Laurel’s TV Picks

Best Bets:

Star Trek: 40th Anniversary (TV Land, 7pm)
New Stargate SG-1 (Sci-Fi, 8pm and 10pm)
New Stargate Atlantis (Sci-Fi, 9pm and 11pm)
Alan Alda on Late Night with Conan O’Brien (NBC, 11:37pm)

News & Notes:

Some nifty “complete series” sets have recently become available for pre-order at decent prices given how many seasons there are (and the price the seasons have sold for separately). Cool packaging too and in some cases, some nifty extras. Check out: Alias - The Complete Collection (Seasons 1-5 + Rambaldi artifact box), Homicide Life on the Street - Complete Series Megaset, Six Feet Under - The Complete Series, and West Wing - The Complete Series Collection. I’ve written more about the Homicide set in my Homicide Video/DVD FAQ and I will be reviewing the set there (and at dvd.tvpicks.net) shortly before it hits stores. Thanks in advance to anyone who does order via my links to amazon.com (or amazon.ca or amazon.co.uk) on this site as I’m an affiliate with those stores and get a small percentage of what you spend there (those funds go to keeping this site online).

Psych and Monk return at midseason (January) with new episodes.

Times listed are for the Central timezone, add an hour for Eastern/Pacific.

Primetime Grid:

Primetime:

TV Land celebrates the 40th anniversary of Star Trek and the debut of episodes of the original series on their network. William Shatner plays host to some classic episodes of Star Trek. “The Man Trap” (TV Land, 7pm): it was the first episode of the series to air (though it wasn’t the first filmed). “The City on the Edge of Forever” (TV Land, 8pm): Joan Collins guest stars in this episode written by Harlan Ellison. “The Trouble With Tribbles” (TV Land, 9pm): Considered one of the funniest episodes of the series, was written by David Gerrold. “Plato’s Stepchildren” (TV Land, 10pm): Probably best known because of the kiss between Captain Kirk and Lt. Uhura which was the first interracial kiss on TV.

Vala finds herself alone (and sans memory) in an unfamiliar (of course) city on new Stargate SG-1 (Sci-Fi, 8pm and 10pm). Directed by Peter DeLuise.

Christina Aguilera, Beyoncé, Bon Jovi, the Black Eyed Peas, Jamie Foxx, Nellie Furtado, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, the Pussycat Dolls, Rihanna, Scissor Sisters, and Kanye West perform at Radio City Music Hall in New York as part of Fashion Rocks (CBS, 8pm - 10pm). Elton John hosts. I don’t know about you, but if I ended up with half a dozen of those “Fashion Rocks” magazines packaged along with real magazines– ’twas a bit too much.

Chi McBride (of Boston Public, John Larroquette Show), Dave DeLuise, and Alice Cooper guest star in a rerun of the “Mr. Monk and the Garbage Strike” episode of Monk (USA, 8pm and midnight). Episode was co-written by series creator Andy Breckman; I very much appreciated the return of the original theme song in this episode (however briefly).

[As they look for clues]
Monk: “Somebody ate all the cashews.”
Natalie: “What does that mean?”
Monk: “It means that he probably liked the cashews best.”
  from Monk

Rodney visits his sister back on Earth on a new Stargate Atlantis (Sci-Fi, 9pm and 11pm). David Hewlett’s real-life sister Kate Hewlett plays his sister on the show.

Cary Grant stars in Arsenic and Old Lace (TCM, 9pm).

Lionel Richie and his daughter Nicole, four 9/11 widows talk about their bond and a book they wrote together, Italian model Lory Del Santo talks about the death of her son with Eric Clapton on 20/20 (ABC, 9pm).

Late Night

P.J. O’Rourke, singer Rob Thomas, journalist Joan Walsh, former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO, 10pm).

Rerun of the Season premiere of Nip/Tuck (FX, 10pm, runs 71 minutes).

“Scallops” episode of Good Eats (Food, 10pm and 1am).

It’s very appropriate that reruns of House (USA, 10pm) air on USA whose motto is “Characters welcome here.”

Megan Mullally, Betty Horton, Sam Bush with Emmylou Harris on The Tonight Show (NBC, 10:35pm).

Two specials about The Wire: The Wire: Connected (HBO, 11pm) and The Wire: The Game (HBO, 11:30pm). Gear up for the season premiere of The Wire on Sunday (I should have picks for Sunday sometime this weekend which will talk about the premiere).

Alan Alda, Citizen Cope on Late Night with Conan O’Brien (NBC, 11:37pm).

Tyra Banks, Jason Statham, Papa Roach on Jimmy Kimmel (ABC, check your local listings).

Shannen Doherty, Jerome Bettis, Under the Influence of Giants on Last Call with Carson Daly (NBC, check your local listings).

Check out Sue Trowbridge’s Late Night TV Page to see who the scheduled guests are for the various late night talk shows.