Laurel’s TV Picks

Game Over (UPN, 7pm)
Star Wars: Clone Wars (Cartoon Network, 7pm – 7:30pm; 8pm – 8:30pm; 8:30pm – 8:35pm)
Wonderfalls (FOX, 8pm)
Jonathan Winters on Life with Bonnie (ABC, 8:30pm)
The D.A. (ABC, 9pm)

USA to air three unaired episodes of Karen Sisco and five never-before-aired episodes of the new Dragnet.

Sarah Michelle Gellar won’t appear in the final episodes of Angel.

Homicide: Life on the Street Season 4 DVD sets that people ordered through this site from amazon.com are shipping now. Check out my review of the set if you haven’t yet. I recommend it (as well as previous sets) very highly. My favorite show of all time ‘cuz it’s funny and true and more about life than death and . . . just trust me, okay? The first four seasons are sublime. If you can’t afford to order the DVD set, be sure you enter the anniversary contest where you’ll have a good shot at winning Season 4 or Season 3 on DVD!

TV DVDs due out Tuesday: Season 1 of A Touch of Frost, The Cisco Kid – Volume 1, Season 3 of C.S.I., Season 3 of Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, Season 4 of Homicide: Life on the Street, Season 1 of Penn & Teller’s show that I won’t name ‘cuz this is a family website, Season 1 of Resurrection Blvd., and Season 4 of Sanford & Son. Still time to pre-order and get ‘em by the release date (and for a discount). [ More TV on DVD ]

Thanks so much to everyone who shops at stores (like amazon.com and the A&E video store) via the links on this site. It really helps.

Keep those contest entries coming, folks! Thanks so much to everyone who has supported this site during the last 5 years!

SpikeTV has a Star Trek: The Next Generation marathon all day and night.

“Homecoming” and “Band Candy” episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (FX, 6am, 7am).

Can’t beat waking up to the music of The Beautiful South (Trio, 7am, 12:30pm).

Jay Leno, Raquel Castro (of Jersey Girl), chef David Burke (of the Park Avenue Cafe) on Today (NBC, 7am – 10am).

Lisa Rinna, Joel Siegel, spring shoe fashions on Good Morning, America (ABC, 7am – 9am).

Marlon Wayans on The Early Show (CBS, 7am – 9am).

Bernadette Peters co-hosts, with guests Jay Leno, Billy Joel, a performance from Movin’ Out on Live with Regis and Kelly (syndicated, check your local listings). Be warned: Regis may actually sing!

Ron Perlman & Selma Blair (of Hellboy), Vincent D’Onofrio (of Law & Order: Criminal Intent) on The View (ABC, check your local listings).

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

MLB Preseason Baseball: Montreal Expos at Houston Astros (ESPN2, Noon).

Classic Big Ticket: Magic vs. Larry: 1979 NCAA Tournament final, Indiana State vs. Michigan State (ESPN Classic, Noon).

NewsRadio (Biography, Noon and 6pm).

Tom Hanks, Michael Buble’ on The Ellen DeGeneres Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

Marlon Wayans, Bianca Kajlich, Emmanuelle Vaugier, classmates from High School Reunion on The Sharon Osbourne Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

“My Makeover Didn’t Work” on Dr. Phil (syndicated, check your local listings).

Ask Nate Berkus design questions and see some outdoor transformations he put together on a rerun of Oprah (syndicated, check your local listings).

Mulder stakes someone he thinks is a vampire and Scully is pretty darn appalled in the very funny (and cool) “Bad Blood” episode of The X-Files (Sci-Fi, 3pm). Luke Wilson guest stars.

“Revelations” and “Lover’s Walk” episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (FX, 3pm, 4pm).

TV Land Awards 2004 (TV Land, 4pm). Brad Garrett hosts. Awards are presented to cast & producers of classic shows like The Andy Griffith Show, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and more!

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

Cast of Will & Grace on Inside The Actors Studio (Bravo, 6pm).

First two episodes of Andromeda (Sci-Fi, 6pm – 8pm; 11pm – 1am). Series makes its debut on the Sci-Fi channel. Kevin Sorbo stars so I’m obligated to mention that Sorbo is from my hometown of Mound, Minnesota. We went to the same church, the park I played in as a child is now named “Sorbo Park.”

Duck Dodgers (Cartoon Network, 6:30pm).

More of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament on CBS. NBA doubleheader on ESPN.

