What to watch this weekend August 18, 2023: TV awards contenders

Though less obvious about it than some other streaming services, Peacock has been churning out some of the best TV of the year. On the heels of Emmy-nominated series “Poker Face” and “Mrs. Davis” comes the return of Craig Robinson’s comedy “Killing It.” The show stars Robinson and Claudia O’Doherty as Craig and Jillian, two underdogs who team up to kill snakes to win prize money, a real thing that happens in Florida as a means of protecting the ecosystem from invasive pythons.

In Season 2, which is now streaming, the pair’s talent for killing snakes leads to the realization of Craig’s dream: owning a saw palmetto farm, which he hopes will give him the means to become a mogul. The comedy, which hails from “Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s” Dan Goor and Luke Del Tredici, is as endearing as it is biting as it takes on issues of class division and income inequality in a story about achieving the American Dream. But it’s arguably the show’s impressive list of guest stars, from Jackie Earle Haley and Dot-Marie Jones to Kyle Mooney, that truly makes “Killing It” the awards contender to watch this weekend.

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While pickings for new and returning shows might be slim, there are plenty of ongoing shows that deserve your attention too. Other contenders include: 

• “Only Murders in the Building”: The search for Ben’s (Paul Rudd) killer gets underway in this week’s “Grab Your Hankies,” as Charles (Steve Martin) and Mabel (Selena Gomez) attempt to figure out who in the “Death Rattle” cast might have wanted to kill Ben so badly they murdered him twice. Meanwhile, Oliver (Best Comedy Actor nominee Martin Short) attempts to turn his doomed play into a musical, with hilarious and emotional results. The episode is now streaming on Hulu.
• “The Summer I Turned Pretty”: The Season 2 finale of the summer’s hottest show has finally arrived. In “Love Triangle,” Belly (Lola Tung) finds herself literally trapped between brothers Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno) and Conrad (Christopher Briney) when bad weather forces them to spend the night in a motel with only one bed. The show’s writers are leaving few options for the fan-fiction writers out there, but I’m sure they’ll find some other way to pass the time until Season 3. The entire second season is now streaming on Amazon.
• “Minx”: “Barbie” might be killing it on the big screen, but when it comes to women and the fight for equality on the small screen, it’s all about this 1970s-set comedy. In “A Stately Pleasure Dome Decree,” Joyce (Ophelia Lovibond) and Doug (Jake Johnson) head to Sin City, where absolutely nothing ever goes wrong, to find a buyer for the international rights to the magazine. Meanwhile, back at Bottom Dollar, the staff find themselves engrossed in the Battle of the Sexes (tennis, folks). The episode is now streaming on Starz.

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