Laurel’s TV Picks

Picks for Wednesday daytime are in the tomorrow section. I’m on the road and don’t have access to my usual tools, and my server has been plagued by technical difficulties so it’s possible there won’t be a full edition of ye olde tv picks today or that they might be late.

Series premiere of Century City (CBS, 8pm)
New Scrubs (NBC, 8:31pm)
New episode of The Shield (FX, 9pm, 10pm)
New Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (Bravo, 9pm and 11:30pm)

Technical difficulties, among other things, caused picks to be delayed today. Sorry about that. I’ve been trying to get them online for hours. Here’s hoping it works this time.

TV DVDs due out today: season 5 of Absolutely Fabulous, season 2 of The Dead Zone, season 1 of The Flintstones, The Hitchhiker, season 1 of Kung Fu, season 2 of Married With Children, and seasons 1 & 2 of Scooby Doo.

Thanks so much to everyone who buys TV DVDs or other stuff via the amazon.com links on this site. You’re helping keep this site online.

Contest reminder: Support this site as it celebrates a 5 year anniversary . . . and you could win a Homicide: Life on the Street DVD set or season 1 of Futurama on DVD or other cool prizes. To enter the contest: email me, make a donation, or buy me an anniversary gift. Check out the full details. I’ve received half a dozen email entries maybe and two gift entries and two donation entries so far. Thanks everybody! At this rate, everyone will get some sort of prize. There’s still time for more people to enter . . . the deadline is March 30th.

“Surprise” and “Innocence” episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (FX, 6am, 7am).

Angelina Jolie on Today (NBC, 7am – 10am).

Jim Carrey, Olivier Martinez, women’s health on Good Morning, America (ABC, 7am – 9am).

Ethan Hawke on The Early Show (CBS, 7am – 9am).

Mike Myers, Matt Damon, Pink, Hilary Duff on Live with Regis and Kelly (syndicated, check your local listings).

Courteney Cox Arquette, David Arquette, Jessica Simpson, Nick Lachey on The View (ABC, check your local listings).

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

MLB Preseason Baseball: Baltimore Orioles at Florida Marlins (ESPN, Noon).

NewsRadio (Biography, Noon and 6pm).

Night Court (Biography, 12:30pm and 6:30pm).

Upright Citizens Brigade (Comedy Central, 1pm).

Jason Biggs, Paige Davis (of Trading Spaces) on The Ellen DeGeneres Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

George Stults, Nick Zano, Wesley Jonathan, Steve Howey on a rerun of The Sharon Osbourne Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

Peri Gilpin (of Frasier), Joshua Malina (of The West Wing, Sports Night), J Mack Slaughter, Lorenzo Lamas on The Wayne Brady Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

“Ask Dr. Phil and Robin” on Dr. Phil (syndicated, check your local listings).

“How I Found Out My Husband Was Cheating” on a rerun of Oprah (syndicated, check your local listings).

No afternoon reruns of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on FX (just lots of episodes of Cops).

“That Old Gang of Mine” episode of Angel (TNT, 4pm).

“Take This Sabbath Day” episode of The West Wing (Bravo, 6pm and 10:30pm).

Great Big Sea: Live (Trio, 6pm). One of my favorite live bands in concert. Whee!

A sailor is found beaten to death at an illegal nightclub on a new Navy NCIS (CBS, 7pm) titled “The Truth Is Out There.” Sadly, I don’t think David Duchovny or Gillian Anderson guest stars.

Rerun of the “Dear Emily & Richard” episode of Gilmore Girls (WB, 7pm). The one with flashbacks to Rory’s birth.

The 12 finalists perform in front of an audience on American Idol (FOX, 7pm).

Scott Bryce (As The World Turns‘ original Craig Montgomery) guest stars on Whoopi (NBC, 7pm). Bryce has guest starred on a lot of shows over the years, I’m still surprised he’s not seen on TV more.

Sexiest Moments in Film (Bravo, 7pm). Part 2 of 3: Seductresses.

When their daughter begins keeping a secret from them, John Larroquette and Christine Baranski begin to wonder if maybe she’s gay on Happy Family (NBC, 7:30pm).

David Paymer and B.D. Wong guest star in the series premiere of Century City (CBS, 8pm). It’s a legal drama set in the year 2030. I’ve seen two episodes and I liked them both to some degree. It’s fun to see a vision of what 2030 will be like, I’m happy to report that people are not wearing shiny jumpsuits on this show. In each episode I’ve seen, there’s been one interesting case and one rather silly or boring one. The major case in tonight’s episode involves cloning. Nestor Carbonell (of The Tick, Suddenly Susan), Viola Davis (of City of Angels), Emmy award-winner Hector Elizondo (of Chicago Hope), Ioan Gruffudd (of A&E’s Horatio Hornblower movies), Kristin Lehman, and Eric Schaeffer star. Executive producers are Paul Attanasio (of Homicide: Life on the Street, Gideon’s Crossing), Katie Jacobs, and Ed Zuckerman (of JAG, Players, The Agency, Law & Order). I doubt this series will last long, but as a science fiction fan who also enjoys legal dramas, I’ll be checking it out for as long as it lasts. Sadly, so far the characters are rather blah and the quality of the cases and stories is uneven.

