Laurel’s TV Picks

Best Bets

New Jericho (CBS, 7pm)
New Lost (ABC, 8pm)
New Criminal Minds (CBS, 8pm)
New The Nine (ABC, 9pm)
Series premiere of I Pity The Fool (TV Land, 9pm, 9:30pm, 10pm, midnight, 1am)

News & Notes:

Kidnapped has been pulled from the Wednesday schedule, episodes will air on Saturday nights from here on out. There’ll just be 13 episodes and NBC will air them all; they will conclude the story (so at least we won’t be left worrying about the kidnap victim when the show leaves the airwaves).

I should have fall previews for 30 Rock and Twenty Good Years online yet today; once they’re available, the names of the shows will be links to ‘em.

Yesterday was World Mental Health Day and the first week of October is usually Mental Illness Awareness Week. As some of you already know, I suffer from severe clinical depression as well as an anxiety disorder; I’ve been battling depression since I was a teenager. I’m doing somewhat better now (thanks to antidepressants and getting treatment for sleep apnea), but still struggle a lot. I’ve spent years of my life wanting to die; I’ve lost a lot of time to anxiety and depression. If you struggle, I want you to know that you can get help and get better– it’s often not easy and can take a while, but it’s worth it to get your life back in whole or in part. And if you don’t suffer from any sort of mental illness, consider yourself very lucky. Please remember that there’s a difference between “feeling down” and being clinically depressed. Depression is a very real disease, just as real as something like diabetes; and as with many diseases, if untreated you can die. Be compassionate toward people who struggle with it (even if– especially if– that person is you). Useful links: National Suicide Prevention Lifeline | National Alliance on Mental Illness | National Institute of Mental Health | National Mental Health Association | Suicide Prevention Action Network USA | DepressionIsReal.org

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

Primetime Grid

Primetime

The townsfolk of Jericho (CBS, 7pm) finally encounter an outsider; he’s got radiation poisoning and isn’t likely to live long. They also start rationing and conserving, I’d imagine. I’m totally hooked on this show and already can’t imagine watching anything else at 7pm on Wednesdays.

Baseball: St. Louis Cardinals at New York Mets (FOX, 7pm). Game 1 of the National League Championship Series. Baseball: Detroit Tigers at Oakland A’s (FX, 7pm). Game 2 of the American League Championship Series. In some markets, the AL game may air on FOX and the NL game on FX. Just to confuse things for ya. Need to know which show will air on FOX and which will air on FX in your market? Check this page. Some satellite providers will have two channels (in addition to FOX) dedicated to the games (info on that is also on the previously linked page).

America’s Next Top Model (CW, 7pm; airs again on Sunday at 6pm). “The Girl Who Joined The Circus”

Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Tracy Morgan, and Jane Krakowski star in the series premiere of 30 Rock (NBC, 7pm; airs again on Bravo on Thursday at 6:30pm and 10pm). Fey plays the head writer for “The Girlie Show,” a sketch comedy series. Alec Baldwin is a new network executive, Krakowski is the star of the show, Tracy Morgan plays a movie star who ends up being added to the cast of the show. Very very disappointing. Rachel Dratch was originally the star of the show within the show, now Krakowski is and Dratch is reduced to a tiny guest spot in this episode (and an even tinier one in the second episode). Ugh. Not a good show (but it isn’t painfully bad, it’s just . . . not good). Neither this show nor Studio 60 has any funny sketch comedy in the shows within them, which is just sad really (but then Saturday Night Live often has sketches that aren’t funny either).

Rod Stewart sings on Dancing with the Stars (ABC, 7pm).

John Lithgow and Jeffrey Tambor star in the series premiere of Twenty Good Years (NBC, 7:30pm). I’ve been calling this the worst new show of the season for months now, but to be honest– that opinion was based on the first five minutes of the show (I couldn’t bring myself to watch the rest). I’ve since watched the rest of the episode and it does get better as it goes, but it’s still a very lame sitcom about two older men who decide to finally live their lives with abandon for “twenty good years”. But seriously– “jock strap” is in the first punchline of the show, someone is hit by a raquetball in their privates in the first three minutes of the show– that should give you some idea of what kind of show this is. I like both Tambor and Lithgow and just found this show a sad waste of them.

Sun and Jin’s lives are in danger on Lost (ABC, 8pm). But then whose lives aren’t in danger on this show? Maybe this means we’ll get Sun/Jin flashbacks which certainly have to be more interesting than last week’s flashbacks about Jack which were both boring and creepy. Henry also makes Jack some sort of offer. Grrrrreat.

The team on Criminal Minds (CBS, 8pm) tries to find a bank robber who makes the folks in the bank strip naked before he leaves the scene. I don’t think the robbers on The Nine did that, but who can tell?

The Nine (ABC, 9pm) try to pick up their lives where they left off, but it’s hard. Someone’s job is in jeopardy, someone else is hailed as a hero, and so on. If you missed the season premiere last week, you missed the best pilot of the fall. Give this show a look if you haven’t yet, ‘cuz it’s great. (The first episode should still be available on ABC.com as I write this; check out the Rebroadcasts page).

Car salesmen learn a lesson about motivation from Mr. T on the series premiere of I Pity The Fool (TV Land, 9pm, 9:30pm, 10pm, midnight, 1am, more airings during the week). I’ll have a full review of this later this week.

A serial is inspired by codes on t-shirts on CSI: NY (CBS, 9pm). I can’t fathom why anyone would watch this show instead of The Nine or Kidnapped (which sadly has already been moved to Saturdays due to low ratings). Even if you like this show, it’s not as if CBS won’t air these episodes a few times yet this year (and the episodes are also available online). Good new shows are still kinda rare and you gotta watch ‘em while you can.

The final contestants prepare to show their collections at New York Fashion Week on Project Runway (Bravo, 8:59pm, 11:22pm, 12:24am, with a zillion more airings this week). DVR/VCR Alert: Note strange start times, episode runs 63 minutes.