NBC, 10:00 p.m. ET
As always, a lot is going on in this show, where there are significant developments on the work front (at the recording studio, seen in photo) and on the personal front. Especially the personal front – where there’s a new pregnancy to confront.
FX, 10:00 p.m. ET
SEASON PREMIERE: One of my favorite series of 2012 returns for a new season in 2013, kicking off with a twisted mystery (a 40-year-old satchel, found hidden behind some drywall) and the latest in a long series of inspired casting choices. This time it’s Patton Oswalt, who plays a small-town lawman to whom Raylan (the outstanding Timothy Olyphant) goes for unexpected, unorthodox assistance. Denver Post TV critic Joanne Ostrow describes Oswalt’s character perfectly, and hilariously, as “a cross between Barney Fife and Barney Rubble.” Yabba dabba do watch this episode, and this series. Justified is a true treat.
Spike, 10:00 p.m. ET
SERIES PREMIERE: This isn’t a recommendation, necessarily, but the return of this reality-series improv-comedy hybrid certainly is worth noting. The original The Joe Schmo Show, also televised by Spike TV, was, like many cheaply made series in the reality-TV-obsessed world of 2003, a ripoff of such close-quarters competition shows as Survivor and Big Brother. The difference here was that everyone, save for one hapless contestant cast for his good nature and gullibility, was an actor playing a role – seeing just how far they could push, fool and tweak the poor “Joe Schmo” who wasn’t in on the joke. The initial run of this show, a decade ago, included one then-unknown comedienne who played a “quack” doctor – Kristen Wiig (seen in this credits photo from the 2003 edition). Wiig joined Saturday Night Live two years later, so it might be interesting to see if the current cast of this Joe Schmo reboot contains any similar future stars. At any rate, apparently it’s time enough to bring the show back without fear of having the prank exposed. Reality TV shows, like locusts, may be a plague capable of resurfacing every 10 years or so.
TBS, 10:00 p.m. ET
SEASON PREMIERE: After a long absence, this former ABC series returns on a new network – a cable one – but otherwise continues its very heightened brand of pleased-with-itself humor. A flashback sequence in one of this season’s new episodes made me laugh, but that’s about all. Even so, there are some adept comic performers here – and it may be the first TV show in history where the drinking games are played by the characters, not the viewers. Courteney Cox stars.
ABC, 11:35 p.m. ET
NEW TIME: This time shift is only a half hour from Kimmel’s former midnight slot, but for him, and for ABC, it’s a step in the right direction. It replaces Nightline, which hasn’t been as valuable since Ted Koppel left, and pits Kimmel directly against NBC’s Jay Leno and CBS’s David Letterman. Another round of the late-night talk-show war begins – but notice, this time, how much less notice it’s getting.