Laurel’s TV Picks

Best Bets

Martin Short on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Comedy Central, 10pm and midnight)
Mark Wahlberg, M. Ward on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm)
Denis Leary, Lewis Dix, Matt Goss on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (CBS, 11:37pm)

Recommended Reruns

My Name Is Earl (NBC, 7pm)
Everybody Hates Chris (UPN, 7pm)
Grey’s Anatomy (ABC, 7pm, 8pm)
Eureka (Sci-Fi, 9pm)

News & Notes

On nights like this, it’s easy to gripe about how there’s nothing new on during the summer, but honestly– this has been a good summer for TV. We’ve had new episodes of a lot of cool or at least interesting shows: The Closer, The Dead Zone, Eureka, Feasting On Asphalt, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, Kyle XY, Monk, Project: Runway, Reno 911, Rescue Me, Rock Star: Supernova, Saved, Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, Three Moons Over Milford, Psych, and The 4400. And I, of course, have been watching Bert Blyleven & Dick Bremer and the Minnesota Twins on Fox Sports North. Did I miss one of your favorites of the summer? Drop me a line and tell me all about it.

I won’t be “jive talking” about TV on FM 107 today as I usually do on Thursdays, as Kevyn & Colleen and the rest of the FM 107.1 gang are doing special broadcasts from the Minnesota State Fair for the next two weeks. I’ll return to the Kevyn & Colleen Show on September 7th. I love the great Minnesota Get-Together; if you’re in Minnesota at any time during the next couple of weeks, you should definitely check it out.

Miss my review of the season premiere of Prison Break? It’s part of my picks for Monday; I also covered the series premiere of Vanished as part of my fall preview. And if you haven’t checked out the schedule grid (with premiere dates) for Fall 2006, that is (of course) still available and very popular.

Times listed are for the Central timezone, if you’re in another zone, please adjust accordingly.

Primetime Grid

Primetime

Somebody else may beat Chris out as Asteroids champion in the “Everybody Hates The Lottery” episode of Everybody Hates Chris (UPN, 7pm).

The Mother’s Day episode (“Dad’s Car”) of My Name Is Earl (NBC, 7pm) is one of the sweeter episodes of this show (so not super sweet, but more pleasant than most). Earl’s Mom decides that the best Mother’s Day present would be if Earl did something for his father (guest star Beau Bridges); and Joy ends up wanting a rather unique Mom’s Day present (go figure, eh?). One of the best episodes of the show so far.

“Into You Like a Train” and “Yesterday” episodes of Grey’s Anatomy (ABC, 7pm, 8pm). The first episode was the sixth episode to air as part of season two, the second episode was the 18th episode of season two (and is the one that immediately followed the “Code Black” two-parter which was rerun last week). The “Train” episode is a classic as Meredith waits on Derek’s decision while they all work to save people who were in a train wreck. “Yesterday” is the one where McDreamy’s former best friend (Eric Dane) pays the hospital a visit and Meredith’s father (Jeff Perry) happens to be in the hospital.

George: “How do I look today? Would you say that I looked nice?”
Izzie: “You could use a little bit more lip gloss, but, yes you’re very pretty.”
  from Grey’s Anatomy

Clark befriends a little girl with telekinetic abilities in the “Fragile” episode of Smallville (WB, 7pm). This episode was directed by series star Tom Welling. Callum Keith Rennie is among the guest stars, you may know him as the second “Ray” on Due South or as one of the Cylons in the early episodes of Battlestar Galactica.

Each of the four remaining designers must create a studio apartment based on a single color on Design Star (HGTV, 7pm and 11pm).

Three episods of The Office (NBC, 7:30pm): “Michael’s Birthday,” “The Secret,” and “Drug Testing.” Very funny show if you can handle this painful sort of humor.

The final three competitors are judged by kids on a new So You Want To Be A Superhero (Sci-Fi, 8pm and midnight).

A single mother is found dead and Grissom is called to testify to refute someone who supposedly knows a lot about bugs (more than Grissom? Yeah right!) in the “Secrets and Flies” episode of C.S.I. (CBS, 8pm). This episode was written by Josh Berman (the creator of Vanished and Killer Instinct). Jeffrey R. Nordling is among the guest stars (you may remember him as “Jake,” Sela Ward’s ex, on Once and Again).

Sofia: “Grissom, Ecklie’s been looking for you. Is your cell not working?”
Grissom: “What’re you doin’ here?”
Sofia: “Well, apparently I was a CSI, then a detective, but now I’m a messenger.”
  from C.S.I.

Sam and Dean battle a witch that sneaks into children’s bedrooms in the “Something Wicked” episode of Supernatural (WB, 8pm). Jeffrey Dean Morgan (“Denny” on Grey’s Anatomy) appears as their Dad (in a flashback to their childhood, if I recall correctly).

Rebroadcast of a surprisingly sweet episode of Eureka (Sci-Fi, 9pm; also at 6pm on Friday) called “Dr. Nobel” that debuted earlier in the week. I’m thoroughly charmed by this show about a quirky town full of geniuses and inventors (and some who aren’t quite as smart).

Peter Jennings interviews a group of H.I.V. positive men in a special report titled “Out of Control: AIDS in Black America” on Primetime (ABC, 9pm). I miss Jennings.

Gordon Clapp (“Det. Greg Medavoy” on NYPD Blue) guest stars in “The Innocents” episode of Without A Trace (CBS, 9pm). He plays a grieving father who has had difficulty accepting his daughter’s death; the case starts when they find child pornography in his home and (as is often the case with this show) the story gets rather dark as the team searches for a missing person.

Late Night

“Mission: Poachable” episode of Alton Brown’s Good Eats (Food, 10pm and 1am).

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

Mark Wahlberg (of Boomtown, the new series Runaway), M. Ward on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm).

Denis Leary (of Rescue Me, The Job), Lewis Dix, Matt Goss on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (CBS, 11:37pm).

Rebroadcast of the “Mr. Monk Gets a New Shrink” episode of Monk (USA, midnight). Gordon Clapp guest stars.

As ever, check out Sue Trowbridge’s Late Night Lineups for full listings of talk show guests.