Lovesick
Returns Thursday | Netflix
The British series formerly known as Scrotal Recall returns for a second season as Lovesick—admittedly not as catchy a name, but anyway. Lovesick is still a romantic-ish comedy about sexually-prolific Dylan (Johnny Flynn) contacting his former bedmates episode-by-episode to inform them that he has an STD and, possibly, to happen upon a Miss Right whom he may have blindly overlooked before. It’s all charming enough fluff, worth bingeing over the holidays after you’ve torn through Gilmore Girls, and you won’t have to explain the (new) title to the parental units.
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Fridays 8 pm | The CW
We just learned a hard lesson about trusting polls and ratings, but numbers show that no one is watching this musical rom-com oddity that struggled even before The CW banished it to Fridays. Too bad. Though the songs aren’t as strong this time around, creator-star Rachel Bloom is even funnier than before in the title role. In the first season, Rebecca (Bloom) left her career in New York to chase down an old flame in California. Now that she’s sorta-landed him, things are getting even weirder and more unpredictable in Season 2. Put this series in the catch-up cue before Lovesick.
The Affair
Sunday 10 pm | Showtime
Still on? Really? The Affair ran out of story in its first season, and now Showtime is tossing out a third installment of The Sulking Whiteys. It all started with frustrated writer—aren’t they all?—Noah (Dominic West) boning waitress Alison (Ruth Wilson), much to the meh-smay of their equally-boring spouses. For annoying measure, also experience alternate perspectives, split timelines and a whodunit murder subplot, all designed to excuse The Affair’s self-absorbed dullness with an “It’s artsy!” defense. Nope. Shameless, still killing it in Season 7, deserves a better lead-out, Showtime.
Search Party
Monday 10 pm| TBS
Sometimes “dark” comedy is just code for “not necessarily funny.” In this series debut, Dory (Alia Shawkat) and her insufferably-shallow Brooklynite friends become caught up in the mystery of a missing college acquaintance they vaguely remember, and then… barely anything happens. It quickly becomes apparent that Search Party is a not-so-subtle commentary on directionless Millennials who are armed with too much information and zero real-world experience. Edited down to a 90-minute indie-flick, this could work. The friends’ run-ins with harsh reality are hilarious, if too few and far-between. As a five-hour series, not so much.
Bill Frost writes about television for Salt Lake City Weekly.
