Laurel’s TV Picks

Angel (WB, 8pm)
The West Wing (NBC, 8pm)
Law & Order (NBC, 9pm)
Senator John McCain, Tom Dreesen on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm)
Kelsey Grammer (of Frasier), Mariska Hargitay (of Law & Order: SVU), Lewis Black on Late Night with Conan O’Brien (NBC, 11:35pm)

I’m on the road (away from my usual tools and routine) and also experiencing what I like to call “end of the season burnout.” Still enjoying some TV and really sad to see some shows end for the season, but I’m just fried. Trying to hang in there through May sweeps and the upfronts next week, but I’m one crispy TV girl. Have I mentioned that pulling this all together each day is a lot of work? Perhaps I’ll take a vacation from the picks for a week or so after the upfronts (when the networks announce their schedules for next season).

Sci-Fi Channel Mini-Marathon: Roswell (Sci-Fi, 10am – 3pm).

Cynthia Nixon, Patti LaBelle on The Ellen DeGeneres Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

Brad Paisley, Yeardley Smith (of The Simpsons), Lizzy Caplan and Daniel Franzese (of Mean Girls) on The Sharon Osbourne Show (syndicated, check your local listings; WGN, midnight).

Mike O’Malley, Roger Lodge, Nancy Grisham Anderson. Dionne Warwick on The Wayne Brady Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

“Anatomy of a Divorce” on Dr. Phil (syndicated, check your local listings).

“The 11 Year Old Who Wants a Sex Change” (and also a 5-year-old boy who says he wants to be a girl) on Oprah (syndicated, check your local listings).

No Buffy the Vampire Slayer reruns this afternoon on FX.

The very first episode of Angel (TNT, 4pm). It’s called “City Of.” Sometime during the past year, I watched all of Season 1 of Angel for the first time (I’d only seen a handful of episodes from that season previously). Wow! It’s a good show that season. And I do think it’s accessible to folks who aren’t familiar with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I’m sure there are fans that prefer later seasons and there are some storylines and elements from later seasons that I may like better, but season 1 of Angel is a lot of fun. Uneven at times, but it works out overall. The series as a whole has usually been good and sometimes great, with occasional forays into mediocrity. In other words: worth seeing. Better than a whole lot of other stuff out there.

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

Yogurt episode of Good Eats (Food Network, 6pm).

Wacky Candy Unwrapped (Food Network, 6:30pm).

ESPN has NBA playoff action, ESPN2 has a couple of baseball games.

Eric sneaks a peak at Donna in her wedding dress on That ’70s Show (FOX, 7pm – 7:44pm). Note that the episode is extra long, padded with outtakes and such. Should run from 7pm ’til 7:45pm or so. Is followed by an extra long trailer for disaster movie The Day After Tomorrow (which I’ll be avoiding; I just don’t have any interest in disaster movies anymore).

Oh no! Pete is kidnapped (and tortured) on Smallville (WB, 7pm). Clark may tell Lana the truth. Lex panics when the FBI wants info on his father or else they’ll throw him in jail.

60 Minutes II (CBS, 7pm) looks further into the abuse at Abu Ghraib prison, with details on the investigation. Plus a U.S. soldier’s home video from Camp Bucca and Abu Ghraib.

Second ever episode of Providence (Lifetime, 7pm).

Gerry McCambridge (who NBC calls “the world’s leading mentalist”) stars in a special simply titled The Mentalist (NBC, 7pm). Brittany Snow (of American Dreams, Guiding Light) appears on the show.

More Johnny Staccato (Trio, 7pm and 10pm; 7:30pm and 10:30pm). I wish I had Trio.

Second-to-last episode ever of Angel (WB, 8pm). Previews are using the tag line “Has Angel turned evil?” Gosh, that’d be a weird way to end the series . . . with Angel evil again. (Gee, I doubt that’s what will happen). For the record, I really didn’t care for last week’s episode. What I’ve read about this episode sounds really really stupid, but I hope the episode is better than all that.

