Laurel’s TV Picks

No new TV picks ’til Monday or possibly Tuesday. Dealing with family stuff, traveling, & I need a break before the new season gets underway in earnest. I hope y’all understand. See you Monday!

The West Wing (Bravo, 6pm and 10pm)
North By Northwest (TCM, 7pm, letterboxed)
Junkyard Mega-Wars (TLC, 8pm and 11pm)
Street Time (Showtime, 9pm)
Reno 911! (Comedy Central, 9:30pm and 11:30pm)
Bernie Mac on The Orlando Jones Show (FX, 10pm)
Jon Lovitz, Wilmer Valderrama, Jet on Late Night with Conan O’Brien (NBC, 11:35pm)

I’m dealing with some heavy family stuff. Recent death in the family, another imminent death. Yes, again. It’s really been a tough year. So coverage for the next week or so may not be as complete as you’re used to. I may have to skip a day or two without notice. I may not get things like the schedule grid done. And picks may show up later than usual when they do. I thank you in advance for your understanding and support.

I took a stab at putting together a list of my favorite 10 TV shows and only cheated a little bit. It’s part of the “My Favorite TV Shows” issue of Professor Barnhardt’s Journal– do go check it out. I’m already second guessing myself and wishing I’d found a way to maybe work in mentions of Due South, Gilmore Girls, Millennium, Cupid, Once and Again, Now and Again, Relativity, Nowhere Man, Northern Exposure, Good Eats, Get A Life, The Adventures of Brisco County Jr., early seasons of The West Wing and Ally McBeal and Chicago Hope, the Douglas Marland era of As The World Turns, The John Larroquette Show, Felicity, Ed, Babylon 5, Deep Space Nine, The Muppet Show, Futurama, Law & Order (all flavors), and so many others. Yes, I’m a TV geek alright.

FX daily schedule has now changed. So has the schedule for TNT and for some other cable networks. Your local network affiliates may have a new/different lineup of syndicated reruns as well. Check your local listings.

FX Weekdays: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (6am, 7am; reruns of the previous days afternoon episodes); Beverly Hills, 90210 ( 8am); Ally McBeal (9am); The Practice (10am); Movie (11am); Cops (1pm, 1:30pm); Married With Children (2pm, 2:30pm); Buffy the Vampire Slayer (3pm, sometimes 4pm); looks like a movie at 5pm usually.

Spike (formerly TNN): Baywatch (8am); Miami Vice (9am); The A-Team (10am); Real TV (11am, 11:30am); 7 Days Noon); Star Trek: The Next Generation (1pm, 2pm); Highlander (3pm); Real TV (4pm, 4:30pm, 5pm, 5:30pm).

TNT weekdays: The Lost World (6am); The Pretender (7am); Charmed (8am); ER (9am, 10am); Law & Order (11am, Noon); NYPD Blue (1pm, 2pm); Judging Amy (3pm, 4pm); Charmed (5pm).

I’ll do a full grid and run down of cool daily reruns on cable sometime before the fall season starts.

TV DVDs released yesterday: Season 1 of Alias, Season 2 of Angel, Season 2 of C.S.I., Best of Designing Women, Saved By The Bell, Season 4 of Stargate SG-1, and Season 2 of Xena, Warrior Princess. [More TV on DVD]

You can now pre-order Season 1 of The West Wing in the US from amazon.com. Great deal, the set will include a bunch of extras (more than on the UK set) like commentary tracks, deleted scenes, blooper reel, behind the scenes info. [More TV on DVD]

Don’t forget you can also now pre-order Season 3 of Homicide: Life on the Street. [Homicide Store | Homicide Video/DVD FAQ ]

Don’t forget to check out the 2003-04 Fall Schedule Grid (now with premiere dates!).

Sarah Jessica Parker, Tisha Campbell-Martin, Bow Wow on Live with Regis and Kelly (syndicated, check your local listings).

Jessica Simpson, Greta Van Susteren, guest co-host Rachel Campos on The View (ABC, check your local listings).

Baseball: Atlanta Braves at New York Mets (ESPN, Noon).

Baseball: St. Louis Cardinals at Chicago Cubs (WGN, 1pm).

Futurama (TBS, 1pm).

Family Guy (TBS, 1:30pm).

