Silicon Valley
Sunday at 10 p.m., HBO
One of the pleasures of “Silicon Valley’’ — and there are many — is watching Martin Starr, who plays Bertram Gilfoyle, generally known as just Gilfoyle. He has been having a fantastic season, chiming in with sarcastic zingers in every episode and playing fierce games of pride chess with Dinesh. He has a remarkably calm, but also quite expressive, deadpan that can make even his silences funny. I sometimes wonder if I’m enjoying him so much here — as I did on “Party Down’’ — because of my undying fandom of “Freaks and Geeks.’’ Having watched Starr grow up, it’s hard not to feel supportive of his work. But no, I enjoy him on “Silicon Valley’’ simply because he’s just really good at what he does. And he is surrounded by an ensemble that gets better with each season, including T.J. Miller’s grandiose Erlich and Zach Woods’s Jared.
Last Week Tonight
Sunday at 11 p.m., HBO
If you didn’t already have an intellectual crush on John Oliver, the goofy Brit with the biting wit, last Sunday’s episode of “Last Week Tonight’’ might have left you no choice. In what he called “the largest one-time giveaway in television show history,’’ he forgave some $15 million in medical debt for some 9,000 Texans. The stunt came at the end of his scathing 20-minute takedown of the debt-buying industry. Self-ironically, Oliver compared himself to Oprah Winfrey, who gave an estimated $8 million in cars to her entire audience in 2004. “[Expletive] you, Oprah,’’ he yelled as paper money fell around him, “It’s done! It is done! I am the new queen of daytime talk!’’ Just another reason to watch this funny, but quite substantive, series.
BrainDead
Monday at 10 p.m., CBS
“BrainDead’’ is insanely unique. It’s a sci-fi series that has alien ants arriving by meteor and invading and altering the brains of politicians in Washington, D.C. It’s a horror comedy that shows cranial matter leaking out of human ears with the exclamation-pointed special effects of, say, “Men in Black.’’ It’s a solid procedural drama about warring Senate factions, with a D.C. newbie — Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s Laurel — at the center. And it’s a big, fat, juicy allegory about what ails America, set in the very present tense, with TV footage of Donald Trump yelling about greed in the backdrop. From the makers of “The Good Wife,’’ the show is the kind of eccentric bundle of genres you don’t often find on a network TV landscape dominated by procedurals. Watching the first few episodes, I was impressed simply that it even made it to air in the first place.
Casual
Tuesday, Hulu
There’s a nice little TV trend of relationship comedies that look and act more like indie films than TV sitcoms. They include Amazon’s “Catastrophe,’’ Netflix’s “Love,’’ HBO’s late, lamented “Togetherness,’’ and Hulu’s “Casual.’’ They are pleasingly low concept and built on awkward bedroom negotiations, sweet bonds of longtime friendship, and late-night hangs where drugs and alcohol trigger confessions and realizations. I mention this because “Casual’’ just returned for its second season. It’s not a Great Work of TV Art; it’s just an enjoyable and wise look at personal growth and the fears and freedoms brought on by change. Michaela Watkins stars as Valerie, a therapist in the middle of an ugly divorce. She and her 16-year-old daughter move in with Valerie’s younger brother, Alex, a womanizer and jokester who cofounded a dating website called Snooger. While Valerie is struggling to be casual as she strikes out on her own, Alex is too casual about sex and love for his own good. Warmth and humor ensue.
MATTHEW GILBERT
