TV Heartbeat! The Walking Dead is Back! Better Call Saul! Daredevil Trailer! David Tennant Joins the Marvel Universe!

The dead are walking again! Yes, The Walking Dead is back for the second half of the fifth season. To warm up the fans, AMC is doing (yet another) marathon beginning with season three on Friday night. Season 5 begins around noon on Sunday and will lead up to the latest episode.

Using The Walking Dead’s monster audience, AMC will launch the first episode of its Breaking Bad prequel, Better Call Saul. The new show follows the excellent Bob Odenkirk as Saul Goodman before he was Saul. (It’ll be clearer when you watch it!). Michael McKean stars as his brother and Michael Mando (Vic from Orphan Black) also stars. This origin story will continue on Monday which is the show’s regular time slot.

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver is also back! Ah, how I’ve missed his earnest snarkiness!

Also on a jam-packed Sunday, CBS has the Grammy Awards which will feature tons of performances including the debut of Rihanna’s new song (with Kanye West and Paul McCartney), AC/DC, Tony Bennett with Lady Gaga, Common with John Legend, Ariana Grande, Hozier with Annie Lennox, Jessie J with Tom Jones, Miranda Lambert, Adam Levine with Gwen Stefani, Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, Usher, Pharrell Williams…oh and Madonna.

To tie you over before all that Sunday excitement, NBC has a lot of conspiracies on Thursday. The Blacklist is moving to its new day on Thursday and the new show, Allegiance, is making its debut. This is the story of a CIA agent (played by Gavin Stenhouse) who learns that his family is a sleeper Russian spy cell who have just been activated. Doh!

Tonight: Fresh Off the Boat debut (ABC), Earth: A New Wild debut (BBC America)
Thursday: Allegiance debut (NBC), The Blacklist moves to new day (NBC)
Saturday: Red Band Society series finale (Fox)
Sunday: The Walking Dead returns (AMC), Better Call Saul debut (AMC), The Jinx debuts (HBO), Last Week Tonight with John Oliver season premiere (HBO), Grammy Awards (CBS)
Monday: Better Call Saul in its regular time slot (AMC)
Tuesday: Fresh Off the Boat in its regular time slot (ABC)

Health check

Bravo will continue to keep the heat on in the kitchen with a 13th season of Top Chef. This franchise has become a signature show for the network so it’s hard to imagine Bravo without it!

It’s pilot season! This means the networks are ordering a sample episode of potential TV shows for next season. Once the pilots are shot, the networks will narrow down the list of which shows they’ll actually order to series.

For many shows left on the bubble, their future might be influenced by how strong these pilot shows are. If they’re all crappy, this year’s bubble shows have a better chance of renewal.

Ergo, the follow shows are praying for some luck to come their way: Revenge, Agent Carter, Cristela, Forever, The Mysteries of Laura, Sleepy Hollow (also pending the creator’s vision for a third season), Backstorm, Hawaii 5-0 and Blue Bloods.

Crystal Ball

How about a first look at Daredevil? The first trailer is out and the new series looks pretty dark and gritty. Definitely looks interesting! We’ll hear more from this show which debuts on Netflix on April 10th.

Speaking of Marvel shows on Netflix, A.K. A. Jessica Jones  just added the “A.K.A.” to its title and is now filming.  In addition to Krysten Ritter (Jessica Jones), Mike Colter (Luke Cage), the cast has expanded with Rachel Taylor (of Transformers and 666 Park Avenue), David Tennant (Doctor Who, Broadchurch/Gracepoint) and Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix) have joined the cast.

Stay tuned!

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