GUILTY AS CHARGED
Whyy we watch these cheesy shows
By THE POST TV STAFF Y OU may tell people that you watch “The Crown,” “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “The Americans,” but highbrow entertainment doesn’t always give us the sugar rush we get from seeing something really stupid.
Even though many critics will have you believe this is the era of Peak TV, we have ample evidence to say, “Au contraire.” Take a walk on the dark side of TV, where the goings-on are silly, derivative or even incomprehensible.
“The Carbonaro Effect” Thursday, 10 p.m., truTV
There’s joy in counting bleeped f-bombs on this truTV hiddencamera show. Magician (and Long Island native) Michael Carbonaro usually fools strangers in benign ways, but he hits his A-game with genuinely unsettling segments. When a bewildered subway commuter repeatedly repeat takess a set of stairs to the opposite side of the tracks — only to find herself back on the platform she had just left — it’s a brilliant “Effect.”
“Floribama Shore” Monday, 10 p.m., MTV Jersey Shore”-
This “inspired reality series follows the exploits of the trashy denizens of a Panama City Beach, Fla. summer house and their boozy adventures along the coast from Alabama to Tallahassee, Fla. Activities include getting drunk and then getting into brawls at the end of the night. It’s the escape show for the brain dead that will tide us over until the real shore “Jersey Shore” returns next year. Accept no substitutes.
“How to Get Away With Murder” Thursday, 10 p.m., ABC
We gave up hate-watching the insipid “Scandal” several years ago. But, for some weird reasonreason, we can’t seem to quit t its ABC stablemate, which runs a close second to “Scandal” vis a vis its overheated, overacted and nonsensical plotline(s). And then there are those obnoxious “In 3...2...1!” promos voiced by the guy who sounds like Satan. We didn’t care last fall who was #UndertheSheet and we didn’t care this fall about Laurel (Karla Souza) screaming for her baby or Asher (Matt McGorry) weeping in a prison cell. Yet we keep watching.
“Riverdale” Wednesday, 8 p.m., The CW
The CW’s noirish spin on the classic Archie comics has no internal logic. Characters’ personalities change according to plot needs. One Season 2 episode introduces a mysterious new drug lord called “The Sugarman,” unmasks him, and kills him all within the span of 45 minutes. Season 2 plotlines have included gangs, a drug called “jingle jangle” (OKOK, we get the reference to “Mr. Tambourine Man,” but really), drag racing, cruising, Betty’s mom Alice making gloriously random dramatic entrances and vigilantism. The writers are throwing everything at the wall — and though it makes little sense, it’s sticking.
“American Housewife” Wednesday, 9:30 p.m., ABC
When frumpy “American Housewife” Katie Otto (Katy Mixon) rolls her eyes at the “rich idiots” and “lonely moms” of Westport, Conn., and nearby Norwalk, she’s embracing the winning — if overdone — fish-out-of-water trope. But producers recently caved and agreed to never again disparage Norwalk after residents complained about their snooty depiction. Hey, Connecticut: lighten up. If you can’t laugh at brash half-truths, then the joke really is on you.