friday
Picks for Saturday and Sunday follow these picks for Friday.
If Marilyn Monroe were still alive, she’d be turning 75 today. So expect a lot of Marilyn-centric programming.
Dan gets in trouble for singing “Happy Birthday” on the air on Sports Night (Comedy Central, 1:30pm).
Marilyn, Lauren Bacall, and Betty Grable in How To Marry A Millionaire (AMC, 1:35pm).
Backstory (AMC, 3pm) goes behind the scenes of Bus Stop. And then, of course, they air Bus Stop (AMC, 3:30pm). Marilyn Monroe stars.
Cary Grant and Tony Curtis in Operation: Petticoat (TCM, 3:30pm).
Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell star in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (AMC, 5:30pm). It’s one of my favorite movies. Great songs, great outfits, some fine jokes. Marilyn and Jane are wonderful.
Michael York guest stars on Babylon 5 (Sci-Fi, 6pm, letterboxed).
Yay! A new episode of The Lone Gunmen (FOX, 7pm)! Note the earlier than usual timeslot. And (sadly) no, this doesn’t pick up where the season finale cliffhanger left off. (Grrr). It’s an episode that was filmed before that one, but never made it to air. Langly’s childhood hero, the host of a kid’s TV show, is accused of being an international spy. And there’s someone in a big hotdog costume, too. I predict: hijinks and hilarity.
The ALMA Awards (ABC, 7pm).
AMC marks Marilyn’s birthday with the premiere of Marilyn Monroe: The Final Days (AMC, 7pm, 9pm, 1am). The real reason to watch this documentary? It includes a 37 minutes of footage from Marilyn’s last, never finished film Something’s Got To Give. The clips I’ve seen are remarkable. Yes, including the ones of Marilyn, naked, in a swimming pool. (This documentary is included with the new DVD boxed set of some of Marilyn’s movies).
Marilyn is also the subject on Biography (A&E, 7pm and 11pm).
Mysteries & Scandals (E!, 7:30pm) take on the death of Marilyn Monroe.
True Hollywood Story (E!, 8pm-10pm): “The Many Loves of Marilyn Monroe”
Freakylinks (FOX, 8pm) returns. If you don’t remember the show, well there’s no good reason you should. But FOX is gonna air the remaining episodes whether you want to see them or not. Remember this? It was from some of the folks behind Blair Witch or something? Whatever. This episode is about “adrenaline vampires.”
Larry King Live (CNN, 8pm and 11pm) does a Marilyn Monroe anniversary show. I doubt Marilyn will be calling in, though. :(
Iron Chef celebrates it’s 2000th dish with a special new two-part episode (Food Network, 8pm, 9pm & 11pm, midnight).
John Huston made a film called Moulin Rouge (TCM, 9pm) about painter Toulouse-Lautrec.
The June Bugs marathon begins at 10pm tonight on the Cartoon Network. They’ll air 176 Bugs Bunny cartoons (!) this weekend, the marathon concludes at 11pm Sunday night.
George Clooney and Tracey Ullman on a rerun of The Tonight Show (NBC, 10:35pm; may be delayed ‘cuz of basketball).
Marilyn Monroe stars with Lauren Bacall and Betty Grable in How To Marry A Millionaire (AMC, 11pm).
Christopher Walken and Mr. T on a fabulous rerun of Late Night with Conan O’Brien (NBC, check your local listings, may be delayed ‘cuz of basketball). This is Mr. T’s infamous first appearance on Late Night and it’s one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen (Walken’s segment is pretty good, too).
June Bugs continues (Cartoon Network, 10pm Friday – 11pm Sunday). Nothin’ but Bugs Bunny and friends.
This weekend TV Land Goes West (TV Land, 5am Saturday – 5am Monday). Yeah, it’s another Fandemonium marathon, but not of any show in particular– This time it’s a collection of westerns. Featuring episodes of The Deputy, Wagon Train, Maverick, Gunsmoke, and Alias Smith & Jones.
