Facebook, 3:00 p.m. ET
When
Orphan Black was still in production, and presented on BBC America, the cast occasionally would show up at fan conventions and do table reads, reciting their respective lines from scripts and having a good time. Now they’re doing a similar thing for charity, online and separated in their own homes, reading from two old scripts from Season 1. Tatiana Maslany, who just co-starred on Broadway opposite Bryan Cranston in
Network, and her co-stars will reunite today at 3 p.m. ET, on the
Orphan Black Facebook page, for a virtual reunion benefiting CenterLink and Sistering Toronto. All the regular cast members are taking part – but if you think about it, this is the one TV show that could pull off a reunion with one person alone. Maslany, after all, plays so many Clone Club characters on
Orphan Black, she can reunite with herself. And at this reading, you’ll see how chameleonic she is, even without the benefit of differentiating wigs, costumes and makeup.
ABC, 7:00 p.m. ET
This is not a recommendation: America’s Funniest Home Videos, hosted by Bob Saget, premiered on ABC back in 1989. It’s been around most of the time since then, with host and title tweaks, except for taking little more than a year off at the start of the new century. But even counting from 2001, this ABC series is one of TV’s most tenured shows – older, at this point, than any continuing prime-series except for 60 Minutes, 20/20, The Simpsons, Dateline NBC, Law & Order: SVU and Survivor. It started when home video recording and camcorders were big, and survived throughout the birth and spread of the Internet, which you’d think would have made it obsolete. Yet here it is, now lasting into the pandemic era, capitalizing on our national sequestering efforts by newly emphasizing the “home” in home video. Hence the new title, and approach.
PBS, 9:00 p.m. ET
SEASON FINALE: This is the last episode of the year for this PBS import – but since the network is referring to it as a season finale, not a finale, and since the war it’s dramatizing is far from over, there may be more episodes of World on Fire to come, in time. Check local listings.
BBC America, 9:00 p.m. ET
Last week’s installment of Killing Eve was 100 percent Villanelle, following Jodie Comer’s twisted assassin as she returned to her childhood home and roots, tracked down her birth mother… after which, let’s just say, things led to an emotional mother-daughter confrontation and climax that was beautifully acted, tangibly intense, and quite fiery. This week, we get back to Sandra Oh’s Eve, who was last seen witnessing the sudden, brutal slaying of her estranged husband. Death by pitchfork. In the neck, which is estrange way to go...
ESPN, 9:00 p.m. ET
DOCUMENTARY MINISERIES CONCLUSION: For a month now, ESPN has been offering double-dose helpings of this new documentary about Michael Jordan’s 1997-98 final championship run with the Chicago Bulls. Mostly, The Last Dance, so far, has been an entertaining and informative look at the long, arduous path to that final celebrated season – but tonight, the big payoff finally arrives. As does the big playoff.
HBO, 9:00 p.m. ET
Last week, this HBO miniseries, featuring Mark Ruffalo in a dual role, began with one of the more gripping opening scenes in years kicking off a TV drama in recent memory. Ruffalo plays twin brothers, one of whom is schizophrenic – and who, in the starting scenes, goes to a public library, begins quoting from the Bible, and cuts off his own hand. Then his brother, in the emergency room, supports his twin’s pleas to not have the hand reattached. How do you not keep watching after that? And later in that same hour, Juliette Lewis, as a language professor, proved even more unstable than the one brother. Tonight, Episode 2…
Showtime, 9:00 p.m. ET
Sunday night is, indeed, a night of riches for TV, with so many shows bursting with talented casts and gripping story lines. Here’s another one, of course, and Corey Stoll already has established himself as a worthy opponent for Axe (Damian Lewis), in both financial dealings and overall ruthlessness.
Showtime, 10:00 p.m. ET
Here’s another excellent Sunday night Showtime series – and tonight’s episode allows the veteran cop played by Nathan Lane to get deeper into the hidden underbelly of Los Angeles, where, improbably, he uncovers Nazis, scientists, and links to the rumored development of what could turn out to be the atomic bomb.
HBO, 10:30 p.m. ET
Phoebe Waller-Bridge of Fleabag guest starred in last week’s episode, and so did Archie Panjabi – but the latter’s guest run on Run was cut short when her character, Fiona, suffered an unexpectedly serious fall from the second story of a barn. And tonight, to retrace their steps and retrieve evidence from the scene of that tragic accident, Billy and Ruby (Domhnall Gleeson, Merritt Wever) have to go back to that farmhouse. And, perhaps, re-encounter the surviving character from last week’s show. But I suppose they’ll cross that Waller-Bridge when they get to it…
HBO, 11:00 p.m. ET
I think it’s a new show this week. These days, though, I’m not completely certain of much of anything, so tune in to the first moments and see. If he’s discussing old news, John Oliver is not really discussing last week on Last Week.