Shameless triumphantly returns to Sunday nights

Here’s what’s happening in the world of television for Sunday, November 5. All times are Eastern. 

Top pick

Shameless (Showtime, 9 p.m.): Showtime has been laying low since Twin Peakswrapped up a few weeks ago, but tonight the cable channel unleashes a slew of new shows and episodes, including Shameless’ eighth season premiere. Reviewer Myles McNutt has seen this episode already, and says that “Shameless’ return finds the Gallaghers closer to real progress than ever before,” which, we have to say, after so many years is about time. Showtime agrees, noting that “Season eight finds the Gallaghers on an upswing—Frank comes out of a drug-induced haze and decides it’s finally time to be a contributing member of society, while Fiona faces hard decisions when she discovers her success as a landlord may mean someone else’s misfortune.” You can track all the Gallaghers’ ups and downs with Myles every Sunday.

Regular coverage

Bob’s Burgers (Fox, 7:30 p.m.)
The Simpsons (Fox, 8 p.m.)
Outlander (Starz, 8 p.m.)
Ghosted (Fox, 8:30 p.m.)
Star Trek: Discovery (CBS All Access, 8:30 p.m.)
The Last Man On Earth (Fox, 9:30 p.m.)
Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO, 10 p.m.)
Vice Principals (HBO, 10:40 p.m.)

Wild card

SMILF (Showtime, 9 p.m.): Showtime also debuts a whole new series tonight with SMILF, which Alex McLevy says is “a good show with a horrible title.” We are inclined to agree. Series star, creator, writer, and director Frankie Shaw tries to explain what SMILF really means straightaway in the Showtime press release, saying of the main character and the derogatory title, “By getting inside her life experience, we are in a sense changing the meaning, reclaiming it. There’s no real room for a woman’s existence in the word MILF, it’s something that is done to you. So by calling the show SMILF, and telling the stories we’re telling, it takes away the demeaning quality of that label.” Seems a little bit of a leap, there, but however you take the title, SMILF is about “a young mom from South Boston whose desires for relationships, sex, and a career collide with the realities of working-class single motherhood.” Sounds like she’d fit right in with those Gallaghers.

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