Laurel’s TV Picks

Info on Thursday daytime TV can be found in the tomorrow section of these picks. Full picks for Thursday will be online later today (probably by Noon).

ABC News Special: The Reunion (ABC, 9pm)
New Rescue Me (FX, 9pm, 10pm)
Living in TV Land (TV Land, 9pm and midnight).
New Good Eats (Food Network, 9pm and 1am)
New Reno 911! (Comedy Central, 9:30pm and 11:30pm)

Olympic TV schedule is available at NBCOlympics.com.

TV DVDs due out Tuesday include: Season 1 of The Apprentice, Season 1 of Boy Meets World, Seasons 1 & 2 of Dallas, Season 3 of Farscape, a fourth Futurama set, the complete Harsh Realm, Season 1 of The Munsters, Season 1 of Night Gallery, Wodehouse Playhouse, and The World At War.

TCM Star of the Day is Edward G. Robinson: Five Star Final (TCM, 5am); Blackmail (TCM, 6:30am); Bullets or Ballots (TCM, 8am); The Last Gangster (TCM, 9:30am); A Slight Case of Murder (TCM, 11am); The Sea Wolf (TCM, 12:30pm); Confessions of a Nazi Spy (TCM, 2pm); Doctor Ehrlich’s Magic Bullet (TCM, 3:45am); Little Caesar (TCM, 5:30pm); Brother Orchid (TCM, 7pm); Larceny, Inc. (TCM, 8:30pm); The Cincinnati Kid (TCM, 10:15pm); Soylent Green (TCM, midnight); Our Vines Have Tender Grapes (TCM, 1:45am); and Two Seconds (TCM, 3:45am).

Sci-Fi mini-marathon du jour: Star Trek (Sci-Fi, 7am – 3pm).

Burt Reynolds, Neil Patrick Harris, John Cassidy on Live with Regis and Kelly (syndicated, check your local listings).

Reruns of interviews with Lorraine Bracco, Edie Falco, Drea de Matteo, Michael Imperioli, and Steven Schirripa on The View (ABC, check your local listings).

No Buffy the Vampire Slayer rerun this afternoon on FX.

Dolly Parton, Jon Favreau on a rerun of The Ellen DeGeneres Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

Sarah McLachlan, J. Mack Slaughter on a rerun of The Sharon Osbourne Show (syndicated, check your local listings; WGN, Noon).

“Relationship Rescue Retreat” on Dr. Phil (syndicated, check your local listings).

“The Things the Pros Can’t Live Without” on a rerun of Oprah (syndicated, check your local listings). With guests Rocco DiSpirito and Kathy Ireland, among others.

“Arctic Radar” episode of The West Wing (Bravo, 3pm and 10pm).

“Double Or Nothing” episode of Angel (TNT, 4pm).

Baseball : New York Yankees at Minnesota Twins (ESPN, 6pm). My beloved Twins had quite an amazing run there after the All-Star Game, only to recently fall into a terrible slump. They also don’t tend to do very well when on national TV like this. Last night they beat the Yankees but good to end that awful streak, here’s hoping they can do so again (or at least not look bad on TV!). One sign it should be a good game: Johan “Supernatural” Santana is pitching for the Twins! If you’ve not seen Johan pitch, you’re missing something beautiful. Mussina takes the mound for the Yankees.

“A Rib for All Seasons” episode of Good Eats (Food Network, 6pm).

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

TCM Star of the Day is Edward G. Robinson: Brother Orchid (TCM, 7pm); Larceny, Inc. (TCM, 8:30pm); The Cincinnati Kid (TCM, 10:15pm); Soylent Green (TCM, midnight); Our Vines Have Tender Grapes (TCM, 1:45am); and Two Seconds (TCM, 3:45am).

You know how FOX cancelled Family Guy a couple of times (more or less)? Now that the show’s a huge hit on DVD and cable, the series will return with new episodes to FOX this season. To remind people of the show (that is anyone who hasn’t been watching on cable or DVD), FOX airs four old episodes tonight.

The Ernie Kovacs Show (Trio, 7pm).

Bravo reruns episodes of their show about reality TV: Reality of Reality (Bravo, 7pm – 10pm).

A look at matchmaking as a billion dollar industry, a story about the Peto institute (which has had remarkable success working with children with cerebral palsy), and an interview with Larry King on 60 Minutes (CBS, 7pm).

Back to back reruns of Smallville (WB, 7pm, 8pm). Episodes are “Delete” (where Clark & Lana try to kill Chloe!) and “Velocity” (thugs threaten Pete’s life after he loses a race). It’s worth noting that the WB is now airing promos for the new seasons of Gilmore Girls, Everwood, Smallville, et al. So die hard fans of WB series might want to check out WB programming just to see that sort of thing.

A look at the music U.S. soldiers in Iraq listen to, as well as footage of some of them singing the songs on Soundtrack to War (VH1, 8pm and midnight).

If you missed ‘em on Sunday, HBO has reruns of Six Feet Under (HBO, 8pm), Entourage (HBO, 9pm), and Da Ali G Show (HBO, 9:30pm).

Mimi blames Drew (of course) when her house burns down on a new episode of The Drew Carey Show (ABC, 8pm).

And then the gang encourages Drew’s nephew to lie about the fire on another new episode of The Drew Carey Show (ABC, 8:30pm).

