Jeffrey Dean Morgan

"Magic City," an attractive, but frustrating new series from Starz about a Miami Beach luxury hotel, is the third drama this TV year, after the quickly dead "The Playboy Club" and the probably not returning "Pan Am," to be set in the middle of the 20th century. While on the face of it these shows seem like an attempt to draft off the cultural energy of "Mad Men," and may well be, they also represent in their small, halting way the birth of a new American genre, to join the western and the gangster film - midcentury stories of big dreams and dreamers, of prosperity and its undercurrents, set at the corner of Eisenhower and Kennedy, furnished with Eames chairs and cigarette machines.

SERIES Undercover Boss: The CEO of TaylorMade, a leader in all things golf, including balls, clubs, shoes and apparel goes undercover as a new employee in this new episode (8 p.m. CBS). Who Do You Think You Are? Edie Falco researches her roots in this new episode (8 p.m. NBC). Grimm: Nick's (David Giuntoli) plans for a romantic getaway with Juliette (Bitsie Tulloch) are derailed when he meets a mysterious couple (Azure Skye, Josh Randall) in this new episode (9 p.m. NBC)

Thousands of Hummers, helicopters, hot cars, houses, hotels and humans — well, actors playing humans — were sacrificed to make "The Losers" what it is: a violent, bloody mess. For the action-loving comic-book fans the film has in its sights, just one word: Duck! There are burning fragments of what passes for a story flying around everywhere in the massive debris field that is "The Losers." There's a full metal jacket of pounding sound, blood, fireballs, mayhem, double-crosses and the entire future of the U.S. of A. on the line.

"Magic City," an attractive, but frustrating new series from Starz about a Miami Beach luxury hotel, is the third drama this TV year, after the quickly dead "The Playboy Club" and the probably not returning "Pan Am," to be set in the middle of the 20th century. While on the face of it these shows seem like an attempt to draft off the cultural energy of "Mad Men," and may well be, they also represent in their small, halting way the birth of a new American genre, to join the western and the gangster film - midcentury stories of big dreams and dreamers, of prosperity and its undercurrents, set at the corner of Eisenhower and Kennedy, furnished with Eames chairs and cigarette machines.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan chuckled through cigarette smoke and held up a homemade key chain that had just been passed to him by a stranger. "Look at this," he said in a tobacco-cured growl as he nodded toward the photograph in the dangling plastic frame; it was a hazy picture of the actor's Rottweiler mix, Bisou. "These fans, they are something," the actor said with a tone of marvel and some low-grade alarm. "Wow. I mean, this is my dog."

HE did not go gently, neither was he proud. Jeffrey Dean Morgan hoped, prayed, schemed and finally begged for life; at one point, he marched into show runner Shonda Rhimes' office, turned those big shining eyes on her and pleaded: "Please, please, just let me live."

SERIES CNBC Titans: This new installment tells the story of the founders of mammoth consumer-goods manufacturer Procter & Gamble (6, 7, 9 and 10 p.m. CNBC). Biography: Colton Harris-Moore, the former fugitive dubbed the "Barefoot Bandit," is profiled (7 and 11 p.m. Biography). Big Brother: The long-running reality series hosted by Julie Chen returns for another summer of close-quarters shenanigans (9 p.m. CBS). Futurama: Fry (voice of Billy West) quits his job at Planet Express to become a policeman in this new episode of the animated comedy (10 p.m. Comedy Central)

SUNDAY It promises to be a tune-filled evening when Reba McEntire and Blake Shelton host "The 47th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards" and the late Whitney Houston is remembered as part of "Celebration of Gospel 2012. " (CBS, 8 p.m.; BET, 8 p.m.) Bad news, folks. "The Killing" and "Game of Thrones" have been canceled. April Fools! Both of these fan favorites return this night for their respective second seasons. Peter Dinklage, below, co-stars in the latter series, an epic fantasy-drama based on the novels of George R. R. Martin.

1 Tom Hanks, star of "Charlie Wilson's War," arrives at the film's world premiere at Universal CityWalk. Though the picture is about political intrigue in Washington, D.C., and covert operations in Afghanistan, it must have some funny business: The Golden Globes pegged it as a comedy. 2 Cleanshaven "Into the Wild" star Emile Hirsch, left, and Jonah Hill at the 7th Annual Hollywood Life Breakthrough of the Year Awards at Hollywood's Music Box @ Fonda.

SUNDAY It promises to be a tune-filled evening when Reba McEntire and Blake Shelton host "The 47th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards" and the late Whitney Houston is remembered as part of "Celebration of Gospel 2012. " (CBS, 8 p.m.; BET, 8 p.m.) Bad news, folks. "The Killing" and "Game of Thrones" have been canceled. April Fools! Both of these fan favorites return this night for their respective second seasons. Peter Dinklage, below, co-stars in the latter series, an epic fantasy-drama based on the novels of George R. R. Martin.

Thousands of Hummers, helicopters, hot cars, houses, hotels and humans — well, actors playing humans — were sacrificed to make "The Losers" what it is: a violent, bloody mess. For the action-loving comic-book fans the film has in its sights, just one word: Duck! There are burning fragments of what passes for a story flying around everywhere in the massive debris field that is "The Losers." There's a full metal jacket of pounding sound, blood, fireballs, mayhem, double-crosses and the entire future of the U.S. of A. on the line.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan chuckled through cigarette smoke and held up a homemade key chain that had just been passed to him by a stranger. "Look at this," he said in a tobacco-cured growl as he nodded toward the photograph in the dangling plastic frame; it was a hazy picture of the actor's Rottweiler mix, Bisou. "These fans, they are something," the actor said with a tone of marvel and some low-grade alarm. "Wow. I mean, this is my dog."

HE did not go gently, neither was he proud. Jeffrey Dean Morgan hoped, prayed, schemed and finally begged for life; at one point, he marched into show runner Shonda Rhimes' office, turned those big shining eyes on her and pleaded: "Please, please, just let me live."