So, you’re not interested in the Super Bowl, and you couldn’t care less if the 49ers beat …. the Maple Leafs, I want to say? Welcome to the (small) club. But what are you going to do on Sunday? Read a book? Didn’t think so—we need our TV time.
Fortunately, some TV networks aren’t backing down from the Super Bowl counter-programming challenge this weekend. Here are a few shows daring to air new episodes against the Big Game on Sunday, February 11 (besides the Puppy Bowl, that is).
New TV episodes to watch instead of Super Bowl LVIII
S4 E5: The icily foreboding fourth season of True Detective reaches its next-to-last episode as Chief Danvers (Jodie Foster) and Trooper Navarro (Kali Reis) work to solve the mystery of the Tsalal Research Station crew. Not much else is known about the episode ahead of time, as HBO has frozen (get it?) advance story information. We do know this plot twist: HBO will make the episode available on Friday, February 9, 6 p.m. PT/9 p.m. ET, on Max so streamers can watch it early. But HBO won’t be extending the same courtesy to …
S12 E2: In the second episode of the final season of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Larry (Larry David), Leon (J.B. Smoove), and Susie (Susie Essman) are stuck in an Atlanta Airbnb with a problematic landscape detail (the episode is titled “The Lawn Jockey,” FYI). Will their well-intentioned attempt to remove it result in an incident that’ll look pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty bad for Larry? Are you familiar with the show?
#3. The Woman in the Wall (Paramount+ with SHOWTIME)
S1 E4: Creepy Irish murder mystery The Woman in the Wall is getting close to the end, and Lorna (Ruth Wilson) is getting closer to learning what really happened to her lost daughter, as well as other missing children, at the convent. Meanwhile, there’s still a literal dead woman in the wall—the show’s title isn’t a metaphor. (This episode streams early on Friday for Paramount+ with SHOWTIME app users.)
S1 E5: Twenty years after the events of The Maltese Falcon, detective Sam Spade (Clive Owen) has retired to the tiny burg of Bozouls in the south of France—but, as you’d expect, he’s already stumbled onto a new mystery to solve. That mystery is the brutal murder of six local nuns, and there may be a supernatural connection to a mysterious child, so NBD. (Monsieur Spade episodes stream early Sundays on AMC+.)
#5. Funny Woman (PBS)
S1 E6: In the season finale of Funny Woman, a ’60s-set British cousin to The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Barbara (Gemma Arterton) is recording … the season finale of her TV show? How meta. Funny Woman is based on Nick Hornby’s Funny Girl novel, and it’s more of a drama with dashes of comedy than a straight-up sitcom, but Arterton shines in both genres. The fast and fashionable series is worth a binge-watch for newbies—catch up with PBS on-demand.
More TV shows airing new episodes opposite Super Bowl LVIII
Skipping the Super Bowl is easier when your DVR or on-demand library is stacked with shows to finish watching. But if you’re looking for more fresh picks, here’s what else to watch besides Super Bowl LVIII.
- Miss Scarlet and The Duke (PBS)
- All Creatures Great and Small (PBS)
- Enemy Inside the Gate (ID)
- Operation: Pet Rescue (NatGeo Wild)
- Air Disasters (Smithsonian Channel)
- Extreme Airport Africa (Smithsonian Channel)
Bill Frost has been a journalist and TV reviewer since the 4:3-aspect-ratio ’90s. His pulse-pounding prose has been featured in The Salt Lake Tribune, Inlander, Coachella Valley Independent, Las Vegas Weekly, and many other dead-tree publications (see BillFrost.tv). In addition to being a Senior Staff Writer at CableTV.com, Bill is a syndicated streaming TV columnist forSalt Lake City Weekly and other alternative weeklies, and host/producer of TV Tan Podcast. By night, Bill cranks a Flying V with his band at the bar.
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