Doris Roberts, Amy Sedaris on a rerun of The Caroline Rhea Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

Pat O’Brien, Shia Labeouf, the Wiggles on The Wayne Brady Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

“Married Too Fast, Too Young” on Dr. Phil (syndicated, check your local listings).

“Ruben, Clay, Justin– Life After American Idol” on Oprah (syndicated, check your local listings).

Other people may rave about the overrated Christmas episode(s) of The West Wing (Bravo, 6pm and 10pm) or that one where the President yells at God (Frank Pembleton did it better on Homicide). Me? I love the episode titled “Celestial Navigation.” Sam and Toby go on a road trip to get their Supreme Court justice candidate (Edward James Olmos) out of jail. One of the show’s best episodes.

Baseball: Boston Red Sox at Chicago White Sox (ESPN2, 6pm).

A true classic: North By Northwest (TCM, 7pm). Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, et al in a great film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Seeing this movie again (or for the first time) is a better choice than any of the reruns on tonight.

Another airing of the pilot episode (and only episode) of L.A. Confidential (Trio, 7pm and 10pm). Kiefer Sutherland stars.

Clark loses control! On Smallville (WB, 7pm).

Donna scores high on the SATs! On That ’70s Show (FOX, 7pm).

Cher: The Farewell Tour (Bravo, 7pm-9pm; 11pm-1am).

T’Pol must mate or die! On Enterprise (UPN, 7pm). Followed by another rerun at 8pm.

Eric Idle guest stars on The Simpsons (FOX, 7:30pm). Cool episode.

Battleships on a new Junkyard Mega-Wars (TLC, 8pm and 11pm).

Butter cream frosting in “The Icing Man Cometh” episode of Good Eats (Food Network, 8pm and 11pm).

Faith meets up with Angelus on Angel (WB, 8pm). It’s good stuff. If you’re a Buffy fan that never quite got into Angel or who gave up on it a while ago, the show was pretty great for much of last season. The coming season’s promised “new direction” could be really cool or pretty bad, only time will tell.

A Big Problem all starts with a small leak to the press on The West Wing (NBC, 8pm). Watch the first season reruns on Bravo, they’re way better than any recent episodes.

New episode of Street Time (Showtime, 9pm). Rob Morrow and Scott Cohen star.

The Publisher’s Clearing House “prize patrol” and professional gamblers on Take This Job . . . (A&E, 9pm and 1am).

Baseball: Houston Astros at Los Angeles Dodgers (ESPN2, 9pm).

New Reno 911! (Comedy Central, 9:30pm and 11:30pm).

Peacemakers (USA, 10pm).

Rerun of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Comedy Central, 10pm and midnight).

Bernie Mac on The Orlando Jones Show (FX, 10pm).

Futurama (Cartoon Network, 10:30pm).

Susie Essman, Graham Norton, Mike Britt, Rich Vos on a rerun of Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn (Comedy Central, 10:30pm and 12:30am).

General Tommy Franks, Rodney Crowell on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm).

Terry Bradshaw, John Vincent and his 600 pound performing pigs, Queens of the Stone Age on The Tonight Show (NBC, 10:35pm).

Dragnet (USA, 11pm). Rerun from the new series, that is.

Jon Lovitz, Wilmer Valderrama, Jet on Late Night with Conan O’Brien (NBC, 11:35pm).

Junior Senior, guest co-host Mr. T on Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC, check your local listings).

Dakota Fanning, CSI creator Anthony Zuiker, Dido on a rerun of The Late Late Show (CBS, check your local listings).

Max Kellerman, Fat Joe, Ween on Last Call with Carson Daly (NBC, check your local listings).

Seth Green, Nappy Roots on Live with Regis and Kelly (syndicated, check your local listings).

Holly Hunter, Timothy Bottoms, Penny Johnson Jerald (of 24), guest co-host Christy Lemire on The View (ABC, check your local listings).

Christine Lahti on a rerun of The Caroline Rhea Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

Martin Short, Carrot Top, Jasmine Guy on a new The Wayne Brady Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

“Dr. Phil’s Most Memorable Guests” on Dr. Phil (syndicated, check your local listings).

“Incredible Weight Loss Follow-Ups” on Oprah (syndicated, check your local listings).

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