6 things you have to watch on TV this weekend
Reacher returns, Kate McKinnon takes over Saturday Night Live, Hulu hosts a British comedy, and more
TV Lists Carol
Welcome to the weekend edition of What’s On. Here are the big things happening on TV from Friday, Dec 15 to Sunday, Dec 17. All times are Eastern. [Note: The weekly edition of What’s On publishes on Sundays.]
1. Your mindless holiday binge is here thanks to Reacher
Prime Video, Friday, 12:01 a.m.: Prime Video’s spy universe of sorts is hanging tight with Reacher. The drama, based on Lee Child’s novels, is back for season two with Alan Ritchson as Jack Reacher. In the new episodes, Jack reconnects with his army mates after he gets a coded message from one of them about some mysterious murders. The cast includes Malcolm Goodwin, Willa Fitzgerald, Bruce McGill, and Maria Sten.
2. Kate McKinnon punches back in at SNL
NBC, Saturday, 11:30 p.m.: Saturday Night Live started season 49 in October with former cast member Pete Davidson as host, and fittingly the final episode of 2023 brings Kate McKinnon back to Studio 8H. After exiting the show as a cast member in May, the Barbie actor returns as host with musical guest Billie Eilish. Look out for The A.V. Club’s recap on Sunday.
3. British comedy Such Brave Girls makes its way to Hulu
Hulu, Friday, 12:01 a.m.: Kat Sadler’s semi-autobiographical BBC One comedy Such Brave Girls centers on vain, heavily in debt sisters Josie (Sadler) and Billie (Lizzie Davidson) as they struggle to navigate life with the help of their single mother, Deb (Louise Brealey).
4. Carol & The End Of The World begins
Netflix, Friday, 3:01 a.m.: Created by Community writer Dan Guterman, Carol & The End Of The World is an animated series with a voice cast that includes Martha Kelly, Beth Grant, Bridget Everett, and Mel Rodriguez. The existential comedy follows Kelly’s titular character, seemingly the only person unaffected by Earth’s approaching cataclysmic collision, as she finally chooses to chase her dreams.
5. Mark Wahlberg leads The Family Plan
Apple TV+, Friday, 12:01 a.m.: The Family Plan is a dramedy starring Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Monaghan, Maggie Q, Ciaran Hinds, and Zoe Colletti that chronicles former assassin Dan Morgan, whose past catches up to him, forcing him to escape to Las Vegas with his clueless wife and children.
6. Leo Reich hits HBO
HBO, Saturday, 10 p.m.: Comedian and writer Leo Reich makes the most of his first HBO special, Literally Who Cares, which he claims features “twenty-first-century cynicism and the late-capitalist corruption of the queer aesthetic.” The stand-up special treads the line between comedy and performance art as Reich blends songs, personal anecdotes, and jokes.
18 Comments
How fucking lazy do you have to be? Seriously, just copy the damn cast for Reacher Season 2 from IMDB! Ritchson is the ONLY returning actor… Is this the AI, again?
Was going to post about that as well. He’s not the only returning actor because the character of Neagley is back, but yeah, other than her and Ritchson, literally every other actor mentioned is gone.
Isn’t Reacher releasing one episode a week, starting this week?That is neither a “holiday binge”—unless you meant Groundhog Day—nor is it “here”.
Amazon is doing a 3 to start then weekly. Though I am pretty sure they got the cast wrong because Willa Fitzgerald was only in season one… unless she appears later.
Willa Fitzgerald was only in season one True, and I think it was announced that she wouldn’t be in the second season. I hope she shows up though – she was really good.They’re adapting the books, and Reacher rarely sees the same people twice. Still it would be nice to see her – and it’s cool that they kept Maria Sten as Frances Neagley (she was in a couple of eps of the first season as is a main character in the second).Honestly, the show is not flat-out great, or for everyone, but I would watch it if it went to ten seasons…
They released the first 3 episodes today, but you still make an excellent point.
Reacher isn’t mindless as it’s fucking awesome! I loved season 1 and can’t wait for season 2 tonight! You geek! See I would say nerd but nerd’s are smart and you clearly aren’t.
Yeah, I’m guessing they’re either pretentious or haven’t seen it.
Maybe both.
AV obviously hasn’t seen it. Reacher has a Jason Bourne vibe about & those 4 movies were not mindless. Reacher is ridiculously fun to watch with a lot more smarts than you’d expects. The first 2 episodes slyly slipped in a couple of LMFAO jokes about T2 & David Lynch. You don’t get that from “mindless” entertainment.
Totally agree with ya.
Look, I’m liking it so far but it’s not really raising the bar for… shit, I can’t even put it in a genre. Spy thrillers? Nah, simply not knowing why this guy knows literally everything ain’t all that spy-like to me. This is like if Captain America and Sherlock Holmes had a baby with a proclivity for violence because holy shit is this dude big.Like I said, I’m enjoying it with it’s Gilmore Girls meets Law & Order snappy dialogue and well choreographed fight scenes but it ain’t blow-my-mind amazing. Simply good.
Probably more Detective Genre than spy thriller, but I like that Captain America + Sherlock Holmes descriptor.
I agree about Reacher not being mindless. The premiere has a sit down in a diner that showcases a smart piece of writing that is all at once, exposition, character development, and an explanation for why the story is where it is, at this particular moment in time. It’s small, but it’s the type of thing we’ve seen other shows whiff on (when it comes to questions about what plot decisions should have been made when setting up a new story).
Yeah it’s not just a shoot em up beat people up show, they breakdown what they are doing and it’s fun.
I wish more series were “mindless fun” as well written as Reacher. I really wish.
Yeah, I’m really liking Reacher. I don’t get the “mindless” or “dad show” comments people make. In the show, and the books, Reacher makes some pretty silly leaps of investigative logic (password guessing, PO box location theories). But the plots are fun and Alan Ritchson is perfectly cast. He gets better as an actor with each job, and that’s more than I can say about a lot of series leads.
Yeah Ritchson is so great. He has come along way from Aquaman and then Thad Castle.
Excited for Reacher finally but probably won’t get to it tonight, as I JUST discovered “Julia” and am completely hooked and am mid-binge.