Laurel’s TV Picks

I am home from vacation, should have picks online by Noon if not sooner.

Wednesday, April 7th – Tuesday, April 13th

I’m (sortof) on vacation from Wednesday, April 7th ’til Tuesday, April 13th. Won’t be reading or responding to email during that time, will be away from my computer and like that. But I couldn’t just not say anything about TV for a whole week, so consider this either a big super long edition of the picks or a bunch of very abbreviated picks for each day. I haven’t looked over the listings as thoroughly as usual, so it’s possible I missed something cool (I mean, more possible than under “normal” circumstances!). These picks are also more subject to change than usual because they’re done further in advance. As always, check your local listings.

If you’re in/near Minneapolis this weekend, I’ll be on a couple of panels (re TV, oddly enough) at Minicon. You’ve been warned.

You can jump to each day’s picks using the links right under ye olde TVPicks.net logo at the top of the page. As always, an Eastern timezone view of this page is available.

For full listings for late night talk shows, visit Sue Trowbridge’s Late Night Lineups page. Her page also covers some daytime talk shows.

For the rest of the morning and daytime shows, check these pages and/or local listings:
Today | Early Show | Good Morning America | Regis & Kelly | The View | Ellen | Sharon | Wayne Brady | Dr. Phil | Oprah.

For TV news & commentary visit Teevee.org, TV Tattle, TV Barn, and Zap2It.

And you might want to check out Tom Heald’s Remote Patrol for tv picks, too.

Wednesday, April 7th, 2004

David Duchovny, Poppy Montgomery, Sarah Harmer on The Ellen DeGeneres Show (syndicated, check your local listings)
Cecil B. DeMille: American Epic (Part 2) (TCM, 7pm and 10:30pm) & DeMille films on TCM
Karen Sisco (USA, 9pm)
Keen Eddie (Bravo, 9pm and 1am).

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine marathon continues (Spike, 11am – 8pm).

Denis Leary and his wife Ann, lingerie fashion show with Jamie Presley on The View (ABC, check your local listings).

Great Lineup! & Duchovny Alert!David Duchovny, Poppy Montgomery (of Without A Trace), Sarah Harmer on The Ellen DeGeneres Show (syndicated, check your local listings). What a great lineup! Duchovny’s usually a good interview, Montgomery is fab on Trace, and Sarah Harmer is one of my favorite singers (I’ve seen her live a couple of times).

Andy “Gollum” Serkis is among the guests on The Sharon Osbourne Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

ESPN & ESPN2 have hockey, NBA basketball and MLB Baseball in primetime.

Cecil B. DeMille: American Epic (Part 2) (TCM, 7pm and 10:30pm). With DeMille films: The Crusades (TCM, 8pm), The King of Kings (TCM, 11:30pm), Dynamite (TCM, 1:30am), and The Affairs of Anatol (TCM, 4am).

More Johnny Staccato (Trio, 7pm and 10pm) and Bakersfield, P.D. (Trio, 7:30pm and 10:30pm).

“Monster Nation 2″ on Monster Garage (Discovery, 7pm and 10pm). More vehicles built by fans of the show.

Emeril cooks “Egg-cellent Eggs” on Emeril Live (Food Network, 7pm and 11pm). Alton Brown checks out “The Egg-Files” in two excellent episodes of Good Eats (Food Network, 8pm and midnight, 8:30pm and 12:30am).

Another broadcast of The Winning Season (TNT, 8pm). Matthew Modine and Kristin Davis star in this time-travel romance about baseball and family and stuff. Good for the whole family. Cute kid is the protagonist. Modine plays Honus Wagner.

