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What to watch on Friday, February 1...

SERIES PREMIERE, Whenever you feel like it, Netflix
House of Cards
The entire 13-episode series, from executive producers David Fincher and Kevin Spacey, begins streaming on Netflix at midnight Pacific/3am Eastern, so you can chip away at your idealistic faith in the American political system one installment at at time or bludgeon it to a pulp in a marathon viewing session. Spacey stars as a conniving congressman with grand ambitions—and a vendetta against the new U.S. president.

8pm, NBC
The NAACP Image Awards
The iconic civil rights organization holds its 44th annual celebration of achievement in the arts, with nominees from the realm of TV including Aziz Ansari, Donald Glover, and Kerry Washington. Steve Harvey hosts live from Los Angeles.

8pm, CBS
Undercover Boss
A Boston Market exec puts the "officer" in Chief Brand Officer when she must personally enforce company policy. In a series first, her stint on the front lines of fast-casual chain dining leads to a rambunctious employee getting canned.

8pm, The CW
Nikita
Ryan sends a team to rescue his abducted girlfriend from the clutches of a rogue agent, but you just know that the first seven places the team checks they're gonna be told that she's in another castle. Elsewhere in "Survival Instincts," Nikita is thrown for a loop when Owen, rather than Michael, joins her in the field.

9pm, Starz
Spartacus: War of the Damned
Spartacus and Co. plan to capture a Roman city to house their burgeoning community in "Wolves at the Gate." Meanwhile, Crassus's growing force gains a major, if unpredictable, asset with the arrival of a brash young military commander: Julius Caesar.

10pm, CBS
Blue Bloods
When a man riddled with rat bites is thrown from a moving car in "Inside Jobs," Danny tries to find out who was sending a message and why. Come to think of it, has anyone seen the kid from Ben around lately?

LATE-NITE:
– Wanda Sykes, Tyler Hamilton, and Brandford Marsalis on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, 11:35pm, NBC
– Kevin Spacey, Nick Griffin, and Emeli Sandé on Late Show with David Letterman, 11:35pm, CBS
– Highlights from earlier in the week on Jimmy Kimmel Live, 11:35pm, ABC
– Jason Bateman, Zosia Mamet, and Andrea Bocelli on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, 12:37am, NBC
– Joe Theismann and Ariel Tweto on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, 12:37am, CBS

What to watch on Saturday, February 2...

10:30am, Cartoon Network
Young Justice
This week's outing is called "Runaways." Could the title indicate that, with the cancellation writing on the wall, our heroes are throwing DC-Marvel rivalry and licensing concerns to the wind and launching a rogue crossover with another band of juvenile superfolk? Probably not!

SERIES FINALE, 8pm, Nickelodeon
Victorious
Mr. Sikowitz dares the kids to respond in the affirmative for a full day in "Victori-Yes," the series finale. Such blatant inversion of Nancy Reagan's famous advice to America's youths can only lead down a road of debaucherous ruin. Or possibly to a send-off full of family-friendly hijinks.

9pm, BBC America
Ripper Street
Cholera fears grip London, but some of the bodies turning up in Jackson's morgue show evidence of deliberate ergot poisoning (which was nicknamed "St. Anthony's Fire" back then, because the Victorians were streets ahead of us at hanging monikers on maladies). Naturally the team races to uncover a pattern behind the mounting death toll.

SPECIAL NIGHT AND TIME, 10:05pm & 10:35pm, HBO
Girls & Enlightened
Rather than pit its two Sunday-night comedies against an event likely to draw literally fifty times their combined average viewership, HBO is just gonna leave a couple of new episodes right here for you on Saturday (they're also already available on HBOGO). Hannah throws a dinner party that spirals into immaturity in "It's A Shame About Ray," while Amy discovers the brave new world of social media and Tyler fends off Dougie's investigation in "Follow Me."

What to watch on Sunday, February 3...

3pm, Animal Planet
Puppy Bowl IX
Puppies caper. Hedgehogs cheerlead. Kitties perform at halftime. Hamsters survey the proceedings from tiny blimps. Meep the Bird live-tweets the entire spectacale. Humans bask in a much-needed oasis from the unrelenting deluge of stupid that marks their own, severely less adorable species.

LIVE, 6:30pm Eastern, CBS
Super Bowl XLVII
America's annual flash card reminding us how roman numerals work returns for its 47th season. The Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers square off in a footballing match at New Orleans's palatial I'm Not Bothering To Google Its Corporate Sponsor Superdome. Beyoncé and her reunited Destiny's Child squadmates are scheduled to perform at halftime, which should occur about four and half hours after kickoff.

