Essays

‘Fargo’ and ‘Veep’ are Back, Plus More TV You Must See This Week

By  · Published on April 16th, 2017
Ewan McGregor in ‘Fargo’

Two of the best series on television return this week as HBO brings back Veep and FX debuts another season of Fargo. Additionally, there are anticipated fiction and nonfiction shows as well as a new HBO biopic we’re excited about, at the same time we’re set to say goodbye to other favorites, either for the year or forever. To help you keep track of the most important programs over the next seven days, here’s our guide to everything worth watching, whether it’s on broadcast, cable, or streaming for April 16–22:

(All listed times are Eastern)

SUNDAY

Veep (HBO, 10:30pm)

This show is back for the first time since the election, and fans are surely wondering how the political humor will reflect the new administration. Probably not at all, considering it was never a reaction to current events before. Instead, the focus on the first episode of season six, “Omaha,” is immediately on what Selina (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) has been doing during the year since she lost her presidential election. No matter the story or plot, though, we can be certain Louis-Dreyfus will continue to be the funniest woman on TV and the show one of the greatest of our time.

Girls (HBO, 10pm)

Half an hour before Veep returns, it’s time to say goodbye to Hannah, Marnie, Jessa, and Shoshanna, as well as Adam, Ray, and Elijah, with the series finale (“Latching”) of Lena Dunham’s award-winning show, which is sure to go down as one of this decade’s most iconic. We will probably to have something more written on Girls’s legacy this week.

Also on Sunday:
The Circus
(Showtime, 8pm)
The White Princess: a sequel to The White Queen, miniseries premiere (Starz, 8pm)
Guerrilla: miniseries premiere (Showtime, 9pm)
The Leftovers S3E1: “The Book of Kevin” final season premiere (HBO, 9pm)
American Crime S3E5 (ABC, 10pm)
Billions
S2E8 (Showtime, 10pm)
Feud: Bette and Joan: “Abandoned”(FX, 10pm)

MONDAY

Better Call Saul (AMC, 10pm)

The first episode of the third season was only a tip of the iceberg, and we can’t wait for more. How is any kind of a prequel this good, this intense, and so suspenseful? It seems like we’re actually going to see Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) enter the picture in this episode, “Witness,” but it’s still going to be Chuck (Michael McKean) that keeps us anxious with every new installment.

Also on Monday:
SEED: The Untold Story (Independent Lens):
doc debut (PBS)
Bates Motel S5E9: “Visiting Hours” (A&E, 10pm)
Angie Tribeca S3E2: “Brockman Turner Overdrive” (TBS, 10:30pm)

TUESDAY

Frontline: Last Days of Solitary: doc debut (PBS, 9pm)

Frontline reports with three years’ worth of coverage on the issue of solitary confinement in American prisons and how the practice is starting to decrease. The doc, which follows a handful of subjects at Maine State Prison, is by Daniel Edge and Lauren Mucciolo, who’ve delivered Frontline episodes on the prison system and solitary confinement in the past.

Also on Tuesday:
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
S4E14: “Serve & Protect” (Fox, 8pm)
Deadliest Catch
S13E2: “Seismic Shift” (Discovery 9pm)

WEDNESDAY

Fargo (FX, 10pm)

The third installment of Noah Hawley’s Coen Brothers-inspired series brings the setting up to 2010 as a sibling rivalry between brothers (both played by Ewan McGregor) leads to more of the blood and dark humor we expect. Carrie Coon is another of the leads, in the role of the latest small town sheriff, while Mary Elizabeth Winstead, David Thewlis, Jim Gaffigan, Scoot McNairy, Olivia Sandoval, Shea Whigham, and Michael Stuhlbarg round out the main cast. The first of this season’s 10 episodes is titled “The Law of Vacant Places,” named after a theory based on the card game bridge.

Also on Wednesday:
Archer: Dreamland
S8E3: “Jane Doe” (FXX, 10pm)

THURSDAY

Soundtracks: Songs That Defined History (CNN, 10pm)

Dwayne Johnson is one of the producers of this new eight-part doc series on the music associated with significant moments in history, including the Vietnam War, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and 9/11. The first episode is based around the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and the continuation of the Civil Rights Movement and includes tracks from James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone, Peter, Paul and Mary, and, more recently, Kendrick Lamar, whose contribution ties in the Black Lives Matter Movement.

Also on Thursday:
Bosch
: third season debut (Amazon)
Riverdale S1E11: “To Riverdale and Back Again” (CW, 9pm)
Scandal S6E13 “Trojan Horse” (ABC, 9pm)
The Amazing Race S29E4 “Another One Bites the Dust” (CBS, 10pm)

FRIDAY

Girlboss (Netflix)

Enough of our favorite people, including Melanie Lynskey, Scott Pilgrim’s Johnny Simmons, Dean Norris, and RuPaul, show up in this new, 13-episode Netflix release that we’re willing to give star Britt Robertson (Tomorrowland) a shot as a series lead. Plus the show was created by Kay Cannon, of 30 Rock and the Pitch Perfect movies, has Charlize Theron as a producer, and is based on the kick-ass autobiography of Sophia Amoruso, “#Girlboss,” about her entrepreneurial experiences starting a vintage clothing business.

Also on Friday:
Bill Nye Saves the World
: full series debut (Netflix)
Hot Girls Wanted: Turned On: doc spinoff miniseries debut (Netflix)
Sand Castle: movie debut (Netflix)
Tramps: movie debut (Netflix)
RuPaul’s Drag Race S9E5 (VH1, 8pm)

SATURDAY

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (HBO, 8pm)

Hamilton’s Renée Elise Goldsberry stars in this biopic about the titular cervical cancer patient who helped to change the course of cancer research in the 1950s. Oprah Winfrey, one of the movie’s producers, co-stars as Lacks’s daughter in present-day scenes while Rose Byrne portrays Rebecca Skloot, author of the book being adapted here by George C. Wolfe, who also directs. Courtney B. Vance and Reg E. Cathey round out the cast.

Also on Saturday:
Doctor Who
S10E2: “Smile” (BBC America, 9pm)
Class S1E2: “The Coach with the Dragon Tattoo(BBC America, 10pm)
Saturday Night Live
: Chris Pine hosts (NBC, 11:30pm ET)

Christopher Campbell began writing film criticism and covering film festivals for a zine called Read, back when a zine could actually get you Sundance press credentials. He's now a Senior Editor at FSR and the founding editor of our sister site Nonfics. He also regularly contributes to Fandango and Rotten Tomatoes and is the President of the Critics Choice Association's Documentary Branch.