What to Watch This Weekend
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 15
Ricky Gervais: Out of England – 9/8c on HBO
If Out of England is your first encounter with Ricky Gervais, you might wind up scratching your head instead of holding your belly. That’s because Gervais’ stand-up, although still damn funny, is an entirely different beast from the Brit’s true forte, which is painfully dry humor -- without massive laughter in the background! (See the original Office, for the love of God.) Nonetheless, the mere sight of Gervais smile and sound of his self-laughter are both incredibly infectious, and the man is dislike-proof. Which will make this special, taped last year at Madison Square in New York City, pretty tough not to enjoy. Plus, it could prove to be a sort of preview of February's Oscars, which he may very well wind up hosting.
Saturday Night Live – 11:29/10:29c on NBC
Yay, it’s back! Shucks, Tina Fey’s gone. Unless Fey shocks us all by reprising her Sarah Palin impression -- which would be uncharacteristically gratuitous for her, since she said fake Palin would be retired after Election Day -- it’s plain old Saturday Night Live. Indeed, we should have been weaned off of Fey's must-see impressions, but with host Paul Rudd and musical guest Beyonce, tonight's SNL is still watchable. And who knows, maybe there’ll even be a funny non-Palin skit. It could happen!
The Two Mr. Kissels – 9/8c on Lifetime
In this based-on-a-true-story MOW (is there any other kind?), John Stamos stars as one of two millionaire brothers (Anson Mount is the other) murdered within a few years of each other for no good reason. But, aha -- the ensuing investigation reveals that the brothers weren’t such saints after all! Wait ... Uncle Jesse dies?!