Series premiere of The Swan (FOX, 8pm). The latest “reality” series from FOX has a bunch of plain janes or “ugly duckling” women who decide to undergo major transformations and then (if they’re chosen) compete in a pageant. Ugh. Two women are featured in each episode leading up to the pageant. Each woman goes through “an intensive ‘boot camp’ of exercise, diet, therapy, and inspiration to achieve their goals.” They forgot to mention “plastic surgery” as most women will be having that, too. At the end of the boot camp, the women face a “panel of experts– their surgeons, dentist, trainer, therapist, and life coach.” Only one woman per episode is chosen to move on to compete in the pageant. Oh yeah– did I mention that these women aren’t allowed to look in a mirror during the 3-months of boot camp? So they get to see themselves for the first time at the end of the episode. Bah. This series regular timeslot will be Mondays at 8pm. The O.C. returns next week.

“NFL player Jesse Palmer meets 25 women” on The Bachelor (ABC, 8pm). Yes, yet another edition of this show.

Reruns of a couple of episodes of Trading Spaces: Home Free (TLC, 8pm and 11pm, 9pm and midnight).

Two of the characters on The Stones (CBS, 8:30pm) attend “sing-a-long” Sound of Music. Probably the only thing I have in common with anyone on this show.

“Sisco guards an 11-year-old girl who is the only witness to a brutal murder” on a new episode of Karen Sisco (USA, 9pm). An episode that never aired on ABC.

“Eddie inherits a luxury automobile and a chauffeur, along with a myriad of problems” on a new episode of Keen Eddie (Bravo, 9pm and 1am). An episode that never aired on FOX.

New South Park (Comedy Central, 9pm and 11pm).

New Soul Food (Showtime, 9pm).

Part 3 (of 3) of Ultraviolet (Sci-Fi, 10pm).

Thursday, April 8th, 2004

Johnny Staccato (Trio, 7pm and 10pm)
Bakersfield, P.D. (Trio, 7:30pm and 10:30pm)
Jason Bateman on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Comedy Central, 10pm and midnight)
Viggo Mortensen and Sting on a very cool rerun of The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm)

Matthew Perry, Bobby Flay on The Early Show (CBS, 7am – 9am).

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine marathon continues (Spike, 11am – 8pm).

Neal McDonough (of Boomtown) is among the guests on The Sharon Osbourne Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

Two NBA games on TNT.

More Johnny Staccato (Trio, 7pm and 10pm) and Bakersfield, P.D. (Trio, 7:30pm and 10:30pm).

A body asks Tru for help and yet for some reason her day doesn’t start over on Tru Calling (FOX, 7pm). I’m told the show has improved since early episodes, but it’d need to improve a lot to become “best bet” material.

“Monster Nation 3″ on Monster Garage (Discovery, 7pm and 10pm). More vehicles by fans of the show.

#1 “viewer’s choice” episode of Friends (NBC, 7pm, runs long).

Lesley Ann Warren and Blythe Danner guest star on Will & Grace (NBC, 7:32pm). Jack’s son tries out to be a cheerleader.

Stephen King’s Kingdom Hospital (ABC, 8pm) moves to a new night and time. Do you think ABC is trying to kill it as FOX killed Wonderfalls?

Rerun of the series premiere of The Swan (FOX, 8pm). Yes, this airs instead of the episode of Wonderfalls originally scheduled to air here. ‘Cuz FOX cancelled Wonderfalls. Jeez. You gotta admit that even if Wonderfalls isn’t your cup of tea, you’d rather see more original programming like it on the schedule than reruns of reality shows.

Sandy is injured while fighting a fire and Dr. Weaver tries to save her (of course) on an angsty (what else?) ER (NBC, 8:59pm).

Baseball Tonight (ESPN2, 9pm).

Rerun of this week’s new Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (Bravo, 9pm).

“Angelina Jolie and Gene Simmons; fishing for squirrels” on Banzai! (Comedy Central, 9:30pm).

Jason Bateman (of Arrested Development) on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Comedy Central, 10pm and midnight).

“Super Karate Monkey Death Car” episode of NewsRadio (Biography, 10pm and 2am).

