Worth Watching: ‘Succession,’ ‘Maigret’ on Ovation, Walton Goggins Joins the ‘Righteous’
A selective critical checklist of notable weekend TV:
Succession (Sunday, 9/8c, HBO): You could cut the sibling-rivalry tension with a machete when patriarch Logan Roy (Brian Cox) invites Shiv (Sarah Snook) to shadow him at Waystar — not your typical bring-your-daughter-to-work day, especially when speculation over the stakes of succession runs this high. And the day goes from tense to worse when a crisis breaks out at the news station, inopportune timing for Logan and Kendall’s (Jeremy Strong) clandestine meeting with rival PGM’s CEO Rhea Jarrell (a droll Holly Hunter). And who finds himself among the “normals?” Black sheep Roman (Kieran Culkin), who’s none too thrilled about his forced servitude in management training alongside worker bees. It would all be too funny if it weren’t so … who are we kidding? It’s a riot.
Maigret (Saturday, 7/6c, Ovation): A treat for fans of classic mysteries, as the arts network presents the 2016-17 U.K. adaptation of four whodunits drawn from the many novels of Georges Simenon. Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean) adopts a poker face to portray the legendary pipe-smoking sleuth, Jules Maigret, in a four-week series that begins with the investigation of four women found dead in Montmartre in the summer of 1955. Take that, Poirot.
The Righteous Gemstones (Sunday, 10/9c, HBO): What a year for Walton Goggins. His charming performance as a widowed dad in the upcoming CBS comedy The Unicorn is getting great buzz, and now he gets to whet his comic chops again, going way over the top in this broad satire of rank religious hypocrisy. He’s Baby Billy Freeman, who long ago enjoyed fame alongside late sister Aimee-Leigh (Jennifer Nettles) and now seeks his place among the Gemstones’ ministry. The rest of the family is still reeling from the return of a prodigal son in the previous episode.
Inside Weekend TV: Hallmark takes a dig at reality-TV dating shows in My One & Only (Saturday, 8/7c), when TV singles Stephanie (Pascale Hutton) and Oliver (Stephen Huszar) go on a series of dates at a ranch to test their romantic potential. Hunky ranch owner Sam Page could complicate the process… The Walking Dead has Father Gabriel, and now AMC spinoff Fear the Walking Dead (Sunday, 9/8c) welcomes Rabbi Jacob (Colony‘s Peter Jacobson), who’s discovered in his synagogue by Charlie (Alexa Nisenson) while seeking a home for the colony… Things are even crazier than usual on AMC’s Preacher (Sunday, 10/9c), with Herr Starr (Pip Torrens) still seeking the messiah as apocalypse looms, while a reunited Tulip (Ruth Negga) and Cassidy (Joseph Gilgun) adopt false identities to look for Jesse (Dominic Cooper), unaware he’s in the custody of the fearsome Saint of Killers (Graham McTavish)… In the season finale of Fox’s faux recap comedy What Just Happened??! With Fred Savage (Sunday, 9:30/8:30c), a chagrined Fred turns to analyzing fictional Fox teen soap Havenbrook after The Flare is canceled. Guests include comedian Ron Funches and former WWE wrestler Paige.
