For August 18–25
Halt & Catch Fire
Tuesday 8 pm | AMC
AMC just can’t quit this critical darling, which hasn’t cracked 1 million viewers since its premiere in 2014, despite improving markedly over two seasons (both available on Netflix). The 80s-set drama chronicles the computer revolution more accurately than the plethora of Steve Jobs biopics, and gives some long-overdue credit to women in the early days of PC tech. Season 2 really, ahem, caught fire when the story shifted focus to Cameron (Mackenzie Davis) and Donna’s (Kerry Bische) Mutiny Co. startup struggles. Season 3 picks up in 1986, with Mutiny leaving Texas for Silicon Valley, a make-or-break play that leaves Donna’s husband professionally and emotionally, adrift. The trio are followed out west by ex-partner-antagonist Joe (Lee Pace), because that’s how Joe do. This is one of AMC’s best dramas. Halt and watch it already.
Better Late Than Never
Series debut Tuesday 9 pm | NBC
NBCUniversal
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BETTER LATE THAN NEVER — Pictured: “Better Late Than Never” Horizontal Key Art — (Photo by: NBCUniversal)
No, never would have been just fine. Geezers Henry Winkler, William Shatner, Terry Bradshaw and George Foreman are taken on a no-itinerary trip across Asia by comedian Jeff Dye. Why? Because it worked on Korean television? If you’re curious about what else plays well in Korea, just Google “Korean TV Game Show” and wait for the naughty results to explode your computer.
The View: 20 Years in the Making
Tuesday 9 pm | ABC
Great panelist moments from The View that will likely be glossed over in this anniversary special: Jenny McCarthy dangerously spews anti-vaccination nonsense for a full season; benign Sherri Shepard doubts the Earth is round, claims Christians predate everything on this flat planet, and admits to never voting because she “didn’t know the dates”; Elisabeth Hasselbeck survives a full decade on the show; Libertarian Jedediah Bila is promoted to a regular for the 2016 season, and will probably be canned by the end for being too smart.
Zoo
Tuesdays 8 pm | CBS
Season 2 is almost over—have you even heard of Zoo? Every network wants a sci-fi series; the best CBS could come up with was an “animal uprising” based on a James Patterson book. In Zoo, James Wolk plays—I can’t believe I’m typing this—renegade zoologist Jackson Oz, the first to make the connection between critter-on-people violence and his father’s theories about human extinction at the paws of fed-up animals. In Season 2, the animals are making the planet uninhabitable for humans almost as quickly as the writers are making it unwatchable for humans.
Bill Frost is a writer for the Salt Lake City Weekly.
