TV for Grownups: New Shows and Old Faves
Our spring guide highlights what to watch between now and Memorial Day
by Austin O'Connor, AARP, Spring 2015
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Courtesy of CBS
‘Battle Creek’ (CBS, Sundays)
En español | From Vince Gilligan, creator of Breaking Bad, a police show with a twist: In a hardscrabble Michigan town, an FBI rookie (Josh Duhamel, left) gets foisted on a world-weary cop (Dean Winters, right). Can the cynic and the hotshot transcend their differences to solve quirky crimes?
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Courtesy of BBC America
‘Broadchurch’ (BBC America, Wednesdays)
Many elements of this engrossing whodunit carry over from Season 1: In an English beach town engulfed by grief and suspicion, detectives Alec Hardy (David Tennant, left) and Ellie Miller (Olivia Colman, center) face a new outrage that will keep viewers guessing.
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Courtesy of CBS
‘CSI: Cyber’ (CBS, Wednesdays)
Fresh off her Oscar win for Boyhood, Patricia Arquette (right, with James Van Der Beek) stars in this CSI spinoff set in the booming realm of techno-crime. We saw her age 12 years in a two-hour movie; now get ready to watch Arquette bring cyberbaddies under her thumb in real time.
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Courtesy of ABC
‘American Crime’ (ABC, Thursdays)
A heinous murder in a California town ignites racial and religious tensions in this new midseason mystery. The writer is Oscar winner John Ridley (12 Years a Slave); Elvis Nolasco (left) and Caitlin Gerard (right) star, along with Felicity Huffman and Timothy Hutton.
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Courtesy of USA Network
‘Dig’ (USA, Thursdays)
Murder is big on TV this spring, but here it takes place in Jerusalem, where a former FBI agent (Jason Isaacs, left, with Alison Sudol) and his boss (Anne Heche) look into an American’s odd death. Modern cultures clash as ancient conspiracies come to light.
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Courtesy of E!
‘The Royals’ (E!, Sundays, premieres March 15)
If the idea of Elizabeth Hurley (center) playing the queen of England doesn’t have you setting your DVR to “record” a week in advance of this sudsy campfest, perhaps this will: Joan Collins joins a whole ’nother kind of dynasty to portray the queen mum.
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Courtesy of Netflix
‘Bloodline’ (Netflix, begins streaming March 20)
Prepare to get hooked by Bloodline, where the buried secrets of a tight-knit family float to the surface of the Florida Everglades when the troublemaking oldest son returns to town. With Sissy Spacek, Sam Shepard, Ben Mendelsohn (left) and Kyle Chandler (right).
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Courtesy of PBS
‘Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief’ (HBO, March 29)
Oscar winner Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side) turns his lens on the controversial outfit that counts Hollywood royalty (Tom Cruise, Kirstie Alley, John Travolta) among its members. Based on the 2013 book by Lawrence Wright, Gibney’s film stirred the hive at the Sundance festival last year.
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Courtesy of PBS
‘Call the Midwife’/‘Mr. Selfridge’ (PBS, Sundays, premieres March 29)
Two veddy British dramas return just in time to rescue Anglophiles left bereft by Downton’s downtime. Season 4 of Call the Midwife (with Emerald Fennell, center) moves the harried lives of its East End midwives into the 1960s; in Season 3 of Mr. Selfridge, more headaches are in store for retail raja Jeremy Piven.
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Courtesy of CBS
‘The Dovekeepers’ (CBS, miniseries, premieres March 31)
Based on Alice Hoffman’s historical novel, the two-night miniseries tracks a group of women in ancient Israel during the Roman siege of Masada. Not quite a cast of thousands, but you’ll be reunited with knockout Cote de Pablo (NCIS) as Shirah and longtime favorite Sam Neill.
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Courtesy of Netflix
'Derek’ (Netflix, begins streaming April 3)
This touching comedy series about a kindly but slow worker (Ricky Gervais) in an English eldercare facility wraps up with an hour-long farewell. If you haven’t seen episode 1 — where Derek says, “Old people are nicer to me than anyone else in the world” — it’s catch-up time!
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Courtesy of NBC
‘A.D. The Bible Continues’ (NBC, Sundays, premieres April 5)
The Bible miniseries, an epic hit on the History Channel last spring, moves to NBC for a 12-week sequel beginning Easter Sunday. The story picks up at the crucifixion of Christ, then follows the disciples (including Adam Levy, center, as Peter) as their teachings reshape the world.
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Courtesy of NBC
‘Odyssey’ (NBC, Sundays, premieres April 5)
Talk about ripped from the headlines: This ambitious new drama, set in the worlds of corporate and military espionage, pivots on an episode of friendly fire and hostage-taking in the Middle East. Treat Williams, Peter Facinelli and Anna Friel (pictured) are among the cast.
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Courtesy of AMC
‘Mad Men’ (AMC, Sundays, returns April 5)
With one last crank of his time machine, series creator Matthew Weiner brings his Madison Avenue saga to a close with a seven-episode run. As the Swinging ’60s end, can we expect venal manipulator Don Draper (Jon Hamm, front left) to survive the dawning Me Decade?
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Courtesy of FX
‘The Comedians’ (FX, Thursdays, premieres April 9)
Billy Crystal and Josh Gad (right) star as September-May comics thrown together to host a late-night sketch-comedy show. Other details are scarce, but hello? We’re talking Crystal here, people! And Gad, the voice of snowman Olaf in Disney’s Frozen. We can’t stop laughing already.
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Courtesy of HBO
‘Game of Thrones’/‘Silicon Valley’/‘Veep’ (HBO, Sundays, returns April 12)
This trio of shows more than upholds the HBO tradition of Sunday-night hegemony. Sample Season 5 of Game of Thrones (with Emilia Clarke, pictured) for swords, sandals and sex; Season 2 of Silicon Valley for tech-biz satire; and Season 4 of Veep for TV’s funniest foulmouth, Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
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Copyright: 2014 SHOWTIME
‘Nurse Jackie’ (Showtime, Sundays, returns April 12)
Jackie, how well we knew ye! Over six previous seasons, flawed and conflicted New York City hospital nurse Edie Falco (left, with Dominic Fumusa) has racked up awards — and wormed her way into our hearts — as the title character of a show so good it almost made us forget that other neurotic, Carmela Soprano.
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Courtesy of Showtime
‘Happyish’ (Showtime, Sundays, premieres April 26)
Steve Coogan (Philomena, The Trip) was tapped to fill large shoes — those of Philip Seymour Hoffman, who died last year — to star as 40-something Thom Payne, an ad exec being left behind by his social-mediagenic younger colleagues. (Can you tweet #CareerObsolescence?) Kathryn Hahn (standing) and Bradley Whitford costar.
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Courtesy of HBO
‘Bessie’ (HBO, premieres May 16)
Queen Latifah stars in a biopic of legendary singer Bessie Smith, crowned Empress of the Blues at the peak of her career in the 1920s. The stellar cast also includes Khandi Alexander, Mo’nique, Mike Epps, Oliver Platt and Charles S. Dutton.
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Courtesy of CBS
‘The Late Show With David Letterman’ (CBS, final episode airs May 20)
The legendarily dyspeptic late-night icon (holding Helen Mirren rapt here) delivers one last Top Ten List before signing off after 22 years at CBS and 11 at NBC. Expect tributes and tear-stained cheeks galore; age has mellowed the caustic host. Stephen Colbert picks up the reins in the fall.
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