There are scores of TV shows out there, with dozens of new episodes each week, not to mention everything you can find on Hulu Plus, Netflix streaming, and HBO Go. How’s a viewer to keep up? To help you sort through all that television has to offer, Flavorwire is compiling the five best moments on TV each week. This week, Hannibal ends its season with a bloodbath, while Mad Men ends its season with a musical number. Same difference.
The Normal Heart Starts National Ugly-Crying Epidemic
Ryan Murphy’s star-studded adaptation of Larry Kramer’s play replaced HBO’s typical Sunday night lineup for a Memorial Day weekend tearjerker. The Normal Heart is, indeed, very sad and very well acted — by a cast that includes Matt Bomer, Mark Ruffalo, Julia Roberts, and also a distant acquaintance of mine as Shirtless Hunk #8. Expect it to rack up the Golden Globe nominations for Miniseries or Movie, and make sure to remove all eye makeup before tuning in.
Hannibal Goes on the Run
Hannibal is, by definition, an extremely violent show. “Mizumono,” the finale to its second season, is nonetheless the first episode to inflict that violence on its main characters. And how! Alana, Will, and then Hannibal’s love interest are pushed out a window; Jack gets a glass shard in the neck after grappling with Mads Mikkelsen in the show’s least glamorous fight scene to date; and Will’s homoerotic tension with Hannibal is resolved with a knife to the gut. It’s unlikely the entire cast will be killed off for the newly announced third season, but the carnage Hannibal leaves behind before he hops on a plane to Europe is still a shocking end to a strong season.
Bobby Morse’s Song and Dance
When it comes to season endings, though, nothing tops Mad Men‘s decision to send off Robert Morse by letting him do what he does best: sing and dance. Bert Cooper dies as Neil Armstrong walks on the moon and Roger Sterling sells his agency to McCann. Unlike Lane Pryce, though, we never see his dead body. We just see Don’s hallucination/daydream of Bert singing “The Best Things In Life Are Free,” shuffling around in socks and surrounded by young secretaries. He waves behind, the door to his office swings shut, and Don sits on a desk while the rest of the agency mourns. And that’s it until the final seven episodes air next year.
Don Rickles Pays Tribute
It wasn’t quite a Comedy Central roast, but Spike pulled out all the stops by taking over Harlem’s historic Apollo Theater for its tribute to legendary comedian Don Rickles. The lineup was, of course, star-studded; Jon Stewart did a surprisingly tasteful riff on the relationship between Jews and African-Americans (see above), and everyone from Jerry Seinfeld to David Letterman sang the praises of the night’s honoree. Splitsider has a compilation of clips, though the full special’s not online.
Key and Peele Show Up on Fargo
They’re FBI agents, and there’s not much to say besides… can their show just come back already?