True TV

Burn Notice

Nikita

Friday, Nov. 22 (The CW)

Season Premiere: Before Arrow came along, Nikita was the only viable action series on The CW; Maggie Q's titular character is every bit the ass-kicker The Not Green Arrow is, all while weighing in lighter than one of his jade hoodies. The complicated/convoluted (complivuted?) tale of a former agent's war on the evil quasi-governmental operation that created her comes to an end with this fourth and final season—which is only six episodes long (the final two, airing in the holiday burn-off dead zone of Dec. 20 and 27, are "Bubble" and "Canceled"—ha!). Like all spy dramas, the ever-twisting conspiracy against Nikita "goes higher" than target villainess Amanda (Melinda Clarke), but The Only TV Column That Matters™ believes this overlooked series will wrap more satisfyingly than, say, Chuck or Burn Notice did with twice as many farewell hours. Netflix it, latecomers.

Lucas Bros. Moving Co., Golan the Insatiable

Saturday, Nov. 23 (Fox)

Series Debuts: Fox's late-night Animation Domination High-Def "answer" to Adult Swim—and "competition" to Saturday Night Live—finally introduces two more shows to follow-up Axe Cop (solidly weird) and High School USA! (half-baked, but admirably offensive): Lucas Bros. Moving Co., about twin brothers (voiced by actual twin comics Kenny and Keith Lucas) who, you guessed it, start their own moving company, and Golan the Insatiable, about a monster from another dimension trapped on suburban earth and befriended by a 10-year-old goth girl. Like 80 percent of Adult Swim shows, neither is fully-realized out of the gate, but the potential for at least a fraction of Axe Cop greatness is there—and they contain at least as much funny as the average SNL episode.

Doctor Who: The Day of the Doctor

Saturday, Nov. 23 (BBC America)

Two-Hour Special: Like you need me to tell you about this, Whovians.

Sarah Silverman: We Are Miracles

Saturday, Nov. 23 (HBO)

Stand-Up Special: Filmed in front of an audience of 39(!) at Los Angeles' Largo in May, We Are Miracles is a more straight-forward stand-up performance than the comic's wacktastic 2005 Jesus is Magic concert film, or the sadly short-lived Sarah Silverman Program. We Are Miracles won't receive the HBO-comeback fanfare that Louis C.K.'s Oh My God did earlier this year, but Silverman's cheerfully biting riffs on everything from porn to Obama are just as pointed and funny, but more subtle and steeped in '90s ironicism (which Silverman still wears better than most of her contemporaries). If only she hadn't filmed this before the rise and fall of twerking ... damn.

Getting On, Ja'ime: Private School Girl

Sunday, Nov. 24 (HBO)

Series Debuts: After the sure-to-be-hilarious Season 4 finale of Boardwalk Empire, HBO debuts a pair of oddball short-run comedies that are perfect reminders of how creatively risk-averse, say, Showtime, tends to be. Getting On is set in a Long Beach women's extended-care facility (read: home for old ladies running out the clock) that works as a dark hospital comedy more so than Showtime's Nurse Jackie or Netflix's Derek, thanks largely to TV veterans Alex Borstein (the voice of Family Guy's Lois Griffin) and Laurie Metcalf (The Big Bang Theory, Roseanne). On the less morbid-mirth tip, Ja'ime: Private School Girl would be funny even if it wasn't 40-something male show creator/director Chris Lilley playing teen girl Ja'ime (pronounced "Juh-may," of course).

By Film...

By Theater...