Dead to Me Brings Christina Applegate Back Where She Belongs

We don't talk enough about what a Hollywood survivor Christina Applegate is. She's been at this for over 30 years, having started in the late '80s on Married with Children, back when FOX was barely a network. Playing the hot girl on a fledgeling network's raunchy sitcom isn't usually the easiest path to career longevity, and when Applegate's first bid for big screen success, Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead failed to launch her as a movie starlet, it seemed unlikely that she'd get work long past the end of Married with Children.

Yet here we are decades later, and she's been Emmy-nominated, Tony-nominated, starred in films like Anchorman, The Sweetest Thing, and Bad Moms, starred in two network TV sitcoms, and beat breast cancer. She's a survivor in so many senses of the word, and this weekend provides the perfect opportunity to devour her new Netflix series.

SERIES PREMIERE: The plot of Dead to Me doesn't feel overly familiar. A widow grieving the sudden, violent death of her husband meets another grieving woman, and their friendship ends up being good for one another … until the second woman's past comes to light. Applegate plays the first woman, while Linda Cardellini plays the second. The series comes from executive producers Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, which pretty much guarantees that the dark premise will be darkly funny as well. Streaming on Netflix

SERIES PREMIERE: From the folks who brought you Bojack Horseman comes what Netflix certainly hopes will be the next celebrated animated series for grownups, Tuca & Bertie. Starring Tiffany Haddish and Ali Wong as the voices of a toucan and a songbird who are best friends (naturally), the series seems like an animated Broad City about birds. In addition to Haddish and Wong, other voices include Steven Yeun, Richard E. Grant, and Tessa Thompson. Knowing the BoJack Horseman, there's a decent chance that Tuca & Bertie becomes a glum meditation on depression, too, but the trailer promises high jinks galore! Streaming on Netflix

SERIES PREMIERE: Combining the squirmy discomfort of Fear Factor, the schadenfreude of Japanese game shows, and the giggly fly-by-night charms of Nailed It!, Netflix's new game show Flinch could be exactly the kind of fun, breezy watch we need in the middle of a heavy TV season. Streaming on Netflix

SPECIAL PRESENTATION: HBO delivers their latest harrowing documentary project tonight with At the Heart of Gold: Inside the USA Gymnastics Scandal, focusing on the sexual abuse scandal surrounding Dr. Larry Nasser and U.S. Gymnastics. Interviews with the survivors are the highlight of this film which seeks to shine the brightest spotlight possible on a scandal that flourished in the dark. 8:00 PM ET on HBO

SPECIAL PRESENTATION: If you're feeling like a bit of song and dance, check out PBS for Emilio & Gloria Estefan: The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. The decades-long careers of Gloria Estefan, her husband Emilio, and the Miami Sound Machine are the subject of an all-star celebration that includes Cyndi Lauper, Jose Feliciano, Quincy Jones, and the cast of the Broadway production On Your Feet. Rita Moreno (who played Gloria Estefan's sister on One Day at a Time) and Andy Garcia host. 9:00 PM ET on PBS

ALSO TONIGHT

• The late night Hell-as-a-workplace comedy Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell returns for its fourth season. 12:00 AM ET on Cartoon Network
• A new episode of Warrior sees Ah Sahm and Young Jun forced to spend the night at a remote saloon with three strangers for company, in what feels very much like the setup to a Quentin Tarantino movie. 10:00 PM ET on Cinemax
• Dynasty welcomes guest star Sharon Lawrence, and as the former NYPD Blue star joins former Melrose Place star Grant Show, we should have the entire mid-'90s TV landscape officially covered. 8:00 PM ET on The CW

Joe Reid is the senior writer at Primetimer and co-host of the This Had Oscar Buzz podcast. His work has appeared in Decider, NPR, HuffPost, The Atlantic, Slate, Polygon, Vanity Fair, Vulture, The A.V. Club and more.