Near as I can tell, Game Over (UPN, 7pm, 7:30pm) both grows on you and improves from episode to episode. I had a chance to screen the first three episodes and at first I was thinking “cute premise” and that the show was merely okay. But by the third episode, which airs for the first time tonight at 7pm, I was won over. Maybe because there’s a school musical where the Smashenburn’s young son sings a poignant song about a “Ninja on the Roof.” Anyway. It’s cute. Mom tries to get involved at the kids school, Turbo’s drinking problem causes some problems, and the daughter wants to date someone who works with her Dad at the race track. And of course Mom & Dad still gotta hold down their day jobs– as video game characters. New episode is followed by a rerun of the second episode (UPN, 7:30pm). Patrick Warburton and Lucy Liu provide the voices of Dad and Mom (a.k.a. Rip and Raquel). Rachel Dratch is the daughter. More about the show.

If you’re like me, you may have caught the first installment of Cartoon Networks’ Star Wars: Clone Wars and maybe another episode or two before you lost track of it. Maybe you caught the rest online. Fortunately, they’ll be airing all of the installments from season 1 of this cool “micro series” tonight before the premiere of the first episode of season 2. Star Wars: Clone Wars : Chapters 1-5 (Cartoon Network, 7pm – 7:30pm); Star Wars: Clone Wars: Chapters 6-10 (Cartoon Network, 8pm – 8:30pm). And Chapter 11 (the first chapter in season 2) has its premiere (Cartoon Network, 8:30pm – 8:35pm).

In the first hour of a two hour Dateline NBC (NBC, 7pm – 9pm), Dateline follows three overweight teenagers for eight months– including for two months at an intensive exercise and weight loss camp. In the second hour, Dateline looks at teens who are addicted to cough medicine. And the story of a woman convicted of setting a fire with intent to kill her own child.

Another airing of The Last King (A&E, 7pm – 10pm; 11pm – 2am). Rufus Sewell is Charles II. With Diana Rigg.

Laila Ali guest stars on George Lopez (ABC, 7pm).

“Wound-Up Penguin” episode of Wonderfalls (FOX, 8pm). At least this is the episode that’s supposed to air, ‘cuz FOX sent me a screener of it and their press materials say it’s the episode that’ll air. Funny thing is, the commercial I saw for the show during The O.C. was for a completely different episode from later in the season (which I’ve also seen, that’s how I recognized it). Weird. Anyway. I hope it’s the “Wound-Up Penguin” episode tonight because it’s a good one. I know this show ain’t to everyone’s taste and some of y’all haven’t warmed to it yet. Tonight’s episode is more about faith than previous ones. The penguin instructs Jaye to “bring her back to him” and there may or may not be a capital “H” on “him.” Just saying. Is God speaking to Jaye or is it the devil or something else entirely? When a priest and a nun cross paths with her, it becomes a crucial question. Especially when the nun quizzes Jaye’s brother about how to handle demon possession . . . Anyway. For all that, there’s some cute stuff between Jaye and the bartender guy she likes, too.

“Extreme makeovers” are the subject on Larry King Live (CNN, 8pm, 11pm, 2am). Guests include a plastic surgeon and a pioneer in teeth whitening.

Rerun of The Future Is Now: Tech Summit 2004 (MSNBC, 8pm – 10pm; 11pm – 1am).

Jonathan Winters returns to Life with Bonnie (ABC, 8:30pm) as an author with multiple personality disorder. And David Alan Grier invites his anger-management support group over to Bonnie’s house for a meeting.

When the rich family thinks there may be rats in the house, The Help (WB, 8:30pm) takes advantage of the situation in order to have the house to themselves. Then: they party. Yes, I’ve seen this episode. No, it’s nothing special. I reviewed this show weeks ago.

Felicity Huffman (of Sports Night) begins a guest stint on The D.A. (ABC, 9pm). They’ve got a murder case involving a celebrity to deal with in this episode. I must admit, I liked the first episode. Not great stuff, but decent enough. I probably like Steven Weber’s character the least. Always great to see J.K. Simmons in anything. I like Sarah Paulson and Bruno Campos, too. This is the second episode of a four episode run; is unlikely there’ll be more episodes. I wrote more about this show last Friday.

New episode of Touching Evil (USA, 9pm and 11pm).

