“The Soul Man”
Wednesday 10pm, TV Land
TV Land has emerged as the holding pen for some of T.V.’s most lovable second bananas. “Hot in Cleveland” has extended the careers of Valerie Bertinelli (“One Day at a Time”), Jane Leeves (“Frasier”), and Wendie Malick (“Just Shoot Me”), and helped Betty White reemerge as an unlikely pop-culture icon. “Happily Divorced” brought back Fran “The Nanny” Drescher and gave kick-about character actor John Michael Higgins a steady gig. “The Exes” is a C-list repository, featuring Kristen Johnston (“3rd Rock from the Sun”), Donald Faison (“Scrubs”), and Wayne Knight (Newman from “Seinfeld”). Now TV Land looks to bring some color to the line-up with this new “Hot in Cleveland” spin-off starring Cedric the Entertainer as a failed ’90s R&B singer who returns home to take over preaching duties in his father’s church. The always delightful Niecy Nash (“Reno 911”) stars as his wife.
“The Great Escape”
Sunday 10pm, TNT
This new adventure series comes from Oscar-winning director Ron Howard, producer Brian Grazer, and the creators of “The Amazing Race.” Each episodes sees three teams of two dropped into mind-bending scenarios like a deserted island, a maximum-security prison, or a sinking ship (oh, hi, nightmares) and tasked with using their wits, abilities, and whatever else they can find to get the hell out of there.
“Aqua Something You Know Whatever”
Sunday midnight, Adult Swim
One of the most bizarre cartoons currently on the airwaves—and that is saying something, given the wackadoo stuff out there—returns for its ninth season with a new name. “Aqua Teen Hunger Force” debuted in 2001, a spin-off of sorts from the ridiculous and much missed faux talk show “Space Ghost Coast to Coast.” The show was originally pitched as following three anthropomorphic fast food items—Master Shake, Frylock, and Meatwad—as they solved crimes. But that whole crime solving thing was BS to get picked up to series, and in short order the creators jettisoned it for episode after episode of random, hilarious crockery. Last season the creators got bored (they had already resituated the cartoon from New Jersey to Seattle, although everything remained exactly the same) and retitled it “Aqua Unit Patrol Squad 1” for basically no reason. This season they’re doing the same with the new title, “Aqua Something You Know Whatever.” How to say this? Smoke ’em if you got ’em.
