Your weekly guide to TV’s best and worst one-hour shows
What do some of Mama’s favorite actors do in the summer? Go slumming, apparently, as evidenced by the overload of talent propping up bad shows this week:
“Political Animals” (Sunday, 10 p.m., USA)
Mama really wanted to like this show: Sigourney Weaver, political drama, mid-summer filler – what’s not to love? The answer: the writing. Every episode sounds as if it is the final day before the writers’ vacation, and they decided to turn in their sophomore year history essay, trying to pass it off as a TV show by tossing in a few stereotypical characters. So introducing the wonderful Vanessa Redgrave as a Supreme Court justice and mentor to Weaver’s Secretary of State Hillary, er, Elaine, does little to inspire confidence that this show can turn itself around — or resolve any of its plodding plots — in its four remaining episodes. (And P.S., If you have a six-episode series, you probably don’t have time to introduce special guest stars to showcase.) For entertaining political intrigue, wait until “Boss” returns next month.
“Phineas and Ferb” (Thursday, 9 p.m., Disney)
Before he turned all crazy-eyed dad Michael on “Lost,” Harold Perrineau was paraplegic prisoner Augustus Hill on “Oz.” But he dumps the whole serious-actor veneer to play the maître d’ in a two-part episode of this eye-rollingly sarcastic teen cartoon that nevertheless attracts an impressive list of celebrity guest voices.
“Perception” (Monday, 10 p.m., TNT)
If all you want is a predictable crime solver, you’ll appreciate Eric McCormack’s magically wise but nutty professor, who brings on guest star Neal McDonough this week. But if you want a great detective series featuring McDonough, wait for the DVD release of last season’s “Justified,” which will convince you he was robbed of an Emmy nod as the villainous Robert Quarles.
“Damages” (Wednesday, 9 p.m., DIRECTV)
Tim Guinee, who is so fun as daddy P.I. Andrew Wiley on “The Good Wife,” reprises his role as computer whiz Jake Stahl. And from lead Glenn Close, to new guy Ryan Phillippe to regular visitor Judd Hirsch, the actors are fun to watch individually. But the show throws up so many improbable twists and coincidences — often amid mundane tasks like the data processing that fills tonight’s episode — this thriller is less than, well, thrilling.
Oh Baby: Amid all this mediocre fare littering TV this week is a must-see episode of “Burn Notice” (Thursday, 9 p.m., USA). After spending two seasons chasing down Jere Burns’ deliciously evil Anson, this game-changing episode promises to bring some closure for the man who burned Michael (Jeffrey Donovan).