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.