Laurel’s TV Picks

A Life of Laughter: Remembering John Ritter (ABC, 7pm – 8pm)
The O.C. (FOX, 8pm)
MI-5 (A&E, 8pm and midnight)
The Mullets (UPN, 8:30pm)
Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (Bravo, 9pm and 11pm)

Sorry picks are so late today, had to deal with some family stuff, hope to have picks for tomorrow online by 1am or so.

TV DVDs due out today include: Season 1 of Soap and Season 4 of Earth: Final Conflict. DVD sets due out next Tuesday include: Season 1 of Smallville, Season 1 of I Love Lucy, Black Scorpion, and Shogun. [More TV on DVD]

Don’t forget to check out the 2003-04 Fall Schedule Grid (with premiere dates) and the TV on DVD page.

Donny Osmond, Star Jones, Rider Strong The Wayne Brady Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

Sharon Stone, Thicke, Amanda Bynes on The Ellen DeGeneres Show (syndicated, check your local listings). More info.

Mo’Nique, Macy Gray, Chris Harrison (of The Bachelor), and a 16-year-old who had gastric bypass sugergy.on The Sharon Osbourne Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

“The Ultimate Weight Loss Challenge: Show 2″ on Dr. Phil (syndicated, check your local listings).

Madonna is interviewed on a new Oprah (syndicated, check your local listings).

“Where The Wild Things Are” and “New Moon Rising” episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (FX, 3pm, 4pm).

John Ritter plays Ben’s Dad on Felicity (We, 6pm and 11pm).

The West Wing (Bravo, 6pm and 10pm).

Diane Sawyer hosts A Life of Laughter: Remembering John Ritter (ABC, 7pm – 8pm).

Season premiere of One on One (UPN, 7pm).

New episode of Whoopi (NBC, 7pm). Whoopi plays a singer who now works overseeing a hotel. The pilot episode did not impress me at all (quite the opposite). Yuck. I’ll allow that series often improve after the pilots and there are some talented people now working on the show, so it’s possible it’ll get better, but I’m not optimistic. In tonight’s episode, a bag is abandoned in the lobby and they end up calling the bomb squad. Presumably wacky politically incorrect hijinks ensue.

If you used to choose to watch Buffy over Gilmore Girls, well this season you can finally watch Gilmore Girls (WB, 7pm, 8pm). Back to back reruns tonight are of the two final episodes of last season. Rory graduates from Chilton. Really is the best show on TV.

Baseball: New York Mets at Chicago Cubs (WGN, 7pm).

Series premiere of All Of Us (UPN, 7:30pm). Will Smith & Jada Pinkett-Smith are executive producers of this show that is “inspired by” their real life situation. So you’ve a new couple that is trying to make things work while also dealing with exes for the sake of the child involved. Or something. Reviews haven’t been kind. Duane Martin and Elise Neal star. Will & Jada will guest star this season if the show lasts that long.

New episode of Happy Family (NBC, 7:30pm). John Larroquette and Christine Baranski are the best things in this show. I was also underwhelmed by this pilot. Eh. Not much to recommend it, which is a pity given how much I like Larroquette and Baranski. Waste of their talent. Their three grown children are idiots, but there’s nothing especially new or compelling here.

Last new episode of The O.C. (FOX, 8pm) for a month or more (’cuz of the baseball playoffs). They’re calling this episode the “summer finale.” The gang goes to Mexico shortly before school starts and various plotlines come to a head. The series will move into it’s regular timeslot when it returns, where it’ll be on Thursday nights at 8pm (yes, opposite C.S.I. and Will & Grace). Be warned: it doesn’t look like they’re gonna rerun this episode later in the week like they have with the others.

Oh-oh. Someone hacks into the MI-5 mainframe on MI-5 (A&E, 8pm and midnight).

Dan Cortese stars as a “shock jock” who becomes a parent in the series premiere of Rock Me Baby (UPN, 8pm). Um, okay.

The Restaurant (Bravo, 8pm and midnight) makes it’s debut on Bravo. Reruns of the episodes that aired originally on NBC. Disappointing show.

The Joe Schmo Show (Spike, 8pm and 10pm, 9pm and 11pm).

I liked the episode of The Mullets (UPN, 8:30pm) that aired last week more than I thought I would. It’s kinda fun. ‘Course it’s put together from some sharp guys who worked on The Simpsons so it makes sense that it might be better than the usual schlock. In this episode, Dwayne falls for a stuntwoman.

Hooray for a new episode of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (Bravo, 9pm and 11pm). The Fab 5 make over a single dad.

Matt accidently hits a girl on Nip/Tuck (FX, 9pm, 10:30pm).

Madeleine Albright on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Comedy Central, 10pm and midnight).

The Orlando Jones Show (FX, 10pm).

Jeffrey Ross, Jackie Kashian, Greg Giraldo, Ralphie May on Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn (Comedy Central, 10:30pm and 12:30am).

Futurama (Cartoon Network, 10:30pm).

Kate Hudson, a performance from the film Camp on a rerun of The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm).

Drew Barrymore, Russ Meneve, Shelby Lynne on The Tonight Show (NBC, 10:35pm).

Michael Caine, Jason Biggs, Joss Stone on Late Night with Conan O’Brien (NBC, 11:35pm).

Rose McGowan, Mike Epps, Huey Lewis & the News, guest co-host Mick Foley on Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC, check your local listings).

Joe Mantegna, Jeff Probst, Steve Byrne on The Late Late Show (CBS, check your local listings).

Larry King, the Raveonettes on Last Call with Carson Daly (NBC, check your local listings).

Kids in the Hall (Comedy Central, 1am – 3am).

Haley Joel Osment, Judy Gordon (on what to wear and how to wear it) on Today (NBC, 7am – 10am).

Dennis Quaid, more “Bachelor Weather” with Alex Michel and Good Housekeeping tests dishwashers on Good Morning, America (ABC, 7am – 9am).

Jason Biggs, Madeline Albright on The Early Show (CBS, 7am – 9am).

Christina Ricci, Erykah Badu, Meredith Vieira on Live with Regis and Kelly (syndicated, check your local listings).

Marcia Gay Harden, Suze Orman, guest co-host Kennedy on The View (ABC, check your local listings).

Kim Cattrall, Luis Guzman, Sandra Oh on The Wayne Brady Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

Jennifer Love Hewitt, John C. McGinley (of Scrubs), a Rubik’s cube champion on The Ellen DeGeneres Show (syndicated, check your local listings). More info.

Lance Bass, Juliette Lewis, Becky (with Keanu Reeves) on The Sharon Osbourne Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

“Competitive Parents” on Dr. Phil (syndicated, check your local listings).

Nate Decorates Oprah’s Office, a visit to Rob Lowe’s mansion, the ugliest home in America on Oprah (syndicated, check your local listings).

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