Television Premieres and Notables: November 30-December 6, 2015

Monday, 11/30

The Great Holiday Baking Show; ABC. 9 pm CST. Series Premiere.

The U.K. competition series comes to America in this four episode, Christmas-themed, series.

Tuesday, 12/1

Girlfriend's Guide to Divorce; Bravo. 9 pm CST. 2nd Season Premiere.

Wednesday, 12/2

RocketJump: The Show; Hulu. Streaming. Series Premiere.

The makers of the YouTube Channel take us behind the scenes for their short films, with each ep ending by airing that short film.

Thursday, 12/3

The Wiz Live! NBC. 7 pm CST. Special.

NBC continues its tradition of airing a live music in December. This time's the musical that takes a different spin on The Wizard of Oz.

Food Porn; FYI. 8 pm CST. Series Premiere.

Friday, 12/4

Marc Maron: More Later; Epix. 9 pm CST. Special.

Sunday, 12/6

Sinatra 100: An All-Star Grammy Concert; CBS. 8 pm CST. Special.

Television Premieres and Notables: November 23-29, 2015

Monday, 11/23

Eddie Murphy: The Mark Twain Prize; PBS. 8 pm CST (check local listings). Special.
Murphy gets awarded.


Tuesday, 11/24

Timothy Olyphant guest-stars on The Grinder (Fox; 7:20 pm CST)-- and you just know that is going to be all kinds of awesome.


Wednesday, 11/25

Property Brothers at Home on the Ranch; HGTV. 8 pm CST. Series Premiere.
How many shows do these two have, anyway?


Sunday, 11/29

The Walking Dead (AMC; 8 pm CST). Mid-season Finale.
This just reminds me that this season's level of craziness has been packed in only eight episodes.
I'll predict we'll find out if [you know who] is dead or alive.
Maybe we'll even see Jeffrey Dean Morgan who plays [who know who 2], and if we do see him, the season will just get crazier come next spring.

Television Premieres and Notables: November 16-22, 2015

Tuesday, 11/17

Chicago Med; NBC. 8 pm CST. Series Premiere.
Dick Wolf's Chicago franchise adds a third series. This time, Oliver Platt stars as a psychiatrist for Chicago Memorial Hospital.


Thursday, 11/19

The Art of More; Crackle. Streaming. Series Premiere.
This show about black market treasures stars Christian Cooke, Dennis Quaid, Cary Elwes, and Kate Bosworth. So, you know, it might be worth checking out.


Friday, 11/20

The Man in the High Castle; Amazon. Streaming. Series Premiere.
This adaptation of the Philip K. Dick novel looks at an alternate history where the Axis won World War Two, and the United States is split between German and Japanese control.

Marvel's Jessica Jones; Netflix, Streaming. Series Premiere.
Krysten Ritter stars as a former super-hero who lost a battle and her nerve (and maybe her powers) and decides to try to make it as a detective.


Sunday, 11/22

Saints & Strangers; NatGeo. 8 pm CST. Mini-series Premiere.
Anna Camp, Ron Livingston, and Vincent Kartheiser star in this two-part mini about the first Thanksgiving.

Television Premieres and Notables: November 9-15, 2015

Tuesday, 11/10

Donny! USA. 9:30 pm CST. Series Premiere.


Thursday, 11/12

Project Runway:Junior; Lifetime. 8 pm CST. Season Premiere.

2 Broke Girls; CBS. 8:30 pm CST. Season Premiere.


Friday, 11/13

W/Bob & David; Netflix. Streaming. Mini-series Premiere.
A kind of sequel to Mr. Show With Bob and David.


Saturday, 11/14

Spotless; Esquire. 9 pm CST. Series Premiere.


Sunday, 11/15

Badlands; AMC. 9 pm CST. Series Premiere.

The Royals; E!. 9 pm CST. 2nd Season Premiere.

Television Premieres and Notables: November 2-8, 2015

Tuesday, 11/3

Best Time Ever With Neil Patrick Harris (NBC; 7 pm CST). Season Finale.

I swear I had no idea this was still on.

