Laurel’s TV Picks

Best Bets for Thursday are in the “tomorrow section” near the bottom of this page. [Laurel is a bit sick, thus the lack of full picks.]

Season premiere of Lost (ABC, 8pm)
Season premiere of Law & Order (NBC, 9pm)
Over There (FX, 9pm, 10:01pm, midnight, 1:01am)
Ricky Gervais on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Comedy Central, 10pm and midnight)
George Clooney, Steve Martin on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm).

If you’ve been using my fall TV grid for reference, keep in mind that during the first couple of weeks some shows are premiering in different timeslots and/or are airing multiple times– they won’t necessarily be doing that for the rest of the season. Watch this page to see what’s on each night.

Thanks to those who have sent us gifts from our registry or who have sent cards or congratulatory emails– that’s all very much appreciated!

Baseball: Philadelphia Phillies at Atlanta Braves (ESPN, 6pm).

Two-hour season premiere of America’s Next Top Model (UPN, 7pm – 9pm). Veronica Mars premieres next week. Of the many reality shows out there, this is one that is usually fun (in at least a guilty pleasure sort of way).

I’m guessing that the season premiere of The Apprentice: Martha Stewart (NBC, 7pm) and following episodes have to be more entertaining than recent rounds of The Apprentice.

A Lost special that takes a look behind the scenes and at the series thus far, I guess (ABC, 7pm).

Season premiere of Still Standing (CBS, 7pm). I can’t believe it’s still on the air.

Season premiere of Yes, Dear (CBS, 7:30pm). Yes, it’s still on the air.

There is a serious glut of shows airing at 8pm on Wednesday night. Keep in mind that Veronica Mars will air regularly at this time (the season premiere is next week) on UPN and that Criminal Minds (with Mandy Patinkin and Thomas Gibson) will air regularly on CBS at this time. All this and Lost, E-Ring, and Head Cases too. What’s a TV fan to do? I plan to watch/record Veronica Mars, Lost, and Criminal Minds unless one of the other new series improves significantly post-pilot (or Criminal Minds tanks). Pity a couple of these shows don’t air at 7pm.

Season premiere of Lost (ABC, 8pm). Supposedly someone will venture down the hole beneath the hatch in the first episode of this season. Well, it’s about dang time! If you watched last season and still care what’s going on, I don’t need to tell you to check out the show tonight.

Season premiere of E-Ring (NBC, 8pm). From exec producer Jerry Bruckheimer and Oscar-nominated director/producer Taylor Hackford. Benjamin Bratt (of Law & Order) and Dennis Hopper star as military men stationed in the Pentagon. In the pilot, Bratt starts a new job in the Pentagon and ruffles some feathers as he tries to bring a particular case before his boss, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and other advisors. The NBC site says that the Pentagon is “a hub of highly explosive conflicts between decorated and experienced American military heroes and the civilians to whom they report.” The pilot looked great and seemed solid and like a real show, but it’s up against two great established series (Lost and Veronica Mars) and at least one promising new series (Criminal Minds) so I’m not sure how well this will fare. Would work better at 7pm, IMHO, or on another night. Too soon to tell if this will be any good over the long haul, I’m not sure how it can stay compelling before it begins to stretch believability (but then I felt that way about Without A Trace once upon a time and I like it a lot).

The wonderful Adam Goldberg plays a lawyer with an “explosive disorder” or something silly; he’s paired with Chris O’Donnell (who had a nervous breakdown) in Head Cases (FOX, 8pm). This is the first new episode after the pilot, I haven’t seen this one. The pilot started very slow, but got better as it went on. If you enjoy goofy legal shows, you might like it, though honestly there are better shows on during this particular hour.

Rerun of the series premiere of Just Legal (WB, 8pm). Don Johnson and Jay Baruchel (of Undeclared) star in another legal dramedy about a mismatched legal team. Johnson is the old washed up attorney who used to be brilliant, Baruchel is the idealistic teenage lawyer with a lot to learn.

Rerun of the two-hour season finale (from last season) of C.S.I. (CBS, 8pm – 10pm) which was directed by Quentin Tarantino.

The team finds millions of dollars on a new episode of Over There (FX, 9pm, 10:01pm, midnight, 1:01am). DVR/VCR Alert: Episode is 61 minutes long.