Viggo Alert! Remember when Viggo Mortensen was on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm) and Dave said that Viggo was probably the coolest guy they’ve had on the show (except for possibly Johnny Depp)? If not, you should really watch this rerun with guests Viggo and Sting.

Matthew Perry, Paul Bettany, William Hung on The Tonight Show (NBC, 10:35pm).

Tom Hanks guest stars on The Naked Truth (We, 11pm).

Friday, April 9th, 2004

Jason Bateman, Anne Heche, Abra Moore on Live with Regis and Kelly (syndicated, check your local listings)
Bruce Willis & Matthew Perry, Barry Manilow on The View (ABC, check your local listings)
Elizabeth Montgomery guest stars on Johnny Staccato (Trio, 7pm and 10pm)
William H. Macy guest stars on Bakersfield, P.D. (Trio, 7:30pm and 10:30pm)
The D.A. (ABC, 9pm)
Bruce Willis, Major League Baseball Players’ Union Chief Don Fehr, Wynton Marsalis on On The Record with Bob Costas (HBO, 10pm)

Cool Lineup! Jason Bateman (of Arrested Development), Anne Heche, Abra Moore (who was once in band Poi Dog Pondering and is fabulous) on Live with Regis and Kelly (syndicated, check your local listings).

Bruce Willis & Matthew Perry, Barry Manilow on The View (ABC, check your local listings).

Caroline Dhavernas (of Wonderfalls) is scheduled to appear on The Sharon Osbourne Show (syndicated, check your local listings). I guess whether or not she’s on the show depends a lot on when the show was taped.

Baseball: Chicago Cubs at Atlanta Braves (WGN and/or TBS, 6:30pm).

Couple of NBA games on ESPN. Hockey on ESPN2.

Star Wars: Clone Wars: Chapters 11-15 (Cartoon Network, 7pm) and Star Wars: Clone Wars: Chapters 16-20 (Cartoon Network, 8pm).

Elizabeth Montgomery guest stars as a “floozy jazz groupie” (pre-Bewitched) on Johnny Staccato (Trio, 7pm and 10pm).

First three episodes of Deadwood (HBO, 7pm, 8pm, 9pm).

Emeril’s New Orleans Easter (Food Network, 7pm and 11pm).

Rerun of the Joan of Arcadia (CBS, 7pm) where God asks Joan to stop a classmate from submitting his artwork to the school fair.

An investigation into racial profiling, Chris Rock (two separate stories) on Dateline NBC (NBC, 7pm – 9pm).

William H. Macy guest stars as an unhappy cable employee on Bakersfield, P.D. (Trio, 7:30pm and 10:30pm).

“Maria finds that Pookie’s doghouse is better than her apartment” on The Help (WB, 8:30pm).

Tony trips on a banana peel and ends up in the hospital, where he has a dream . . . on Life With Bonnie (ABC, 8:30pm).

“David fears a case will cause him to lose the support of the Jewish community, and he mulls dropping out of the re-election campaign” on The D.A. (ABC, 9pm). Felicity Huffman (of Sports Night continues her guest stint on the show.

Gina Gershon, Dennis Farina, Ron Livingston, Faizon Love on Dinner For Five (IFC, 9pm and midnight). With Jon Favreau.

Third Watch (NBC, 9pm) returns with a new episode.

Rerun of the first episode (I think) of Dead Like Me (Showtime, 9pm).

Rerun of the pilot movie for Touching Evil (USA, 9:30pm – 11:30pm).

Bruce Willis, Major League Baseball Players’ Union Chief Don Fehr, Wynton Marsalis on On The Record with Bob Costas (HBO, 10pm).

Rerun of this week’s intense new episode of The Shield (FX, 10pm). One character experiences major trauma which kicks off a six episode arc.

“The investigators battle the clock as a sexual predator becomes increasingly aggressive” on a rerun of C.S.I. (Spike, 10pm).

