This week, as well as all the usual offerings, expect to see detectives both true and foreign, the antics of a psychopathic, narcissistic family, and Michael Bay’s naval dreams. Some series are returning for new seasons, and just one is kicking off this week. Also, should you turn on a TV at any point during the day, expect a bunch of white-clad athletes to bounce their balls back and forth to thunderous applause.
The Griffins and their hyper-ridiculous brand of humour return to the UK for a 13th season this week, and with the end of BBC Three round the corner, the latest season of Family Guy will be broadcast instead on BBC Two. Seth MacFarlane’s first and most lasting success may have dipped in quality over the past few years (a problem that plagues so many long lasting series), but it can still hit the high notes of better years every now and then, and is never less than entertaining. The season, which kicks off at 9:45pm on Sunday, will open with the much anticipated Simpsons crossover episode, and will see Peter and his family journey into the yellow depths of Springfield for an eventful holiday.
Also returning to TV on Sunday is American post-apocalyptic drama The Last Ship, which starts its second season. The show, which sees the crew of the USS Nathan-James struggle to survive in a world destroyed by a global pandemic, airs in the UK on Sky1 at 8pm. Produced by, among others, Michael Bay (Transformers, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Transformers: Age of Extinction), the show received largely positive reviews for its first season, and has been praised for its large, movie-scale set-pieces.
For the entirety of the coming week (as well as some of last week and some of next week), the BBC will be dominated during the day by Wimbledon 2015. Showing from 11:30 in the morning until, usually, 8pm in the evening on BBC One, BBC Two, and the Red Button, there is literally more tennis on than you can watch. With the first two rounds of the tournament over, Friday sees the first matches of the third round, with the semi-finals (for Ladies and Gentleman’s Singles) closing out next week ready for finals on the weekend. British prospects are, shockingly, still alive and well after round two, with James Ward and Heather Watson both reaching the third round, while world number 3 Andy Murray fires through the lower stages of the competition.
Something new is coming to the UK this week, as well as continuing series and a competition more than a hundred years old. Crossing Lines, a show of international origin and scope, sees an ex-New York Detective and morphine addict hired by a fictional police department to work for The Hague investigating crimes crossing several international borders. With two seasons already aired in the US and now Canada, the show, which stars William Fitchner (Prison Break, The Lone Ranger) and Donald Sutherland (The Hunger Games), premieres on Alibi at 9pm on Tuesday.
The second season of True Detective continues on Monday this week with its third episode. Still struggling with ghost of its enormously successful first season, this year’s slow start has received mixed praise here at The Edge, but the conclusion is that it seems to be picking up, with last week’s episode ending on a thoroughly HBO-esque twist. Starring Colin Farrell, Vince Vaughn, and Rachel McAdams, the show’s nebulous plot follows corruption and murder in industrial California, and airs on Sky Atlantic at 9pm.
