Friday
Picks for Saturday and Sunday are below. Scroll down.
When you watch Trekkies (TMC, 9:30am), do you watch the people dressed up as Trek characters and make jokes about how Starfleet has really let its standards slip? Or do you ponder how you’re really just a few steps away from being one of them? Or do you stare in unabashed envy at all the cool stuff?
Young Einstein (Starz, 10am) is a movie that everyone should see at least once, because every person that sees it is another person who can testify to the fact that I didn’t imagine it. Yahoo Serious wrote, directed, and starred in this movie that answers the question: What if Albert Einstein had been Australian? And invented Rock and Roll? And fell i nlove with Marie Curie? And was generally some kind of freak?
St. Elsewhere (Bravo, 6pm), like all shows, sometimes felt the need to pump up their ratings with special guest stars. But Mike Dukakis?
Somewhat overdoing the hype, Wow! The Most Awesome Acts on Earth (TLC, 7pm) has a sword-swallower and someone juggle chainsaws while on a teeterboard. I had no idea that the mostt awesome acts on Earth could be found in a carnival sideshow.
Two new episodes of Making the Band (ABC, 7pm). There’s something about their first national concert tour, and then “Stardom takes a toll on Ashley”. Stardom? Really? Is that what you call it? Speaking of fake stardom, when these episodes are over, you can watch Popstars (WB, 8pm) reruns. It’s a fake-band bonanza!
MTV is in love with Blink 182, the subject of Fanatic (MTV, 8pm), Becoming (MTV, 8:30pm), Making the Video (MTV, 9pm), and Diary (MTV, 9:30pm). Don?t get confused halfway through and turn the channel, because then you?ll be watching Blink (TNT, 9pm), a 1994 movie in which a formerly blind woman has flashbacks which may involve see the murder of her upstairs neighbor.
David Copperfield: The Great Escapes (CBS, 8pm) has a name stolen from a true World War II story and a concept stolen from Harry Houdini. But if you like pretending that David Copperfield is about to die (and who doesn’t, now and then), this seems like the ideal television show for you.
Nash Bridges (CBS, 9pm) and his trusty sidekick Joe are investigating the shadowy world of animal gall bladders being sold on the black market. The what?
The Late Show With David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm) is a pretty good rerun featuring Sylvester Stallone and Green Day.
Larry King Live (CNN, 11pm) looks like an entertaining, if strange, show. Phyllis Diller, Robert Goulet, and Liberace. Seeing as Liberace has been dead for quite some time, it seems like this might be a forty-year-old rerun.
I love Duckman (Comedy Central, 6:30am).
Here’s a fun game. I’ll give you the episode descriptions of two episodes of the same television show, and you try to guess what show I’m talking about. Ready? In the first episode, “Pua learns Ayanna is practicing voodoo, shattering their relationship.” And in the second, “The cast must spend 12 million dong in 12 hours to help a children’s center in Vietnam, but they argue about where to spend it.” The answer is Road Rules (MTV, 2am), and you can watch ten straight hours of it. If you want to.
Mystery Science Theater 3000 (Sci-Fi, 9am) takes on Quest of the Delta Knights. It’s the lastt episode of the ninth season, and Pearl switches places with Mike to take a turn inside the Satellite of Love.
Primetime Glick (Comedy Central, 4pm), a parody talkshow hosted by Martin Short as Jiminy Glick, has some funny moments. However, the proliferation of fat jokes (because when playing Glick, Short wears a fat suit) is really annnoying.
How can they be televising the Best-Kept Secrets of the Military (TLC, 5pm)? Beats me, but any hour of television that includes a missing atomic bomb and killer dolphins can’t be entirely devoid of entertainment.
Big Brother (CBS, 7pm) continues its second season. Get used to it, because it’s going to be on twice a week for months.
I find the Best Commercials You’ve Never Seen (And Some You Have) (ABC, 7pm) very strange. It’s just an hour of commercials, right? With occasional commercial breaks? Weird.
Saturday Night Live (NBC, 10:30pm) is hosted by Charlie Sheen.
I’d like to mention a second time how much I love Duckman (Comedy Central, 6am and 6:30am).
Hey! They made a movie of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (FX, 11am)! Oh, wait, that’s right. I remember now, Kirsty Swanson, Luke Perry, 1992. It all comes rushing back.
Four straight two-hour movies of the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (Sci-Fi, noon). Oh boy!
I think it’s funny when unrelated movies shown right next to each other have similar titles. So be warned that Godzilla 2000 (Starz, 1pm) and Cherry 2000 (Starz, 3pm) are far from the same thing.
If the series has already confused you beyond repair, you can watch the pilot movie of Witchblade (TNT, 3pm). Four regular episodes follow.
Futurama (Fox, 6pm) nods to old-school Hanna-Barbera cartoons when the Harlem Globetrotters guest. I’m not sure if the voices are done by the Globetrotters themselves, though.
The Simpsons (Fox, 7pm) has a moment that made me laugh, rewind, and laugh again. In retrospect, it probably wasn’t that funny to see Lisa in a bit borrowed from Run Lola Run, but I don’t care. Also, there’s a grammar robot in this episode. I want a grammar robot!
Johnny Mnemonic (TNT, 9pm) may star Keanu Reeves in a science-fiction world where people dress in black leather, but it’s no Matrix.
Six Feet Under (HBO, 8:30pm) is a lot better since its first few episodes. Nate learns some of his dead father’s secrets, and it’s about time, too. I hope it doesn’t have anything to do with that tattoo on Brenda.
