Wednesday
By your command: Featured Pick
The Sci-Fi Channel has five hours of Battlestar Galactica, starting at 10:00 AM. And there’s plenty of Starbuck! First up, “The Magnificent Warriors,” where Starbuck gets tricked into becoming a sheriff. Next, “The Young Lords,” where Starbuck gets stranded on a planet where the Cylons have left only children alive; he leads a daring (all-child) raid. Third, “Murder on the Rising Star,” where Starbuck is accused of murder. Then we have “Baltar’s Escape,” which doesn’t seem to involve Starbuck in any major capacity, and finally, “Take the Celestra,” in which one of Starbuck’s old lovers drags him into a political battle. Starbuck, Starbuck, Starbuck. For some reason, I now feel the need to go get a mocha.
By the way, did you know that “Muffit the Daggit” (that’s the robot dog) was played by “Evie the Chimp”? Somehow, a robot dog just isn’t as funny when I’m imagining a cramped and sweaty chimpanzee inside the suit. Do chimpanzees sweat?
Today’s Picks
Mr. Carlson runs for public office (and then changes his mind) on WKRP in Cincinnati (TNN, 8am). Watch for Carlson’s radio commercial. It’ll make you laugh. The campaign poster’s good, too. It’s possible that I’ve seen this episode too many times, since I’m currently picturing the whole thing in my head.
My favorite part of Newhart (TNN, 9:30am) was Larry, Darryl and Darryl; “Prima Darryl” is the one where they find out that Larry isn’t the oldest; one of the Darryls is. I had a great quote, but it turns out it was actually from “The Prodigal Darryl” (where a Darryl leaves his brothers after winning $30,000 for a commercial jingle). Sorry. This is still a funny episode.
How long has Britney Spears’s career been? This long: TRL Presents Britney’s Greatest Moments (MTV, 11am). It seems like they could run all of her videos in a row and still have room for long, creepy, slow-motion pans across her abdominal muscles, but presumably there’s more to the backstory of young Miss Spears than I’ve heard about.
Rosie O’Donnell (syndicated, check your local listings) has the stars of Josie and the Pussycats: Tara Reed, Rachael Leigh Cook, and Rosario Dawson. If, like me, you’re perversely fascinated with this movie, you’ll probably skip it anyway. But you’ll feel bad about it.
Six-String Samurai (Showtime, 3:30pm) is a very peculiar post-apocalyptic movie involving a lot of wandering musicians and Buddy, who goes to Las Vegas to take Elvis’s throne.
Babylon 5 (Sci-Fi, 6pm) is an episode I haven’t seen. Because I’m watching Babylon 5 for the first time in its current run. So I don’t want to read too much about this episode, but it’s “The Quality of Mercy”, if that means anything to you.
The Blockbuster Entertainment Awards (Fox, 7pm) promises to be not particularly entertaining, and to be not sthat much of a blockbuster. But the “awards” part of the name is probably true. Anyway, they’re hosted by nobody as far as I can tell. But they claim to be “the world’s largest publicly voted awards show,” for what that’s worth.
Ed (NBC, 7pm) helps Molly’s grandfather with his will. Which is a good thing, because it means plenty of Molly.
Season Premiere! Oh boy!
Special Unit 2 (UPN, 7pm) is a secret part of the Chicago police department that deals with paranormal animals, particularly animals that evolved somewhere between ape and humanity. There also might be dragons and trolls. And aliens. I think this is the first cryptozoology show in prime time, but I don’t picture them finding a sea serpent in Lake Michigan or anything.
Meanwhile, on Dawson’s Creek (WB, 7pm), Dawson and Joey learn whether they were accepted to their first-pick colleges. Also, there’s something about financial aid, and lying, and I wouldn’t be surprised if somebody cries at some point.
Season Finale!
Laurel’s on vacation, but she would really appreciate it if you watched Jack & Jill (WB, 8pm). The wedding’s in jeopardy!
If you’re looking for religion in your prime time television (which seems like a strange place to look, but what do I know?), the conclusion of the Jesus miniseries (CBS, 8pm) is up against a Touched by an Angel rerun (Pax, 8pm), an investigation called Who Was Moses (Discovery, 8pm), and Wrath of God: Disasters in America (History Channel, 8pm). That last show is more of a tornado show than a religion show, now that I think of it..
Robotica (TLC, 8pm) looks a lot like BattleBots. But the host is Ahmet Zappa! I love Ahmet Zappa! I even loved him on Happy Hour, which was, in all honesty, not a very good show. But Ahmet’s always great. Or, I have to admit, sometimes really irritating.
I’ve heard good things about Denis Leary’s new show, The Job (ABC, 8:30pm), and tonight’s episode involves a massage-parlor sting, so how bad can that be?
The big television-pundit talk these days is all about That’s My Bush!(Comedy Central, 9:30pm) It’s either a brilliant parody of sitcom convention or a scathing political satire. Or, possibly, a fatuous piece of limp tv. But it must be exciting because it’s got an exclamation point right in the title. Exclamation points are exciting!
Late night talk show guests are available at Sue Trowbridge’s Late Night TV page. Conan’s got Scott Thompson, former Kid in the Hall.
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