Jason Bateman (of Arrested Development) is scheduled to appear on Late Night with Conan O’Brien (NBC, 11:35pm).

Saturday, April 10th, 2004

Janet Jackson hosts & is musical guest on Saturday Night Live (NBC, check your local listings).

“The Wedding” episode of Ally McBeal (FX, 6am) makes me sad ‘cuz there’s no wedding in it. The episode was reportedly rewritten at a late date after Robert Downey Jr.’s arrest (and subsequent departure from the show). Originally I think his character of Larry Paul was supposed to marry Ally in the Season 4 finale. Oh, well.

Dilbert (Comedy Central, 6am, 6:30am).

The Critic (Comedy Central, 7am, 7:30am).

Parts 1 – 4 of RoboCop: Prime Directives (Sci-Fi, 8am – 4pm).

“Y Me” episode of Touching Evil (USA, 9am). First regular episode after the pilot movie (which airs on Friday night).

Rerun of Friday night’s On the Record With Bob Costas (HBO, 9am). With guests Bruce Willis, Wynton Marsalis, Don Fehr.

Rerun of this week’s new Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (Bravo, 10am).

Reruns of Significant Others (Bravo, 11am, 11:30am).

Baseball: Chicago White Sox at New York Yankees (WGN, Noon).

Rerun of Inside the Actors Studio: Barbra Streisand (Bravo, Noon – 2pm).

Parts 1 – 5 of 101 Reasons the ’90s Ruled (E!, Noon – 5pm).

College Hill marathon (BET, starting at Noon).

Nashville’s Purity Dairy, home of the Nutty Buddy, Vermont Teddy Bear Company and Louisville Slugger Factory and Museum, Oscar Mayer Weiners, 1999 National Monopoly Championship on two episodes of John Ratzenberger’s Made in America (Travel, 2pm, 2:30pm).

Food Crazy: Food Wars: Barbecue (Travel, 3pm).

Easter Unwrapped (Food Network, 3pm).

College Hockey: NCAA Tournament, Final (ESPN, 6pm).

Baseball: Chicago Cubs at Atlanta Braves (TBS, 6pm).

History vs. Hollywood: The Alamo (History Channel, 6pm).

Dog Show: Eukanuba Tournament of Champions 2004 (Animal Planet, 7pm – 10pm; 10pm – 1am). From Portland, Oregon.

Nothing but Teen Titans and Star Wars: Clone Wars on Cartoon Network in primetime.

Star Wars: Clone Wars: Chapters 1-5 (Cartoon Network, 8pm); Star Wars: Clone Wars: Chapters 6-10 (Cartoon Network, 9pm); Star Wars: Clone Wars : Chapters 11-15 (Cartoon Network, 10pm); and Star Wars: Clone Wars: Chapters 16-20 (Cartoon Network, 11pm).

Chappelle’s Show marathon (Comedy Central, 8pm – 1am).

Two battles Octopus on Iron Chef (Food Network, 8pm and midnight, 9pm and 1am).

“The contestants perform classic songs by Lynyrd Skynrd, the Allman Brothers and Marshall Tucker” on Nashville Star (USA, 9pm and 11pm).

Charisma Carpenter stars in See Jane Date (ABC Family, 9:30pm). One of their original romantic comedies. Fun fluff which will seem predictable at first and then possibly surprise you (in some ways, at least).

Elisha Cuthbert (of 24) and Vanessa L. Williams on Mad TV (FOX, 10pm).

“Detectives probe the death of a woman found poisoned and in a pool” on a rerun of Law & Order: Criminal Intent (USA, 10pm) that just aired on NBC a week or two ago.

Rerun of Crossing Jordan (A&E, 10pm and 2am).

Janet Jackson hosts & is musical guest on Saturday Night Live (NBC, check your local listings).

Bonnie Raitt with some special guests (including John Prine) on Austin City Limits (PBS, check your local listings).

