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entertainment lookout
Album Review It’s unclear what exactly the Weeknd is so sad about. Since the release of his 2011 debut, “House of Balloons,” Abel Tesfaye’s anti-D.A.R.E. dirges have made him a Tumblrblog heartthrob and international avatar for indie-slanted soul music.
ies of last year’s “Trilogy,” a tripledisc collection of mix tapes originally offered for free on the Internet. Depending on your mathematics, “Kiss Land” is either his fourth album or first commercial release of original material. The album unravels as a series of uninteresting romantic seductions conducted over a monochrome-gray palette. There is menace but no drama. Nearly every narrative is devoted to a disembodied tryst between Tesfaye and an anonymous conquest. They typically fall into two catego-
A Bittersweet ‘Derek’ Ricky Gervais shows a sentimental side in his new Netflix series Netf lix adds to its collection of exclusive series with “Derek,” launching every episode today. Series creator Ricky Gervais has the title role in this bittersweet comedy, playing a simple-minded 49-year-old working in a home for the elderly. Derek and the folks he
NETFLIX
Streaming
Creator Ricky Gervais stars as the titular “Derek” in his new Netflix show.
tends to and lives among are on the outskirts of mainstream society, and their troubles — public and private — give Derek and his friends and coworkers, including Hannah (Kerry Godliman) and Dougie (Karl Pilkington), plenty to discuss, often in lurid detail. Like “The Office,” the series’ narrative structure is based on a documentary film, this time looking at the workings of a group home. As on “Extras,” a lot of “Derek” consists of commentary about television and, particularly, the reality
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TV genre, Derek’s favorite. In “The Office,” “Extras” and “Life’s Too Short,” Gervais was never afraid to go for the offensive joke and the cruel observation, particularly about the vulnerable. Viewers may be a tad confused here. Is Gervais playing the mentally challenged Derek for sympathy or for laughs? Or both? That may be enough to put some off from watching the show. Of course, Gervais’ characters have always been designed to inf lict a great deal of provocative discomfort upon his audience. But some fans of his approach may never forgive Gervais for this series’ sentimentality. KE VIN McDONOUGH (UNIVERSAL UCLICK)
9 P.M.
‘Project Runway’ (LIFE) The designers are challenged to create a vibrant look for a modern Southern woman, with the winning design to be sold by the Belk department store chain — in its stores and online. Stacy Keibler and John Thomas serve as guest judges.
9 P.M.
‘Burn Notice’ (USA) The popular spy spoof ends it seven-season run tonight. This tale of a CIA spy, Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan, below), exiled from the agency and forced to depend on his own “MacGyver”-like resources, is most notable for clever narrative asides, allowing Michael to explain the tricks of the spy trade for the audience.
GLENN WATSON (USA NETWORK)
His louche chronicles of lust, loft parties and brutal comedowns sparked an entire sub-genre of imitators. He collaborated with Drake, sampled Beach House and Cocteau Twins, and sang of glass tables covered in pills and pale powders. Universal Republic won the ensuing bidding war for the wan woos of the once-anonymous former American Apparel employee. The 23-year-old Toronto native received his own XO vanity imprint, toured the globe (he’ll be in D.C. next month) and sold 300,000 cop-
TV TONIGHT
9:30 P.M.
‘Anger Management’ (FX) Charlie and his dad (Martin Sheen, below right) are both out to stop women in their lives from making bad decisions. For Charlie, it’s trying to talk Kate out of sleeping with the executive in charge of funding for their study. For Martin, it’s discouraging Lacey (Noureen DeWulf, below left) from throwing herself at an unsavory yoga teacher. PRASHANT GUPTA (FX NETWORK)
Abel Tesfaye — aka the Weeknd — has no reason to be as sad as he is on ‘Kiss Land’
LA MAR C. TAYLOR
Why So Serious?
ries. The first are the girls he jilted back home when he left to become a world-conquering superstar. Sometimes, as on “Pretty” or “The Town,” they deign to take up with another man as a response to his thirst for groupies. This makes him sad, but he copes with it by demanding their non-negotiable return. Spoiler alert: His pleas usually work. Then there are the girls he meets on tour, whom he treats with a wanton disregard usually found only in maritime sailors, pimp-rappers and disgraced politicians. On songs such as “Kiss Land,” you never learn their names or a single incidental detail. You just hear cliches about how they’re “too damn fly.” This doesn’t necessarily make him sad, but Tesfaye usually follows it up with a drug prescription that ensures his serotonin levels will never recover. It’s like listening to a diary of an R&B singer with Asperger’s syndrome, a bustling Snapchat account and a substance-abuse problem. Sex and seduction have never seemed so joyless or hollow. He wants your pity, but he’s not sure why. JEFF WEISS (THE WASHINGTON POST)
10:01 P.M.
‘Rookie Blue’ (ABC) In the wake of the attacks on 15 Division, Andy and her squad mates try to piece together a past crime in hopes of finding out what happened to Oliver. Dov and Wes clash over what’s best for Chloe in the suspenseful season finale. (TRIBUNE MEDIA/UNIVERSAL UCLICK)