Media Rays
Halloween and the World Series will dominate the week in television for many viewers. Netflix has upped its basic subscription price just in time for the second season of “Stranger Things,” which will be available to stream on Friday, Oct. 27. Speaking of stranger things, Amy Sedaris: Gifted, brilliant and endearingly strange, she’s premiering a TruTV series this week called “At Home With Amy Sedaris.”
SUNDAY, OCT. 22
The eighth season of “The Walking Dead” launches on AMC at 8 p.m., followed by the season premiere of “The Talking Dead” at 10 p.m. “The Simpsons” airs its annual “Treehouse of Horror” Halloween episode at 8 p.m. on Fox. The 28th edition features guest voices of Neil Gaiman, Mario Batali and William Friedkin. The second season of “Graves” begins on Epix with two episodes at 10 and 10:30 p.m. Nick Nolte stars as a former U.S. president. The fourth and, sadly, final season of “Survivor’s Remorse” wraps with two episodes on Starz at 10 and 10:30 p.m. To my mind, this was the comedy’s best season and it deserved more. Kudos and thanks for great work to Jessie T. Usher and the rest of the cast, writer creator Mike O’Malley and producer LeBron James. Also at 10 p.m., the Food Network puts the third season of “Food: Fact or Fiction?” with an episode called “Sacred Chow.” Katie Couric is Neil deGrasse Tyson’s guest on “StarTalk” at 11 p.m. on the National Geographic Channel.
MONDAY, OCT. 23
The second season of the Scandinavian drama “Black Widows” becomes available for streaming today on Acorn TV. The series stars Synnove Macody Lund, Cecilia Forss and Beate Bille as three friends who conspire to kill their husbands. For information on Acorn offerings, go to www.acorn.tv. Redman hosts a new horror reality competition series on VH1 called “Scared Famous,” airing at 9 p.m., in which celebrities compete with each other in a haunted house in Savannah, Ga., for a $100,000 prize. The challenges are all based on horror movie staples. The first season of “Behind Closed Doors: The American Family,” wraps on TLC at 11 p.m.
TUESDAY, OCT. 24
Seasons One and Two of the Australian series “Wanted” are available for streaming on Netflix today. The thriller is about a group of friends who are prime suspects in a murder investigation.
The first game of the World Series will air today on Fox. At press time, teams and locations had not been set, but it’s one reason the other broadcast networks aren’t necessarily playing their A games.
The ABC comedy lineup goes heavy on the Halloween theme, beginning with “Halloween VII: The Orson Murder Mystery” at 8 p.m. on “The Middle,” “It’s a Plastic Pumpkin, Louis Huang” on
“Fresh Off the Boat” at 8:30 p.m., and at 9:30 p.m., “City Hall-oween” on “The Mayor.” Snoop Dogg hosts a reboot of the classic game show “The Joker’s Wild,” premiering on TBS at 10 p.m. Jack Berry hosted the original.
“Snoop Dogg Presents the Joker’s Wild” will be followed by the premiere of “Drop the Mic” at 10:30 p.m., with Method Man hosting the rap competition show. “At Home With Amy Sedaris” premieres on TruTV at 10:30 p.m. with a second episode at 11. Sedaris will demonstrate homemaking skills, with each episode built around a single theme such as “entertaining the grieving, the craft of love making, and cooking without pots and pans.” “Remember, if you want to be the perfect host, accentuate the positives, and medicate the negatives,” she says.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 25
Game 2 of the World Series will air on Fox today. Halloween is in the air for several shows tonight, including “Speechless” at 8:30 p.m., with an episode called “N-i-ghtmare on D-i-Meo Street,” “Modern Family” at 9 p.m., with “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Phil Dunphy,” and “American Housewife” at 9:30 with the episode “Boo Who,” all on ABC. “Nova” investigates natural disasters in three episodes beginning at 9 tonight on PBS with “Killer Volcanoes.” The second season of “Channel Zero” wraps on the SyFy Channel at 10 p.m., and the third season of “Eric & Jessie” wraps at the same time. Shemar Moore, who co-starred in 252 episodes of “Criminal Minds” before snagging his own series, “S.W.A.T.,” this year, returns to the scene of the crimes as a guest star in tonight’s “Criminal Minds” episode at 10 on CBS. He will reprise his role as Derek Morgan, coming back to the fold to help Penelope Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness) solve a case that is taking an emotional toll on her. The second season of “The Baroness von Sketch Show” wraps up at 11 p.m. on IFC, and the second season of“Rosehaven” launches at the same time on SundanceTV.