Be afraid, be very afraid: H.R. Pufnstuf (TV Land, 11pm); Lidsville (TV Land, 11:30pm); Sigmund and the Sea Monsters (TV Land, midnight); and Electra Woman and Dyna Girl (TV Land, 12:30am). Kroft-tastic. Hey, doesn’t Electra Woman look a lot like the Salem serial killer?

Sunday, April 11th, 2004

China Beach (History Channel, 5am)
Everwood (WB, 5pm)
Part 1 of Band of Brothers (History, 8pm and midnight)
Arrested Development (FOX, 8:30pm)
Alias (ABC, 9pm)

Cleopatra 2525 (Sci-Fi, 4am).

Holly (Ricki Lake) tries to find pen-pals for the folks at China Beach (History Channel, 5am) in an episode from early in the show’s third season. McMurphy isn’t a very good patient; Dodger is given a baby that may or may not be his son.

“Judge Ling” and “Neutral Corners” episodes of Ally McBeal (FX, 6am, 7am). From the final season. Dame Edna guest stars.

St. Peter: The Rock (History Channel, 7am).

The Apostle Paul: The Man Who Turned the World Upside Down (History Channel, 8:30am).

Trading Spaces: Family (TLC, 9am).

Parts 1 – 3 of Dune (Sci-Fi, 10am – 4pm), followed by parts 1 – 3 of Children of Dune (Sci-Fi, 4pm – 10pm).

Baseball: Chicago Cubs at Atlanta Braves (WGN & TBS, Noon).

Two NBA basketball games on ABC (starting at Noon).

World’s Biggest Candy Show (Food Network, 3pm).

Easter Unwrapped (Food Network, 4pm).

Toys We Grew Up With (HGTV, 4pm).

In case you missed the first new Everwood (WB, 5pm) in a while, it’s on again. Amy moves home, Nina fights for custody of her son. And there may be breakups galore, too. Excellent episode.

High Noon (TCM, 5pm).

Baseball: San Francisco Giants at San Diego Padres (ESPN, 7pm).

Band of Brothers (History, 8pm and midnight) makes it’s debut on the History Channel. This is part 1 (of 10).

Easter Parade (TCM, 7pm).

Nick Lachey & Jessica Simpson in their first tv special: The Nick & Jessica Variety Hour (ABC, 8pm). Comedy sketches & music.

Homeland Security (NBC, 8pm) is actually a pilot movie. Tom Skerritt stars as an Admiral put in charge of Homeland Security. With Grant Show, Scott Glenn, Leland Orser, Ross Gibby, and Marisol Nichols.

The SEC releases some of the family’s money and then Michael is swamped with requests for money on a new Arrested Development (FOX, 8:30pm).

New Alias (ABC, 9pm) at a later time than usual. There’s a virus on the loose and then Jack Bauer shows up . . . oh wait, different show. There is a virus involved, though, honest. And it looks like Lauren may finally be exposed, but Vaughn doesn’t want to believe he married a mole. I really don’t like Melissa George as Lauren and yet I loved her in Thieves: weird. Djimon Hounsou guest stars.

Holiday Inn (TCM, 9pm).

Another airing of the “Mum” episode of The Shield (FX, 9pm).

Rerun of the recent Law & Order: SVU (USA, 10pm) that’s may remind you of the Michael Jackson case. Cindy Williams guest stars.

Farscape (Sci-Fi, midnight).

Monday, April 12th, 2004

Dr. Phil on The Bernie Mac Show (FOX, 7pm)
Carl Reiner on The Bernie Mac Show (FOX, 7:30pm)
Everwood (WB, 8pm)
Billy Crystal, Alex Rodriguez on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm)

Steve Martin, Jon Cryer on a rerun of The Ellen DeGeneres Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

Roswell marathon (Sci-Fi, 10am – 3pm).

