IFC’S talk-show sendup back for celebrity-filled Season 2

The fake talk show “Comedy Bang! Bang!” (9 p.m., IFC) returns for a second season, welcoming such guest stars (and near stars) as Jessica Alba, Aziz Ansari, Rashida Jones and “Weird Al” Yankovic.

For the uninitiated, “Bang!” is hosted by series creator Scott Aukerman, who presides over awkward small talk with bold-faced names from his cheap-looking basement/den. As host, he also engages in strange, disjointed and semi-hostile patter with his musical sidekick, Reggie Watts. The talk show format is often eclipsed by semisurreal excursions into the outside world. Aukerman’s den is appointed with a peculiar assortment of taxidermy. There are also talking books on the shelf, not unlike the live, anthropomorphic objects from “Peewee’s Playhouse.” Peewee Herman will be a guest this season, so he should feel right at home.

Friday night’s celebrity guest is Andy Samberg.

A night of talk show repeats includes a recent appearance by Johnny Depp (along with Rebecca Romijn and Steve Martorano) on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” (10:35 p.m., WATN-TV Channel 24).

Much has been made of Depp’s most recent film, “The Lone Ranger,” and its bloated budget, delayed debut and disappointing box office.

I am always curious why the geniuses who run film studios invest so much in pop culture franchises that hark back to viewers far too old to go to movies in great numbers. “The Lone Ranger” was a movie serial for Republic Pictures in the late 1930s and a television series in the mid-1950s. It was also the subject of some Saturday morning cartoons and a 1981 movie.

“The Lone Ranger” is hardly Depp’s first foray i nto vanity/nostalgia projects. “Dark Shadows,” based on a cult soap opera from the 1960s, was also a disappointment, though not on the epic level of his latest movie.