This Week On Sling TV
There are only two more episodes in a first season of Better Call Saul that has shattered all the modest expectations of a prequel series swimming in the wake of an all-time great. Last week’s episode brought the season into focus, and our expectations for this week’s episode and next week’s season finale are now properly recalibrated. (10pm Monday, AMC)
It’s been a lot of laughs, a lot of love, and a lot (a lot) of wine, but the time has come for Courteney Cox and the rest of the Cul-de-Sac Crew to say goodbye in the series finale of Cougar Town, a show that diverged even farther from its original premise than VH1. (10:30pm Tuesday, TBS)
Former Fab Five and Indiana Pacers player Jalen Rose and Grantland.com Editor-in-Chief Bill Simmons have quietly become the most engaging pair of sports analysts in the game, and the fact that they get a better timeslot for every successive episode of The Grantland Basketball Hour suggests that ESPN agrees. There’s no indication what guests they’ll have on this time out, but the last episode featured an ultrarare interview with Kobe Bryant, so it’s safe to assume they’ll get somebody good. (8pm Wednesday, ESPN)
There’s no indication at the time of this writing who will be playing, but the NCAA tournament is nearing its conclusion, as both Final Four games play back-to-back. My alma mater, Maryland, went out in the second round, so I don’t have much of a rooting interest other than for whoever’s playing Duke. (6pm and 8:30pm Saturday, TNT and TBS)
There will be no gruesome murders, no shocking revelations, and no one will ascend to any thrones in the seventh and final season of Mad Men. After all, this is a show where a raised eyebrow qualifies as a plot point. But Matthew Weiner’s immaculate character study of a group of 1960s advertising executives is on a very short list of the best shows ever made, and we can’t wait to get going with this final batch of eight episodes. (10pm Sunday, AMC)