Laurel’s TV Picks

Glenn Close, Kevin Pollak, Tori Amos on The Ellen DeGeneres Show (syndicated, check your local listings)
House (FOX, 8pm)
The Amazing Race 7 (CBS, 8pm)
Season premiere of The Shield (FX, 9pm, 10pm, midnight, 1am)
Blind Justice (ABC, 9pm)
Jimmy Fallon, Emily Van Camp (of Everwood), The Four Tops on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm)

Season premiere of The Shield (FX, 9pm).

The big news is, of course, that Glenn Close has joined the cast of The Shield for their fourth season. She’s the new boss at “the barn” and in the first two episodes, she’s checking out the place (and the folks who work there) as Captain David Aceveda prepares to leave to become city councilman. She’s outstanding in this role.

If you haven’t watched the show before or haven’t watched in a while, you can start with this season with no problem. Sure, if you’ve followed the show all along, you’ll get a lot more out of what’s going on– but if you’re new to the series, everything is a bit new and fresh this season. You can learn the characters right along with Glenn Close as the new captain. The roles have changed for all the characters, and I think the season opener pretty well conveys the relationships (and tensions) between them.

Season four picks up about six months after the events of the third season finale, with the Strike Team broken up. Dutch and Claudette are in the dog house because of the events of last season. One Captain is on the way out, another is on the way in. I could say more (having seen the first two episodes), but I don’t want to ruin anything for you. Half the fun really is seeing what everyone is up to and how they’re all getting along (or, um, not).

This is an intense police drama that is pretty darn amazing. You never quite know what will happen, the characters are complicated and conflicted, there are tons of shades of grey. I really liked the first two episodes of the season and I look forward to the other 11 of this fourth season. I can’t wait and I really think this season will be better than season 3 was.

There are other news faces this season– not new castmembers (like Close), but they seem to be new recurring characters. David Marciano (of Due South) and Michael Pena play detectives; Anthony Anderson plays a “community leader” who may also very well be the new drug lord in town.

They join an outstanding cast: Michael Chiklis, Glenn Close, Catherine Dent, Walton Goggins, Michael Jace, Kenneth Johnson, Jay Karnes, Benito Martinez, CCH Pounder, Cathy Cahlin Ryan, and David Rees Snell.

Shawn Ryan (of Angel) created the series.

If you’re a fan of the show, I don’t need to tell you to tune in. If you’re curious what all the fuss is about, this is a great place to start with The Shield.

The fourth season premiere of The Shield airs tonight on FX at 9pm, 10pm, midnight, and 1am.

Remember you can read about Tuesday daytime TV in the tomorrow section of yesterday’s picks.

College basketball on ESPN and ESPN2.

Finalists compete on American Idol (FOX, 7pm).

Richard and Emily throw Rory a party on a rerun of Gilmore Girls (WB, 7pm). This is the one where Dean and Rory break up. Luke tries to prepare a romantic dinner for Lorelai, but the dinner is interrupted by Luke’s sister and her husband TJ. Kathleen Wilhoite and Michael DeLuise guest star.

Elizabeth Pe?a guest stars on a rerun of NCIS (CBS, 7pm). The team tries to protect an Iraqi war veteran who is getting terrorist threats. Rebecca Staab is among the guest stars.

Chi McBride (of Boston Public) begins a guest stint as the new chairman of the board of the hospital on House (FOX, 8pm). Sarah Clarke (probably still best known for playing Nina on 24) guest stars as a woman who is inexplicably paralyzed.

There’s lots more drama in tonight’s new episode of The Amazing Race 7 (CBS, 8pm) which is titled “Do You Need Some Mouth-To-Mouth Resuscitation?” One team gets lost, one team steals another team’s cab, and those events aren’t even the most dramatic ones of this episode.

Project Greenlight (Bravo, 8pm and 10pm; airs again lots) moves to Bravo. Series is exec produced by Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, and Chris Moore. You may recall this former HBO series was about aspiring filmmakers. This time the winning screenwriters and director will be working with Wes Craven on a horror movie with a $1 million budget. Balthazar Getty and Navi Rawat (of The OC, Numb3rs) are among the potential castmembers for the film.

Tina Majorino (of Napoleon Dynamite) guest stars on a rerun of Veronica Mars (UPN, 8pm). There’s a case involving a serial killer; and Veronica finds that one of her friends may have been switched at birth with a classmate.

