Weekend Television

We stand, on Saturday, January 11, 2014, on the verge of a huge weekend of television.

For the sports minded, the second round of the NFL Playoffs starts today at 3:30 with the Saints at the Seahawks on Fox, followed by the Colts at Pats on CBS.  Tomorrow, the Niners visit the Panthers at noon on Fox, with the Chargers wrapping up the slate in Denver at 3:30.

Tomorrow is also the fourth most holy day on the PavCo Multimedia Synergistics calendar, as the Hollywood Foreign Press Association awards the Golden Globes to the tops in television and movies.  NBC has the telecast, and E! has probably already started its red carpet coverage.  ABC, CBS, and Fox counter with new episodes of their regularly scheduled programs, while Showtime has the season premieres of comedies House of Lies, Episodes, and Shameless.  Those latter three are already available On Demand, and I can say, having watched both House of Lies and Episodes, that they’re welcome returns, even as each takes a different tack:  Episodes is very much business-as-usual, though the interpersonal relationships have changed based on the events of last season’s finale, whereas House of Lies starts with the Pod broken up and scattered and yearning for the old days.

HBO gets in the act with the premiere of its long-awaited and much admired limited series True Detective, starring Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey.

Extending the weekend an extra day, Monday sees the season finale of Major Crimes (as the Rusty storyline (hopefully) wraps up) and the season premiere of the riotous animated spy spoof Archer.