Laurel’s TV Picks

Info on Tuesday daytime TV can be found in the tomorrow section of these picks. Full picks for Tuesday will be online later today.

American Idol (FOX, 7pm)
24 (FOX, 8pm)
Summerland (WB, 8pm)
Two and a Half Men (CBS, 8:30pm)
Series premiere of Fat Actress (Showtime, 9pm and 10pm)

Thanks to Pete and three more readers who made donations towards paying the hosting bill (I’d thank you all by name, but I just have email addresses to go on and wouldn’t want to make a mistake). Thanks to Cori for her email. Thanks to Steve Bogart for the six year anniversary of the TVPicks.net graphic. You all rock!

[Edited at 4pm to add:] Thanks to fine readers like you, the basic webhosting bill for this site is now paid for through March 2006! Excellent! Thanks so much! Can still use other methods of support, will talk about those later on. For now I just want to celebrate a bit and thank you guys for getting this bill paid. Couldn’t keep this site online without you.

You can read about Monday daytime TV in the tomorrow section of yesterday’s picks.

Are many of your favorite shows preempted or in reruns? Now’s a good time to check out some of the shows you’ve been missing. Or check out some reruns on cable (like Stargate SG-1 on Sci-Fi, The West Wing on Bravo, Law & Order on TNT, plenty of sitcoms on TBS, and so on). Or catch a movie or two on TCM.

Still more college basketball on both ESPN and ESPN2 tonight. In case you didn’t get enough this weekend.

Eight singers perform on yet another installment of American Idol (FOX, 7pm).

Tara Lipinski guest stars on Still Standing (CBS, 7pm).

Miss Piggy, Kermit, Fozzie, Animal (of The Muppets), and Florence Henderson are on-hand for a look behind the scenes of the Harris Septuplets episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition: How’d They Do That? (ABC, 7pm).

Rerun of the 7th Heaven (WB, 7pm) where Lucy goes into labor while in an elevator with her brother med student Matt.

Bob Saget guest stars on Listen Up (CBS, 7:30pm).

Jack tries to track down a terrorist leader; there may be a new (temporary) leader of CTU on 24 (FOX, 8pm). I’m told that this season has improved as it’s gone along, assuming you can get past the usual improbable 24 stuff.

Carmen Electra begins her guest stint on Summerland (WB, 8pm). Johnny wants a “fresh start” and invests in a restaurant. Susannah may not move to New York after all, for rather dramatic reasons (I’m shocked!). And I’m guessing Bradin gets in trouble. Doesn’t look like this episode will be rerun later in the week (as the first episode of this season was).

Rerun of the fourth favorite episode of Everybody Loves Raymond (CBS, 8pm) as voted by some of the show’s fans.

Joely Richardson and Hayden Panettiere star in the new Lifetime movie Lies My Mother Told Me (Lifetime, 8pm). A mother (who happens to be a con artist) goes on the run with her daughter.

“The CEO of an all-female firm swaps companies with the boss of an all-male car dealership” on Boss Swap (ABC, 8pm), which is a “special edition” of Wife Swap– so it’s put together by the same people, with the same basic rules except this time in the workplace.

“Super Sweet” and “Candy USA” Unwrapped (Food Network, 8pm and midnight; 8:30pm and 12:30am).

Lucy Lawless guest stars on Two and a Half Men (CBS, 8:30pm). Charlie asks his brother Alan to pose as his “life partner” when he attends a party thrown by a gay ad executive, but of course then Charlie falls for a woman at the party (played by Lucy Lawless). Complications and possibly hilarity ensues.

Sixteen professional boxers from across the country compete against each other on the series premiere of The Contender (NBC, 8:30pm – 10pm). It’s another boxing reality series, this time with Sylvester Stallone and Sugar Ray Leonard. Maybe it’ll be better than The Next Great Champ. This will air again on Thursday; the series regular timeslot will be on Sundays.

Series premiere of Fat Actress (Showtime, 9pm and 10pm). Kirstie Alley stars in this new “improvised comedy series” based on her own life. In the first episode, she secretly tapes a meeting with NBC head honcho Jeff Zucker and she gets advice from pal John Travolta. You may be able to see this on Showtime even if you don’t normally get Showtime (follow the link for details).

