What’s Worth Watching: ‘This Is US’, ‘Good Behavior’, ‘The Middle’ and more for Tuesday, January 10
This Is Us (10/9c, NBC): Kleenex alert! The first new episode after the holiday shocker promises more pulling at the heartstrings as Kate (Chrissy Metz) deals with Toby’s (Chris Sullivan) health crisis, and Randall (Sterling K. Brown) processes his birth father William’s (Ron Cephas Jones) relationship with Jesse (Denis O’Hare). Back in the past, Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) and Rebecca (Mandy Moore) absorb the financial implication of the news that they’re about to have triplets. (The episode is airing an hour later than usual to accommodate President Obama’s farewell address in the East and Central time zones.)
Good Behavior (9/8c, TNT): Another fine mess Letty (Michelle Dockery) has created in the season finale of this twisted noir drama. While she awaits judgment in the custody trial to keep her son Jacob (Nyles Julian Steele) away from his vengeful father Sean (Todd Willams), Letty is also desperately trying to reverse the effects of betraying Javier (Juan Diego Botto) to the FBI. The dark humor is more evident in this episode than has been the norm, a welcome turn of events, especially when involving Terry Kinney (as Letty’s former parole officer) and The Leftovers’ Ann Dowd (as the FBI agent on Javier’s trail). It may have come too little too late for this sleeper, but if this season is all we get, it goes on a satisfying note.
The Middle (8/7c, ABC): For Frankie (Patricia Heaton), winning free maid service for a month is the equivalent of winning the lottery. (Have you seen this house?) But a month may not be enough to even matter. In a more poignant subplot, Mike (Neil Flynn) and brother Rusty (Norm Macdonald) scout assisted-living homes for their dad, Big Mike (John Cullum), when he seems incapable of being left on his own. As usual, this is among TV’s most relatable family sitcoms for people of any social strata.
Inside Tuesday TV: Jim Gaffigan, late of TV Land’s The Jim Gaffigan Show, returns to Netflix with his fifth stand-up comedy special, Cinco. … The fourth season of BET’s Being Mary Jane (9/8c) opens with Mary Jane (Gabrielle Union) realizing her dream of national-anchor fame when she moves to New York and lands a gig on Great Day USA. … PBS’s American Experience relives a chilling what-if moment in U.S. nuclear-weapons history in Command and Control (9:30/8:30c, check local listings at pbs.org), which tells the little-known story of a 1980 accident at a Titan II missile silo in Arkansas in which a ballistic missile is punctured, and Strategic Air Command leaders frantically work to avert what would be a devastating explosion of a thermonuclear warhead. … On a lighter note, CBS Late Late Show host James Corden and Gotham’s Robin Lord Taylor tag along with truTV’s Billy on the Street (10:30/9:30c), the latter enduring an obstacle course posing the question, “Can You Separate The Art from the Artist?”
