult swim. 10:30 pm CST. 3rd Season Premiere.

Television Premieres and Notables: March 23-29, 2015

Monday, 3/23

The Late Late Show With James Corden; CBS. 11:37 pm CST. Series Premiere.
I don't have the time to regularly watch late night talk shows, but I'll be trying this show for a week or three.
I've liked what I've seen of Corden in the television and films he's been in; the guy is warm, funny, and talented.
He's not going to hit a home run on his first at-bat, but I think, like Ferguson, Fallon, and O'Brien, he's going to make this show-- and the format-- his own.


Tuesday, 3/24

The Mindy Project (Fox; 8:30 pm CST). Season Finale.


Wednesday, 3/25

Big Time in Hollywood, FL; Comedy Central. 9:30 pm CST. Series Premiere.
Two slacker brothers trying to make a film get into trouble.


Thursday, 3/26

Bones; Fox. 7 pm CST. Mid-season Premiere.


Friday, 3/27

Hart of Dixie (CW; 7 pm CST). Season Finale.

Girl Meets World (Disney; 7:30 pm CST). Season Finale.


Saturday, 3/28

Black Sails (Starz; 8 pm CST). Season Finale.


Sunday, 3/29

The Walking Dead (AMC; 8 pm CST). Season Finale.
So... something has happened to this show in the last year or two: it's always been exciting and unexpected. But it's become something more: very good. It's still a show where you have to just take for granted that the dead walk-- and that people have to do dumb things sometimes (no drama if the slow-moving Walkers aren't a threat). But the stories have been tighter, the characters don't make as many dumb decisions, and the actors have raised their game just as the writers have.

But anyway, enough of the hard sell. This is for the people who have been watching (and absolutely no spoilers for those haven't).
Let's take a trip down Fifth Season memory lane (off the top of my head):

Terminus
shish-ka-bob (not in the show, but you know what it refers to)
Gareth
Slabtown
lollipops
"We brought dinner."
cookies
massacre
porch dick (you'd have to watch Talking Dead for that one to make sense)
"Shut it off."

Television Premieres and Notables: March 16-22, 2015

Monday, 3/16

Dancing With the Stars; ABC. 7 pm CST. Season Premiere.


Tuesday, 3/17

Community; Yahoo! Screen. Streaming. 6th Season Premiere.
NBC never knew what to do with it, so hopefully Yahoo! lets it be what it supposed to be.
We'll be short a Shirley but will gain a Frankie (Paget Brewster).
Yahoo! is also taking a more traditional approach to the series and launching one episode a week as opposed to the season "dumps" the others do.

iZombie; The CW. 8 pm CST. Series Premiere.
This adaptation of the Chris Robertson and Michael Allred comic book should prove to be a little off-the-wall. But Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas is doing the adapting, so it should hold together well.
Olivia is a mortician that becomes a zombie-- and finds she can help solve crimes by eating the brains of the victims.

One Big Happy; NBC. 8:30 pm CST. Series Premiere.


Wednesday, 3/18

Empire (Fox; 7 pm CST). Season Finale.


Friday, 3/20

Bloodline; Netflix. Streaming. Series Premiere.
Kyle Chandler stars in this new family drama that also features Linda Cardellini, Sissy Spacek, and Sam Shepard.
Netflix is dropping the entire 13 episode season all at once.

Glee (Fox; 7 pm CST). Series Finale.
This show was just all over the place.
The first half-season was pretty much perfect.
Then it became all about the (selling of the) songs (on iTunes).
Then they realized they could make a difference and started getting relevant (and very quickly smashing us over the head with it).
Then they tried to grow and gave us a new crew of kids-- that kept getting pushed out by the old crew.
Then they dumped the new crew.
Then it became a cartoon.
And, finally, this season: it became self-aware (still cartoony, but at least acknowledging it).
But even though I watched the last two seasons out of duty, I'm glad it was able to finish on its own terms.And I'm glad it did what it did.
It brought music back to TV. It did try to address societal issues, even if often got too heavy-handed. It brought a few talented people into our consciousness.
So I'll call this a "win".
I won't say I'll miss it-- but I am glad I watched it.

Children's Hospital; [adult swim]. 11 pm CST. Season Premiere.


Saturday, 3/21

The Musketeers (BBC America; 8 pm CST). Season Finale.


Sunday, 3/22

Girls (HBO; 8 pm CST)> Season Finale.

Neighbors With Benefits; A&E. 9 pm CST> Series Premiere.
A reality docuseries about swingers in suburban Ohio.
I'm sure it'll be classy...

Television Premieres and Notables: March 9-15, 2015

Monday, 3/9

The Bachelor (ABC; 7 pm CST). Season Finale.

Bates Motel; A&E. 8 pm CST. 3rd Season Premiere.
Last season was a little off the rails, but I'm sticking around a while longer.

