Rubicon

Rubicon, Sorry, HBO, but AMC has just won Sunday nights. Yeah, I like True Blood okay, and I’ll like Boardwalk Empire? when it premieres. But unfortunately, those shows are being placed on my backburner ― they’ll be my Monday afternoon DVR picks, not my Sunday night live picks. That’s because AMC is taking over Sunday night with such ferocity that you can’t help but think that they’re waging some silent war against HBO for all they’re worth.

Mad Men is premiering tonight, but a week from tonight, AMC will have two shows of the highest calibre airing instead of just one. I’m talking about their show Rubicon, which is having a two-hour premiere on August 1, leading up to the second episode of Mad Men’s fourth season.

Why two hours? Well, the first hour has already technically premiered, airing after Breaking Bad’s series finale back in June (that episode is still free on iTunes, though I can’t imagine it’ll stay around too long after August 1). The second hour of the premiere will be another episode, so that those of us who jumped on the bandwagon early won’t skip the premiere entirely. It’s a pretty smart marketing plan on AMC’s part, and I might just watch both hours just to catch up.

I’ll have a review of Rubicon’s first hour up a couple of days before, just so those of you who are holding out can at least get an idea of whether the show is any good or not (no surprise: it’s great). The show, which stars James Badge Dale (The Pacific) as an analyst at a national think tank who discovers a conspiracy in a crossword puzzle, has a few moments of clunkiness but is mostly genius. I haven’t seen NBC’s The Event yet, but I’m starting to think that there might not even be a competition between the two conspiracy shows.

Rubicon premieres next Sunday night, August 1, at 8/7c with its first episode and 9/8c with its second. Tune in ― it’s worth the watch.