Laurel’s TV Picks

Daytime Friday info is available in the “tomorrow” section at the bottom of the page (as usual). Full picks for Friday should be online by Noon or not long after.

C.S.I. (CBS, 8pm)
Without A Trace (CBS, 9pm)
The Chris Isaak Show (Showtime, 9pm)
Mel Gibson, Prince on The Tonight Show (NBC, 10:35pm)
Lawrence of Arabia (TCM, 11pm, letterbox)

ABC has ordered more episodes of 8 Simple Rules, According to Jim, Less than Perfect, My Wife and Kids, and Hope & Faith.

Alton Brown (of Good Eats fame) will do commentary on Food Network’s forthcoming Iron Chef America series. Cool! The Iron Chefs Masaharu Morimoto and Hiroyuki Sakai will battle Bobby Flay, Mario Batali, and Wolfgang Puck. More on this series when it premieres, of course.

Comedy Central has picked up Banzai!. It’s a parody of Japanese game shows that aired briefly on FOX. (Well, it’s the US version of a show in the UK).

Lotsa cool TV DVDs are available now or due out in the next few months. Find out more on the TV on DVD page here at TVPicks.net.

Bill O’Reilly, hosting the perfect Oscar party, thriving African American communities on The View (ABC, check your local listings).

Sci-Fi mini-marathon du jour: Timecop (Sci-Fi, 10am – 3pm).

Ray Romano (of Everybody Loves Raymond), Dee Dee Davis (of The Bernie Mac Show), Precious the orangutan on The Ellen DeGeneres Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

Tisha Campbell Martin (of My Wife and Kids) co-hosts, Eliza Dushku (of Tru Calling, Buffy the Vampire Slayer), A.J. McLean & his Mom, Nelly Furtado on The Sharon Osbourne Show (syndicated, check your local listings; WGN, midnight).

Zachary Levi, Van Hunt, David Tutera on The Wayne Brady Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

“A Family Divided: Confronting Alex About Dating Again” on Dr. Phil (syndicated, check your local listings).

Rodney Peete, Finola Hughes, Mario Lopez, and other celebrities give their spouses “The Spouse Challenge” on Oprah (syndicated, check your local listings).

No Buffy reruns on FX on Thursday afternoon, but it looks like the episodes that would’ve aired do still air on Friday morning at 6am and 7am. Those are the third and fourth episodes of the series (“The Witch” and “Teacher’s Pet”).

“Blood Money” episode of Angel (TNT, 4pm).

“Five Votes Down” episode of The West Wing (Bravo, 6pm and 10pm). Early first season episode.

College hoops on ESPN2 (starting at 6pm). NBA action on TNT (starting at 7pm).

Turner Classic Movies’ “31 Days of Oscar” gets even better (and you thought that wasn’t possible) as they air 34 movies in a row that all received the “Best Picture” Academy Award. Find out more about all the films, see the full schedule on the TCM website. Tonight’s films: Ben Hur (TCM, 7pm, letterbox), Lawrence of Arabia (TCM, 11pm, letterbox), Midnight Cowboy (TCM, 3am, letterbox). All three air without commercial interruption (as is the norm on TCM) and in widescreen/letterbox format. Of the three, Lawrence is my favorite and if you’ve never seen it, you really should sometime as it’s a true classic in every way.

Rachel has some sort of difficulty when she goes on a job interview, Phoebe considers changing her name to something more exotic, Joey really doesn’t want Chandler and Monica to move on Friends (NBC, 7pm). Dakota Fanning guest stars. Episode runs long; listings say ’til 7:32pm, but if you want that last bit with the credits it probably airs a minute or two later. At least that’s been my experience with NBC.

The castaways face “the first major twist” of Survivor: All-Stars (CBS, 7pm). Or something.

The Ernie Kovacs Show (Trio, 7pm).

FOX rebroadcasts the final two episodes of My Big Fat Obnoxious Fianc? (FOX, 7pm, 8pm). In case anyone cares.

Will & Grace embark on a new business venture together (I’m sure that will go well), Jack works on learning to be a nurse but acting still calls to him (or something) on Will & Grace (NBC, 7:32pm). Note odd start time. John Cleese, Minnie Driver, and Eileen Brennan guest star. For a show whose regular castmembers have won so many awards, they sure always have a ton of guest stars. Part 1 of 2.

The team investigates yet another “brutal stabbing” on C.S.I. (CBS, 8pm). Wouldn’t you love to see Grissom use air quotes? Hee!

Larry King moderates a Presidential Debate (CNN, 8pm). Democratic candidates participate.

I suppose it’s possible someone might want to check out Dirty Dancing (USA, 8pm) before they go see Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights this weekend. Well, assuming anyone goes to see it.

A U.S. soldier goes missing and so the team (or at least part of it) goes all the way to Iraq to investigate on Without A Trace (CBS, 9pm). Devon Gummersall (of My So-Called Life) guest stars.

Chris thinks his relationship with Olivia is going great . . . until he meets her ex-husband. On The Chris Isaak Show (Showtime, 9pm; also airs tomorrow at 11pm and Saturday at 11:30pm). Colin Cunningham and Stellina Rusich guest star.

