Laurel’s TV Picks

Picks for Tuesday daytime and a preview of Tuesday primetime can be found in the tomorrow section of this page. Full picks for Tuesday should be online at/around Noon.

Part 1 (of 4) of new miniseries 5 Days To Midnight (Sci-Fi, 8pm, 10pm, midnight)
Return to Titanic (National Geographic, 8pm and 11pm)
Touching Evil (USA, 9pm)
Bill Murray, P.J. Harvey on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm)

It’s now safe to assume that most episodes of series that aired this past season are reruns unless I say otherwise. When in doubt, I indicate whether or not something is a rerun on the schedule grid. I just won’t be always saying “on a rerun of,” if you know what I mean. It gets old pretty quick.

TCM will air Ronald Reagan movies on Thursday, June 10th. More info in my picks for Thursday.

Reruns of Crossing Jordan now air on A&E Monday – Thursdays at 10pm (with a second airing at 2am) starting with the pilot episode tonight; Third Watch now mostly just airs at 4pm Monday – Friday.

TV DVDs due out next Tuesday: pilot episode of Beverly Hills 90210, Season 2 of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Season 1 of Dead Like Me, Season 1 of Monk, Season 2 of Nero Wolfe, Season 1 of Nip/Tuck, Season 4 of The Simpsons, and Season 4 of Xena. [More TV on DVD]

TV DVDs due out tomorrow: Season 1 of The A-Team, The Dame Edna Experience, Season 2 of The Dead Zone, Seasons 1 & 2 of Just Shoot Me, Season 6 of M*A*S*H, Season 1 of Playmakers, Season 1 of Quantum Leap, Volume 1 of SCTV, Season 1 of Tour of Duty, and Season 1 of Who’s The Boss. [More TV on DVD] Thanks to everyone who shops via the links on this site, it keeps this site online.

Check out my Fall 2004 Schedule Grid Preview if you haven’t already; you can even jump right to the grid for the Central timezone or for Eastern/Pacific.

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

John Travolta, Goran Visnjic (of ER) on a rerun of The Ellen DeGeneres Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

Bow Wow, Solange Knowles, Andrea Savage (of Significant Others), a girl who “sued her high school for causing her to develop an eating disorder” on a rerun of The Sharon Osbourne Show (syndicated, check your local listings; WGN, midnight).

Jamie Lee Curtis, Little Stevie, America’s Best Teachers, Bear in the Big Blue House on The Wayne Brady Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

“Parenting 101: FAQs” on a rerun of Dr. Phil (syndicated, check your local listings).

“Stars of Spider-Man 2 and Real-Life Superheroes” on Oprah (syndicated, check your local listings).

“Help” and “Selfless” episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (FX, 3pm, 4pm).

“Five By Five” episode of Angel (TNT, 4pm). Faith makes her first appearance on Angel.

A new run of Third Watch begins this week, starting with the first episode today (A&E, 4pm). Third Watch now primarily airs at 4pm Monday – Friday, with occasional morning reruns. No more 10pm airings as Crossing Jordan will now air Monday – Thursday at 10pm.

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

“Fry Hard 2: The Chicken (Fried)” episode of Good Eats (Food Network, 6pm).

Food on a Stick Unwrapped (Food Network, 6:30pm).

Four episodes of Punk’d (MTV, 7pm – 9pm). Ashton Kutcher and company pull practical jokes on celebrities. With victims/participants: Julia Stiles, The Rock, Kaley Cuoco; Evan Rachel Wood, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Warren Sapp; Carmen Electra, Dave Navarro, Tara Reid; and Mike Shinoda (of Linkin Park), Brandy, Mekhi Phifer.

Baseball: St. Louis Cardinals at Chicago Cubs (ESPN2 & WGN, 7pm).

They put together an “Outback House” on Monster House (TLC, 7pm and 10pm).

Joseph “Whoa” Lawrence, Maggie Lawson, and Marilu Henner star in the original ABC Family romantic comedy Love Rules! (ABC Family, 7pm). Will be rerun on the 12th, too. Lawrence and Lawson play a couple who get engaged and hope to have a quirky fun offbeat wedding, only to have family and friends get involved and teach them the “love rules” about weddings. I’m guessing hijinks ensue.