The Returned; A&E. 9 pm CST. Series Premiere.
An American remake of the French series about a small town that is visited by former residents who had died. The returned are just as they were when they died and don't remember anything after.
The original was amazing-- and creepy as hell.
The pilot is supposed to be pretty much a shot by shot remake of the French pilot, so that's a plus.
But I've been burned too many times in the past to hope it will be just as good as the original.
But I'm going to give it a chance. Even if it's just to experience a little of what I did last year.
And-- if you get the chance-- check out the original. It's awesome.


Tuesday, 3/10

Powers; Playstation Network. Streaming. Series Premiere.
This adaptation of the comic has been in the works for years-- and it ends up as Playstation's first original series.
So, yeah, I'm gonna miss it.
What worse: Entertainment Weekly didn't love it-- and EW is a mag that would love something like this...

Alaska- Earth's Frozen Kingdom; BBC America. 9 pm CST. Series Prmeiere.
The world famous documentarian crew follows Alaskan humans and animals for a year and see how they survive the seasons.


Wednesday, 3/11

The 100 (The CW; 8 pm CST). Season Finale.

Blackish (ABC; 8:31 pm CST) is airing a blooper show for tonight's episode. Seems kinda weird to have a blooper show already in your first season, but this show really hasn't had many misses so far, so I'm down with it.
And it gives me a chance to mention it here again: this is a great show. Last week's wedding renewal episode had me burst out laughing more than once. It is consistently clever and consistently hilarious.

American Canvas; Ovation. 9 pm CST. Series Premiere.
Dave Holmes tours the country to get a taste of the local cultures.


Sunday, 3/15

The Jinx (HBO; 7 pm CST). Miniseries Finale.

The Royals; E!. 9 pm CST. Series Premiere.
E! gives us its first scripted series-- and it's a soapy series about an English royal family.
It's not supposed to be too bad. Might be worth checking out.

Television Premieres and Notables: March 2-8, 2015

Whoops-- didn't hit "publish" on Sunday.
Thank God for OnDemand.


Monday, 3/2

The Following; Fox. 8 pm CST. 3rd Season Premiere.

RuPaul's Drag Race; Logo. 8 pm CST. 7th Season Premiere.

Secrets and Lies; ABC. 9:01 CST. Series Premiere.
A man finds the body of a neighborhood boy-- and is instantly a suspect in the murder.


Tuesday, 3/3

Hell's Kitchen; Fox. 7 pm CST. 14th Season Premiere.

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D; ABC. 8 pm CST. Mid-season Premiere.


Wednesday, 3/4

Broadchurch; BBC America. 9 pm CST. 2nd Season Premiere.

CSI: Cyber; CBS. 9 pm CST. Series Premiere.
Academy Award winner Patricia Arquette stars in this third CSI spin-off.


Thursday, 3/5

American Crime; ABC. 9 pm CST. Series Premiere.
I don't know anything about this series, but the commercials would lead me to believe it's a big deal.

The Dig; USA. 9 pm CST. Series Premiere.
A mystery/conspiracy series from Tim Kring and Gideon Raff.


Friday, 3/6

Vice; HBO. 10 pm CST. Season Premiere.

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt; Netflix. Streaming. Series Premiere.
A woman escapes a cult and tries to make her way in New York City.


Sunday, 3/8

Togetherness (HBO; 8:30 pm CST). Season Finale.

Television Premieres and Notables: February 23-March 1, 2015

Monday, 2/23

The Voice; NBC. 7 pm CST. 8th Season Premiere.

Sleepy Hollow (Fox; 8 pm CST). Season Finale.

Tuesday, 2/24

Parks and Recreation (NBC; 7 pm CST). Series Finale.

And with it goes the total and complete end to NBC "Thursday" comedy.

Wednesday, 2/25

Survivor; CBS. 7 pm CST. 30th Season Premiere.

The Amazing Race; CBS. 8:30 pm CST. 26th Season Premiere.

Thursday, 2/26

How to Get Away With Murder (ABC; 8 pm CST). Season Finale.

Behind the Mask; Hulu. Streaming  Season Premiere.

Friday, 2/27

Sex Box; We TV. 9 pm CST. Series Premiere.

Couples get critiqued on their sex techniques.

House of Cards; Netflix. Streaming. 3rd Season Premiere.

Saturday, 2/28

Avec Eric; Cooking. 8:30 am CST. Season Premiere.

Sunday, 3/1

Secrets and Lies; ABC. 8 pm CST. Series Premiere.

A man finds the body of his neighbor's son-- and is immediately a suspect.

The Last Man on Earth; Fox. 8 pm CST. Series Premiere.

Will Forte finds himself as the last man on earth...

Battle Creek; CBS. 9 pm CST. Series Premiere.