The Riverdale musical department is open once again, a collection of animated sci-fi shorts will trip you out, and itâs back to school for a few of the pretty little liars.
Hello!
You won’t find uncensored swear words or graphic imagery in this newsletter, because we follow the rules of broadcast television; some things are OK to see and say, and others are a big no-no. (Won’t someone think of the children?) But where are the lines? Our own Malcolm Venable [explored the ever-evolving boundaries of what’s appropriate on television]( and found that there are no rules. It’s another story in [TV Guide’s Sex Ed week]( which continues all week with new stories on the intersection of sex and TV. Here are tonight’s TV picks:
[Your Watch This Now! newsletter is created by Senior Recommendations and Reviews Editor Tim Surette and more show-obsessed editors at TV Guide!](
WATCH THIS NOW!
[The Act](
[Get caught up in The Act](
Series premieres Wednesday on Hulu
[Patricia Arquette]( has become a must-see actress, and she follows up her performance as a trashy conspirator in the prison-break drama [Escape at Dannemora]( with a performance as a trashy conspirator in the true-crime drama The Act. Hey, she looks great with frizzy hair, all right? The series follows the real and insanely bizarre murder case of Dee Dee Blanchard by her daughter, Gypsy, who was told by her mother that she suffered from muscular dystrophy and leukemia, among other ailments. Dee Dee, who had Munchausen syndrome by proxy, kept Gypsy in a wheelchair and fed her blended food through a feeding tube, but as Gypsy got older, she learned her mother was lying to her, and eventually decided to kill her. The series keeps viewers off-balance by mixing pastel tones and creeping suspense, and [Joey King]( keeps up with Arquette’s performance with her wonderful portrayal of Gypsy. This is great, uneasy television.
DO, RE, F--- MI GENTLY WITH A CHAINSAW
[Riverdale](
[Riverdale carries a tune and a torch for Heathers](
Wednesday at 8/7c on The CW
It’s weird that Riverdale doing a musical episode isn’t even weird anymore, but then again, Riverdale is capital W weird. Seriously, it should be renamed Wiverdale. This time, the murdering, fantasy-game playing, bear-attack surviving, Jingle-Jangle snorting 20-somethings stage a musical in honor of the ‘90s cult film (and its musical adaptation) Heathers, where they skip talking and sing what they want to say. It’s going to give Tumblr a lot of ammo, especially the double-duet of the [musical’s “Seventeen.”]( And if you’re still somehow following what’s going on in the season’s story, something BIG happens at the end.
ANIMATRONIC ANIMATION
[Love, Death + Robots](
[Love, Death + Robots is animated sci-fi for people with short attention spans](
Season 1 is now on Netflix
Bigger isn’t always better, and Netflix has shown an interest in mixing up what we think television is by experimenting with different formats. (The [three-episode horror series Ghoul]( [Black Mirror]( “Bandersnatch,” imported British short series [Bodyguard]( for example.) Love, Death + Robots is a collection of 18 animated shorts (varying from 7 to 17 minutes in length) from the world of science-fiction, all with different stories and animation styles. It’s a real mixed bag, but some episodes are really fantastic. It’s best to press play and watch them all to keep the element of surprise, but [we’ve sifted through them and picked out the best if you want to skip to the good parts](. At the very least, watch the episode “Alternate Histories,” in which an app posits what would happen if Adolf Hitler died in six different ways.
PRETTY SLIGHTLY OLDER LIARS
[Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists](
[The Perfectionists keeps the madness of Pretty Little Liars going](
Series premieres Wednesday at 10/9c on Freeform
[Pretty Little Liars]( Alison must have been cursed by a witch when she was a youngster, because trouble seems to follow her wherever she goes. She’s off to a new job as a TA at a university in Oregon, but kids start dying, of course, and her students will — just like Pretty Little Liars — alternate between being victims and suspects. Joining Alison at the school is PLL villain Mona, and while Alison is trying to better herself, Mona seems chill with being the same shady monster she was before. If you’re hesitant to return to the universe after the failure of the previous spin-off [Ravenswood]( don’t worry; this is much better and more aligned with the PLL spirit.
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