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

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (Spike, 6pm) begins airing weekdays at 6pm on Spike with part 1 of the very first episode. This is probably my favorite of the Star Trek series (other than the original, that is), though early episodes are underwhelming.

Dr. Phil counsels Bernie on The Bernie Mac Show (FOX, 7pm). Still one of the better sitcoms on the air these days.

I also quite like Two and a Half Men (CBS, 7pm, 7:30pm, 8pm, 8:30pm). It’s grown on me. Jon Cryer & Charlie Sheen are good, the kid’s really good too. Holland Taylor and Concetta Ferrell are fabulous (as they usually are). It’s from Chuck Lorre (who ran Dharma & Greg, another enjoyable but not great sitcom). Four reruns. First up is the one where Charlie’s feelings are hurt when he learns Alan asked some “harebrained cousins” to be his child’s guardian in the event of his untimely demise. Second episode is the Thanksgiving episode. In the third episode, Charlie drags Alan to a steam room when he comes down with a cold and they’re set to double date. And the fourth episode is the one where Chris O’Donnell guest stars as an ex-girlfriend of Charlie’s who has undergone . . . some major changes.

Neighbor Carl Reiner plays “the ultimate practical joke” on Bernie on another new episode of The Bernie Mac Show (FOX, 7:30pm). Cracking Up has been pulled from the FOX schedule. Rest of the episodes may air this summer.

Ephram and Madison think that Madison should return to being Delia’s babysitter; I bet Andy isn’t wild about that idea on a new Everwood (WB, 8pm). I love this show.

Part 2 (of 10) of Band of Brothers (History Channel, 8pm and midnight).

Billy Crystal, Alex Rodriguez on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm).

“Mr. Monk and the Captain’s Wife” episode of Monk (USA, 11pm).

Tuesday, April 13th, 2004

Gilmore Girls (WB, 7pm)
24 (FOX, 8pm)
The Shield (FX, 9pm, 10pm)
Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (Bravo, 9pm and 11pm)

Julie Benz (“Darla” on Buffy and Angel) is one of the guests on The Sharon Osbourne Show (syndicated, check your local listings). Other guests: Michael Madsen, Samantha Mathis.

Part 2 of the 2-part first episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (Spike, 6pm).

Rory and Paris go on spring break on an excellent new episode of Gilmore Girls (WB, 7pm). Yes, I got a chance to screen this episode. I never really did the spring break thing, but I think Rory and Paris are even nerdier than I would’ve been on spring break. They also run into Madeline and Louise. I love it! Plus: Luke has a bit of a crisis and Lorelai is there for him; there are also some developments between Lorelai and Digger. Don’t see much of the townies in this episode (other than a brief bit with Kirk).

President Palmer tells Jack that a terrorist has ordered that they kill Jack’s boss on a new 24 (FOX, 8pm). Things are pretty tense as of 6am.

Part 3 (of 10) of Band of Brothers (History Channel, 8pm and midnight).

Lucas, Nathan, and Jake are auctioned off at a charity auction on One Tree Hill (WB, 8pm).

There’s a gruesome double murder on a ew episode of The Shield (FX, 9pm, 10pm) that involves a cop’s wife and child. And so much more, of course.

The “new” episode of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (Bravo, 9pm and 11pm) is actually the pilot episode, which has three different members of the Fab 5 than you know and love.

Jessalyn Gilsig guest stars on a new NYPD Blue (ABC, 9pm).

More Spymaster (TLC, 9pm and midnight).

Rerun of the episode where Amy was supposed to marry Stuart (Reed Diamond). Dan Futterman returns as Vincent on Judging Amy (CBS, 9pm). Reed Diamond in a kilt!

“First Impressions” episode of Angel (TNT, 10pm).

Michael Chiklis (of The Shield) is scheduled to appear on Late Night with Conan O’Brien (NBC, 11:35pm).

Will be back with “normal” picks for April 14th by Noon on Wednesday, April 14th.

Read the rest of this entry »