Laurel’s TV Picks

Best Bets

New Bones (FOX, 7pm)
New Justice (FOX, 8pm)
New Project Runway (Bravo, 9pm, 11pm, midnight)

News & Notes:

Eleven lucky readers of this site can win prizes in a new contest that launched this week to promote the launch of Scrubs in syndication; click on that big ol’ Scrubs banner in the sidebar or head straight on over to the contests page. Grand prize is a $250 Best Buy gift card; ten runners-up will receive Scrubs prize packs. All you gotta do is use the contact form to write me and put “Scrubs contest” in the subject line; feedback on the site or your comments about Scrubs are welcome as messages, but you can write whatever you want (or as little as you want, though my contact form requires some content in the “message” area). Contest ends on September 30th; only one entry per person please.

HBO has renewed The Wire for a fifth season. Yay! (Season four just started on Sunday). The bad news part of the announcement is that the fifth season will be the final season, but it’s a good thing in one respect: they’ll know going into it that it’s the last season and can write a fitting end for the show.

Times listed are for the Central timezone, please adjust accordingly (if necessary).

Primetime Grid

Primetime

A body is found that is wrapped in a shroud, Brennan and her new boss clash; and when a suspect is a foster kid, Brennan (a foster child herself) defends her on a new Bones (FOX, 7pm). I’m still enjoying this show a lot.

Tom Jones performs, the professional dancers do the mambo, and (of course as this is a results show) one couple is eliminated on Dancing with the Stars (ABC, 7pm).

An Orange County bartender is accused of killing a runaway bride in a new episode of Justice (FOX, 8pm). Jeffrey Nordling (of Once and Again) is among the guest stars. You may recall I wasn’t wild about the pilot for this show; I liked the second episode a little better. At this point this is one of those shows that I might watch if there’s nothing else on (like tonight), but I’m not going to go out of my way for it. Fine to watch tonight, but next week you’ll want to check out other stuff (as there are many series and season premieres next week).

Two hours of “Mega Movie Myths” on MythBusters (Discovery, 8pm - 10pm; midnight - 2am).

Want an early look at ABC’s new shows? You could check out ABC Sneak Peek: Comedy and Reality (ABC, 8pm) and/or ABC Sneak Peek: Dramas (ABC, 8:30pm). Honestly, I think you’re better off not watching the network previews of these shows as the previews often contain a ton of spoilers. I, of course, recommend my previews of the episodes and these picks as a good guide as to which new shows you’ll want to check out (there are a ton of good news shows this year, ABC has their fair share of them).

Rerun of last season’s finale of Criminal Minds (CBS, 8pm) which was part one of a two-part episode that concludes in the season premiere (which airs next week). The team is on vacation, but they each receive clues from a killer.

JJ: “Please don’t tell me you have a crush on a fictional character.”
Garcia: “He’s not fictional. He’s the online alter-ego of a real person.”
JJ: “Hmmm, you don’t even know anything about him, even if it is him.”
Garcia: “Look, we meet online at specified times that he is never late to. We spend hours adventuring and chatting during which time I have his undivided attention and he lavishes me with flattery. When was the last time you had a date go that well?”
JJ: “See if he’s got a fictional brother.”
  from Criminal Minds

Expect lots of clips and some surprise guests on Jimmy Kimmel Live’s All-Star Salute to Jimmy Kimmel Live! (ABC, 9pm).

New Project Runway (Bravo, 9pm, 11pm, midnight, with a zillion more airings this week).

Season finale of Blade: The Series (Spike, 9pm and 10pm).

Alton Brown talks bars in the “Raising The Bar” episode of Good Eats (Food Network, 9pm and midnight).

Adam West is Living in TV Land (TV Land, 9pm).

Someone is killing jurors from a case Jack McCoy prosecuted on a rerun of Law & Order (NBC, 9pm). McCoy could be a target too.

Rerun of Hustle (AMC, 9pm, 12:30am). Robert Vaughn is among the stars of this fun series about con artists from the BBC and AMC. Remember that episodes of this show run long (75 minutes).

Rerun of the last episode of last season of CSI: NY (CBS, 9pm); the series premiere airs next week.

Late Night

“Crustacean Nation” (shrimp cocktail) episode of Good Eats (Food Network, 10pm and 1am).

Ed Gillespie on The Daily Show (Comedy Central, 10pm and midnight).

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

Matthew Perry (of Studio 60, Friends), Daryl Peebles, Outkast on The Tonight Show (NBC, 10:35pm).

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Norm MacDonald, Top Ten List with 10 NASCAR drivers on the Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm). Whatever happened to Norm MacDonald anyway? I guess he’ll tell all (or something). I’m one of a small number people who actually saw and kinda liked A Minute with Stan Hooper; somewhere I have a coffee mug promoting that show (I swear, I’m amassing a collection of swap promoting failed series).

Get A Life Alert Diane Lane, Chris Elliott on Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC, check your local listings).

Ashton Kutcher, Tracy Morgan, John Mayer on Late Night with Conan O’Brien (NBC, 11:37pm).

Virginia Madsen (of new series Smith), Jason Ritter (of new series Help Me Help You and beloved old series Joan of Arcadia), Matt Baetz 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 (and lists of some daytime guests too).

Daytime Thursday

The Rock on Live with Regis and Kelly.

Hilary Duff, Heidi Klum on The View.

Zach Braff (of Scrubs, Outkast on The Ellen DeGeneres Show (syndicated, check your local listings).