Two Jerrys on ‘Comedians in Cars,’ a Second Course of ‘Somebody Feed Phil,’ ’12 Monkeys’ Finale
A critical checklist of notable Friday TV:
Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee (streaming on Netflix): These are a few of Jerry Seinfeld’s favorite things: drinking coffee, driving cool cars and talking comedy with fellow masters. In a highlight of the 10th season, now on Netflix, Seinfeld zooms around Las Vegas in a red 1966 Jaguar with a true idol: Jerry Lewis (who passed away last year). Seinfeld’s affection for Lewis is evident as they sit in Lewis’s home office and discuss the process behind The Bellboy and other classic movie comedies, and later as they sit in a diner and Seinfeld marvels over the legend’s appetite for bacon. (“What’s left to kill you with?” he jokes.) Other guests in the season’s impressive line-up include Saturday Night Live’s Kate McKinnon, SNL veterans Tracy Morgan and Dana Carvey, Alec Baldwin, Ellen DeGeneres, Zach Galifianakis, John Mulaney and Dave Chappelle.
Somebody Feed Phil: The Second Course (streaming on Netflix): Travel and food are natural companions, and there are few more eager guides than Everybody Loves Raymond creator Phil Rosenthal, who’s back with a new itinerary of exotic locales and scrumptious food. While his mugging can sometimes be a bit much, there’s no doubting his genuine enthusiasm for the cuisine and for the people he meets along the way. In a new batch of episodes, I was especially drawn to one that traverses Venice, which I recently visited for the first time. Like Phil, I participated in a guided “cicheti” tour, a lunchtime sampling of savory small-bite sandwiches. Being a mere mortal, I did not gain entry into chef Massimo Bottura’s acclaimed Osteria Francescana eatery in nearby Modena, where Phil devours gastronomic delights while standing in the kitchen. We can agree, though, that Venice is one of the most visually dazzling places on the planet. This season, he also travels to Dublin, Buenos Aires, Copenhagen, Cape Town and his hometown of New York. Best not to watch on an empty stomach.
12 Monkeys (9/8c, Syfy): It has been quite a ride over the last four seasons, and the end is in sight for the mind-bending time-travel thriller. The two-part series finale, ironically titled “The Beginning,” sets up Cole’s (Aaron Stanford) final battle against the Witness to save humanity and time. In the final hour (10/9c), Cole “must complete the cycle so that his younger self will one day arrive at the end with the answer.” Got that? Me neither.
Inside Friday TV: Josh Brolin’s movie career has really taken off, but somehow he also found time to film The Legacy of a Whitetail Deer Hunter for the ubiquitous Netflix. He plays Buck Ferguson, star of a series of hunting DVDs who decides to capture his son’s (Young Sheldon’s Montana Jordan) rite of passage on a hunting trip on film. … Also premiering in the bottomless pit of Netflix programming: Sacred Games, an eight-part series set in Mumbai, based on the epic novel by Vikram Chandra about a disillusioned Indian policeman (Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan) thrust into a world of intrigue when he takes a call from a most-wanted but hard-to-find gangster. … On old-fashioned network TV, Shelby (Johanna Braddy) puts the team from ABC’s Quantico (8/7c) in, what else, danger when she reunites with someone from her past.
