TV picks for Aug. 27-28: Comedy Jam, 'The Strain,' Robin Williams

August 27, 2016 at 5:23AM
August 1, 1978 "Zap!" When you're a spaceman from the planet Ork, there are certain powers you can call upon. Robin Williams stars as extraterrestrial spaceman Mork in the ABC Television Network's new comedy series "Mork & Mindy," which premieres this fall and will air Mondays (8:00-8:30 p.m., EDT). This delightful comedy is about a spaceman who meets a young and lovely earthling named Mindy while on a mission to Earth. ABC ORG XMIT: MIN2014081210264217
Robin Williams as Mork in “Mork & Mindy.” (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Good will hunting

The late Garry Marshall weighs in on how he found a talent from another planet to inhabit Mork in "Robin Williams: Behind Closed Doors," a two-hour documentary hosted by Natalie Morales with loads of archival footage from Williams' 30-year career.

8 p.m. Sunday, Reelz

Tongue lashings

I lost touch with "The Strain" — too much trouble digesting solid food after the weekly carnage — but the third-season premiere does a nice job of bringing us wimps up to date. Turns out that aliens with Gene Simmons-length tongues are determined to take over the Earth, even if it means taking a few million bullets to their skeletal builds. As ridiculous and gruesome as a high-end video game.

9 p.m. Sunday, FX

A little weird

If I were launching a reboot of "Die Hard," I'd give serious consideration to Jay Pharoah. The versatile comic, who just exited "Saturday Night Live," looks cut, confident and cool during his cover of Justin Bieber's "Where Are U Now," part of "Goddamn Comedy Jam," a special in which stand-up comics tap their inner rock stars. Even though Natasha Leggero borrows Cheap Trick's Rick Nielsen for her number, Pharoah steals the show.

10:30 p.m. Sunday, Comedy Central

Neal Justin

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