Idiotsitter (Thursday, April 6, Comedy Central), season premiere: If you somehow made it through the 2016 “holiday” flick Office Christmas Party, you must concur that Jillian Bell’s bipolar she-pimp character was the funniest part of the movie—really, you must. Earlier in 2016, Bell and comedy partner Charlotte Newhouse dropped the debut season of Idiotsitter, a hilarious, flipped-to-female Workaholics of sorts that looked to be another Comedy Central one-and-done (see also, 2015’s genius Big Time in Hollywood, FL). But! Idiotsitter is back for a second season, and broke “baby sitter” Billie (Newhouse) and heiress “idiot” Gene (Bell) are now off to college. Despite what the Ghostbusters trolls told you, 2016 was a fantastic year for women in comedy—on-demand Idiotsitter Season 1 now, and report back.
You the Jury (Friday, April 7, Fox), series debut: Was Fox News host Jeanine Pirro’s recent spanking of House Speaker Paul Ryan merely a publicity stunt to promote You the Jury, the new legal-reality show she’s presiding over? Since Justice With Judge Jeanine airs in the dead zone of Saturday-night cable, and only your red-cap-sportin’ grandpa knows who the hell she is, probably. And this show seems no less cynical: “The new unscripted series You the Jury will give the biggest jury pool in history—America—the power to decide the outcome of some of the most explosive, real-life, ripped-from-the-headline civil cases,” pitches Fox. “Six top attorneys who’ve represented some of the nation’s biggest celebrities will argue their cases each week for America’s vote.” Via text, of course, as American Litigation Idol brings us one step closer to the dystopia we deserve.
The Son (Saturday, April 8, AMC), series debut: Speaking of the Saturday-night cable dead zone, here’s another Western from AMC to fill that Hell on Wheels void: The Son, based on Philipp Meyer’s novel of the same name, chronicles the rise of Texas oil tycoon Eli McCullough (Pierce Brosnan) by focusing on two time periods, 1849 and 1915. In the earlier timeline, you get Young Eli (Jacob Lofland) being kidnapped and held captive by Comanches; in the later, you get Brosnan in full Texan mode being a hardline bastard in business and a plain ol’ bastard to his children, who each have their own drama. There’s also an uneasy tension with a Spanish family who occupies the land between McCullough’s and Mexico … and, as you may gather, the uneasy tension of cramming a 576-page Western epic into 10 episodes.
The Gorburger Show (Sunday, April 9, Comedy Central), series debut: Great news for those sick of late-night talk shows hosted by white dudes: The Gorburger Show is hosted by a blue alien (puppeteered and voiced by white dude T.J. Miller, but still). After taking over a Japanese variety show and making slaves of its staff, alien Gorburger “settles in as host in an attempt to understand what it means to be human.” The Gorgburber Show, which sprang from an online series, borrows from tweaked talkers like The Eric Andre Show and Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, but never fully commits to the bit. It doesn’t help that Miller’s frequently upstaged by his guests—which could be by design, but I’ve already overanalyzed this show that costs maybe $150 to produce.
Better Call Saul (Monday, April 10, AMC), season premiere: Yeah, yeah—I know: “But I can’t watch Season 3 yet, because Season 2 just came out on Netflix two weeks ago! I don’t have cable, anyway—I only watch shows when they’re on Netflix, so can you puh-leez refrain from dropping any spoilers for, like, a year? And will you remind me when Season 3 comes to Netflix, because Netflix, Netflix, NETFLIX!” Do you realize what a pain in the ass it is to review TV for you cord-cutters? Anyway: Season 3 of Breaking Bad prequel Better Call Saul picks up immediately where the last left off, with Chuck (Michael McKean) plotting to take down brother Jimmy/Saul (Bob Odenkirk) with a secretly taped confession. As for the much-geeked-about introduction of Bad villain Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito), like everything else, BCS is in no hurry to get there. Just like you and your Netflix.