Donna, Admiral Fitzwallace (John Amos), and some congressmen go on a trip to the Gaza strip and then there’s a bombing there on The West Wing (NBC, 8pm). Jason Isaacs guest stars as a photojournalist that Donna likes.

TV Land Moguls Part 2 of 2: The ’70s (TV Land, 8pm). Followed by classic TV related to the show.

Another performer is voted off of American Idol (FOX, 8pm). And Donna Summer performs.

Bunch of episodes of Good Eats (Food Network, 8pm – 10pm; midnight – 2am).

A wealthy caviar salesman is found dead the morning after his wedding on Law & Order (NBC, 9pm).

I must admit that I fell asleep halfway through my review copy of The Carol Burnett Show: Let’s Bump Up the Lights (CBS, 9pm). Carol Burnett, Tim Conway, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, and Lyle Waggoner field questions and answers from the audience. Which lead to clips of the Q&A sessions from the old show. If you’re a big fan of the old show (and enjoyed the Q&A part), you’ll probably enjoy it. I never particularly cared for the Q&A bits, so that may explain why I fell asleep.

The “Eddie Loves Baseball” episode of Keen Eddie (Bravo, 9pm).

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

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

Senator John McCain, Tom Dreesen on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm).

Jerry Seinfeld, Celine Dion on The Tonight Show (NBC, 10:35pm).

Kelsey Grammer (of Frasier), Mariska Hargitay (of Law & Order: SVU), Lewis Black on Late Night with Conan O’Brien (NBC, 11:35pm).

Gabrielle Union, Tony Hawk, Rick Springfield on Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC, check your local listings).

Patrick Stewart, Barry Manilow on The Late Late Show (CBS, check your local listings).

Andy Richter, Morgan Spurlock, Dane Cook on Last Call with Carson Daly (NBC, check your local listings).

The cast of Frasier on Today (NBC, 7am – 10am).

Henry Winkler on The Early Show (CBS, 7am – 9am).

Camryn Manheim on Good Morning, America (ABC, 7am – 9am).

The cast of Frasier on Live with Regis and Kelly (syndicated, check your local listings).

Maura Tierney (of NewsRadio, ER) on The View (ABC, 10am or thereabouts).

Sci-Fi Channel Mini-Marathon: Star Trek (Sci-Fi, 10am – 3pm).

Patrick Stewart, Usher, Nigella Lawson on The Ellen DeGeneres Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

Joe Mantegna (of Joan of Arcadia), Rhona Mitra (of The Practice), Kimberly Caldwell (of American Idol), Five for Fighting on The Sharon Osbourne Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

Kathy Griffin, Dr. Anthony Griffin, Cristina Ferrare, Mary Mary on The Wayne Brady Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

“A Family Divided: After the Confession” on Dr. Phil (syndicated, check your local listings).

Cameron Diaz, Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Antonio Banderas, and Julie Andrews (a.k.a. the cast of Shrek 2) on Oprah (syndicated, check your local listings).

“The Weight of the World” and “The Gift” episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (FX, 3pm, 4pm). Buffy dies.

“Lonely Hearts” episode of Angel (TNT, 4pm). Second ever episode. Elisabeth Rohm (of Law & Order) makes her first appearance Detective Kate Lockley. I don’t much like Rohm on Law & Order, but I really liked her on Angel.

“On The Day Before” episode of The West Wing (Bravo, 6pm and 10pm).

Yogurt episode of Good Eats (Food Network, 6pm).

Comfort food Unwrapped (Food Network, 6:30pm).

Primetime Thursday brings the series finale of Frasier. Plus new episodes of Survivor: All-Stars, C.S.I., Without A Trace, and ER. More NBA and NHL playoff action. Full coverage of this stuff and more in my picks for Thursday, which I hope to have online by Noon Thursday.

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