Top 5 TV: Hello, ‘Fear the Walking Dead,’ Goodbye ‘Aqua Teen Hunger Force’

4. A new ‘do for Survivor’s Remorse (Starz)
In the same week that HBO’s disappointing sports comedy Ballers ended its first season, Starz’s underrated show about a pro basketball player launched what already looks to be a winning sophomore year. The premiere, “Grown-Ass Man,” featured the two things that make this show pop: rapid-fire banter (including a spirited debate about whether bowling is cool because it’s about “black things knocking down white things.” or lame because “the scoring is confusing as shit”); and a refreshingly honest look at how a rookie pro athlete juggles the needs of his team and his entourage.

Jessie T. Usher continues to give an ingratiating performance as Cam Calloway, who wants the NBA dream but not the phony, time-sucking glad-handing that goes with it. Creator Mike O’Malley also devotes a lot of screen time to the rising star’s cousins, sister, and mother, who in “Grown-Ass Man” have their own subplot about how hard it is for a black woman to transition to a natural hairstyle. Without making too big a deal about it, every aspect of this episode is about people trying to be true to themselves, while still striving to look good to the folks who matter. Sharp, original, and unafraid to challenge perceptions, Survivor’s Remorse could become a much bigger deal this season. It’d be best to beat the crowds and declare your allegiance now.

3. Tig Notaro gets comfortable on stage in Boyish Girl Interrupted (HBO)
If you didn’t know it was coming, it’s unexpectedly wonderful: About halfway through Tig Notaro’s first HBO special, she doffs her jacket and her shirt, and does the rest of the gig completely topless, with her double-mastectomy scars on full display. What’s even odder is that she actually seems less self-conscious half-nude than she does fully dressed. If anything, the bare-torsoed Notaro looks like a punk-rock badass — like Iggy Pop doing stand-up, all wiry and battle-tested.

She’s also funnier. The first part of Boyish Girl Interrupted is all self-deprecating personal stories, gentle and well-told. But once she’s physically exposed, Notaro stops talking about her love life and her much-publicized bout with cancer, and instead launches into some raunchy, riotous jokes about airline safety and swimming with diarrhea. Once she’s defused all curiosity about her medical history, the comic goes to work. It’s exhilarating to watch.