SUNDAY
AUGUST 20
2017

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

Showtime, 8:00 p.m. ET

Last week, one character looked to another and asked, “What happened?” And the other character answered, “I don’t know. Something.” Welcome to Twin Peaks: The Return, on the down slope. It’s as inscrutable as ever… but last week, I did find myself staring intently at the screen, either wondering what was happening, or waiting for something to. But it’s definitely got me watching again, with, among other things, Andy taking his trip to somewhere else...

 
  
 
 

CNN, 9:00 p.m. ET

This week’s installment is called Isn’t It Ironic?, and is all about the music of that decade – from the rise of hip hop to the ascendance of Alanis Morissette. Hence the episode’s title.

 
  
 
 

HBO, 9:00 p.m. ET

Some battle lines were drawn last week, some alliances formed, and some knees bent – but the biggest move forward, as this series approaches its end game, was Jon Snow’s mission to head north, to the other side of the wall, to capture and bring back a member of the undead army. The plan, I guess, is to bring back living proof of the non-living – but it won’t be easy.

 
  
 
 

Showtime, 9:00 p.m. ET

Last week’s episode provided an extended flashback, showing us Ray and Abby’s 21st anniversary – an unexpected voyage that included not only a trip to a brothel, but other scenes that showed us Ray and Abby connecting as never before. It showed, more than at any other point on Ray Donovan, why these two were so connected to each other. We felt for them, and especially for her, at a whole new level – and then the show, right after it giveth, taketh away, in a sad, deeply emotional series of scenes and revelations.

 
  
 
 

Showtime, 10:00 p.m. ET

SEASON PREMIERE: This is the return, for the final season, of one of TV’s most undervalued current series. Episodes has, over its run, provided a detailed spoof of Hollywood, with a selfish and vain character at its center, that at time has rivaled Curb Your Enthusiasm. Instead of Larry David playing a comically confrontational version of himself, Episodes has Matt LeBlanc playing a selfish, vain, and usually uncaring version of himself. He was the actor brought in by an all-talk, no-talent TV executive (played by John Pankow) to star in his company’s American adaptation of a tasteful British comedy hit. Tamsin Greig and Stephen Mangan play the British writing couple imported to Hollywood to adapt their British series for American TV – but saddled with or by mediocrity every step of the way, starting with LeBlanc. All these years later, and the four of them – the producer, the star, and the two writers – seem destined to work together one last time. Seems unlikely? How likely is it that the real LeBlanc is starring, right now, in a new U.S. version of a long-running British show about cars, Top Gear?

 
  
 
 

Showtime, 10:30 p.m. ET

SEASON PREMIERE: Last season, Andrew Dice clay joined the ranks of comics playing comically exaggerated versions of themselves. One of the twists here, though, is that the TV Dice shows a nicer side of himself than the Dice of his familiar comic persona.

 
  
 
 

HBO, 11:00 p.m. ET

President Trump is still on vacation. Yet things keep happening, and John Oliver isn’t.

 
  
 
 
 
 
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David Bianculli

Founder / Editor

David Bianculli has been a TV critic since 1975, including a 14-year stint at the New York Daily News, and sees no reason to stop now. Currently, he's TV critic for NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross, and is an occasional substitute host for that show. He's also an author and teaches TV and film history at New Jersey's Rowan University. His 2009 Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of 'The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour', has been purchased for film rights. His latest, The Platinum Age of Television: From I Love Lucy to the Walking Dead, How TV Became Terrific, is an effusive guidebook that plots the path from the 1950s’ Golden Age to today’s era of quality TV.