wednesday - boxing day
Hope those of you who celebrate Christmas, had a very merry holiday. Happy Boxing Day! I can’t be the only TV-Geek who learned about Boxing Day from that one episode of M*A*S*H. It’s true! Oh yeah– thanks to the anonymous reader who donated $20 last week, it’s much appreciated.
Julianne Moore, Billy Crudup, Sean Bean (who played Boromir in Lord of the Rings) on The Rosie O’Donnell Show (syndicated, check your local listings).
Don’t believe the TV listings that seem to indicate that FX is showing first season episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (FX, 5pm, 6pm; 6am, 7am) this week. I know that on Friday I said the reruns were cycling back to the beginning, but it turned out the listings were wrong. FX will start airing the series from the beginning on January 1 (the DVD of the first season episodes comes out on January 15, FWIW). FX sez that the episodes they’ll run this week focus on the Angel saga, I guess. Specifically, when he went bad, as today’s episodes are “Surprise” and “Innocence.”
“Santa on the Lam” episode of Night Court (A&E, 5pm) and the “Stupid Holiday Charity Talent Show” episode of NewsRadio (A&E, 5:30pm).
“Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?” episode of Babylon 5 (Sci-Fi, 6pm, letterboxed). He’s right here! Oops, that’s just a cardboard standup.
John Wayne in True Grit (AMC, 7pm).
The Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts (CBS, 8pm-10pm). Honorees are: Julie Andrews, Van Cliburn, Quincy Jones, Jack Nicholson, and Luciano Pavarotti. I always enjoy watching these, it’s also something of a holiday tradition.
Iron Chef USA: Holiday Showdown (UPN, 8pm). Hosted by William Shatner.
“Street Cleaner” episode of Junkyard Wars (TLC, 8pm and 11pm).
Rerun of the first episode of the acclaimed Bernie Mac Show (FOX, 8pm). People say it’s very funny.
Rerun of the “Bad Moon Rising” episode of The West Wing (NBC, 8pm). From last April, it’s where the President talks to council (Oliver Platt) about the ramifications of the MS coverup. Pretty good, if I recall correctly.
The “lobster episode” of Good Eats (Food Network, 8pm and 11pm).
Meg Ryan on Revealed with Jules Asner (E!, 9pm).
Robert Redford in The Natural (AMC, 9pm).
Ian McKellen (Gandalf his own bad self!), Roger McGuinn on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm).
Jamie Foxx on The Tonight Show (NBC, 10:35pm).
Vincent D’Onofrio (of Law & Order: Criminal Intent), Al Roker on Late Night with Conan O’Brien (NBC, 11:35pm).
Robert Patrick on The Late Late Show (CBS, check your local listings).
Sean Penn, Michelle Pfeifer on Charlie Rose (PBS, check your local listings) if the listings can be trusted (not usually).
Best Bet:
Reruns of Homicide: Life on the Street (Court TV, midnight) have cycled back to the beginning. See one of the greatest shows ever to grace the small screen, from the beginning. It’s my favorite show, ever. And yeah, it’s funny (people never seem to get that, they assume it’s a dark humorless thing). Today’s episode is the Emmy-award-winning pilot episode called “Gone for Goode” which is one of my favorite episodes of the series. A pilot this great is a rare, rare thing. Barry Levinson won an Emmy for his direction of it. Series is based on the nonfiction book by David Simon, pilot episode was written by acclaimed screenwriter Paul Attanasio. Andre Braugher, Kyle Secor, Melissa Leo, Daniel Baldwin, Ned Beatty, Richard Belzer, Jon Polito, Clark Johnson, and Yaphet Kotto star in the series during the first great season.