9pm, PBS
Downton Abbey
All the other networks flee into repeats tonight, but the Granthams are not so timid (though it's worth noting that, as of Tuesday, the rest of the season is already legally available on iTunes/DVD). They greet your so-called American football with a curt "pish-tosh!" and soldier on with a new episode, which finds Robert at odds with both Cora and Matthew. The esteemed residents of Downton didn't let the Jerries slow them down and they'll be damned if they let the 49ers do so! Stiff upper lip and all that rot.

SPECIAL POST-SUPER BOWL EPISODE, 10pm or whenever the game actually ends, CBS
Elementary
Sherlock and Joan earn the coveted post-Super Bowl slot, but even that honor may not help Joan stave off the threat of eviction from her apartment. The case of the week in "The Deductionist" pairs Holmes with an FBI profiler on the trail of an unpredictable criminal played by guest-star Terry Kinney. He's so unpredictable, even the episode summary doesn't know what he'll do next!

SPECIAL POST-SUPER BOWL EPISODE, 11:35pm, CBS
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
Cool down from ~17 hours of gridiron glory and artery annihilation with a star-studded special installment of The Late Late Show. Guests include Steve Carell, Channing Tatum, Julie Chen, Neil Patrick Harris, Nikki Reed, and Drew Brees.

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Welcome to Week 2 of our new Saturday animation round-up! You read last week's inaugural edition here.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars S05E02: "A War On Two Fronts"

One of the reasons why I like The Clone Wars is that it oftens offers more than just a sci-fi action extravaganza and new toys to buy. In the case of "A War On Two Fronts," the show offered a debate on large governmental forces (the Jedi and the Grand Republic Army) training rebel forces (Onderonians) that had similar aims (weakening the Separatist presence in the galaxy).

The real-world parallels—U.S. forces training and arming nascent al-Qaeda factions to battle Soviets and their allies in Afghanistan in the 1980s—weren't made explicit (and aren't likely to be known to the show's intended demographic). Instead we got a debate, argued between Obi-Wan and Anakin, about the values of the action, and whether or not the Jedi were encouraging terrorism or arming an insurgency against a dangerous and mutual threat.

It wasn't a terribly nuanced debate (and it was recognizable only in our real-world hindsight), but the fact that it happened at all demonstrates why The Clone Wars is a valuable show in the long run, putting these concerns in front of an audience early, and giving parents a chance to perhaps discuss them with their kids.

Of course, the episode fell fairly firmly on the side of "Yes, helping rebels/insurgents is perfectly okay." Certainly there could still be fallout (Saw does seem a bit aggressive), but the presence of Lux (last seen smooching on Ahsoka in Season 4) helped mediate any audience concerns that might have been present. It was an easy out for the show to take, but expecting a more fleshed-out argument about the issue is probably a bit much.

However, since it was a war on two fronts in the title, the interpersonal battles between Saw, Steela, Lux, and Ahsoka gave the episode some stronger character bits. Lux being in the episode immediately upped the story beyond the training of generic rebels to something more meaningful. It was a smart move in a smart episode.

Green Lantern: The Animated Series S01E15: "Reboot"

It didn't take long for Green Lantern to get us back into space, but I'm not going to complain too much. Where the first half of this season was stuck in generic sci-fi stories with our characters working through those conventions (never super-inventively), this half seems happy to kick off with lots of action and narrative momentum, two things I'm always happy to see.

Another thing I'm happy to see: Lots of other members of the Green Lantern Corp. Tomar-Re! Ch'p (the squirrel who hysterically beat up Hal)! Larvox! Chaselon! When the Red Lanterns were invading and the Guardians decided to mobilize the Corp, I figured we'd see some familiar faces, but we didn't. Their appearances erased that (admittedly fanboy-based) disappointment.

"Reboot" served the rather necessary plot beat of getting (most of) the original band back together. Both recruitment moments, getting Kilowog and then saving Aya, were well-staged and boasted a surprising amount of humor (something the show has improved on since the hiatus). I'll be curious to see how they bring Razer back into the fold since he, like Aya, has had stronger character arcs than Hal and Kilowog (Razer and Aya can have those arcs since they're original creations).

The re-activation of the Manhunters by the Anti-Monitor (the big blue-and-yellow bruiser) helped build on the established narratives about the less-than-stellar history of the Guardians and threw it back in their faces. This further complicates their goals in maintaining order in the galaxy, and whether or not they're all that qualified to do it.