Dweezil & Lisa (Food Network, 9pm and 1am) go camping in San Diego and San Francisco. They also meet up with guitar maker Bob Taylor.

Three fans compete for a chance to perform with Melissa Etheridge on You Rock With . . . : Melissa Etheridge (VH1, 9pm).

Rerun of a Law & Order: Criminal Intent (NBC, 9pm) that aired first back in November. Goren and Bishop track a “modern day Bonnie and Clyde.” Turns out the male half of the team doesn’t read so well. No more Crossing Jordan on Fridays, the series now just airs regularly on Sunday nights.

Rerun of the episode of The Apprentice (CNBC, 9pm and 11pm) that first aired on NBC on Thursday night.

Yet another airing of the premiere of Deadwood (HBO, 9pm).

Rerun of this week’s new episode of The Shield (FX, 10pm).

An eyeball is found in a bird’s nest on a rerun of C.S.I. (Spike TV, 10pm).

EZ Bake Unwrapped (Food Network, 10pm and 2am).

Kathy Griffin: The D-List (Bravo, 10pm).

“Family Roast” episode of Good Eats (Food Network, 10:30pm and 2:30am). Wherein Alton cooks a roast in a flower pot.

Turkey Callers, Julia Stiles, Jessica Simpson on a rerun of The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, will air later, after basketball and your local news).

Ashton Kutcher, Spokane Streakers, Fefe Dobson on a rerun of The Tonight Show (NBC, 10:35pm).

“The Green Loontern, Parts 1 and 2″ episode(s) of Duck Dodgers (Cartoon Network, 11pm). A must-see for any Green Lantern fan.

Two episodes of The Chris Isaak Show (Showtime, 11:05pm, 12:45am).

Liberace guest stars as an evil pianist on Batman (TV Land, 11pm, 11:30pm).

Donald Trump, Jeff Garlin, Brian Kiley on a rerun of Late Night with Conan O’Brien (NBC, 11:35pm).

David Arquette, an animal impressionist on Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC, check your local listings).

Harry Connick Jr., John Waters on a rerun of The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn (CBS, airs very late if at all).

Dave Chappelle, Krista Allen, Corey Greenberg, Steve Byrne, French Kicks, Kanye West on Last Call with Carson Daly (NBC, check your local listings).

The Adventures of Superman (TV Land, midnight).

Kathy Najimy guest stars on an episode of Ellen (Lifetime, 12:30am) from the show’s second season. Ellen is threatened by Adam’s funny friend (Najimy).

Shazam! (TV Land, 12:30am). My boyfriend Kevin sez this show was cool “maybe if you were 12 years old, but probably not even then.”

I won’t be doing a full version of ye olde picks for this Saturday. If you want some idea of what’s on in the daytime on Saturday, you might refer to my picks for last Saturday as there should be plenty of similarities. And, of course, check your local listings.

TCM airs baseball movies in primetime and late night including Field of Dreams (TCM, 7pm) and A League of Their Own (TCM, 9pm).

Yet another airing of Celeste in the City (ABC Family, 7pm). Romantic comedy. Nicholas Brendan (of Buffy) and Majandra Delfino (of Roswell) star. “A gay cousin and a new friend help a shy fact-checker at a New York paper find the moxie and style she needs to improve her lot.”

Spam Cook-Off (Food Network, 8pm and midnight).

New episode of Century City (CBS, 9pm or maybe later ‘cuz of basketball). Do they really think the NCAA Tournament audience is also into both The Price is Right and Century City? Possible, but unlikely. ‘Course I like both basketball and this show, so what do I know? This show isn’t really silly sci-fi for the kids, it’s a rather staid legal drama with some science fiction elements. Legal cases of 2030. “The firm argues that a young man with a bionic eye, who is being barred from playing baseball, should not be considered enhanced, but rather, disabled.”

Battle Escargot on Iron Chef (Food Network, 9pm and 1am).

Rerun of Law & Order: Criminal Intent (USA, 10pm) that aired on NBC recently. With guest star Stephen Colbert.

Alex Borstein, Tommy Davidson, Orlando Jones, Artie Lange, Will Sasso, and Nicole Sullivan all return for the 200th episode of Mad TV (FOX, 10pm).

Saturday Night Live (NBC, check your local listings) is a rerun with host Megan Mullally and musical guest Clay Aiken.

Natalie Merchant, Eric Taylor on Austin City Limits (PBS, check your local listings).

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