Worth Watching: ‘Love, Victor’ on Hulu, PBS’s ‘Prehistoric Road Trip,’ Cruise With Amy Sedaris
A selective critical checklist of notable Wednesday TV:
Love, Victor (streaming on Hulu): If you can look past the “Afterschool Special” earnestness and John Hughes copycat tendencies — yes, there’s a detention sequence — this sweet and sensitive 10-episode sequel to the 2018 feature film Love, Simon follows a similar if rockier path toward self-acceptance and inclusion. (Not bad timing in a week when the Supreme Court ruled against LGBTQ discrimination in the workplace.) The series introduces “new kid” Victor Salazar (Michael Cimino), a Latinx transplant from Texas who’s trying to fit in at the same Atlanta high school where Simon (Nick Robinson) famously came out. Victor still isn’t quite sure where his sexual orientation and feelings lie, so he frequently texts Simon, now an out-and-proud New Yorker, for advice. Which may sound like greeting-card platitudes, but the show’s heart is in the right place. (See the full review.)
Prehistoric Road Trip (10/9c, PBS, check local listings at pbs.org): Turns out we were living in Jurassic World all along and just didn’t know it. A three-part series explores the Northern Great Plains — the Dakotas, Montana, Nebraska and Wyoming — with South Dakota native Emily Graslie (YouTube’s The Brain Scoop) as host and guide to active fossil sites, where artifacts help turn back time to reveal 2.5 billion years of natural history.
At Home with Amy Sedaris (10/9c, truTV): Pity poor Amy, the deluded mock hostess with the mostest in this warped parody of retro lifestyle TV. Another “very special” episode finds her making preparations for an ad-sponsored cruise (bad timing during a pandemic) aboard the Royal Pompeii (oops). Along the way, she shares travel tips on how to pack light and arrange a house-sitter and why sharp objects make great companions (huh?). Guests include Saturday Night Live veteran Jason Sudeikis, who’s right at home amid the madness.
Inside Wednesday TV: A three-hanky event, 2010’s Toy Story 3 (8/7c) is ABC’s latest Wonderful World of Disney movie from the Disney and Pixar library. … Octavia (Marie Avgeropoulos) is whisked away to a strange new world — aren’t they all? — in the post-apocalyptic final season of The CW’s The 100 (8/7c)… The Weather Channel’s third 2020 Race to Save the Planet special, titled Swing States (9/8c), finds an intersection between science and politics as Dave Malkoff heads to several perceived battleground states in the upcoming election — including Ohio, Texas, Florida, Maine and Arizona — to see how and if issues involving climate change and the environment are likely to affect the vote… Netflix’s high-school sitcom Mr. Iglesias, starring Gabriel Iglesias in the title role, returns for a second season, with the teacher playing cupid by casting two star pupils in a school production of Romeo and Juliet, unaware that Principal Paula (Sherri Shepherd) is trying to make a perfect match for him as well.
