A funny thing happened while watching the two-hour pilot episode(s) of “Rubicon” (7 p.m. and 8 p.m., Sunday, AMC) and waiting for something to happen. You have a lot of time to ruminate during “Rubicon” because nothing much ever does.

Happen, that is.

The funny thing that occurred to me was how much “Rubicon” star James Badge Dale looks like Matthew Morrison, the star of “Glee.” Only the teacher on “Glee” isn’t emotionally repressed, gloomy and dull.

Dale stars as Will, a researcher at a super-secret New York intelligence firm. Early on, he sniffs out some peculiar clues in a series of seemingly unrelated newspaper crossword puzzles that point to some deep, dark mystery. Earlier in the plot, we see a rich tycoon blow his brains out after finding a four-leaf clover in his newspaper. Not a Lucky Charms fan, he. Later, Will’s boss dies in a mysterious accident only hours after the revelation of the puzzle of the crossword puzzle.

Cramming these details into one paragraph may create the false impression that “Rubicon” features a lot of action. It doesn’t. Instead, we get to see Will brood a lot. We never really learn what makes him or anybody else, tick. Apparently his wife and child were killed in the attacks on the World Trade Center and he’s never recovered. Will remains a little more than a cipher who works in riddles.

In a weird way, “Rubicon” is the anti-“24,” a spy story (I can’t exactly call it a thriller) set in a puzzle palace that looks like a grim decommissioned high school. Don’t go looking for gleaming spy-gear or gun play. Or much else.

The folks behind “Rubicon” explain that it’s inspired by the great paranoid movies of the 1970s like “The Parallax View.” I loved that movie and films like “Winter Kills” and “3 Days of the Condor” because they were dark and weird and you never knew where the good and bad guys were coming from. And that’s certainly the case in “Rubicon.” But a paranoid theme does not preclude action or character development. In fact, all three movies mentioned above had rather elaborate plots and still ran shorter than two hours, the time it takes for the lifeless pilot of “Rubicon” to go nowhere.

• “Lies Between Friends” (8 p.m., Saturday, Hallmark) may not be the first movie to revolve around a reunion of old college pals. But after this “Big Chill” gathering leads to the Big Sleep for one of the old gang, artist Joss Jenner (Gabrielle Anwar) is understandably rattled by the murder and won’t rest until she finds the killer.

Anwar is best known for her work on the hit USA series “Burn Notice” and also recently appeared on Showtime’s “The Tudors” as Henry’s sister Prince Margaret.

• You know it’s a slow night in summer when “Jack Hunter and the Lost Treasure of Ugarit” (8 p.m., Saturday, Syfy) makes the column. But don’t think of it as the last Saturday night of July. Think if it as the Eve of Shark Week.

“Ugarit” stars Ivan Sergei in the title role of this 2008 made-for-TV adventure that appears to be cobbled together from three episodes of an Italian TV show.

Sergei first caught our attention in the 1999 WB romantic comedy “Jack and Jill.” “Jill” also featured now-familiar stars Amanda Peet and Jaime Pressly. For the record, Sergei played Jill.

• A cable tradition for 23 seasons now, “Shark Week” kicks off with “Ultimate Air Jaws” (8 p.m., Sunday, Discovery), which visits the waters off South Africa, where great white sharks explode above the surface of the water in hopes of making meals out of seals.

“Ultimate” was shot in extreme high definition with a camera that captures 2,000 frames per second, allowing for remarkable detail.

• In another summer tradition, TCM devotes August to “Summer Under the Stars,” with each day’s programming devoted entirely to the films of a single star. Sunday’s 24-hour marathon presents 13 movies starring Basil Rathbone, best known for “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” (7 p.m.).

Saturday’s highlights

• Super Rally-racing and freestyle BMX are showcased in the X Games (6 p.m., ESPN).

• Joe gains insight on “Persons Unknown” (7 p.m., NBC).

• Mia Ford portrays a perceptive girl with an eye for evil in the 2009 shocker “Within” (8 p.m., Lifetime).

• Annie meets a man to die for on “Being Human” (8 p.m., BBC America).

• Scheduled on “48 Hours Mystery” (9 p.m., CBS): a showgirl’s dark secret.

Sunday’s highlights

• Scheduled on “60 Minutes” (6 p.m., CBS): a new approach to Pakistan; a remarkable fossil find; a musical savant.

• Sookie takes extreme measures on “True Blood” (8 p.m., HBO).

• The five remaining “Design Star” (9 p.m., HGTV) competitors devise a kitchen shoot for a major catalog.

• An uninvited guest casts a pall on the office Christmas party on “Mad Men” (9 p.m., AMC).

• An awkward lesson in the birds and the bees on “Freaks & Geeks” (9 p.m., IFC).

• A family emergency proves distracting on “Hung” (9 p.m., HBO).

• A bookish woman impresses Vince on “Entourage” (9:30 p.m., HBO).