Paul Sorvino and Jerry Hardin guest star on Still Standing (CBS, 7:30pm).

Part 1 (of 4) of new miniseries 5 Days To Midnight (Sci-Fi, 8pm – 10pm; 10pm – midnight; midnight – 2am; also at 6pm Tuesday). Whole miniseries runs 5 hours total. A college professor finds a mysterious briefcase which contains a police file with the details of a gruesome murder. The creepiest part? It’s his own murder and it’s supposed to happen in 5 days. Timothy Hutton stars, with Randy Quaid, Kari Matchett (of Nero Wolfe), Hamish Linklater (of Gideon’s Crossing, American Dreams), and Angus MacFadyen.

Mayday!: Return to Titanic (National Geographic, 8pm and 11pm). Scientist Dr. Robert Ballard takes a live trip through the wreckage of the Titanic. It’s part of a project to document the status of the wreckage and look for ways to keep the site and materials there from deteriorating further. More info at the website.

A woman’s husband transitions from male to female in The Opposite Sex: Jamie’s Story (Showtime, 8pm). Followed by panel discussion Sexual Dialogues: Men to Women (Showtime, 9:30pm).

Marie nags Amy about thank you notes on Everybody Loves Raymond (CBS, 8pm).

Kathleen Quinlan stars in a new Lifetime movie called Perfect Romance (Lifetime, 8pm) which certainly sounds groan-inducing (but then it still could be diverting, I suppose). Here’s what the Lifetime website says about the movie (I couldn’t resist quoting it): “Once upon a time there was a doting mom who lived in a house with her heartbroken daughter. To keep her daughter from rekindling a romance with her immature ex-hubby, this well-meaning mother sought out a prince through the online personals. A handsome stranger from a foreign land responded to the ad ? and appeared in a rental car. Lifetime’s newest movie, ‘Perfect Romance’ has all the makings of a modern-day fairy tale. On the way to happily ever after, everyone falls head over heels for the wrong people. This romantic comedy will bring you lots of laughs and plenty of hope that love is out there for everyone!”

Series premiere of yet another reality series: For Love or Money (NBC, 8pm – 10pm). I don’t think I need to say anything more about it, really. Have I mentioned lately that I’m sick of reality series?

The final four “perform” on The WB’s Superstar USA (WB, 8pm).

“The Breaking Point” episode of Band of Brothers (History, 8pm and midnight).

“Hot Dogs” and “On the Grill” episodes of Unwrapped (Food Network, 8pm and midnight; 8:30pm and 12:30am).

The brothers drink enough that they decide to stand up to their mother (Holland Taylor) on Two and a Half Men (CBS, 8:30pm).

New episode of Touching Evil (USA, 9pm). Jeffrey Donovan and Vera Farmiga star, with Bradley Cooper (of Alias) and often some other interesting guest stars. The Hughes Brothers & Bruce Willis are exec producers on this U.S. update of the British series.

Rerun of the latest episode of The Shield (FX, 9pm). There’s a mole in the treasury department, and things regarding the Money Train heist get even more complicated.

Yet another reality series, this one follows eight Bridezillas (We, 9pm and midnight).

A diamond broker is murdered and a developmentally challenged man is the only witness on CSI: Miami (CBS, 9pm).

History of BBQ on The Secret Life Of . . . (Food Network, 9pm and 1am).

“Hookah Dining, Black Tie BBQ, cakes of the future, Japanese cream puffs, and designer puddings on What’s Hot! What’s Cool! (Food Network, 9:30pm and 1:30am).

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

Battle Foie Gras on Iron Chef (Food Network, 10pm).

Kyle Secor (of Homicide) guest stars in the very first episode of Crossing Jordan (A&E, 10pm and 2am). Crossing Jordan now airs Monday – Thursday at 10pm (with a second airing at 2am) on A&E; also on Saturday nights at 10pm (which is a separate run that has been going on for a while and is currently airing episodes from late in Season 2). This isn’t a great show, but there have been some good episodes. I watch it. The series strength is the supporting cast, the best episodes are the one where the ensemble gets to shine. Fortunately, as the series wore on, the focus shifted off of Jordan herself a bit more. Stories also got sharper in most cases. Except for the whole case involving her mother, that gets murkier and weirder.

