Quibi, 12:00 a.m. ET
STREAMING SERVICE PREMIERE: History will record, eventually, whether this new streaming service concept was unfortunate enough to be the right idea at the exact wrong time. The idea behind Quibi, which launches today, is to offer video entertainment in easily digested bite-sized chunks, with each video running 10 minutes or less. Movie-length dramas and comedies are rolled out like old Saturday matinee serials, one short chapter at a time. Some shows are tiny pieces of entertainment, like a sort of micro-miniseries. And still others provide news, information and talk shows in segments even shorter than an evening news segment. But in a moment in history when most of America is sequestered at home, is bite-size really the most attractive option? Or is this the time to gorge on entire seasons’ worth of series, while the watching is good? The powerful, influential, and wealthy folks behind Quibi are insisting yes, their idea is still vital. But they’re insecure enough to change plans just before today’s launch, and offer the service free for three months to anyone who downloads the app. So if you have the time, give it a free trial. And if you don’t have the time, then someday, maybe there will be Mini-Quibi launched just for people like you…
Acorn TV, 3:00 a.m. ET
MINISERIES PREMIERE: In the latest U.K. import to star David Tennant and feature a picturesque remote town,
Deadwater Fell is an investigative drama with a twist. Before the first episode is over, Tennant’s character suffers a tragedy, when his family is consumed by a fire that engulfs their home. But the drama in
Deadwater Fell isn’t what happened to them – but why. And, most crucially, by whom. And as with all these remote rural British drama, the truth, and the several prime suspects, are not far away.
For a full review, see David Hinckley's All Along the Watchtower.
AMC, 9:00 p.m. ET
So “Saul” and Kim are married now. And Mike Ehrmentraut and Gus Fring are officially seeking vengeance together. And look which familiar, foreboding faces are showing up tonight (see photo). But what that all means for the final installments of this season’s Better Call Saul, I have no idea. But I do know this: Come awards time next year, if there are TV awards next year, Better Call Emmy…
HBO, 9:00 p.m. ET
In Episode 4 of this David Simon and Ed Gross miniseries, based on the novel by Philip Roth, the war gets closer – and the prejudice against Jews in the new American homeland becomes more pronounced.
AMC, 10:15 p.m. ET
There aren’t many shows, in the history of television, where you can reach their halfway point and still not know where they’re going, or have any idea where they might end up. Dispatches from Elsewhere is just such a TV program, so treasure it. And keep watching, since we’re now up to Episode 7.