The Strain
Sunday, Aug. 28 (FX)
Season Premiere: The most disconcerting part of the Season 3 opener of The Strain, FX's scariest series (sorry, American Horror Story), is when Setrakian (David Bradley) reminds us that it's only been 23—23!—days since the Euro-vampires landed in New York City. Dr. Eph (Corey Stoll) is boozing through the pain of his girlfriend's death and his son's kidnapping by his now-vamp wife, and his anti-Strigoli bio-weapon is losing its lethality against "the munchers"—all of this stress could explain why his hair won't grow back. The locals believe they're still "New York Strong," but even the military, which has essentially given up on saving the city, is outmatched (it does make for some great Call of Duty: Vamp Town action sequences, though). New Yorkers are on their own to fight The Strain, but what's a little vampire takeover after beating back a Sharknado?
2016 MTV Video Music Awards
Sunday, Aug. 28 (MTV)
Special: In a twist this year for the MTV Video Music Awards, the Best "Rock" Video nominees—All Time Low, Coldplay(!), Fall Out Boy Feat. Demi Lovato(!!), Panic! At the Disco and Twenty One Pilots—are nearly out-rocked by the Best Electronic Video Nominees—and I can't even tell you who they are because they all look and sound identical. Is there really a difference between Calvin Harris, Mike Posner and Chainsmokers besides hoodie textures? And why is there a Best Collaboration Video category when practically every video in every category has a "Ft." guest? (I'm guessing "Ft." means "Featuring," though it could just as well stand for "Filler Twits.") And why is elderly lady Britney Spears performing? And where's my channel-clicker? I've gotta watch five hours of MTV Classic now.
You're the Worst
Wednesday, Aug. 31 (FXX)
Season Premiere: TV's funniest comedy took a decidedly unfunny turn last season to deal with Gretchen's (Aya Cash) clinical depression, and still managed to wring some laughs out of a downer detour. In Season 3, You're the Worst gets back on track with not only Gretchen and Jimmy (Chris Geere) in a relationship (and hating it, and loving it, and being confounded by it), but also Edgar (Desmin Borges) and Dorothy (Collette Wolfe) and, to a weirder extent, Lindsay (Kether Donohue) and Paul (Allan McLeod). History dictates, however, that at least one, if not all, of these couplings will devolve into a hot mess—and it's going to be glorious (and, thanks to creator Stephen Falk's masterful writing, painfully real). Seasons 1 and 2 of The Only Anti-Rom-Com That Matters are on Hulu. Get on it, now.
Marcella
Streaming (Netflix)
New Series: Sure, it debuted back in July—don't make me play the There Are Too Many Shows card! Marcella, a British series that's made its way stateside via Netflix, comes from producer/writer/director Hans Rosenfeldt (FX's late, great The Bridge), with Anna Friel (Pushing Daisies; the late, not-great American Odyssey) in the title role as a troubled London detective back on the case of a suddenly-active-again serial killer. If the setup sounds a bit "been-there," consider some of Marcella's troubles: Her husband (Nicholas Pinnock) has just left her for a younger woman at his legal firm; said woman is among the killer's latest victims; Marcella suffers from rage blackouts from which she occasionally awakens covered in blood. Is she a murderer? Or, at the very least, sane-ish? The answers don't necessarily come, but Friel is fantastic, and Marcella is cooler than any new cop show arriving this fall on 'Merican TV.
Aquarius
Saturdays (NBC)
The Final Episodes: This is how it ends, not with a bang but a Saturday-night burn-off. After being bumped from the NBC schedule for over a month due to political conventions, the Summer Olympics and Season 2 ratings that have sunk lower than a 4 a.m. infomercial for a Charles Manson box set ("Charlie Don't Surf: The Complete Manson Masterworks! Order now!"), Aquarius is (un)officially over. The final six episodes of David Duchovny's historical-ish '60s cop romp will be blown out two-a-night for the next three Saturdays and, thanks to the show's delusional five-season plan, there's likely no wrap-up here and we'll never find out if the LAPD ever caught Manson, dammit ...
Listen to Frost Mondays at 8 a.m. on X96 Radio From Hell, and on the TV Tan podcast via Stitcher, iTunes, Google Play and BillFrost.tv.
