Laurel’s TV Picks

Cary Grant movies on TCM
Wild Card (Lifetime, 8pm & 10pm)
1-800-Missing (Lifetime, 9pm & 11pm).

Sorry for disappearing again. Thought I was over the evil cold I had, but it returned with a vengeance the next day. I hope I’m back for good, more or less, now. Still recovering.

You can now pre-order Season 8 of The X-Files on DVD from amazon.com. The set is due out on November 4th, pre-order to get a good discount.

TV DVDs which came out recently: Season 1 of Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends, Season 4 of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Season 1 of Undergrads, and Season 2 of Due South.

TV DVD sets due out this Tuesday: Season 3 of Babylon 5, Season 2 of Futurama, and Season 1 of Will & Grace.

Season 2 of NYPD Blue is due out on Tuesday, August 19th.

Full list of TV on DVD is available.

Thanks to everyone who has purchased DVDs or other merchandise via links at tvpicks.net; when you shop here, you help keep this site around. Your support means a lot.

The Star of the Day on Turner Classic Movies is Cary Grant. Now that’s a star! My favorite. You can watch almost 24 hours of his films.

Lucky Deborah Kerr is torn between Cary Grant and Robert Mitchum in The Grass is Greener (TCM, 5am, letterboxed).

Overdrawn at the Memory Bank on Mystery Science Theater 3000 (Sci-Fi, 8am-10am).

Learn how to make your own ice cream, sorbet and granita in the “Churn Baby, Churn” episode of Good Eats (Food Network, 8:30am). Part of a morning of ice cream on the Food Network.

Cary Grant is an angel alright, who meets up with Loretta Young and David Niven in The Bishop’s Wife (TCM, 7am).

Walk, Don’t Run (TCM, 9am) was Cary Grant’s last film.

Last Comic Standing marathon (Comedy Central, 10am-9pm). Catch this whole reality series from beginning to end. Standup comics live and work together and compete! Oooh ahhh. Jay Mohr hosts.

The Breakfast Club gets the Movie & A Makeover treatment (TBS, 10am, 7pm).

Trading Spaces (TLC, 11am). Missouri master bedrooms.

It’s “West Wing Weekend” on Bravo, that’s how they’re launching their reruns of The West Wing, with a weekend of programming having at least a vague connection to the show or the office of President.

Stockard Channing on Inside the Actor’s Studio (Bravo, 11am).

Cary Grant plays a scruffy beach bum opposite Leslie Caron and a bunch of kids in Father Goose (TCM, 11am, letterboxed). Not a typical role for Grant, but he’s fabulous in it (of course). He later said he loved making that movie because for once he didn’t have to shave or dress up– he got to wear comfortable clothes!

Old episodes of The Incurable Collector (A&E, 11am) and House Beautiful (A&E, 11:30am) which have been repurposed into half-hour episodes (the original episodes were an hour long).

Bunch of episodes of The Osbournes (MTV, 12:30pm-5pm).

All about favorite films of Presidents in All The President’s Movies parts 1-3 (Bravo, 12:30pm, 1:30pm, 2:30pm).

Cary Grant, John Garfield, Alan Hale, et al in Destination Toyko (TCM, 1pm). A submarine captain has a whole lot to deal with.

The sorta musical episode of Ally McBeal (FX, 2pm) features the music of Randy Newman. It’s nowhere near as cool as the Buffy musical or even maybe the Xena ones, but it still has some charms.

Two wedding planners and a zookeeper vie to plan a couple’s wedding on Pros and Cons (TLC, 2pm). If you haven’t seen the show– professionals compete for a job– the catch is not all of the pros are pros in that field (those would be the “cons”, get it?). Oddly enough, sometimes they do a great job! Though I’m not sure how adept a zookeeper would be at putting together a wedding.

VH1 Goes Inside: TV Farewells (VH1, 3pm).

Much as I adore Cary Grant, I have to say he doesn’t seem to excel at crossdressing. He does end up giving it a go in I Was A Male War Bride (TCM, 3:30pm). It’s all Ann Sheridan’s fault.

Backyard Water Gardens (HGTV, 4pm).

Sting’s personal chef is in the spotlight on Inside Scoop: Chef to the Stars (Food Network, 4pm).

I wanna be a Powerpuff Girl (Cartoon Network, 4pm, 4:30pm).

Two families swap rooms on Trading Spaces Family (TLC, 5pm).

Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains in Alfred Hitchcock’s Notorious (TCM, 5:15pm). A classic.

Rerun of this week’s Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (Bravo, 6pm, 1am, 5am). The Fab 5 makeover a backup singer who wants to go solo.

Cary Grant must contend with Tony Curtis and a pink submarine in Blake Edwards’ Operation Petticoat (TCM, 7pm, letterboxed). A fun film. TV fans may have fun watching for young Dick Sargent, Gavin MacLeod and Marion Ross in this film.

