What to Watch: 12/01/2015

NAVANI’S PICK
Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce [Bravo, 10pm]
Finally, season two is here and the motto is if at first you don’t succeed, date, date again. But sometimes it’s easier to practice dating on someone you know, someone you may feel more at ease with, someone like your ex-husband?! Oh Abby, what are we going to do with you? I’m so scared to watch but cannot look away!

KATHERINE’S PICK
Scream Queens [CW, 10pm]
All I need to hear is “The Chanels go shopping on Black Friday.” The Red Devil “has other plans” but who cares. I’ve always wanted to hatewatch Chanel shop. May the sales associates tremble in her wake!

JASON’S PICK
The Muppets [ABC, 8pm]
What’s that blue streak flying awkwardly through the air? Why, it’s the Great Gonzo — who has been mostly missing lately — here to save this teetering Muppets reboot from its overdose of human angst with his {its?} irrepressible weirdness.

An Appreciation of Britney Spears’ Brief TV Career

While Britney Spears has acted only a handful of times on American television, her cameos often have as much quality as Crossroads, and her comedic presence is a gosh darn delight every time. (She was also pretty charming pre-fame in this sketch with Chistina and Justin when the three were on The All-New Mickey Mouse Club.)

I’ve never been a big fan of Britney Spears–as a teen I channeled my rebellion into voting for Limp Bizket on TRL–but Britney’s stint on Jane the Virgin this month was a heavenly blessing. She was as joyous and charming as the show. She was a gift! She was the queen! She was everything we need in a household name guest star.

Will & Grace, Season 8, Episode 16, 2006. “Buy, Buy, Baby”

Britney is Amber-Louise, Jack’s new cohost on his OutTV show, “JackTalk.” Unfortunately the network is now owned by conservatives, allowing a delicious opportunity to feed Britney a brand of satire the rest of us could have only dreamed during her pro-Bush halcyon years.

How I Met Your Mother, Season 3, Episodes 13 and 19, 2008. “Ten Sessions” and “Everything Must Go”

Britney is Abby, the sweet, naïve receptionist at Stella’s dermatology clinic. Stella and Abby meet Ted when Ted comes in for a tattoo removal. Ted falls for Stella. Abby falls for Ted. Barney eventually strings Abby along and breaks her heart because he’s a sociopath.

Glee, Season 2, Episode 2, 2008. “Britney/Brittany”

Britney plays herself in Glee‘s dedication to the star’s musical career. Britney appears in the hallucinations of Brittany, and self-actualizations follow.

Jane the Virgin, Season 2, Episode 5, 2015. “Chapter Twenty-Seven”

http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1Britney plays a version of herself and it has all of the Glee that her previous cameo lacked. In this universe, Britney is Rogelio’s mortal enemy following a humiliating teleprompter slip-up.

What to Watch: Monday 11/30/2015

 

KATHERINE’S PICK
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend [CW, 8pm]
Rebecca is “so happy that Josh is happy!” which somehow results in an arrival from Dr. Phil. If there’s truly a God in heaven, he’ll sing and dance in one of her vivid, charming fantasy.

JASON’S PICK
It’s Your 50th Christmas, Charlie Brown [ABC, 8pm]
It’s a good bunch of men (and women) feting Charlie Brown and his yuletide staple — led by eternal charmer Kristen Bell. If there’s this has potential to descend into a Lowe-and-Snow spectacle of silliness, all the more reason to watch.

NAVANI’S PICK
Supergirl [CBS, 8pm]
Figuring out your twenties is confusing enough, but see what happens when you add being superhuman in the mix. Follow Kara Zor-El as she finally comes to terms with being a hero in this drama based on the DC comics character.

Welcome to The Clicker

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In 1992, Bruce Springsteen sang about 57 channels without a single thing on them. Nearly a quarter-century later, when even New Jersey’s own Boss calls the idea of 57 seeming vast “quaint,” a viewer can still get that adrift feeling when scrolling up and down the now thousands of channels, or dipping in and out of the dozens of on-demand streaming choices.

This paralysis is certainly not from a lack of programming worth watching; ho, these past few years of tv viewing have been alluded to as a Golden Age from Alan Sepinwall to right-wing shock site Breitbart.com. While we’ll refrain from calling out choice’s currently chic paradox, it can often be hard, even intimidating wandering through the on-screen guide and other pages through all the brilliantly scripted or darkly comedic or whimsically inspiring shows to find the one you have have have to watch. And this is not to mention the anxiety stemming from possibly missing that one transforming show which you need to tell everyone about.

We at The Clicker, as boundless fans of tv, movies — well, all forms of entertainment, really — wish to ease that pain. We peered across the endless plains of the webiverse and noticed a distinct lack of TV-based blogs (and an even deeper lack of sarcasm). No, mostly, we are human watercoolers who love this stuff and want to tell you about treasures we’ve found lately and get you to your new favorite thing (and vice versa).

So, it’s unclear at this point where this might go, but we do plan to offer suggestions for each night from all of our talented editors for the best things on basic cable, channels which claim they are not tv, streaming sites, and beyond. Furthermore, we hope to dig deeper into the nerdy minutia, as well as the grander themes and threads, which compel us to fall in love with the programs we do — be this in the form of lists, essays, or silly ratings.

In any case, we hope you enjoy what you find here as we all collectively keep our feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars.