Laurel’s TV Picks

Best Bets

New Gilmore Girls (CW, 7pm)
New Friday Night Lights (NBC, 7pm)
New Veronica Mars (CW, 8pm)
New The Unit (CBS, 8pm)
New Law & Order: Criminal Intent (NBC, 8pm)
Jerry Lewis guest stars on Law & Order: SVU (NBC, 9pm)
New Nip/Tuck (FX, 9pm, 10:05)

News & Notes

Tuesday nights are tough at 7pm and 8pm, aren’t they? So many great or good shows to watch that are on opposite each other (and House isn’t even on tonight ‘cuz of baseball). Rebroadcasts can help you get a chance to see all the shows you’d like to see. While I like NCIS and really like The Unit– you can count on CBS to rebroadcast those episodes a time or two later on (though it may be months from now); they’ll also be made available on the CBS website after they air. The two Law & Order shows are rebroadcast in a week or two on USA and should be available online. Friday Night Lights is scheduled to air again on the 22nd (though given how poor the ratings have been for this show, I wouldn’t count on that happening); it should also be available online. Veronica Mars no longer appears to be getting weekend reruns like it did last year on some channels in some markets. Check out the Rebroadcasts page for links to where you can watch shows online and other useful information.

Don’t forget to doublecheck those season passes for Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars if you haven’t already; given both shows now air on the CW (not on the WB or UPN) and the channel you see them on may have changed.

Knights of Prosperity, which I like a lot, won’t debut ’til midseason.

Smith has been pulled from the CBS schedule; for now reruns of other shows will air at 9pm on Tuesdays.

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

Primetime Grid

Primetime

The Detroit Tigers face the Oakland A’s in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series (FOX, 7pm). This should be a fun series as these are both good (and entertaining) teams. Both are a lot more interesting than the Yankees, no matter what the guys on ESPN and FOX say.

Lorelai comes to a realization about her parents on Gilmore Girls (CW, 7pm). Hooray for the return of Emily & Richard! And also for Lorelai having some realizations. I liked last week’s episode a lot and I’m encouraged about how the show will be this year; I really can’t wait to see if interactions between Lorelai and Rory and the elder Gilmores are better than in recent years.

The coach, the family, the girlfriend, the team, and the town are all reeling after the star quarterback’s serious injury last week on Friday Night Lights (NBC, 7pm; airs again on Sunday the 22nd). In this episode, we get a diagnosis and watch them all cope as best they can. There’s conflict on the team of course. And the second string quarterback is nervous. I liked this episode a lot and really like this show, but I fear it won’t be around for long given how few people are watching it. The first episode should still be available online if you haven’t seen it (check the Rebroadcasts page for links). Kyle Chandler stars as the coach.

A petty officer is murdered who is part of an undercover operation on NCIS (CBS, 7pm).

Tonight’s new episode of Veronica Mars (CW, 8pm) is another good one (thanks to the CW, I got a chance to see it a couple of weeks ago already). Veronica goes to work for the campus paper and she goes undercover at a sorority. Exciting, eh? And yes, this has something to do with the rapes on campus. Meanwhile, her Dad has a lot to deal with. And Logan and Wallace have a class together and participates in an interesting experiment. If I seem vague, it’s because this is a show where spoilers can really and truly spoil things (once again I remind you: don’t dive into this show without having seen the previous seasons).

The team tracks a terrorist and the wives have worries of their own (of course) on The Unit (CBS, 8pm). This is a great show from David Mamet and Shawn Ryan. Isabella Hofmann guest stars (she was “Megan Russert” on Homicide).

A firefighter is found stabbed to death on Law & Order: Criminal Intent (NBC, 8pm; airs again on Saturday the 21st at 10pm on USA). This is a Mike Logan episode, in case that matters to you, and the commercials sure are making this episode look intense and dramatic. Nina Siemaszko guest stars (she was “Ellie” on The West Wing and is an ADA in the Mystery Woman movies).

Chefs attempt to break the Guinness world record for the tallest popcorn structure on Popcorn Giants (Food, 8pm and 11pm).

Ted Danson tries to win back his wife (Jane Kaczmarek) and Inger is shocked when she “meets her online gaming husband” on Help Me Help You (ABC, 8:30pm).

Jerry Lewis guest stars as a homeless man suspected of raping and murdering a mother and daughter on Law & Order: SVU (NBC, 9pm; airs again on Sunday the 22nd at 10:30pm on USA). Last week, Leslie Caron was outstanding in a guest role (and should be a sure thing for one of those “guest” Emmy nominations); this week Jerry Lewis pulls out all the stops in a guest performance. This case gets kind of personal for Detective Munch (Richard Belzer) and the substitute detective (Connie Nielsen) has a hard time with it too.

Boston Legal (ABC, 9pm) is a weird show; one thing I love about it is that Shirley Schmidt (Candice Bergen) is the woman the guys all seem to be after. And yeah, I like that there are so many interesting characters who are older than is the norm on most shows. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine fans may enjoy the fact that series regular Rene “Odo” Auberjonois faces off against guest star Armin “Quark” Shimerman in at least one scene in this episode; they both were in last week’s episode but didn’t have scenes together that I can recall. Ethan Phillips also showed up in last week’s episode (he played “Neelix” on Star Trek: Voyager and was in Benson with Auberjonois) and it’s possible he’ll be in this episode too. Katey Sagal guest stars again and you never know who else will show up. I love that the endless stream of character actors on this show.

Larry Hagman and Brooke Shields return for another new Nip/Tuck (FX, 9pm, 10:05pm; also airs on Friday and Sunday). DVR/VCR Alert: Runtime of 65 minutes.

Rosario Dawson, Rose McGowan, and Marley Shelton host Scream Awards 2006 (Spike, 9pm - 11pm, 11pm - 1am). New awards show, nominees were announced at the San Diego ComicCon. Supposedly celebrates the best in horror, science fiction, fantasy, and comic books.

Melinda “Julie Cooper” Clarke guest stars as Lady Heather again on a rerun of CSI (CBS, 9pm) from last season.

Greg: “This clinic is like the Hotel California. You can check in anytime you like but you might never leave.”
  from CSI

Late Night:

David Cross (of Arrested Development) on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Comedy Central, 10pm and midnight).

Rebroadcast of last night’s new episode of Weeds (Showtime, 10pm).

Rebroadcast of latest episode of The Wire (HBO, 10:30pm).

Tina Fey on Late Night with Conan O’Brien (NBC, 11:37pm).

Jason Lee, America Ferrera (of Ugly Betty, Gym Class Heroes on Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC, check your local listings).

Full talk show listings linked to in sidebar of main page at tvpicks.net.