The TV Column

Big night as TV shows run gamut from A to Z

HBO’s Silicon Valley stars (from left) Kumail Nanjiani, Thomas Middleditch, Martin Starr and Zach Woods. The comedy returns for Season 4 at 9 p.m. today.
HBO’s Silicon Valley stars (from left) Kumail Nanjiani, Thomas Middleditch, Martin Starr and Zach Woods. The comedy returns for Season 4 at 9 p.m. today.

It's a wildly eclectic night of television with something almost for everyone.

There will be fresh episodes of all your favorite broadcast network shows tonight, plus new PBS offerings of Call the Midwife and Home Fires on Masterpiece.

But if it's wacky, witty, smart comedy you have a hankering for, turn to the fourth season premiere of Silicon Valley on HBO. The fun starts at 9 p.m and you don't have to be a tech nerd to get the humor.

The series is a collaboration between Mike Judge (Beavis and Butt-Head, King of the Hill) and Alec Berg (Seinfeld) and is partially inspired by Judge's days as a Silicon Valley engineer in the '80s.

The series follows the bizarre adventures of socially inept computer programmer Richard Hendricks (Thomas Middleditch) who started off working for a large internet company called Hooli.

Along for the ride are his gaggle of geeky buddies who live together in a startup incubator house slovenly run by smug dot-com millionaire Erlich Bachman (T.J. Miller). Bachman lets them stay rent-free in exchange for a cut of the projects they develop.

Things began to get interesting when Richard developed a powerful music compression algorithm called Pied Piper. Hilarity ensued.

There will be 10 episodes in Season 4, which begins with the guys pursuing Dinesh's video-chat app, PiperChat, and Richard having a hard time letting go of his dream to put his algorithm to better use.

In addition to those mentioned above, other series regulars are Zach Woods as Jared Dunn; Kumail Nanjiani as Dinesh Chugtai; Martin Starr as Bertram Gilfoyle; Josh Brener as Big Head Bighetti; Amanda Crew as Monica Hall; Matt Ross as Gavin Belson; Jimmy O. Yang as Jian-Yang; and Suzanne Cryer as Laurie Bream.

Naked and Afraid XL returns for Season 3 at 9 p.m. today on Discovery Channel. What, you may ask, is the difference between Naked and Afraid and Naked and Afraid XL? No, it's not a bare nekkid version of Fat Guys in the Woods. In this one, 12 veterans of the first series attempt to survive for 40 days (19 days longer) while vying for the limited food, water and shelter.

And, yes, everybody still starts off naked (stuff gets blurred out in production), but in the XL version they may not be so afraid.

Feud: Bette and Joan wraps up from 9 to 10:21 p.m. today on FX with the eighth episode, "You Mean All This Time We Could Have Been Friends?"

In it, Joan Crawford (Jessica Lange) accepts a leading role on a new film despite her deteriorating health. And faced with a new rival, Bette Davis (Susan Sarandon) reflects on her misplaced feud with Joan.

The second season of the Ryan Murphy anthology will be Feud: Charles and Diana. No air date has been set. There will be 10 episodes in the new season.

This Is Life Live debuts at 9 p.m. today on TLC. This reality drama features "families and loved ones experiencing life altering moments unfolding in real time."

The first episode: "A young couple will give their family and friends a stunning surprise on their wedding day; and a long lost family member seeks out a relative."

River Monsters has something different when Season 9 kicks off from 8 to 10 p.m. today on Animal Planet. The episode is "Killers From the Abyss/Super-Sized Q&A."

Host and extreme angler and biologist Jeremy Wade takes on what is labeled "the biggest investigation of his career" when he tries to unravel what happened to more than 1,000 passengers of the RMS Laconia after it was torpedoed in the mid-Atlantic in 1942.

That's followed by a live question and answer session.

Admitting the subject of monster fish is finite, Animal Planet has announced that this will be the last season and be "a mix of river missions, sea journeys, classic whodunits and personal quests."

Mary Kills People premieres at 9 p.m. today on Lifetime. Yes, that is an odd title. The Canadian drama is about Mary Harris (Caroline Dhavernas), who is "an emergency room doctor and loving mother, but secretly helps terminal patients end their lives on their own terms."

Mary tries to keep her side job under wraps, but business starts to pick up and "she realizes she has to fight dirty if she wants to keep the scheme going."

Despite the title, the series is listed as a black comedy/drama. There are six episodes.

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Style on 04/23/2017

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