ABC News Special: The Reunion (ABC, 9pm) reunites classmates from Shaker Heights, Ohio. Some of the kids who were part of the first wave of school integration are now grown up and reunited and talking about their experiences. They also visit Shaker Heights to see what the schools there are like today.

Lenny Clarke and Charles Durning are among the guest stars on tonights new episode of Rescue Me (FX, 9pm, 10pm). If you watched last week’s episode, I don’t need to tell you to watch tonight. How great is this show?! Wow. There was an episode or two early on that didn’t completely grab me, but overall this show rocks. Probably the best new show of the summer. Last week’s episode was fabulous and tonight’s episode already has favorable buzz. Don’t miss it.

Series premiere of Living in TV Land (TV Land, 9pm and midnight). In this episode, a TV Land camera crew follows TV star Dick Van Patten and some of “his TV star friends” which include Jack Klugman, Alan Thicke, Tim Conway, and Bernie Kopell. Patten (and friends, maybe?) goes from the race track to a tennis court to a celebrity poker tournament. Could be fun.

Most TV listings simply say “Johnson hooks up with Garcia” on a new episode of Reno 911! (Comedy Central, 9:30pm and 11:30pm). Yikes! Anyone hooking up with Garcia is bound to be very funny.

Alton Brown “ponders the mythology of chili” in a new episode of Good Eats (Food Network, 9pm and 1am) titled “The Big Chili.” Followed by a rerun of the “Chile’s Angles” episode (salsa, chiles, etc.) (Food, 9:30pm and 1:30am).

Rerun of the “Mr. Monk and the Game Show” episode of Monk (USA, 9pm). It’s a great episode (and I never thought I’d say that about an episode that didn’t have Sharona in it, or Captain Stottlemeyer for that matter). Interesting balance of the very funny (Monk’s interactions with his lottery-winning neighbor) and the poignant (Monk’s interactions with his former in-laws). Tony Shalhoub is so very good in this role, I don’t think anyone else could pull it off.

Someone tries to get Into Character (AMC, 9pm) again. This time, it’s a character from Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo. Could I make this stuff up?

People are still recreating and reliving (usually scary) scenes from movies on Scream Play (E!, 9pm). In tonight’s episode, there’s an “underwater rock transfer”, a moving beam walk, and my personal favorite: the Office Space Fax Smash.

Baseball: Atlanta Braves at San Diego Padres (ESPN2, 9pm).

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

TCM Star of the Day is Edward G. Robinson: The Cincinnati Kid (TCM, 10:15pm); Soylent Green (TCM, midnight); Our Vines Have Tender Grapes (TCM, 1:45am); and Two Seconds (TCM, 3:45am).

No Tough Crowd this week (instead you get The Graham Norton Effect in that timeslot).

Sharon Stone, Yeah Yeah Yeahs on a rerun of The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm).

The Tonight Show, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, and Last Call with Carson Daly aren’t on ‘cuz of Olympic coverage.

Paul Sorvino, Blanchard Ryan, Carole King on Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC, check your local listings).

John Tesh, Angus T. Jones, Tommy Stinson (of the Replacements) on The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn (CBS, check your local listings).

“Achtung Baby” episode of Keen Eddie (Bravo, midnight).

TCM Star of the Day is Bette Davis: The Little Foxes (TCM, 5am); Old Acquaintance (TCM, 7am); The Great Lie (TCM, 9am); Mr. Skeffington (TCM, 11am); Deception (TCM, 1pm); Bette Davis: The Benevolent Volcano (TCM, 3:30pm); All This, And Heaven Too (TCM, 4:30pm); Jezebel (TCM, 7pm); Now, Voyager (TCM, 9pm); A Stolen Life (TCM, 11pm); The Letter (TCM, 1am); and The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (TCM, 3am).

“Lover’s Walk” episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (FX, 6am).

Sci-Fi mini-marathon du jour: Star Trek (Sci-Fi, 7am – 3pm).

Katie Couric learns gymnastics, the latest technology for swimsuits on Today (NBC, 7am – 10am).

Carrie-Anne Moss, learning to surf on Good Morning, America (ABC, 7am – 9am).

Anthony LaPaglia (of Without A Trace) on The Early Show (CBS, 7am – 9am).

Seth Green, Blanchard Ryan, pop-a-shot expert Jay Kletecka on Live with Regis and Kelly (syndicated, check your local listings).

Tom Hanks, Greg Giraldo, Dr. Nancy Snyderman on a rerun of The View (ABC, check your local listings).

“The Wish” episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (FX, 1pm).

Cameron Diaz, Avril Lavigne on a rerun of The Ellen DeGeneres Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

Lauren Holly, Jonathan Bennett, Jon Kelley on a rerun of The Sharon Osbourne Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

“A Family Divided: Erin Explodes at Alex” on Dr. Phil (syndicated, check your local listings).

Rerun of the “Bill Clinton and Oprah: The Interview” episode of Oprah (syndicated, check your local listings).

“Holy Night” episode of The West Wing (Bravo, 3pm and 10pm).

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

“The Big Chili” episode of Good Eats (Food Network, 6pm).

Melting Pot Unwrapped (Food Network, 6:30pm).

Primetime Thursday Preview: expect new episodes of Big Brother, Blue Collar TV, Penn & Teller: BS, Studio 7, The First 48, The Graham Norton Effect, and more. Plus Olympic coverage (of course) and baseball and football for all you sports fans out there. Full coverage of all this and much more in my Thursday picks.

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