TV picks for Jan. 8: "Babylon," "Archer," "Portlandia"

January 7, 2015 at 9:39PM
ARCHER: Episode 1, Season 6 "The Holdout" (Airing Thursday, January 8, 10:00 PM e/p) Archer must salvage a crashed plane in a jungle filled with relics from World War II. Pictured: (center) Sterling Archer (voice of H. Jon Benjamin). CR: FX
“Archer” returns for its sixth season. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

English street blues

Danny Boyle ("Slumdog Millionaire") is the latest A-list director to get back into the TV business with "Babylon," a workplace dramedy set in a London police station that's in dire need of a public-relations makeover. James Nesbitt, so haunting as a father who has lost his child in "The Missing," gets to play for laughs this time as the chief constable. 9 p.m. Sundance

Portland trail blazers

"Portlandia" enters a new season with even more ambition, stretching out its quirky stories to make room for more absurd antics. Guest stars this season include Matt Groening, Anna Gunn, Seth Meyers, Paul Reubens, Paul Simon, Oscar the Grouch and Steve Buscemi, who will also direct an episode. 9 p.m. IFC

I spy

"Archer," the best animated series not named "BoJack Horseman," returns for a sixth season that starts with the title character salvaging a crashed plane filled with World War II relics. Creator Adam Reed continues to find irreverent and hilarious ways to spoof James Bond and every other spy franchise in pop-culture history. 9 p.m. FX

Neal Justin

Carrie Brownstein & Fred Armisend in the season 5 premiere of "Portlandia."- Photo Credit: Augusta Quirk/IFC
Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen kick off another season of “Portlandia.” (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
about the writer

about the writer

More from Minnesota Star Tribune

See More
In this photo taken Monday, March 6, 2017, in San Francisco, released confidential files by The University of California of a sexual misconduct case, like this one against UC Santa Cruz Latin Studies professor Hector Perla is shown. Perla was accused of raping a student during a wine-tasting outing in June 2015. Some of the files are so heavily redacted that on many pages no words are visible. Perla is one of 113 UC employees found to have violated the system's sexual misconduct policies in rece

We respect the desire of some tipsters to remain anonymous, and have put in place ways to contact reporters and editors to ensure the communication will be private and secure.