What’s On: A ‘Middle’ Romance, ‘LA to Vegas’ Premiere, ‘Intervention’ Tackles the Opioid Crisis
A critical checklist of notable Tuesday TV:
The Middle (8/7c, ABC): As the wonderful final season of this beloved family comedy enters its last leg, a long-simmering romance begins to percolate in the wake of Sue’s (Eden Sher) Christmas kiss with Sean Donahue (Beau Wirick). But Sue being Sue, she’s still not sure what the kiss means as New Year’s Eve beckons. (Always a good occasion for a repeat smooch.) In other Heck news, Mike (Neil Flynn) takes sons Axl (Charlie McDermott) and Brick (Atticus Shaffer) on an eventful drive with Big Mike (John Cullum). How we’ll miss this family.
LA to Vegas (9/8c, Fox): This workmanlike sitcom set aboard a no-frills airline rarely achieves liftoff as it contrives to find tenuous connections among the quirky crew and its regular passengers who flit between Los Angeles and Las Vegas every weekend. Best reason to fly with Jackpot: Dylan McDermott, who clearly relishes pouring on the smarm as cocky Captain Dave, working a mighty porn-stache and a blustery yet fragile ego. Peter Stormare tries to keep things alive in the cabin as a madcap gambler, but the turbulence generated by flighty flight attendants and a perky resident stripper can give you that sinking feeling you often get while flying, that the trip will never end.
Intervention (9/8c, A&E): The nation’s opioid crisis is the subject of a new nine-episode season, using Atlanta’s “Heroin Triangle” as the focus of interconnected stories of addicts and their families within a ravaged community. Opening with a two-hour episode, Intervention also follows city officials and interventionists as they try to stem the tide and heal the afflicted.
Inside Tuesday TV: CBS’s top-rated lineup is back with original episodes, leading off with NCIS (8/7c), which finds Torres (Wilder Valderamma) and Bishop (Emily Wickersham) going undercover as a couple of cons in a sting operation. … Curb Your Enthusiasm‘s Cheryl Hines guests on ABC’s Fresh Off the Boat (8:30/7:30c) as the disapproving mom of Honey (Chelsey Crisp), who’s attending a parenting class taught by the always-welcome Niecy Nash. … In another mommy-oriented storyline, ABC’s black-ish (9/8c) presents Bow (Tracee Ellis Ross) with the dilemma of returning to work from maternity leave before she may be ready. … In the next-to-last episode of TNT’s Major Crimes (9/8c), the diabolical Phillip Stroh (Billy Burke) prepares his end game while Lt. Provenza (G.W. Bailey) tries to convince Assistant Chief Mason (Leonard Roberts) to devote more resources to the case before it’s too late. … History’s popular speculative series Hunting Hitler (10/9c) is back for a third and final eight-episode season of what might best be called alt-history. CIA vet Bob Baer has now enlisted an expert in terrorist networks to join his team, chasing theories that the infamous dictator and perpetrator of mass genocide may have somehow escaped Germany at the end of WWII. Let’s hope that even if the results turn up as empty as Al Capone’s vault that this season puts an end to the so-called mystery once and for all.
