NAVEEN ANDREWS
Your weekly guide to TV’s best and worst one-hour shows.
Summer means reunions, including with TV stars we didn’t even realize we missed:
“Defiance” (Monday, 9 p.m., Syfy)
For the former “Stargate Universe” fans out there, you can see what Brian J. Smith (aka Lt. Matthew Scott) is up to these days when he arrives in Defiance as an astronaut the townspeople revive from an induced sleep, which he fell into right before the whole Earth was taken over by an alien invasion. Surprise! Your world now sucks.
“Necessary Roughness” (Wednesday, 10 p.m., USA)
A welcome addition to any show, John Stamos uses his killer smile to seduce Dani (Callie Thorne) into a job away from the gridiron. The problem when you bring in likable actors like Stamos is that you start to resent having to return to the sidelines of the football series that has grown a little stale by its third season. In related news, “Franklin & Bash” welcomes perennial guest star Heather Locklear to the law firm later this month.
“Sinbad” (Saturday, 9 p.m., Syfy)
Sometimes it feels as if the series “Lost” was a million years ago — and yet when one of the former islanders pops up on a show, Mama can’t resist checking out what they’re doing now. So while Yunjin Kim’s Karen makes horrible judgment calls on “Mistresses” and Terry O’Quinn takes charge over on “Falling Skies,” Naveen Andrews, aka Sayid, goes the route of bad guy on a Syfy drama set adrift on Saturday nights. If you’re wondering whether there’s any excuse to tune into this waterlogged series, on the plus side is Andrews, who brings his sharp acting and rugged good looks to what should be a cheesy role.
“Veep”(Sunday, 10 p.m., HBO)
In the race among the next generation of political series, “Veep” beats “Scandal” to snag a former West Winger. Allison Janney, former press secretary C.J. Clegg, switches sides to become a gotcha reporter welcomed into the home of Vice President Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus).
“Melissa and Joey” (Wednesday, 8 p.m., ABC Family)
Before she was the uptight half of this “Who’s the Boss?” wannabe, Melissa Joan Hart was a sorceress on “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch.” And out of the old cauldron this week she conjures former fellow spell caster Alimi Ballard (he played the Quizmaster), who guest stars in an episode where Mel (Get it: short for Melissa?) finds Joe (Get it: short for Joey Lawrence?) a job at city hall. Hilarity ensues. – Tiffany Wendeln Connors