On ‘American Horror Story,’ gaga for Gaga
In her first acting role, Lady Gaga nabs a Golden Globe
January 13, 2016
“American Horror Story” has gone through a lot of changes in its five seasons. The anthology show reboots each year, with a largely new cast and new location.
The current edition, “American Horror Story Hotel,” which wraps up tonight at 10 p.m. on FX, is set at a hotel in Los Angeles owned by a blood-sucking fashionista played by singer Lady Gaga.
In fact, Gaga has a lot in common with the series. She, too, seems to morph with the season, shedding hair colors and costumes for whatever happens to strike her fancy at the moment. She’s not fickle, though – like “AHS,” there’s an underlying intelligence that makes her changes intriguing rather than tiresome.
Gaga had never done an acting role before “AHS,” but she’s taken to it well. Show creator Ryan Murphy has already offered her a part on season six, and on Sunday she won a Golden Globe for her role, the only Globe won by “AHS” or FX.
In tonight’s finale, several characters from previous seasons pop up, including one played by Sarah Paulson, who also plays someone in the current season. Wrap your head around that.
The finale will probably draw a good number for cable, though ratings have fallen sharply throughout the season. Last week’s penultimate episode drew a 0.9 adults 18-49 Nielsen rating, less than a third of the 3.0 the drama posted for its season debut.
A look at this week’s top TV draws |
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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13
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Time
|
Network
|
Program
|
Description
|
8 p.m.
|
CBS
|
“2 Broke Girls” (C)
|
In the show’s 100th episode, Caroline tries to keep her grandmother from finding out about the family’s money scandal.
|
8 p.m.
|
VH1
|
“Mob Wives” (R)
|
Season premiere. The Philly women leave, but another new face joins the Staten Island ladies.
|
9 p.m. |
Fox |
“Second Chance” (D) |
Series premiere. A former police officer gets a chance at redemption by a billionaire and his twin sister |
9 p.m.
|
Syfy
|
“Face Off” (R)
|
Season premiere. New season begins with the contestants teaming up in pairs for an alien bounty hunter challenge.
|
10 p.m. |
FX |
“American Horror Story” (D) |
Season finale. Iris and Liz take over the Cortez, and Alex and John have hotel withdrawals. |
11 p.m.
|
TV Land
|
“Teachers” (C)
|
Series premiere. New sitcom starring members of the comedy group The Katydids.
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THURSDAY, JANUARY 14
|
|||
Time
|
Network |
Program |
Description
|
8 p.m.
|
CW
|
“The World Dog Awards” ((A)
|
The second annual event, hosted by George Lopez.
|
8 p.m.
|
Fox
|
“American Idol” (R)
|
Early season auditions continue.
|
9 p.m.
|
Animal Planet
|
“Alaska Proof” (R)
|
Series premiere. New reality series following a distillery in Alaska.
|
10 p.m.
|
USA
|
“Colony” (D)
|
Series premiere. Futuristic drama in which Los Angeles is occupied by aliens.
|
10:30 p.m.
|
MTV
|
“Greatest Party Story Ever” (C)
|
Series premiere. Funny party stories are recreated.
|
10:30 p.m.
|
Comedy Central
|
“Idiotsitter” (C)
|
Series premiere. A recent college grad applies to become a nanny but ends up having to care for a woman under house arrest.
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FRIDAY, JANUARY 15
|
|||
Time
|
Network
|
Program
|
Description
|
3 a.m.
|
Netflix
|
“Degrassi: The Next Class” (D)
|
Season premiere. The show’s complete 15th season becomes available.
|
7:30 p.m.
|
Nickelodeon
|
“The Fairly OddParents” (K)
|
Season premiere. The animated series kicks off its 10th season.
|
9 p.m.
|
Fox
|
“Hell’s Kitchen” (R)
|
Season premiere. The new contestants travel to Las Vegas to see where they’ll be working if they win.
|
9 p.m.
|
ABC
|
“Shark Tank” (R)
|
Tonight includes an update of an events company that Mark Cuban invested in.
|
10 p.m.
|
Bravo
|
“The People’s Couch” (R)
|
Season premiere. A new season of watching people’s reactions to popular TV shows.
|
10 p.m.
|
HBO
|
“Real Time with Bill Maher” (C)
|
Season premiere. The show returns just in time for the presidential campaign season to heat up.
|
SATURDAY, JANUARY 16
|
|||
Time
|
Network
|
Program
|
Description
|
4:30 p.m.
|
CBS
|
“NFL Football” (S)
|
New England hosts a Divisional Round playoff game.
|
8 p.m.
|
ESPN2
|
“College Basketball” (S)
|
An SEC matchup between Florida and Ole Miss.
|
8 p.m.
|
NBC
|
“NFL Football” (S)
|
Another Divisional Round playoff game, this time in the NFC at Arizona.
|
9 p.m.
|
Hallmark Channel
|
“Love on the Sidelines” (M)
|
TV movie starring Emily Kinney from “The Walking Dead,” along with John Reardon and Joe Theismann. Yes, that Joe Theismann.
|
10 p.m.
|
Esquire Network
|
“Spotless” (D)
|
Season finale. Jean and Martin try to frame Victor.
|
11:59 p.m.
|
NBC
|
“Saturday Night Live” (C)
|
Adam Driver hosts, with musical guest Chris Stapleton.
|
SUNDAY, JANUARY 17
|
|||
Time
|
Network
|
Program
|
Description
|
1 p.m.
|
Fox
|
“NFL Football” (S)
|
A Divisional playoff game on the NFC side, this time at Carolina.
|
1:30 p.m.
|
CBS
|
“College Basketball” (S)
|
A Big Ten battle between Wisconsin and Michigan State.
|
4:30 p.m.
|
CBS
|
“NFL Football” (S)
|
Denver hosts the final Divisional playoff game of the weekend.
|
8 p.m.
|
A&E, Lifetime, LMN
|
“Critics’ Choice Awards” (A)
|
The three networks simulcast the 21st annual event.
|
9 p.m.
|
NBC
|
“Democratic Debate” (N)
|
NBC hosts the first Democratic presidential debate of the New Year.
|
9 p.m.
|
TBS
|
“Angie Tribeca” (C)
|
Series premiere. The first episode of the series, which will air over the course of 25 hours.
|
A = awards show or special, C = comedy, D = drama, DD = daytime drama, G = game show, K = kids, M = movie, N = news/documentary, R = reality, S = sports, T = talk/variety show. |
Tags: american horror story, dramas, fx, golden globes, Lady Gaga, tv this week, wednesday tv this week
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