Read World/Road Rules Inferno II (MTV, 9pm; rerun plenty of times).

A jet carrying 1.2 billion dollars in checks crashes into a suburban neighborhood on C.S.I. Miami (CBS, 9pm). Greg Evigan is among the guest stars. Holt McCallany guest stars as the ex-boyfriend of Calleigh (Emily Procter).

Melissa Boyle Mahle on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Comedy Central, 10pm and midnight).

Part 2 of the 2-part season 1 finale of Without A Trace (TNT, 10pm). Tom Irwin (of My So-Called Life) guest stars. Great episode of this fine show.

Rerun of the latest episode of Battlestar Galactica (Sci-Fi, 10pm). I’m told it was a darn good episode.

Rerun of the latest episode of Dream Job 2005 (ESPN2, 10pm).

How Clean Is Your House? (Lifetime, 10pm, 10:30pm).

Billy Crystal, Patrick Lawler (nail gun mishap survivor) on an excellent rerun of The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm).

Robin Williams, Andy Roddick, Gavin DeGraw on The Tonight Show (NBC, 10:35pm).

Jimmy Fallon, Chad Michael Murray (of One Tree Hill), Good Charlotte on a rerun of Late Night with Conan O’Brien (NBC, 11:35pm).

Amy Brenneman, Brazilian Girls on Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC, check your local listings).

Regis Philbin, Rob Morrow (of Numb3rs), Ian Bagg on a rerun of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (CBS, check your local listings).

Eva Mendes, RZA, Chingy, Moe on Last Call with Carson Daly (NBC, check your local listings).

“What I Did for Love” episode of Northern Exposure (Hallmark, 1am).

“Freeze Outs” episode of Chicago Hope (Discovery Health, 3am). Mary Kay Place, Peter Berg, Vondie Curtis-Hall guest star. Jayne Brook makes her first appearance on the show.

“I Only Have Eyes For You” and “Go Fish” episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (FX, 6am, 7am).

“Sense and Sensitivity” episode of Angel (TNT, 7am).

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

Greg Kinnear on Today (NBC, 7am – 10am).

Bruce Willis, Gayle King on Good Morning, America (ABC, 7am – 9am).

Unique ways to stay fit on The Early Show (CBS, 7am – 9am).

“Growth Pains” episode of Chicago Hope (Discovery Health Channel, 8am and 3am). Excellent episode, written by David E. Kelley and directed by Thomas Schlamme (of The West Wing, et al). There’s a man with a bar through his head, something involving Judy Garland, and much more.

Greg Kinnear, George Lopez, Tears for Fears on Live with Regis and Kelly (syndicated, check your local listings).

Rick Schroder on The View (ABC, check your local listings).

“Star-Crossed Lovers and Other Strangers” episode of Gilmore Girls (ABC Family, 10am).

“Nice Guys Finish Last” episode of Ed (TBS, 11am).

“Becoming, part 1″ and “Becoming, part 2″ episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (FX, Noon, 1pm). Two outstanding episodes.

MLB Preseason Baseball: Texas Rangers at San Francisco Giants (ESPN, 1pm).

Bruce Willis, Constance Marie on The Ellen DeGeneres Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

Sylvester Stallone, Ron Eldard, Chef Michael De Georgio on The Tony Danza Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

“Everybody Has A Story” on The Jane Pauley Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

“Ask Dr. Phil” on Dr. Phil (syndicated, check your local listings).

“Exclusive: The Amy Fisher Story” on a rerun of Oprah (syndicated, check your local listings).

“The Breakup” episode of Gilmore Girls (ABC Family, 4pm).

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

“No Exit” episode of The West Wing (Bravo, 6pm and 10pm).

“Grill Seekers” episode of Good Eats (Food Network, 6pm).

Eater-tainment Unwrapped (Food Network, 6:30pm).

Series premiere of Blind Justice. I’ll have a review of the pilot for this new series.

Martin Short on Law & Order: SVU.

New episodes of The Amazing Race 7, American Idol, According To Jim, Committed, George Lopez, Gilmore Girls, Judging Amy, Lie Detector, My Wife & Kids, The Starlet, and more.

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