Still more Super Millionaire (ABC, 9pm).

“A patient threatens the hospital with a tank” on ER (NBC, 8:59pm). ‘Cuz they’ve done everything else, I suppose. Have I mentioned how Without A Trace is like 20x (or more) better than this show?

Rerun of the episode of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (Bravo, 9pm) that premiered earlier this week. The Fab 5 make over a standup comic who digs retro stuff and is quite the pack rat. Messiest apartment ever on this show (so far)!

Samuel L. Jackson on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Comedy Central, 10pm and midnight).

Party Snacks Unwrapped (Food Network, 10pm and 2am).

“Gravy Confidential” episode of Good Eats (Food Network, 10:30pm and 2:30am). Alton Brown rocks.

“30 Percent Iron Chef” episode of Futurama (Cartoon Network, 10:30pm and 1:30am).

Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn (Comedy Central, 10:30pm and 12:30am).

Stupid Pet Tricks, Tim Robbins, Evanescence on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm).

Mel Gibson, David Willey, Prince on The Tonight Show (NBC, 10:35pm). If you wanna see the guests (like I do tonight), I still recommend that you watch Dave’s monologue on The Late Show rather than Jay’s over here. Flip between the two shows. Years ago Jay Leno did funny standup, but he hasn’t been funny on The Tonight Show since Johnny was still around.

Samuel L. Jackson, James Carville, Van Hunt on Late Night with Conan O’Brien (NBC, 11:35pm).

Co-host Anthony Anderson with guests Bill Paxton, Diego Luna, movie reviewer Earl Dittman, Simple Plan on Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC, check your local listings).

Harry Connick Jr., John Waters on The Late Late Show (CBS, check your local listings).

Maura Tierney (of ER, NewsRadio), Ben Harper on Last Call with Carson Daly (NBC, check your local listings).

Paige tries to get Ellen (Lifetime, 12:30am) to relax at a spa . . . and that just makes Ellen tense. Hrm. Season 2 episode (whereas other recent episodes were from season 4). Patrick Warburton is among the guest stars.

More “Best Picture” Oscar winners: The Broadway Melody (TCM, 5am), The Life Of Emile Zola (TCM, 7am), Around The World In 80 Days (TCM, 9am), The Apartment (TCM, Noon), Marty (TCM, 2:30pm), and Oliver! (TCM, 4:30pm).

“The Witch” and “Teacher’s Pet” episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (FX, 6am, 7am). 3rd and 4th episodes from the first season (which didn’t seem to air on Wednesday afternoon on FX).

U.S. Women?s Gymnastics Team, low-carb fast food on Today (NBC, 7am – 10am).

Wolfgang Puck, Oscar predictions, Barbara Walters on Good Morning, America (ABC, 7am – 9am).

Amber Tamblyn (of Joan of Arcadia), Samuel L. Jackson, latest Survivor castoff on The Early Show (CBS, 7am – 9am).

Hugh Jackman, and Regis and Kelly compete in a tire changing competition on Live with Regis and Kelly (syndicated, check your local listings).

Sela Ward, Danielle Steel, Robert Osborne on The View (ABC, check your local listings).

Sci-Fi mini-marathon du jour: Roar (Sci-Fi, 10am – 3pm). These are the five episodes that never aired on FOX. Heck, I’m not sure if Sci-Fi ever got around to airing them all either (I can’t recall and episode guides aren’t helpful). Melissa George (of Thieves, Alias), Brenda Strong (of many things including Sports Night), and Susanna Thompson (of Once and Again) are among the guest stars. Heath Ledger stars.

Harry Connick Jr., Donald Trump on The Ellen DeGeneres Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

Oscar gossip, J.C. Chasez, Diego Luna, gossip columnist Zorianna Kit on The Sharon Osbourne Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

Larissa Meek, another Extreme Makeover on The Wayne Brady Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

“Extreme Marriages” on Dr. Phil (syndicated, check your local listings).

Ben Kingsley, Holly Hunter, Sofia Coppola and more, plus viewers get incredible Oscar night makeovers in the “Meet the Oscar? Nominees!” episode of Oprah (syndicated, check your local listings).

First episode of season 3 of Judging Amy (TNT, 3pm). I’m not a big fan of this show or anything, but this episode is notable ‘cuz Reed Diamond (of Homicide fame) begins his first real stint on the show as Stu. He has a heart attack in this episode (the character, that is).

“Never Kill A Boy On The First Date” and “The Pack” episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (FX, 3pm, 4pm). 5th and 6th episodes of the series.

“Happy Anniversary” episode of Angel (TNT, 4pm).

On Friday in primetime expect new episodes of Monk, , Real Time With Bill Maher, Life With Bonnie, Dweezil & Lisa, Super Millionaire, JAG, Third Watch, and other series. Plus “Best Picture” Oscar winners From Here To Eternity and West Side Story. Full coverage in the full version of picks for Friday, which should be online by Noon Friday if not a heckuvalot sooner.

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