ESPN Classic airs Classic Michael Jordan (ESPN Classics, 11am Saturday – 6am Sunday). Showing some of Michael’s best performances.
Rerun of the Iron Chef 2000th Plate special two-parter (Food Network, 3pm and 4pm).
A rerun of Ned Beatty’s appearance on Inside the Actor’s Studio (A&E, 6pm). It’s very funny and cool. (And yes, Homicide fans, he does speak fondly of the series).
The Lucy Lawless (E!, 6pm) and Kevin Sorbo (E!, 7pm) episodes of Celebrity Profile.
Young Frankenstein (AMC, 7pm, 11:30pm).
Nero Wolfe (A&E, 8pm-10pm; midnight-2am). It’s both parts of the “Champagne for One” episode.
Iron Chef New York Battle (Food Network, two parts, 8pm and 9pm; midnight and 1am). Rerun of the battle from a while back.
Another fine rerun of Once and Again (Lifetime, 10pm).
Wiseguy (Court TV, 1am-3am).
Cary Grant in I Was A Male War Bride (AMC, Noon). It’s a cute movie.
Rob Reiner hosts Essentials– the featured film is Giant (TCM, 5pm).
“Ham I Am” episode of Good Eats (Food Network, 5:30pm).
Futurama (FOX, 6pm) is a rerun of the one where Fry ends up thawing out his old girlfriend (after he and Leela swap job chips).
I thought “The Computer Wore Menace Shoes” episode of The Simpsons (FOX, 7pm) was hilarious, but I know other fans who were less-than-pleased. Homer starts a gossip website (a la Drudge) and it becomes a big hit. And then there’s this whole sequence lifted right out of The Prisoner (sortof). Patrick McGoohan guests.
New episode of Nero Wolfe (A&E, 7pm) called “Eeny Meeny Murder”. And for once, it doesn’t appear to be a two-part episode!
The First Ten Awards (PBS, 7pm-8pm) of the Tony Awards ceremonies are aired on PBS.
Then the rest of The Tony Awards (CBS, 8pm) air on CBS. Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick host.
“Requiem” was last season’s finale of The X-Files (FOX, 8pm). It was an episode that gave me hope, bigtime, because it returned to characters we saw in the pilot episode and it seemed like the powers that be were paying attention to the show’s history, for a change.
Season premiere of Sex and the City (HBO, 8pm-9pm).
Biography: The Impressionists (A&E, 8pm-10pm; second part airs on Monday night). It’s a look at the impressionists, obviously. Four hours long, in all. Covering Monet, Renoir, Degas, et al.
The Iron Chef 21st Century Battle (Food Network, 8pm-10pm) is an all-new Iron Chef special, which includes a rematch between the Iron Chef and Bobby Flay.
Pilot episode of Six Feet Under (HBO, 9pm-10pm). Peter Krause (of Sports Night), Rachel Griffiths and others star in this new TV series from Alan Ball (screenwriter of American Beauty). The show’s gotten great reviews thus far, I recommend checking it out (I would be, if I could get HBO!).
New episode of Huntress (USA, 9pm).
Weddings of a Lifetime: Million Dollar Weddings (Lifetime, 9pm) is a new special that looks at expensive weddings, including that of Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones.
James Cagney, Henry Fonda, Jack Lemmon, William Powell et al in Mister Roberts (AMC, 9:30pm).
Each weekend SoapNet reruns all five of the episodes of soaps that they ran during the week. It’s kindof a cool way to catch up with current ABC soaps or with old favorites. Their block of Knots Landing episodes airs on Sunday night, starting at 11pm with the two-part series finale. Followed by the Knots Landing Block Party (SoapNet, 1am) which was a special that gathered castmembers and had them talk about the series’ 14 seasons. And then the series pilot episode at 2am and the episode that followed the pilot at 3am. Episodes of Knots Landing air on weekdays on SoapNet at Noon, 4pm, and 4am. (I’m debating whether I want to try and watch the series from the beginning. Since I did end up watching the show’s last few seasons and enjoyed them back in the day).