THURSDAY OCTOBER 26
The Dolphins face the Ravens at Baltimore at 5:25 p.m. on“Thursday Night Football ”on KPIX.
The fifth season of “Carnival Eats” kicks off at 9 p.m. on the Food Network with an episode called “Close Encounters of the Food Kind.”
TruTV has programmed a night of “gotchas,” thanks to its hidden camera show, “Impractical Jokers.” Brian Quinn, James Murray, Sal Vulcano and Joe Gatto catch passersby unawares while doing pranks in public. The back-to-back episodes air from 9 to 11 p.m., with “The Murray Jury” at 9, “Sizing Up Sal” at 9:30, “Judging Joe” at 10 and “Critiquing Q” at 10:30.
FRIDAY OCTOBER 27
The catch of the day is the complete second season of “Stranger Things,” available on Netflix. You may have heard of it because it was a huge hit last year and because Netflix has raised its subscription price in advance of the new season.
If you aren’t happy with the price increase, consider what else you get today: the documentary, “Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold,” focusing on the author of “Play It As It Lays,” “Slouching Toward Bethlehem” and “The Year of Magical Thinking,” not to mention the screenplay for “Panic in Needle Park,” which she penned with her late husband, John Gregory Dunne (“The Studio”). The film is directed by her nephew, actor-producer
Griffin Dunne, son of the late Dominick Dunne. The third game of the World Series will air today on Fox.
The second season of “Andi Mack” kicks off on the Disney Channel with a one-hour episode at 8 p.m.
“Blindspot” launches season three on NBC at 8 p.m.
CBS will broadcast the brand new, hour-long animated special, “Michael Jackson’s Halloween” at 8 p.m. The special will feature Jackson’s music and characters voiced by Christine Baranski, Kiersey Clemons, Alan Cumming, George Eads, Brad Garrett, Lucy Liu, Jim Parsons and Lucas Till. An animated Jackson will star in the show’s big dance finale. The special will be followed by a new episode of“MacGyver” at a special time of 9 p.m. Country Music Television celebrates “The Life and Music of Kris Kristofferson” with a 90-minute special at 10 p.m.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 28
The fourth game of the World Series is scheduled for today on Fox.
Showtime celebrates the music of Black Sabbath with the special “Black Sabbath: The End of the End,” a film of the band’s final concert at Genting Arena in Birmingham, England. The film screened in theaters nationwide in September and will air on Showtime at 9 p.m.
Season two of “Secrets of the Underground” kicks off at 10 p.m. on the Science Channel. “Saturday Night Live” will feature the “David S. Pumpkins Halloween Special,” an animated special starring Tom Hanks at the aforementioned Pumpkins and spinning off the “Haunted Elevator” sketch from last season. The show airs at 11:29 p.m. on NBC.
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 29
You’ll have to get up early for the first NFL game today, which airs at 6:30 a.m. on CBS with the Minnesota Vikings facing the Cleveland Browns from London. The fifth game of the
World Series, if necessary, will air on Fox today. The first season of
HBO ’s“The Deuce” wraps with a 75-minute episode called “My Name Is Ruby” at 9 p.m. Trust me, it is an emotional powerhouse. The series has been renewed for a second season. If you want to binge the entire first season, it begins at 1:30 p.m. on HBO2.
“The Deuce” finale will be followed by new episodes of “Curb Your Enthusiasm ”and“Vice Principals” at 10:15 and 10:45 p.m., respectively. They air at special times today because of the “Deuce” finale.
Season seven of “Halloween Wars” ends at 9 p.m. on the Food Network. The fifth season of “Ray Donovan” calls it a day on Showtime at 9 p.m. Starz airs the documentary special “Nude” at 10 p.m., exploring the creative process of fashion photographer David Bellemere as he creates a calendar of nudes.