Sunday night is HBO’s best night of the week, and has been for a while. “Game of Thrones” helped rejuvenate the day of rest as a TV monster when it became popular, and now HBO sets aside Sunday night for its top-tier original programming. “Game of Thrones” is off for a while, but the fall lineup for Sunday nights is as powerful as ever. Here is a rundown of all HBO’s Sunday shows — get ready for next weekend.

9:00 p.m.: “Westworld”

This is HBO’s big fall drama. Based on the book by Michael Crichton, this hour-long show lives in a world where scientists have created a theme park in an Old Western setting with lifelike human robots. People wealthy enough to get into the park can do whatever they like. Some of the robots are programed as gun-slinging cowboys, while a fair few are made to be prostitutes. “Westworld” is a study of human behavior in a way, but the malfunctions and actions of the robots are what drives the plot.

The first episode set up a lot of the characters as you tried to piece how they all fit together and figure out how this world operates. It is not until the second episode that we get the classic shy, relatable character, William.

William is our medium between the crazy addicts of “Westworld” and people like us who have never been there. However, like many great science fiction stories, not all of the stories and timelines within “Westworld” have interconnected yet. There is a mysterious — real human — man in black who traverses the expansive map of Westworld armed with the knowledge that the visitors — real humans — cannot die within the park. The scientists behind the theme park have their own struggles and storylines which become more entwined with the robots each episode.

Jonathon Nolan, brother of filmmaker Christopher, is the main man behind this project. He gives it the same gigantic feeling that Christopher loves in his movies. J.J. Abrams, god of science fiction television and film, produces “Westworld” along with his creative partner Bryan Burk.

The ensemble cast is also amazing. James Marsden leads the billing for the robot characters. However, it is Evan Rachel Wood who plays Delores, the 30-year-old girl-next-door who is still living with her parents, and seems to be the most important character in “Westworld.”

I will not spoil anything, but her small digressions from her programming could have deadly consequences for the human visitors of Westworld.

This show has a near-perfect premise and has been executed as well as possible through its first three episodes.

10:00 p.m.: “Divorce”

Sarah Jessica Parker returns to HBO for this half-hour comedy based on one of the least-funny things a person can go through: a long, messy divorce. The darkest parts of our lives are often the best parts to joke about, but this series has had some problems finding its audience so far — possibly because it is such a sore spot for a lot of people. Sharon Horgan, co-creator of Catastrophe on Amazon Prime, runs this new Sunday night addition, and Molly Shannon co-stars.

10:30 p.m.: “Insecure”

Rising comedy star Issa Rae writes and stars in this half-hour comedy about young black women getting their start in the stand-up scene. This show took a while to get fleshed out before it was aired, but it was clearly worth it. This is an entirely new perspective for shows about stand up, as the most popular ones like Seinfeld and Louie have been about straight white men. Larry Wilmore, of “The Daily Show” and “The Nightly Show” fame, helped produce and create this new type of show.

11:00 p.m.: “Last Week Tonight”

John Oliver is in his third season of this hit show and just won an Emmy for the second season. In the late night political comedy landscape, Oliver owns the best reasoning skills of any of the hosts who rant their way through destroying Donald Trump. They upload most of their show to YouTube after air, which is an interesting way to get new viewers. They know that what they produce is very shareable, and rightly-decided public awareness of the show is the most important thing in its early season.

Kyle Stevens is a junior advertising major. You can email him at ksteve03@syr.edu or reach him on Twitter at @kstevs_.

Published on October 16, 2016 at 9:23 pm