Part 2 (of 2) of the season finale of Committed (NBC, 8:30pm).

Season premiere of The Shield (FX, 9pm, 10pm, midnight, 1am). Glenn Close joins the cast; this is today’s featured pick (which you can read above).

A 12-year-old boy is found dead and a pedophile is their suspect on Blind Justice (ABC, 9pm). Detective Dunbar also has some personal drama involving his wife (Rena Sofer). I liked the first episode, so I’ll be checking out this episode. This episode was written by Nicholas Wootton and directed by Gary Fleder.

Impossible Heists (Court TV, 9pm, 1am, 3am).

Leeann Rimes hosts Nashville Star (USA, 9pm and midnight).

The Fab 5 help a guy who works behind the scenes at local cable news channel but dreams of being a TV sports reporter on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (Bravo, 9pm; airs again plenty of times).

Amy gets into a heated argument with a State Attorney on Judging Amy (CBS, 9pm).

Kyle Mclachlan guest stars on a rerun of Law & Order: SVU (NBC, 9pm).

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

Rerun of Law & Order: Criminal Intent (USA, 10pm).

Jimmy Fallon, Emily Van Camp (of Everwood), The Four Tops on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm).

Clint Eastwood, Thomas Hayden Church, the 5 Browns on a rerun of The Tonight Show (NBC, 10:35pm).

Jason Schwartzman, Jason Ritter (ofJoan of Arcadia), Sum 41 on a rerun of Late Night with Conan O’Brien (NBC, 11:37pm).

Tony Danza, Will Sasso, Hard n Phirm on Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC, check your local listings).

Drew Carey, Laurence Block, The Hollow Men on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (CBS, check your local listings).

Taye Diggs, Shia Labeouf, Unwritten Law on a rerun of Last Call with Carson Daly (NBC, check your local listings).

Maggie and Joel get stranded in the wilderness when Maggie’s plane breaks down in the “Oy Wilderness” episode of Northern Exposure (Hallmark, 1am).

“Songs From the Cuckoo Birds” episode of Chicago Hope (Discovery Health Channel, 3am). Season 1 finale.

“The Wish” and “Amends” episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (FX, 6am, 7am). Watch out for that magic snow.

“Expecting” episode of Angel (TNT, 7am).

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

Today (NBC, 7am – 10am).

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

The Early Show (CBS, 7am – 9am).

Christine Lahti joins the cast of Chicago Hope (Discovery Health Channel, 8am, 3am) in the season two opener “Hello, Goodbye.” Thus beginning a sharp downturn for this series. There are still some good episodes in season two, right up until Peter MacNicol and Mandy Patinkin leave the show.

Rosario Dawson, Omarion on Live with Regis and Kelly (syndicated, check your local listings).

Billy Campbell (of Once and Again, The OC), Wendie Malick (of Jake in Progress, Just Shoot Me), Emma Bunton (a.k.a. “Baby Spice”) on The View (ABC, check your local listings).

“Sadie, Sadie” episode of Gilmore Girls (ABC Family, 10am).

“Memory Lane” episode of Ed (TBS, 11am).

Rerun of the latest new episode of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (Bravo, Noon). Debuted on Tuesday night.

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

MLB Preseason Baseball: San Francisco Giants at Seattle Mariners (ESPN2, 1pm).

Kelsey Grammer, Brian Williams, kid inventors on The Ellen DeGeneres Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

Rosie O’Donnell, Courtney Thorne-Smith, Ming Tsai on The Tony Danza Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

“Adult illiteracy” on The Jane Pauley Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

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

“Oprah Investigates: Emotionally Tortured Wives” on a rerun of Oprah (syndicated, check your local listings).

“Hammers and Veils” episode of Gilmore Girls (ABC Family, 4pm today; 10am tomorrow).

“Harm’s Way” episode of Angel (TNT, 4pm).

“A Proportional Response” episode of The West Wing (Bravo, 6pm and 10pm).

“Head Games” (cabbage) episode of Good Eats (Food Network, 6pm).

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

New episodes of Alias, American Dreams, America’s Next Top Model, Good Eats, King of Queens, Survivor, The West Wing, Wife Swap, Yes Dear, and more.
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