“American Idol”
Tuesday & Wednesday 8pm, Fox
“Idol” remains America’s No. 1 TV show in the ratings, although the numbers have started to slide the past few seasons. Part of that is due to the natural laws of pop culture thermodynamics —all things lead toward entropy—but the show wasn’t helped by the overwhelmingly crappy Season 7. So this year the producers are dramatically shaking things up. For starters we have a new, fourth judge in songwriter/producer Kara DioGuardi. Second, the seemingly unending bad audition episodes have been clipped by a full week, while the Hollywood rounds have been extended. The semifinals have been totally overhauled, with the 36 contestants split up into three groups of 12 that will each perform only one week. From there the top vote-getting boy and girl will move on, along with the person with the next highest number of votes. Then the judges get their say with the return of the Wild Card slots—not seen since Season 3—which will determine who gets the last three spots in the Top 12.
“The Beast”
Thursday 10pm, A&E
It’s kind of amazing that it took this long for Patrick Swayze to end up on TV. No offense to the man (who is currently battling pancreatic cancer), but he hasn’t had any buzz since Donnie Darko, and that was almost a decade ago. Now the erstwhile Johnny Castle is headlining this new drama, starring as a gristled, unconventional FBI vet paired up with a clueless newbie (Travis Fimmel, former Calvin Klein model who starred in the WB’s short-lived, disastrous urban retelling of “Tarzan” as the be-loinclothed one). Swayze’s Agent Barker has to teach pretty boy’s Agent Dove the ropes of undercover agency work, although he gets more than his fair share of kicks tormenting the kid with his manipulative ways. Meanwhile, Dove has to deal with the fact that the agency is investigating Barker for allegedly going rogue. A bit of advice, newbie: If Swayze starts wearing a Ronald Reagan mask and takes up surfing, run.
“Flight of the Conchords”
Sunday 10pm, HBO
That sound you hear is all of the insufferable hipsters you know simultaneously pissing themselves in excitement. “Flight of the Conchords” is back. The sitcom follows the titular acoustic pop group, made up of New Zealanders Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie, as they struggle to find success in the wilds of New York City. I can’t decide if the show is post-ironic, post-post-ironic, or just irony-adjacent. But it has its charms, and has become a favorite of those who care about what other people think about their tastes.