Makeup artist Ruby Romaine tries to get her job back in Tracey Ullman in the Trailer Tales (HBO, 7pm).

They try to build a chopper based on the top-secret Comanche helicopter in a three-part American Chopper (Discovery, 7pm and 10pm, 8pm and 11pm, 9pm and midnight).

Back to back to back episodes of Trading Spaces (TLC, 7pm and 10pm, 8pm and 11pm, 9pm and midnight). Packaged as “Trading Spaces on Campus” as all of ‘em involve college students. The only new episode, near as I can tell, is the 8pm and 11pm one.

Two more new episodes of Just Shoot Me (NBC, 7pm, 7:30pm). Richard Kind guest stars in the second episode.

Cult TV Stars: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Biography, 7pm and 11pm).

BBQ Boot Camp (Food Network, 8pm and 11pm).

In the pilot episode of Wild Card, which aired last week on Lifetime– Joely Fisher played a blackjack dealer who had to deal with tragedy when her sister is killed in what fraud investigators insist was suicide. In order to take care of her nieces and nephew, she goes looking for a better job. And then she investigates her sister’s death and finds out the truth and lands a job as a fraud investigator. Got that? Fisher’s co-stars are Rae Dawn Chong, Chris Potter, and Bronson Picket. In tonight’s new episode of Wild Card (Lifetime, 8pm), she investigates her first official case and meets up with an old high school friend.

The other new Lifetime series with a new episode tonight is 1-800-Missing (Lifetime, 9pm). As you might guess from the title, it’s a show about missing persons investigations. Gloria Reuben and Caterina Scorsone star in it, looks like there’s a little bit of a twist in that one character may have some psychic ability. I doubt it could be as good of a show as Without A Trace and comparisons may not do this show any favors, but it’s Saturday night and there’s not much else on so it’s probably worth a shot. And Gloria Reuben is always good.

Rerun of this week’s episode of Peacemakers (USA, 9pm). Old West C.S.I.? Or something.

Lamb is the food item du jour on Iron Chef (Food Network, 9pm and midnight).

Powerpuff Girls (Cartoon Network, 9pm, 9:30pm).

The coroner’s staff leads the recovery effort when an explosion levels an office building in a good second season episode of Crossing Jordan (A&E, 9pm and 1am).

Baseball: Chicago Cubs at Los Angeles Dodgers (WGN, 9pm).

Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, Leo G. Carroll in Alfred Hitchcock’s North By Northwest (TCM, 9:30pm, letterboxed). One of the great films.

Rerun of the episode of MI-5 (A&E, 10pm and 2am) that aired earlier this week.

The murder of an ex-con triggers an investigation into his family on Law & Order: Criminal Intent (USA, 10pm).

Tommy Davidson and Fred Willard guest star on Mad TV (FOX, 10pm).

The Best of Molly Shannon on Saturday Night Live (NBC, check your local listings).

Back to back episodes of Reno 911! (Comedy Central, 10:30pm and 11pm). I think these are the second and third episodes.

Kitsch-en: Welcome Back, Kotter (TV Land, 11pm); Soap (TV Land, 11:30pm); Square Pegs (TV Land, midnight); and Fernwood 2Night (TV Land, 12:30am).

Felicity graduates (We, 11:30pm).

Cary Grant, Raymond Massey, Peter Lorre in Arsenic and Old Lace (TCM, midnight). Directed by Frank Capra. How a film this creepy (at times) can be so hilarious still amazes me.

The Anna Nicole Show (E!, midnight-).

Irene Dunne returns home to husband Cary Grant after spending seven years stranded on an island with Randolph Scott in My Favorite Wife (TCM, 2am).

Cary Grant and Betsy Drake in Every Girl Should Be Married (TCM, 3:30am). Mostly notable because Betsy Drake was Grant’s third wife. One of the lesser films Grant was in, IMHO. Stalking isn’t so charming these days, I guess!

Tomorrow’s Star on Turner Classic Movies: Jack Lemmon. Starting with Irma la Douce (TCM, 5am Sunday, letterboxed).

Perfect Strangers (Nick, 3am) and Head of the Class (Nick, 3:30am) give me flashbacks.

The “I Could Have Danced All Night . . . But Didn’t” episode of China Beach (History Channel, 5am). From the series final season, whose episodes jumped around in time– taking place after the war and early and late in the war, too. Big on major character development. This episode is a lot about McMurphy (Dana Delany) and Richard (Robert Picardo) so of course it’s good. Adam Arkin has a great guest starring role, too. This episode was made in 1991, is set mostly in 1969 and 1983. One of the best series ever to air on TV, IMHO, I’d love to see it released on DVD.

Tiny Toon Adventures (Nick, 5am, 5:30am).

The West Wing begins airing daily on Bravo on Monday; tomorrow there’s a West Wing marathon (Bravo, 10am-4:30pm Sunday) that starts with the pilot episode.

Rest of my picks for Sunday will be online sometime tonight or early Sunday at the latest.
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