NBC, 8:00 p.m. ET
SEASON PREMIERE: After a long wait on the bench, Community finally trots out on the field to begin Season 4 on NBC. Its opening parody, by now, may seem a little dated, but that’s the network’s fault for sitting on these episodes so long. It’s a twist on The Hunger Games – here called “The Hunger Deans,” a physical competition in which the usual gang has to compete with others for seats in an accidentally overbooked class.
CBS, 8:00 p.m. ET
Tonight’s new episode is titled “The Spoiler Alert Segmentation” – so I’m not about to offer anything that would qualify as deserving a Spoiler Alert. I will, say, however, that Sheldon and Leonard have a bigger fight than usual, and it’s one that may have an impact upon their formerly iron-clad cohabitation agreement.
Flix, 8:00 p.m. ET
Michael Moore’s 2004 documentary on the presidency of George W. Bush, up to that point, is repeated tonight – and though it’s now more historical than timely, that doesn’t make it any less effective as a work of nonfiction.
TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET
Long before Showtime presented The Tudors – in fact, way back in 1969 – Richard Burton starred as King Henry VIII in this film version of the Maxwell Anderson play. Genevieve Bujold co-stars in the title role, as Anne Boleyn. Spoiler Alert: Anne’s Days, as the title infers, are indeed numbered.
FX, 10:00 p.m. ET
Tonight’s episode title is “Midnight Ron,” a particularly appropriate play on words. In structure, it’s a parody of Midnight Run, the 1988 film comedy in which Robert de Niro and Charles Grodin played a mismatched pair – one a cop, the other a bail-jumping accountant – trying to elude a bunch of bad guys. Only in this animated version, it’s Archer the secret agent who’s paired with a mismatched companion while on the run from gangsters – and the companion, in this case, is his new stepfather, Ron. Hence the title. And as punny titles go, that one's a bullseye -- which brings us back, full circle, to Archer.