What’s Worth Watching: ‘Game of Thrones’, ‘Silicon Valley’, ‘Veep’, ‘Fear The Walking Dead’ and more for Sunday, April 24

Game of Thrones
HBO
Game of Thrones

Game of Thrones (9/8c, HBO): The anticipation—and apprehension—couldn’t be higher for the sixth season of the epic dark fantasy, which is heading into uncharted territory now that the series has caught up with the books and must move forward in its own creative universe. There have been necessary, and not always unwelcome, deviations before, but whatever happens next could be a real Game changer. In other news, HBO’s press materials insist that Jon Snow is dead (and Kit Harington’s name is nowhere on the cast list). We’ll see how long that lasts. Hoping to get as many people as possible into the tent, HBO has declared this a free preview weekend through Sunday.

Silicon Valley and Veep (10/9c and 10:30/9:30c, HBO): HBO’s best comedies return, forming a powerhouse night for the pay-TV giant. First up, Mike Judge’s brilliant satire about the big business of high tech, with Silicon’s hero Richard (the hilariously twitchy Thomas Middleditch) at a crossroads after being fired as CEO of his own Pied Piper company. Will he stay in a lesser role, at risk of seeing his vision dumbed down? The stakes are even higher on Veep, as accidental President Selina Meyer (Emmy darling Julia Louis-Dreyfus) sweats out the results of her reelection bid, currently at a stalemate because of an Electoral College tie. If that’s not enough, her “stress pimple” suddenly has its own Twitter account.

Fear the Walking Dead (9/8c, AMC): Some would argue that Fear‘s companion web series Flight 462 packed more terror into its 14 minutes of airborne chaos than this slow-burning spinoff has delivered in its eight episodes to date. But in case you were curious what happened to the passengers, and if any survived, and what happens when the refugees aboard the Abigail come ashore to sift through the doomed flight’s debris, this may satisfy.

 Inside Sunday TV: CBS’s 60 Minutes (7/6c) uses Ohio, and its use of drug courts, to examine the nation’s approach to the ever-escalating heroin epidemic. Another segment looks at how members of Congress are kept so busy raising money for their next election they barely have time to attend to the people’s business. … Marking the 100th anniversary of the bloody Easter Rising, a pivotal event in Ireland’s fight for independence, SundanceTV presents the three-part miniseries Rebellion (8/7c), continuing Monday and Tuesday. … Lauren Gardner, a CBS Sports Network reporter, and former FBI agent-turned-private investigator Kevin Barrows are the Sports Detectives, a new Smithsonian Channel series (9/8c) that tracks down iconic sports artifacts. First up: the “Miracle on Ice” flag famously draped over the shoulders of goal tender Jim Craig of 1980’s gold medal-winning U.S. hockey team at the Lake Placid Olympics. … Comedian W. Kamau Bell hosts CNN’s new series United Shades of America (10/9c), traveling the country to address issues of race with a satirical approach. The first subject, though, is no joke: “The New KKK” uprising in the South.