Laurel’s TV Picks

Best Bets

New House (FOX, 7pm)
New Eureka (Sci-Fi, 8pm and 10pm)
New Standoff (FOX, 8pm)
Series premiere of Men in Trees (ABC, 9pm)
New Nip/Tuck (FX, 9pm, 10:03pm)
Zach Braff, Artie Lange, John Mayer on Late Night with Conan O’Brien (NBC, 11:37pm)

News & Notes

You’ll want to check out my review and preview of Men in Trees as well as the other fall previews if you haven’t yet and (of course) the Fall 2006 Schedule Grid.

FOX has announced that Eddie Izzard and James Cromwell will both have recurring roles on 24 this season– excellent! Other folks you’ll see on that show this season: Alexander Siddig (of Deep Space Nine), Peter MacNicol (of Numb3rs, Ally McBeal, Chicago Hope), Kal Penn, Marisol Nichols (of In Justice), and Harry Lennix (of Commander-in-Chief). MacNicol will still be on Numb3rs this season, in case you were worried (‘cuz really, one can never have enough Peter MacNicol on TV). These are new folks, I’m not gonna mention returning characters/actors ‘cuz that might be a bit spoiler-y.

Times listed on this page are for the Central time zone, please add an hour for Eastern/Pacific.

Primetime Grid

Primetime

House (FOX, 7pm) is experiencing more pain; there’s a case involving a child who claims he was abducted by aliens. And the fallout from the season premiere begins as Cameron finds out about the lie Cuddy and Wilson told. Sheryl Lee is among the guest stars in this new episode.

Season premiere of Dancing with the Stars (ABC, 7pm – 9:02pm). DVR/VCR Alert: Runs two minutes long. Competitors this time around are: Tucker Carlson, Monique Coleman, Sara Evans, Willa Ford, Vivica A. Fox, Harry Hamlin, Joe “Whoa” Lawrence, Mario López, Shanna Moakler, Emmitt Smith, and Jerry Springer. Tom Bergeron and Samantha Harris host.

A winner is announced on the season finale of Big Brother (CBS, 7pm). In case anyone cares.

Back to back reruns of Veronica Mars (UPN, 7pm, 8pm). These are reruns of the final two episodes of last season; you don’t want to watch them if you haven’t seen the rest of season two. Great great stuff. I think I liked season two better than season one and that’s really saying something. Can’t wait for season three!

Back to back reruns of Gilmore Girls (WB, 7pm, 8pm). The two episodes before the last two from last season; the first features Lane’s wedding, the second involves a birthday party for April. I still like this show a lot, though the way last season ended was rather heartbreaking. And I’ve been a big ball of angst about the departure of the Sherman-Palladinos. I’m very happy to report that I’ve seen the season premiere already and I really liked it; I’ll post more about it on the day it airs (though without any spoilers, of course).

Jackson: “That wedding was just the way I like them: short and in a language I can’t understand.”

Fargo invents something and this can only mean trouble for Eureka (Sci-Fi, 8pm and 10pm; also at 6pm on Friday). And Matt Frewer’s annoying dog catcher character is up to something involving “nanoids” (this also can only mean trouble). You know, normally I love me some Matt Frewer, but his character on this show is usually annoying. I still really really like this show.

Air traffic control is blamed for a plane crash and one of the controllers then takes hostages and makes demands he hope will prove his/their innocence on a new Standoff (FOX, 8pm). Joe Spano and Stacy Edwards are among the guest stars. I wasn’t especially kind to this show in my fall preview of it, but I think I forgot to mention how much I like Ron Livingston; I wouldn’t mind seeing him (and Gina Torres for that matter) on another better show. This show isn’t bad (and it’s the best of the new FOX shows), it’s just not as good as some of the other news shows you’ll be seeing for the first time next week (have I mentioned that the new TV season is gonna rock? ‘Cuz there are a lot of interesting new shows).

The finalists perform on Rock Star: Supernova (CBS, 8pm).

Series premiere of Men in Trees (ABC, 9pm; also Friday at 7pm). This episode airs again on Friday; the show’s regular timeslot will be Fridays at 8pm and a second new episode will air already this Friday at 8pm (so you’re getting the first two episodes of this show already this week). You can read my full preview and review elsewhere on this site. (Nutshell version: check it out either tonight or Friday, it’s worth a look if you like the sort of laid back dramedy).

Richard Chamberlain guest stars as a man who wants his young lover to have plastic surgery so he looks more like him in a new episode of Nip/Tuck (FX, 9pm, 10:03pm; also airs on Friday and Sunday). DVR/VCR Alert: Runs 63 minutes. Jacqueline Bisset turns up near the end of the episode as a mysterious woman (ooh ahhh). Kimber returns! There is plastic surgery, of course, and angst. And some characters dabble in Scientology (oh-oh).

Is it just me or this season of Queer Eye (Bravo, 9pm) focused a bit too much on weight loss? I’m just saying is all. In tonight’s new episode, the Fab 5 help a guy shape up who wants to be a sportscaster; this guy happens to have a slimmer twin brother.

Rerun of the conclusion of last season’s two-part season finale of NCIS (CBS, 9pm). Gibbs wakes up and eventually gets his memories back, but everything still changes.

Late Night:

“For Whom The Cheese Melts 2″ (macaroni & cheese) episode of Good Eats (Food, 10pm and 1am). I want Alton Brown to make me mac&cheese, that’d be awesome.

Gary Hart on The Daily Show (Comedy Central, 10pm and midnight).

Toby Keith on The Colbert Report (Comedy Central, 10:30pm and 12:30am).

Ashton Kutcher, TV on the Radio on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm).

Billy Bob Thornton, Diane Lane, Lionel Richie on The Tonight Show (NBC, 10:35pm).

Rebroadcast of last night’s new episode of Weeds (Showtime, 11pm).

Zach Braff (of Scrubs), Artie Lange, John Mayer on Late Night with Conan O’Brien (NBC, 11:37pm).

Michael Rapaport, Joely Fisher, Whitley Strieber on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (CBS, 11:37pm).

Check out Sue Trowbridge’s Late Night Lineups page for a full list of late night talk show guests.

Wednesday Daytime

Ashton Kutcher, Barenaked Ladies on Live with Regis and Kelly (syndicated, check your local listings).

Dylan McDermott on The View (ABC, check your local listings).

Orlando Bloom, Bianca Ryan (winner of America’s Got Talent) on The Ellen DeGeneres Show (syndicated, check your local listings).