TV Talk: Good Girls, American Gods, After Life, Shameless, and Crashing.
Season Premieres
Good Girls (NBC)
When sisters Beth and Annie and their best friend Ruby become fed up with playing by the rules and not getting the respect they deserve, they band together to take control of their lives — by holding up a local grocery store. Beth’s the perfect wife and mother, but her used-car-dealing, cheating husband has sent her family into financial ruin; Ruby is happily married to a policeman but can’t afford the medical bills and experimental drugs to help her daughter; and Annie, a single mom, is caught in a nasty custody battle with her ex. In desperate need of money, the women plan the heist expecting to ease their financial burdens. But new to the game of crime, they get pulled in deeper than they ever imagined — and the only way out of this will be together.
American Gods (Starz)
Ex-convict Shadow Moon roams a world he doesn’t understand, left adrift by the recent, tragic death of his wife. Little does he know his life is about to change after he meets a crafty, charismatic con man named Mr. Wednesday, who offers Shadow a job as his bodyguard. As their journey begins, Shadow encounters a hidden America where magic is real and fear grows over the ascending power of New Gods like Technology and Media. In a grand plan to combat the threat, Mr. Wednesday attempts to unite the Old Gods to defend their existence and rebuild the influence that they’ve lost, leaving Shadow struggling to accept this new world and his place in it.
Series Premiere
After Life (Netflix)
Tony changes after his wife dies, and the formerly nice guy decides to live long enough to punish the world by saying and doing whatever he likes from now on.
Season Finale
Shameless (Showtime)
Oscar-nominated actor William H. Macy stars as Frank Gallagher, a single father of six who spends much of his free time drinking at bars. The Gallagher children — led by oldest daughter Fiona (Emmy Rossum), who takes on much of the child-rearing responsibility due to her mother’s absence — manage to raise themselves in spite of Frank’s lack of parenting and unusual parenting style when he does choose to act like a father. The drama is an adaptation of the BAFTA Award-winning British show of the same name.
Series Finale
Crashing (HBO)
Sheltered suburbanite Pete dreams of a big-city career in comedy, but his wife, Jessica, has other ideas. Childhood sweethearts no more after he finds her in an uncompromising position with another man, Pete is suddenly homeless and frantically re-evaluating his priorities. As he attempts to find comfort in the rough-and-tumble New York comedy scene, the aspiring funny man bunks on other people’s couches while learning hard lessons about life and himself. Created by and starring Pete Holmes, with Judd Apatow as a co-executive producer, “Crashing” draws on Holmes’ own experiences as a comedian, presenting an inside look at the fickle world of stand-up comedy.