CRITIC’S CORNER
THE HOWIE MANDEL ALL-STAR COMEDY GALA
CW, 8 ET/PT CW returns to one of the world’s biggest comedy events, the Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal, for this two-hour special. Hosted by Howie Mandel, the gala is set to include performances from Jay Pharoah, Iliza Shlesinger, Russell Peters, JB Smoove, Alonzo Bodden, Jo Koy, Matt Donaher, Ryan Hamilton, Gina Brillon and Tom Papa.
THE YOUNG POPE HBO, 9 ET/PT
The best thing to be said about this gorgeous, strange and strangely inert series from Oscar winner Paolo Sorrentino starring Jude Law as the first American pope is that it’s unlike anything else on TV. And that includes how this 10-episode show will air on HBO, which is running it twice a week, Sundays and Mondays. In this second outing, we meet the Vatican’s marketing director, who is in for a shock — as are the people waiting in St. Peter’s Square for the pope’s first public address. Oh, and the pope gets a pet kangaroo, a twist that, like the show itself, is absurd without being entertaining.
TIMELESS NBC, 10 ET/PT
This time-travel adventure returns from its winter break with an unwilling Lucy still traveling with Flynn, who has taken her to the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. That sounds like a fun date, though odds are that’s not what Flynn has in mind.
Email TV questions to askbianco@usatoday.com ahead of Robert Bianco’s live video chat Monday, 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT, at facebook.com/usatodaylife