Four hundred years after he was the top of his game, there’s still no beating Shakespeare. And a new PBS series is the next best thing to an actual production of one of his classics; it’s actors who are smitten with his work talking about it, investigating it, tracking down the real stories behind the characters, reviewing some of the best performances of a said play, and generally whipping up a similar enthusiasm for the Bard at home.
“Shakespeare Uncovered” (PBS, 9 and 10 p.m., check local listings) is the perfect use not only for public television but for PBS’ Friday night arts coverage. Though the initial six episodes are a little jammed up — running two by two over three weeks — the content is smashing.
It begins with Ethan Hawke, pictured above, obsessing about “Macbeth,” running his hand over a first folio, and hearing from historians about the woods of Dunsinane where the original king supposedly lived. Then Joley Richardson and her mother Vanessa Redgrave tackle two comedies “Twelfth Night” and “As You Like It” that includes Redgrave’s performance of Rosalind in the latter, which made her a star. Who doesn’t want to end their week feeling enlightened?
Well, not the people at “Spartacus: War of the Damned” (Starz, 10 p.m.) who are content to stage increasingly fake looking battles even as they infuse them with all manner of kabuki-style overreach: slo-mo, buckets of post-production blood splatter that dances in the air like gallons of lively red Kool-Aid, and grunts. The dialogue of the first 15 minutes are grunts as they stick swords into enemies and slice off limbs.
Once they get to dialogue, though, you wish they were still doing grunts. What’s not mumbly is badly acted and really poorly written (especially coming from that Shakespeare special). Anyway, it is the final season, so there’s that. As we begin Spartacus is growing his army and none of them endures even a scratch as they decimate all of Rome. Rome tries to decide how to respond — while frolicking with naked women of course.
Nancy Pelosi, David Avella, Howard Dean, Kristen Soltis and Jon Tester are the scheduled guests on a new “Real Time with Bill Maher” (HBO, 10 p.m.).
Hey, the retooled “Best Week Ever” (VH1, 10 p.m.) didn’t end up being quite so bad at all. It helps that they use the same announcer. One or two of the new comics are good, too.
Roseanne Barr, George Wendt and Chloe Sevigny guest star on a new “Portlandia” (IFC, 10 p.m.) where one of the events is a “Battle of the Gentle Bands.” Also, Kyle Maclachlan’s mayor quits.
A restaurant in Hanson, Mass. called the Olde Hitching Post gets some suggestions for improvement from Gordon Ramsay on a new “Kitchen Nightmares” (Fox, 8 p.m.). I’m thinking the name will go first.
Not surprisingly, they are replaying the gory premiere episode of “The Following” (Fox, 9 p.m.).
Nikita goes after a rogue agent on a new “Nikita” (The CW, 8 p.m.).
Joey Greco will not approve of the new app devised to help cheaters hide certain contacts on their phones on a new “Shark Tank” (ABC, 9 p.m.).
“ShoBox: The New Generation” (Showtime, 10 p.m.) is about boxers, not shoe designers.
You think Florida is the only place with female cops? After a couple episodes of “Police Women of Broward County” (OWN, 8 and 9 p.m.) comes the new “Police Women of Dallas” (OWN, 10 p.m.).
The two day showcase of movies that used the music of Jimmy Van Heusen concludes tonight with three Frank Sinatra films, “The Tender Trap” (TCM, 8 p.m.), “Robin and the 7 Hoods” (TCM, 10 p.m.) and the original “Ocean’s Eleven” (TCM, 12:15 a.m.).
Then a couple of haunted house movies: “The House of Seven Corpses” (TCM, 2;30 a.m.) and “House on Haunted Hill” (TCM, 4:30 a.m.).
Daytime Talk
Kelly & Michael: Lena Dunham, Nicholas Hoult. The View: Drew Barrymore, David Muir. The Talk: Luke Perry, Tim Ferriss. Ellen DeGeneres: Jude Law, Blind Pilot.
Late Talk
David Letterman: Bradley Cooper, Robert Klein, Soundgarden (rerun). Jay Leno: Robert De Niro, Sherri Shepherd, the Grascals. Jimmy Kimmel: Nicki Minaj, Josh Bowman. Jimmy Fallon: David Duchovny, Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi, Jenni “JWoww” Farley, Nick Kroll, Eli Young Band (rerun). Craig Ferguson: Julie Chen, Angela Kinsey (rerun). Carson Daly: Katey Sagal, the Stepkids (rerun). Chelsea Handler: T.I., Jeff wild, Jen Kirkman, Mo Mandel (rerun).