DC Nation Short: A New Teen Titans short explored how Robin and Raven deal with being in love. It wasn't a terribly exciting short, or all that funny. I did like that both premises were based on character traits, Raven's stoicism and Robin's over-achieving, but there wasn't much in the way of laughter.

Young Justice S02E09: "Darkest"

After last week's likeable mixed bag, "Darkest" was a much tighter and stronger episode. It benefitted, unsurprisingly, by focusing on Kaldur's subterfuge of Black Manta and the demands it's placing on him. None of this can be easy, even if he is playing triple agent, as Wally suggested near the end of the episode. The fact that the show itself is willing to broach this idea suggests that it's an unlikely outcome, and that Kaldur is very dedicated to stopping the invasion, as Dick maintained.

The destruction of Mount Justice was one of those big moments that work. While it helped set up the destructive future of Bart's, it was also a far more effective stake-raising moment than the reveal about Bart's time. The nuclear winter-esque world that Bart is from is more of a narrative puzzle to be worked out—how did the world end up like that?—as opposed to an emotional punch made by the eradication of Mount Justice. Truly, this is the first time I feel like Young Justice has demonstrated the risks in these conspiracies and counter-conspiracies. (I don't understand how Happy Harbor wasn't wiped off the map as well.)

Since I made mention of the show's little narrative detours last week, it seems only fair to return to the Malcolm-and-Karen-in-Ivy-Town bit. The plot needed Malcolm out of Mount Justice so he could call it in when it was destroyed, but it at least served a narrative purpose compared to the detours last week. And while I can appreciate Malcolm's attempts to reconnect with Karen (he's sort of stuck in his life, and she's very much moving on), the emotional connection for the audience wasn't there. It was sad but lacked of the heavier character moments that the rest of the episode was able to achieve. Frigging time skip.

DC Nation Short: It was a DC's World's Funnest short, which tend to be really hit or miss for me. Here we had Robin, tied up by a giggling Joker. Catwoman had problems saying identity; Batman ran by, arrived to find Robin tied up, and began giggling as well. I liked the Catwoman portions, particularly her discussion of the fashion sense of heroes, but it was kind of flat.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles S01E03: "Turtle Temper"

If "Turtle Temper" will be the model for the episodes to come, I can get behind this series a bit more than I thought I would after last week's premiere, even if I do think there's still a good bit of work to be done in firming up the show.

Exploring Raph's temper is one of the hallmarks of the TMNT franchise, and how his actions put both him and his brothers in danger. The episode didn't tread much new ground in that regard (I wonder when that'll start happening...), but the episode mobilized Raph's personality to help deliver a moral about how kids can deal with insults and bullies. In a way, should the series continue in this sort of model, it could become a male-targeted version of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. (Feel free to flame me in the comments for even daring to suggest such a thing, but I think I'm right.)

What I did like about this episode, and how it handled Raph's inability to deal with insults, was the multiple ways it mobilized Vic, the cranky New Yorker, to get at these ideas. First, there was the casting of caustic and foul-mouthed comedian Lewis Black, a nice nod for older audiences who recognize him and can appreciate the cleverness in his casting for this particular role. But it was the transformation into Spider Bytez (eugh) that sold me on the concept. His acidic venom spit was a complement to his acidic verbal commentary, providing a consistent character trope through the transformation (one that was missing with Snake last week).

I appreciate small touches like these in a kid-targeted show. While I still have some problems with this new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (particularly how the Kraangs speak; they're worse than the B1 battle droids in The Clone Wars!), this episode was a positive step.

What'd you think of this week's episodes?

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Welcome to our new Saturday animation round-up! This inaugural edition covers Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Green Lantern: The Animated Series, and Young Justice, and starting next week we'll add Nickelodeon's new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (which today received its own standalone review, in honor of its series premiere). Let us know what you think—and which other shows you might like to see reviewed here—in the comments.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars S05E01: "Revival"

The Clone Wars has, despite its lackluster start (and really dull movie), grown into an entertaining series that often has more going for it than the movies it was birthed from. But I must admit that the resurrection of Darth Maul at the end of last season made me more than a bit wary.

So I'm glad that "Revival" arranged things so that Maul won't be this season's sole focus, and expanded his role from Obi-Wan antagonist to a potential unifier of crime families around the galaxy. It's a clever way to keep Maul and Savage in the mix, but not necessarily at the forefront of the action. Likewise, the shift from brothers against Kenobi to a new pair of Sith against the galaxy ups the threat level (and gives Palpatine an unexpected perk in his plans to wipe out the Jedi).

