Emma Thompson Headlines HBO's Near-Future Dystopia, Years and Years

It seems we only just wrapped our minds around the fact that Meryl Streep had come to series television, breaking down what few barriers remained between movie stardom and TV. Now it's Emma Thompson's turn: In the six-part HBO mini-series Years and Years, created by Doctor Who and Queer As Folk mastemind Russell T. Davies, Thompson plays Vivienne Rook, a controversial, media-savvy, outspoken businesswoman who runs for Prime Minister of England, wins, and ushers in an uncertain future.

SERIES PREMIERE: Joining Emma Thompson in the cast of Years and Years are Rory Kinnear (Penny Dreadful), Russell Tovey (Looking) and Jessica Hynes (Spaced). Also existing within the universe of this series is American president Donald Trump, so brace yourself for some real dark speculation. 9:00 PM ET on HBO

SERIES PREMIERE: After a weekend-long marathon of classic The Hills on MTV2, the landmark reality series gets rebooted with The Hills: New Beginnings. Neither Lauren Conrad nor Kristin Cavillari are onboard, but pretty much everybody else — Heidi, Spencer, Whitney, Audrina, Stephanie, Brody Jenner, even Frankie Delgado are all back. And in one particularly intriguing cast addition, Mischa Barton makes the leap from an iconic fictional series for Millennials (The O.C.) to an iconic reality series for Millennials. 10:00 PM ET on MTV

SEASON PREMIERE: FX's Legion, the Noah Hawley-produced series about mutants and mind-bending licks off its third and final season  Tonight's season premiere is directed by Andrew Stanton, the man who gave us WALL-E and Finding Nemo (and, fine John Carter). 10:00 PM ET on FX

SERIES PREMIERE: After the success of L.A.'s Finest, which was recently renewed for a second season, Spectrum Originals might officially be a Thing. Which makes this a great time to debut Curfew, starring Adam Brody (yes, also of The O.C.), Sean Bean (Game of Thrones), Billy Zane (Titanic), and The Terminator's Michael Beihn. Set in a dystopic future London where a national curfew has been imposed to keep the populace safe from a deadly virus, the only thing that gives the public hope is an annual illegal road race. The finish line is a way out. Streaming on Spectrum

ALSO TONIGHT

• American Ninja Warrior heads to the Pacific Northwest for the Seattle and Tacoma qualifiers. 8:00 PM ET on NBC
• Beat Shazam features the show's most dominant team ever. 8:00 PM ET on FOX
• POV presents the acclaimed SXSW documentary The Gospel of Eureka, focusing on small Arkansas town negotiating differences between religion and belief though drag shows, political action, and passion plays. 8:00 PM ET on PBS

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.