What would happen if you took Dexter, and added elements of a dark rom-com? You’d get Lifetime’s new series You. Joe (Penn Badgley, Gossip Girl) is the manager at a small local bookstore, and on the surface seems like your average nice guy next door. His neighbors in the apartment across the hall are always going at it, so Joe keeps young Paco (Luca Padovan, Super Wings!) company when he is alone and scared in the hallway. However, there is a darker side to Joe. When he crosses paths with aspiring writer Beck (Elizabeth Lail, Dead of Summer, Once Upon a Time), he quickly becomes infatuated with her. He utilizes the internet, social media, and good old-fashioned peeping Tom techniques to stalk her, learning every intimate detail of her life. His goal is to get her to fall in love with him, and so he arranges for serendipitous meet-cutes, and manages to ease his way into her life. However, there are still some obstacles in their relationship, and he plans to remove them no matter what it takes. The series is based on the based on the novel of the same name by Caroline Kepnes, and is produced by Greg Berlanti (responsible for the majority of The CW’s lineup) and Sera Gamble (The Magicians), and also features Zach Cherry (Crashing, Search Party), Shay Mitchell (Pretty Little Liars), and a special guest appearance by John Stamos.

I got to see tonight’s premiere back in June at the ATX Television Festival, and have been anxiously waiting for the series to air—it was probably my favorite of the new shows I saw at the festival. It is disturbing, very dark and sometimes a bit funny and romantic. I had oddly conflicting feelings while watching. Joe can be incredibly charming, and you kind of root for him to succeed as he and Beck would make a fun couple. However, at the same time, he’s a complete psychopath, so you don’t really want him in Beck’s life. In the pilot we just scratch the surface of the dastardly things he’s capable, and I can’t wait to see how this thrilling story plays out.

Also premiering tonight is the new series Kidding on Showtime. Jeff (Jim Carrey) has been the beloved host of the Mr. Rogers-like children’s television show “Mr. Pickles’ Puppet Time” for the past 30 years. Parents who grew up watching his show, now share his clean-cut kindness and wisdom with their own children. Jeff suffered a major personal loss, but has never dealt with the after-effects of the tragedy. The loss of their son caused Jeff and his wife Jill (Judy Greer, Archer, Arrested Development) to eventually separate. Jeff wants to talk about loss and death on his series, but his father/producer Sebastian (Frank Langella, The Americans) doesn’t want to bring those kinds of topics onto the popular children’s show. So Jeff continues to bottle up his feelings, and it’s only a matter of time before he’s going to implode. The series also stars Catherine Keener as co-worker Deirdre.

I have never really been a fan of Jim Carrey—his wacky, face-pulling, over-the-top kind of comedy has never been my thing. However, I have enjoyed some of his more dramatic roles over the years. Carrey delivers a really strong performance in this role as the Fred Rogers-like character who is struggling to keep up his calm public demeanor while dealing with his suppressed grief. In tonight’s premiere, we see the cracks starting to form, and the pressure building. I found the premise of this series and characters to be really interesting, and the supporting cast contains an amazing group of actors. I’m looking forward to seeing how more of this story plays out, and anxiously awaiting the moment that Jeff loses it.

Tonight I’ll also be watching/recording Big Brother, Rel, The Deuce, Fear the Walking Dead, and Worst Cooks in America.

For additional suggestions on what to check out tonight, including Shameless, check out the If We Controlled Your Remote… 9/9/18 post at TVisMyPacifier.com.