HBO's adult animated comedy Animals returns for a 10-episode Season 3 at 10:30 p.m. Friday.
Adult? You bet. Your first clue is that the series airs at 10:30 p.m. All the munchkins should be tucked snugly in bed by then, having drifted off while you read them selected passages of Bedtime for Frances or The Wuggie Norple Story.
Truth be told, I'm sound asleep by that hour myself, so I'll use the DVR for playback during daylight hours. Or catch up on HBO On Demand, where the first two seasons are also available.
Portions of Animals (which began life as a series of Web shorts) will set off some sensitive folks' crassness alarms, but if you are in the exclusive niche that enjoys wacky, weird, quirky and quixotic comedy, then Animals is for you.
Created by Phil Matarese and Mike Luciano -- who voice many of the characters -- the series "ventures into the nether regions of Earth's least inhabitable environment, New York." Here's the scoop.
Apocalyptic events (Virus X) at the end of Season 2 killed off the entire human population of New York. That means the city is now home to a diverse crew of downtrodden anthropomorphic critters. They include lovelorn rats, gender-bending pigeons and aging bedbugs in the midst of a midlife crisis.
HBO tells us that while they may not be people, "the awkward small talk, moral ambiguity and existential woes of non-human urbanites prove remarkably similar to those of humans."
Or as one critic put it, the series demonstrates "the familiar social stigmas associated with communal dysfunction."
Each episode features a different cast of special guests such as Eric Andre, Jessica Chastain, Rob Corddry, Horatio Sanz, Molly Shannon, Ellie Kemper, Marc Maron, Wanda Sykes, Cobie Smulders and Jon Lovitz.
Others set to guest star in the new season include Tom Bergeron, Marcia Clark, Jane Kaczmarek, Lucy Liu, Carol Kane, Johnny Knoxville, John Leguizamo, Demi Moore, Moby, Tracy Morgan, John Mulaney, Soledad O'Brien, Cheri Oteri and Aisha Tyler.
That's quite a lineup. Evidently, all the cool kids in Hollywood want to be on this show.
Executive producers of the series are filmmaker brothers Mark and Jay Duplass, the guys behind HBO's Togetherness and a bunch of other stuff. I'm betting it's their connections that have the guest stars lined up.
• Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team. It may be Season 13, but watching the hopefuls going after their dream sideline job never gets old. The series returns at 9 p.m. today on CMT.
CMT boasts that Season 12 featuring "America's sweethearts" was the highest-rated ever and the new season will have familiar veterans "trying to hold their spots against a talented crop of rookies."
This season's wannabees include cheer vets from other NFL teams, the NBA and NHL, as well as Miss America 2017 first runner-up Rachel Wyatt, professional hip-hop dancers and a former competitive ice skater.
Sensory overload warning: Tonight's premiere will feature "400 nervous and excited ladies" at AT&T Stadium trying out. At the end of the day, their fate rests in the hands of director Kelli Finglass.
• Bachelorette Weekend debuts at 10 p.m. today on CMT for those who can't get enough of "relationship" shows with Bachelor and Bachelorette in their titles.
I would never have guessed, but CMT informs us that "Nashville has developed a reputation for becoming the No. 1 destination for bachelor/bachelorette parties." That's why we have this new series that follows the staff of Bach Weekend, a Nashville-based outfit "specializing in creating once-in-a-lifetime bachelor/bachelorette experiences for soon-to-be brides and grooms celebrating their final fling."
That final fling usually includes liberal amounts of adult beverages. Yeah. Nothing could go wrong there.
Not surprisingly, the series comes from the producers of the puerile Jersey Shore and Party Down South. You have been warned.
• Program notes. For those who keep emailing, Season 4 of Better Call Saul arrives at 8 p.m. Monday on AMC. It's one of the best shows on TV and I'll have more in Sunday's column.
Other popular programs still ahead this month include Bachelor in Paradise on Tuesday; AMC's Fear the Walking Dead on Aug. 12; Born This Way (A&E), Aug. 15; Mr. Mercedes (AT&T Audience Network), Aug. 22; and the second season of Netflix's Ozark (Aug. 31).
The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email:
mstorey@arkansasonline.com
Weekend on 08/02/2018