The episode also managed to keep that threat level feeling real. Adi's gruesome death (for a Saturday-morning show) showed what's at stake for everyone, and kept Maul and Savage from being—wait for it!—phantom menaces! (Had to, sorry.) If there were no sacrifice, no sense of risk, then the various plots facing the Jedi would be largely empty.

And that's an important thing for The Clone Wars to keep going. Asokha's fate is up in the air as this series enters its fifth, and potentially final, season, and the idea that anyone can die, including the show's audience surrogate, keeps The Clone Wars exciting.

Green Lantern: The Animated Series S01E14: "The New Guy"

Green Lantern proved itself a competent, if not terribly inventive, series during its first arc. After the heavy emphasis on space narratives, I was eager for this second arc to return to Earth (and for Earth to look better than it did in the first arc's finale). Thankfuily, I got exactly what I wanted. And Guy Gardner to boot!

This second arc seems primed to deal with the reactivation of decommissioned Manhunters, the robots that the Guardians used to maintain order in the galaxy before they started the Green Lantern Corp. But while that threat gets going, Hal has to deal with the fallout of being gone for months.

I really like this, that the series is giving ramifications for Hal's life as a Green Lantern. While I still don't think that Hal's relationship with Carol is fleshed out enough to earn the moments the series has given them, both here and in the Star Sapphire episode in the first arc, I can appreciate the series making gestures toward Hal's life outside of the ring.

Guy Gardner's presence, likewise, brings a different dynamic to the series. He's cocky, beloved by everyone (even Guardian Appa, and that guy doesn't like anyone!), and doesn't defer to Hal like Kilowog, Aya, and even Razer. Deidrich Balder's performance hits all the right notes here, and I hope Guy appears a few more times.

But I'm not holding my breath. Given Hal's promotion to the Green Lantern Honor Guard, I'm expecting more space stories. I'm hoping that these new ones will be less generic than the ones we got in the first arc, and if the writers decide to bring back the old team, that they continue to develop Razer and Aya, the only two characters with decent character arcs.

DC Nation Short: Teen Titans and a gamma ray PSA! This short was pretty well worth it for Starfire's inability to say it and subsequent cursing in native tongue. Everyone else was amusing, and the idea of even doing a gamma ray PSA is clever (even though I don't think anyone on the team got their powers from gamma rays...).

Young Justice S02E08: "Satisfaction"

Young Justice is one of the most frustrating series I watch. When it's good, it's pretty good, but when it's bad, it tends to be really bad. I know I seem to be in the minority on this based on other reviews and comments on my Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes piece from a couple months ago, but if it seems like I'm harsher on this series, it's because I think there's a lot of potential that the series just doesn't live up to.

I actually rather enjoyed this episode. Original Roy's anger at Ollie, his sense of neglect, provided a nice way to hit Roy's beats from the iconic heroin arc from the comics in the 1970s while still being appropriate for the timeslot and the plot so far. Original Roy's confrontation with Luthor and Mercy felt a tad dragged out (more on that in just a second), but I ultimately liked the result of Original Roy taking up the mantle as Arsenal. I'd like to see this develop a bit more, but, at the same time, Young Justice is already feeling a bit overstuffed sometimes, and I don't know if it can support more plots.

Which is why the small asides in this episode—first to Dakota City for Rocket's bridal show and Captain Cold's bank heist ("I'm completely doomed, aren't I?") and then to Ivy Town to start, I guess, a romance between Conner and Wendy—made the episode feel a little busy and all over the place. The only departure from the Original Roy's plot that even felt necessary was the visit to Artemis's empty grave to learn about Cheshire and Sportmaster's plans to go after Aqualad and Black Manta.

DC Nation Short: The Super Best Friends Forever fought Solomon Grundy, who "no fights girls." I've missed the SBFFs (I haven't been watching the DC Nation block since the hiatus), so having this particular segment back for the opening week was much appreciated. It was filled with bits, like their mocking of Grundy as a zombie, and I really enjoyed Supergirl's assertion of "We are equal-opportunity butt-kickers!" Grundy may have gender equality issues, but the girls don't!

What'd you think of this week's episodes?

Note: As I mentioned above, Nickelodeon's new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series will appear in the animation round-up starting next week. This week it received its own standalone review.

Are there any other series you'd like to see in the round-up? All suggestions are welcome, but to have a good chance at inclusion they need to be shows that: 1) lend themselves to this capsule review format, 2) do not air opposite the shows reviewed above, 3) I can catch up on easily if I need to, and 4) aren't on Hub or Disney XD (which aren't a part of my cable package).

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