Frasier (NBC, 8pm) commits some sort of crime and then Niles helps him cover it up, but of course things go awry and the Crane boys end up calling even more attention to themselves. Wendie Malick continues her guest stint on the show.

Another old episode of Tanner ‘88 (Sundance, 8pm).

NBC is calling tonight’s new episode of Scrubs (NBC, 8:31pm) “unique” which means it may be a really cool episode. Not that this show isn’t almost always cool. Tonight’s storyline involves a butterfly . . .

There’s a ban on interoffice dating on Less Than Perfect (ABC, 8:30pm). Will Claude and Mitch break up? Does anyone care? We’re watching more to see Andy Dick and Andrea Parker and the rest of the cast more so than to endure stories about Claude’s love life.

Second episode of the third season of The Shield (FX, 9pm, 10pm). Directed by Clark Johnson (of Homicide fame). If you missed it last week, check out my review of the first four episodes of this new season.

New Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (Bravo, 9pm and 11:30pm). Will aire a whole bunch later this week if you can’t find time for it tonight.

Patty Duke guest stars on Judging Amy (CBS, 9pm). A woman with Alzheimer’s disease may lose custody of her daughter.

Detectives investigate the murder of a gay man who was (literally) the poster boy for sexual re-education on a rerun of Law & Order: SVU (NBC, 9pm). George Segal, Daphne Zuniga, and Michael Boatman guest star.

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

NewsRadio (Biography, 10pm).

“Food prizes” on Unwrapped (Food Network, 10pm and 2am).

“Daily Grind” (ground beef) on Good Eats (Food Network, 10:30pm and 2:30am).

Futurama (Cartoon Network, 10:30pm and 1:30am).

Greg Proops, Graham Norton, Nick DiPaolo, Sherry Davey on Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn (Comedy Central, 10:30pm and 12:30am).

Kate Winslet, Bruce McCall, the Vines on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm).

Angelina Jolie, Kevin Smith, Twista on The Tonight Show (NBC, 10:35pm).

New Paltz, NY Mayor Jason West, Edie Falco, The Allman Brothers Band on Late Night with Conan O’Brien (NBC, 11:35pm).

Guest co-host Kathy Griffin, with guests Suzanne Somers, Rick Majerus, Grant-Lee Phillips on Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC, check your local listings).

Frankie Muniz (of Malcolm in the Middle), Ioan Gruffudd (of Century City, Horatio Hornblower), Butterfly Boucher on The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn (CBS, check your local listings).

Juliette Lewis, Chuck Liddell, Tito Oritz, the Shins on Last Call with Carson Daly (NBC, check your local listings).

Ellen (Lifetime, 12:30am).

History Channel covers all things Irish.

“Phases” and “Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered” episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (FX, 6am, 7am).

Donald Trump, St. Patrick’s Day food on Today (NBC, 7am – 10am).

Kirsten Dunst, Maureen O’Hara on Good Morning, America (ABC, 7am – 9am).

Angelina Jolie, Robert Klein, fitness tips, Survivor‘ roundtable on The Early Show (CBS, 7am – 9am).

Notre Dame cheerleaders, Jon Bon Jovi, Mandy Moore, Dido on Live with Regis and Kelly (syndicated, check your local listings).

Reruns of interviews with Jennifer Aniston, Kelly Ripa, Kelsey Grammer, David Spade on The View (ABC, check your local listings).

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

NewsRadio (Biography, Noon and 6pm).

Night Court (Biography, 12:30pm and 6:30pm).

Angelina Jolie, Mark Ruffalo on The Ellen DeGeneres Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

Michael Imperioli (of The Sopranos), Peter Gallagher (of The O.C.), Jackie Collins on The Sharon Osbourne Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

Suzanne Somers, soap star Rick Hearst, En Vogue, Dr. William Dorfman on The Wayne Brady Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

“Sexual Slumps” on Dr. Phil (syndicated, check your local listings).

A.J. McLean of the Backstreet Boys talks about his problems with drugs and reunites with his bandmates on a rerun of Oprah (syndicated, check your local listings).

“Passion” episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (FX, 3pm).

“Carpe Noctem” episode of Angel (TNT, 4pm).

“Celestial Navigation” episode of The West Wing (Bravo, 6pm and 10pm).

In primetime tomorrow expect: new episodes of Arrested Development, Smallville, That ’70s Show, King of Queens, Survivor, American Idol, Extreme Makeover, and Stephen King’s Kingdom Hospital. More Charlie Chapin movies and specials on TCM. The TV Land Awards 2004. Plus the series premiere of The Stones on CBS.
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