Last week was one long battle sequence, spread among several locations and featuring several resistance leaders – and the fight isn’t over yet. And since we didn’t see Negan at all last week, as we await checking into his story line, the show’s major antagonist hasn’t made his final intentions clear. Yet.

SEASON PREMIERE: This Showtime series, which began as an Americanized version of a British series of the same name, has, like The Office, found a successful home and identify of its own on this side of the pond. There aren’t many series that pull me in as effectively as this one, making me wonder and worry about these characters and the often self-destructive choices they make. The Gallaghers are one majorly dysfunctional family – and yet, somehow, they continue to function, and when they need to rally around their own, they find a way to do so. William H. Macy, as the usually unreliable patriarch, seems to start out this season, the show’s eighth, on his best behavior – but even that’s not saying much. Emmy Rossum, as Fiona, is a powerhouse player in this ensemble drama, but each family member, on this series, gets his or her turn in the sun. And in the gutter…

SEASON PREMIERE: Last season, this Steven Soderbergh TV series about a highly paid escort offering her clients the illusion of emotional closeness – a so-called “girlfriend experience” -- was focused on one character, played by Riley Keough, who pretty much enjoyed her work, though not always the clients or circumstances. This season, the one-hour show tells two stories in each installment, focusing on two different women. And though Soderbergh remains the executive producer, the show-runners from last season, Amy Seimetz and Lodge Kerrigan, are staying together, yet splitting up, for Season 2. Kerrigan is presenting (and writing and directing) “Erica & Anna,” the continuing story of an escort and a Washington power player, both of whom are confident, manipulative women, while Seimetz does the same with “Bria,” in which a former “girlfriend” to an accused murderer fashions a new identity under the witness protection program – then clandestinely begins fashioning another. Anna Friel, from ABC’s Pushing Daisies, is the biggest star involved here, but the bifurcated nature of this season’s shows make The Girlfriend Experience worth experiencing – at least to sample.

Last night, Larry David hosted Saturday Night Live. Tonight, he returns to the Curb, in an episode called “The Accidental Text on Purpose.”

SERIES PREMIERE: Frankie Shaw is not only the creator and writer and director of this new Showtime series, but she’s its star as well. And since SMILF (the S stands for Single; for the rest, you’re on your own) is about a single mom trying to make it in a rather judgmental and tough world, it could almost be seen as a spiritual sequel to Lena Dunham’s Girls. Except that the support system for Shaw’s Bridgette Bird is less expansive, and supportive: Her inner circle includes her disapproving, often depressed mother, the distracted and well-to-do mother of a kid she tutors, and Bridgette’s ex-husband, who still checks in as a father – but who also has a beautiful new girlfriend, while Bridgette finds it tough to cope, much less date. Bridgette also is a spiritual sister, certainly, to Fiona Gallagher, the constantly struggling character on this show’s lead-in, Shamelessm so SMILF is at least well-positioned, in addition to being well-intentioned. The first few episodes are a bit wobbly, but Shaw’s Bridgette is likable even when doing unlikable things – a key component, if this series is to succeed – and SMILF has the benefits of two supporting players playing significantly, and successfully, against type. Connie Britton, as the mom whose child Bridgette tutors, is endearingly messed up, a far cry from her got-it-together matriarch on Friday Night Lights. And Bridgette’s own mother, a heavily accented Irish-American toughie, is played by Rosie O’Donnell, with a naturalness,  and a vulnerability, that makes you see her as a serious actress, without any self-aware comic throwaways used as shields.