Thursday, 11/5

Mom; CBS. 8 pm CST. 3rd Season Premiere.

Friday 11/6

MasterChef Junior; Fox. 7 pm CST. Season Premiere.

Master of None; Netflix. Streaming. Series Premiere.

Aziz Ansari created and stars in this semi-autobiographical series.

Sunday, 11/8

Agent X; TNT. 8 pm CST. Series Premiere.

The vice president of the US has a special agent to handle the things the CIA and FBI can't/shouldn't.

Getting On; HBO. 9:00 pm CST. 3rd-- and Final-- Season Premiere.

Television Premieres and Notables: October 26-November 1, 2015

Monday, 10/26

Supergirl; CBS. 7:30 pm CST. Series Premiere.
Greg Berlanti brings whatever magic he has for super-heroes (he also brought Arrow and The Flash to the small-screen) to a major network.
There are lots of ways this one can go wrong, but everything I've been reading (especially by how the pilot sets things up) seems like this one may go right.
If CBS gives it the money it needs to make the powers look right on screen, this one may be a winner.


Tuesday, 10/27

Wicked City; ABC. 9 pm CST. Series Premiere.
Another serial killer show; this time set in the '80s.


Wednesday, 10/28

You're the Worst (FX; 9:30 pm CST). Season Finale.


Friday, 10/30

Grimm; NBC. 8 pm CST. 5th Season Premiere.


Saturday, 10/31

So I'm typing this during commercial breaks of The Walking Dead, and I just saw a few C-list, a B-list, and now an A-list character die. It's a little tough to be excited by new TV coming after seeing that, but these two shows are worth getting excited for.

Ash vs Evil Dead; Starz. 8 pm CST. Series Premiere.
I liked the Evil Dead films, but it's been about 20 years since I saw them.  I only saw the first two films once, but I watched Army of Darkness just about every day for a few months.
I don't have Starz, and this is most likely going to be the first series that I buy on iTunes, just so I can watch as the rest of the world does.

So the brains behind the films are bringing the story to TV (Rob Tapert producing, Sam Raimi directing, and Bruce Campbell starring), and they've promised to include the humor and gore in it. And if the trailer is any indication, there will be a shortage of fake blood in Hollywood after this show.

Short version: a man and his friends take a vacation to a cabin in the Michigan woods, and they accidentally unleash an ancient evil they have to take out. Only Ash, the loudmouthed buffoon with an uncanny ability to kill demons-- and has the perfect one-liner waiting as he does it-- survives.  Thirty years later, the evil returns, and Ash steps up (or gets stuck having to fight them).

And because they don't have the rights to AoD, this series will be a continuation of the first two films, so it'll be interesting how they avoid/address the third film's shenanigans.

Check out the trailer:



The Returned; Sundance. 9 pm CST. 2nd Season Premiere.
This show took me by surprise last year when I watched the first season. Slow, low-key, creepy as all Hell-- and every episode had some revelation that changed my perception of some person of event by the end of it.
I have waited a long 18 months for this season (and early fans have waited three years), and I am excited to check it out again.


Sunday, 11/1

Breakthrough; Nat Geo. 8 pm CST. Mini-series Premiere.
Some big-name stars and directors take a close look at specific segments of cutting edge science.
In the premiere, Peter Berg brings us a look at pandemics, and in following weeks, Angela Bassett does one on clean water, Paul Giamatti on robotics, and Ron Howard on aging.

Mike Tyson Mysteries; adult swim. 11:15 pm CST. 2nd Season Premiere.
This is a crazy--and funny-- show.
It's got a great old-school [adult swim] vibe.

Television Premieres and Notables: October 19-25, 2015

Thursday, 10/22

Great Wild North; History. 9 pm CST. Series Premiere.


Friday,10/23

Hemlock Grove; Netflix. Streaming. Final Season Premiere.


Saturday, 10/24

DaVinci's Demons; Starz. 7 pm CST. Season Premiere.

Blunt Talk (Starz; 8 pm CST). Season Finale.

Survivor's Remorse (Starz; 8:30 pm CST). Season Finale.