McCoy and Borgia consider making a deal with a criminal to try and save a 5-year-old girl on the season premiere of Law & Order (NBC, 9pm). The episode is titled “Red Ball” which reminds me of my favorite series of all time: Homicide: Life on the Street. Jesse L. Martin should be back on the show (after being off the show for a few episodes at the end of last season so he could film the movie version of Rent).

A hurricane is about to hit Florida, home of the denizens of Invasion (ABC, 9pm) in the series premiere. I found the portrayal of a hurricane and aftermath painful to watch before Katrina hit, I’m not sure this will fly well post-Katrina and as Rita is about to hit Texas. Members of a blended family run around trying to prepare for a hurricane and then they run around post-hurricane, too. I kept wanting to scream at my TV “sit still, for crying out loud!” and “Don’t go out in a hurricane!” But the little girl wants to find her cat, you see, and runs off in a hurricane to find it. Argh. From Shaun Cassidy and Lawrence Trilling, with Thomas Schlamme as a consultant. It’s supposed to be a “suspenseful tale of a blended family that finds itself at the center of a conspiracy designed to mask an alien takeover that is happening one neighbor at a time.” In the pilot, a little girl sees lights during a hurricane. And some people behave oddly. William Fichtner gets to act especially creepy as a law enforcement officer who may have been taken over by aliens or something. In case you can’t tell, I wasn’t wild about the pilot. But, as always, it’s possible the show will improve as it goes on, assuming the first episode intrigues you enough to continue watching. Eddie Cibrian (of Third Watch) and William Fichtner star. Maybe once one gets past the distasteful hurricane stuff, this could be campy fun, I’d like to give Cassidy, Trilling, and Schlamme the benefit of the doubt as they’ve done good work before.

Baseball: Texas Rangers at Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (ESPN, 9pm).

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

George Clooney, Steve Martin on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm).

Chris Rock, Sandra Oh (of Grey’s Anatomy), Trisha Yearwood on The Tonight Show (NBC, 10:35pm).

Ice-T, Erika Christensen, Steve Winwood on Late Night with Conan O’Brien (NBC, 11:35pm).

Jeff Probst, Nick Cannon, Lawrence Turman on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (CBS, check your local listings).

Johnny Knoxville, Chi McBride, Backstreet Boys on Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC, check your local listings).

Claire Forlani, the Bravery on Last Call with Carson Daly (NBC, check your local listings).

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

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

Sci-Fi mini-marathon du jour: The X-Files (Sci-Fi, 7am – 3pm). From season 1 or 2, I think.

Marg Helgenberger (of CSI, China Beach), the latest Big Brother outcast, Bow Wow on Live with Regis and Kelly (syndicated, check your local listings).

Alan Alda, Amy Grant on The View (ABC, check your local listings).

“The Big One” episode of Gilmore Girls (ABC Family, 10am).

Baseball: Houston Astros at Pittsburgh Pirates (ESPN, 11:30am).

“Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered” episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (FX, Noon).

Rachel Weisz, James Denton (of Desperate Housewives) on The Ellen DeGeneres Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

Jenny McCarthy, Jeff Probst, Jeanne Bice on The Tony Danza Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

“Help Me And My Daughter” on The Tyra Banks Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

“Are You Racist?” on Dr. Phil (syndicated, check your local listings).

Chris Rock, LeBron James, the Dove women, and book club news on a new Oprah (syndicated, check your local listings).

“A Tale Of Poes and Fire” episode of Gilmore Girls (ABC Family, 4pm).

“Your Money or Your Wife” and “Miss Conception” episodes of Felicity (We, 5pm, 6pm).

“True Brew IV: Take Stock” episode of Good Eats (Food Network, 6pm).

Dips & Dippers Unwrapped (Food Network, 6:30pm).

New episodes of The OC, Reunion, and Survivor. Season premieres of The Apprentice, CSI, Cuts, ER, Eve, and Joey . Series premieres of Criminal Minds, Everybody Hates Chris, and Love Inc.

Series premiere of Everybody Hates Chris (UPN, 7pm)
The O.C. (FOX, 7pm)
Season premiere of C.S.I. (CBS, 8pm)
Series premiere of Criminal Minds (CBS, 9pm)

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