Mario Cantone, Scott Thompson, Greg Giraldo, Ty Barnett on Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn (Comedy Central, 10:30pm and 12:30am).

Bill Murray, P.J. Harvey on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm).

Jennifer Love Hewitt, Tim Russert, the Calling on The Tonight Show (NBC, 10:35pm).

Rerun of the series finale of The Nanny (Lifetime, 11pm – midnight).

Alfred Hitchcock’s final film Family Plot (TCM, 11pm).

Rerun of Monk (USA, 11pm). Always a good thing.

Bob Costas, Brian Posehn, Toby Lightman on a rerun of Late Night with Conan O’Brien (NBC, 11:35pm).

Brooke Burns, Zero 7 on Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC, check your local listings).

Cool Lineup Alert! Quentin Tarantino, Mary Tyler Moore, Charisma Carpenter, Los Lobos on a good rerun of The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn (CBS, check your local listings).

Val Kilmer, Dennis Rodman, Mobb Deep on a rerun of Last Call with Carson Daly (NBC, check your local listings).

TV Classic Alert! One of my favorite episodes of any TV show ever: the “Jose Chung’s From Outer Space” episode of The X-Files (TNT, midnight). Darin Morgan is a genius. And Charles Nelson Reilly is hilarious. Special appearances by Jesse “The Body” Ventura (former governor of Minnesota) and Alex Trebek.

Rerun of last night’s season premiere of The Dead Zone (USA, midnight).

Beat The Geeks (Comedy Central, 1am – 3am).

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

Glenn Close, Marc Anthony on Today (NBC, 7am – 10am).

Tom Hanks on Good Morning, America (ABC, 7am – 9am).

Harry Smith spends a day with the NYPD on The Early Show (CBS, 7am – 9am).

Glenn Close, Richard Dreyfuss, and Carrot Top (ugh) on Live with Regis and Kelly (syndicated, check your local listings).

Marc Anthony, a new installment of “The View on Crime,” the best summer accessories on The View (ABC, check your local listings).

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

Does James Stenbeck have yet another child? All will be revealed (more or less) on As The World Turns this week (CBS, check your local listings). I’m still terribly bummed that Lesli Kay has left the series for General Hospital, I wish her well and understand she left to be closer to her husband (not ‘cuz she didn’t love playing Molly on ATWT).

Sara Rue (of Less Than Perfect) guest stars on Ned and Stacey (We, 2:30pm).

Betty White, Amy Smart, Gavin Degraw on a rerun of The Ellen DeGeneres Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

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

Regis Philbin. Amy Smart, Uncle Kracker, America’s best teachers on The Wayne Brady Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

“My Big Day Was Ruined” on Dr. Phil (syndicated, check your local listings).

“Stevie Wonder Debuts His New Music” on Oprah (syndicated, check your local listings). It’s Wonder’s first new stuff in 10 years, he also does a duet with his daughter, and there’s some other big surprise too.

Amy Sedaris in Strangers with Candy (Comedy Central, 1pm, 1:30pm).

“Him” and “Conversations With Dead People” episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (FX, 3pm, 4pm).

“Sanctuary” episode of Angel (TNT, 4pm). Buffy faces Faith & Angel in L.A.

Sometimes I wish “Requiem” had been the final episode of The X-Files (Sci-Fi, 4pm). Except without all that nonsense about Scully being pregnant.

Concert: New Order: Finsbury Park June 9th 2002 (Trio, 5pm).

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

Frozen crabs are Good Eats (Food Network, 6pm).

Cheez Unwrapped (Food Network, 6:30pm).

Tuesday primetime brings the series premiere of The Jury (a new series from the folks who created Homicide: Life on the Street! It’s good! I’ll have a full review tomorrow); plus new episodes of Summerland, The Shield, and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy; part 2 of 5 Days to Midnight and the season premiere of Last Comic Standing. And as if that wasn’t enough, there are also Cary Grant movies on TCM, as well as some sports and reruns and plenty of other stuff elsewhere. Full details in my picks for Tuesday, which should be online sometime after 10pm tonight and before Noon Tuesday.
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