Based on one of the more popular and influential pulp gothic novels of the past half century “Anne Rice’s Interview With the Vampire” (9 p.m. Sunday, AMC, TV-MA) enters its second season.
When last seen, vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson) and his young protege and vampire daughter Claudia (Delainey Hayes) had just conspired to kill their vampire “maker,” Lestat (Sam Reid), and have his body discarded in a New Orleans garbage dump. At the same time, they left the Crescent City in a trail of blood, having slaughtered many of its leading citizens in a season finale that brought new extremes to the notion of “over-the-top.”
Written in the 1970s, “Interview” pretty much revived the vampire genre, rescuing it from dusty “Dracula” lore. And along the way it traded in implied violence and sublimated same-sex attraction, not to mention a kind of hierarchical mythical malarkey heavily influenced by Rice’s lapsed Catholicism.
Much of the sexuality that was hinted at in the novel, and to some degree in the 1994 Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and Kirsten Dunst movie adaptation, has been made explicit here. Subtext has become text in all the most obvious and even ridiculous ways.
Over the course of the first season, Louis and Lestat devolved from their exalted perch as immortals to merely a miserable couple, stuck with each other seemingly forever. There may have been some reason to reduce Louis and Lestat to screaming, embittered lovers/enemies, but it’s safe to say that the mystery and the magic of the novel did not survive their ordeal.
As we enter season two, the scene shifts to Paris, where Louis and Claudia discover a vampire demimonde even more encrusted with ancient culture than that of New Orleans.
Help yourself.
— I have no problem when institutions including People Magazine and Pop Sugar refer to personalities as the “Sexiest,” or most “Fabulous” or most “Beautiful.” All those amorphous attributes attract us to scroll down lists or mindlessly watch specials like “TIME100: The World’s Most Influential People” (10 p.m. Sunday, ABC).
Time’s list includes Fantasia Barrino, Kylie Minogue, Greg Abbott, Elliot Page, Kelly Ripa, Jenni Hermoso, Colman Domingo and Dev Patel. Satya Nadella and Patrick Mahomes have made the cut for the third straight year.
The word here that confuses me is “influential.” I admit to being moved by Fantasia’s performance of “Summertime” on “American Idol” some 20 years ago. But “influenced”? She is said to have survived any number of personal hardships, cataloged in her memoir “Life Is Not a Fairy Tale,” so perhaps the word “inspiration” is more appropriate.
Similarly, I have to wonder who or what Kelly Ripa or Kylie Minogue have “influenced.”
When you use words loosely, they lose their meaning. And those misusing them lose influence and clout. And that would be said of the co-creators of this one-hour list, Time Magazine and ABC News. Both fall into the “not-what-they-used-to-be” category. And perhaps lists like this have contributed to their decline.
— Mother’s Day has spawned its own TV traditions, usually revolving around “Mommie Dearest” marathons and other tales of moms gone bad or berserk. The Oxygen network uses the occasion to air a “Snapped” (9 p.m. Sunday, TV-14) 20th anniversary special. Look for a return to the story of Sharee Miller, imprisoned after enduring what has come to be known as “The Internet’s First Murder Trial.”
— A more positive spin on the holiday, the documentary “Bridging Divides: Sharing Heartbeats,” streams on Mother’s Day on PBS.org and the PBS app. A profile of women fighting hatred around the world, it was produced by longtime activist Susan Polis Schutz, who happens to be the mother of Colorado Gov. Jared Polis.
— ESPN+ begins streaming the docuseries “Full Court Press,” profiling female college basketball stars Caitlin Clark, Kamilla Cardoso and Kiki Rice.
SATURDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS
— The Milwaukee Brewers host the St. Louis Cardinals in MLB Action (7 p.m., Fox).
— A concerned mom frets about her daughter, the target of vicious texts, in the 2024 shocker “Mommy Meanest” (8 p.m., Lifetime, TV-14).
— A busy executive finds time to canoe-dle on a Rocky Mountain business retreat in the 2024 romance “A Whitewater Romance” (8 p.m., Hallmark, TV-G).
— The Cleveland Cavaliers host the Boston Celtics in NBA action (8:30 p.m. ABC).
— Maya Rudolph hosts “Saturday Night Live” (11:30 p.m., NBC, TV-14), featuring musical guest Vampire Weekend.
SUNDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS
— “60 Minutes” (7 p.m., CBS).
— Change seems possible as a tyrant’s grasp weakens on “A Gentleman in Moscow” (8 p.m., Showtime, TV-14).
— Colter teams up with his estranged brother on “Tracker” (9 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
— Becca and Rosaline’s estrangement takes a back seat to increasingly unsettling revelations on “MaryLand” on “Masterpiece” (9 p.m., PBS, TV-14, check local listings).
— Hollywood’s take on the Vietnam War becomes confused with living memory on “The Sympathizer” (9 p.m., HBO, TV-MA).
— “How it Really Happened” (9 p.m., CNN) recalls the gruesome 2013 murder of Reeva Steenkamp by Olympic superstar Oscar Pistorius.
— Hiding out in Edinburgh on “Guilt” on “Masterpiece” (10 p.m., PBS, TV-14, check local listings).
— “The Jinx: The Lives and Deaths of Robert Durst” (10 p.m. Sunday, HBO, TV-MA) explores an accused killer’s relationship with a docuseries profile.
CULT CHOICE
TCM continues its festival of double feature programming. This week director Patty Jenkins (“Wonder Woman”) has chosen “The Fisher King” (8 p.m. Saturday, TV-14), a 1991 tale of a radio DJ (Jeff Bridges) who encounters a seemingly homeless man (Robin Williams) who claims to be a knight in search of the Holy Grail. The 2008 fantasy “Synecdoche, New York” (10:30 p.m.) follows, starring Philip Seymour Hoffman as a delusional theater director who demands that his actors live in his replica city.
SATURDAY SERIES
Japanese assassins run amok on “S.W.A.T.” (8 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14) … “The Wall” (8 p.m., NBC, r, TV-PG) … “NBA Countdown” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) … “48 Hours” (9 p.m. r, and 10 p.m., CBS) … “Weakest Link” (9 p.m., r, NBC, TV-PG) … A vintage helping of “Saturday Night Live” (10 p.m., NBC, r, TV-14).
SUNDAY SERIES
A con man returns on “The Equalizer” (8 p.m., CBS, TV-14) … “American Ninja Warrior” (8 p.m., r, and 9 p.m., NBC, TV-PG) … Tipping culture baffles Homer on “The Simpsons” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-PG) … To catch a thief on “Krapopolis” (8:30 p.m., Fox, TV-14) … Doctor’s orders on “The Great North” (9 p.m., Fox, TV-PG) … A missing pastry on a slow day on “Grimsburg” (9:30 p.m., Fox, TV-14) … Missing evidence on “CSI: Vegas” (10 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
