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 bets for the coming week. This week, the Huang gang is back with the Season 3 premiere of Fresh Off the Boat, and the casts of New Girl and Brooklyn Nine-Nine get cozy with two very silly crossover episodes. HBO premieres its fantastic new comedy Insecure, but also its not-so-fantastic comedy Divorce, and ABC has a middling new sitcom about a housewife. Hey, you can’t win ’em all.
Sunday: Insecure
I’ve already professed my love for Insecure, my new favorite show. The HBO comedy stars Issa Rae (who co-created the show, with Larry Wilmore) as Issa, a 29-year-old woman living in L.A. with her boyfriend of five years. Yvonne Orji co-stars as her best friend, Molly, a corporate lawyer who is single and sick of it. Insecure is a funny, humane, and complex look at the lives of these two professional, unmarried black women who are, as the tagline says, “trying hard AF.” The dialogue in particular is a real treat. Check it out on Sunday at 10:30 p.m. on HBO.
Sunday: Divorce
Sarah Jessica Parker makes a not-quite-triumphant return to HBO this weekend with Divorce, a new half-hour comedy about a couple going through a separation. Created by Sharon Horgan — who co-created and stars in the excellent Amazon series Catastrophe — Divorce tracks the separation of Frances (Parker) and Robert (Thomas Haden Church), a well-to-do couple living in tony Westchester County with their two children. Divorce lacks the warmth of Catastrophe, and six episodes in, it’s hard to see how this concept will sustain itself beyond the first season. If you’re in the mood for something warm and fuzzy, this will certainly not hit that spot. But if you’re looking for a comedy with a caustic edge, try Divorce, premiering Sunday at 10 p.m. on HBO.
Tuesday: American Housewife
Katy Mixon stars in this so-so sitcom about a mother of three, Katie Otto, living in bougie Westport, Connecticut and throwing shade at the other “Westport mommies” with their “flat stomachs, tight, high asses, thighs that don’t touch, and those stupid green drinks.” It’s pretty silly that a woman played by the beautiful Mixon, best known for her role as April on Eastbound and Down, would be so worried about her weight — particularly since she’s not he’s not that heavy, her husband doesn’t seem to care, and she’s surrounded by wealth and comfort. Still, Mixon is appealing as the voice of bitter reason: “Who came up with the idea that a mother of three should have an ass like a 19-year-old?” she complains. American Housewife premieres Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. on ABC.
Tuesday: Brooklyn Nine-Nine/New Girl Crossover
It’s happening: Brooklyn Nine-Nine and New Girl collide this week in two very silly crossover episodes. First, Zooey Deschanel’s Jess pops up in Brooklyn Nine-Nine when Detective Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg) commandeers her car to chase down a perp. Then, on New Girl, we find out why Jess was in New York in the first place, as the whole crew heads to town when Schmidt (Max Greenfield) believes he’s being honored by his high school — and Cece (Hannah Simone) faces off against her mother-in-law, played by Nora Dunn. The concept is a bit forced, but if you’re into these shows, you’ll enjoy watching these characters gathered together — like a slightly awkward party that all your friends unexpectedly showed up to. The madness goes down at 8 p.m. on Fox.
Tuesday: Fresh Off the Boat Season 3 Premiere
In the Season 2 finale of FOTB, Ken Jeong guest-starred as Louis’s brother, Gene, who asked Louis (Randall Park) to be the best man at his wedding — and whom we learned has been accepting thousands of dollars in loans from Louis over the past several years, without his wife Jessica’s (Constance Wu) knowledge. In Tuesday’s Season 3 premiere, “Coming From America,” written and directed by series creator Nahnatchka Kahn, the Huang gang heads to Taiwan to make nice. Watch the premiere Tuesday at 9 p.m. on ABC.