October 19 - 22, 2006
News & Notes
These aren’t the “usual picks” as they are abbreviated and cover Thursday through Sunday. I’m co-chairing a small science fiction convention this weekend and have been a bit too busy to get full picks together for those days (and will continue to be really busy through Monday).
But I figure at the very least I could give you the primetime grids for the networks and my opinion as to what your “best bets” are.
For late night talk show guests, use the link in the sidebar on the website.
Times listed are for the Central timezone, if you’re in another zone, please adjust accordingly.
Thursday Best Bets
New Ugly Betty (ABC, 7pm)
New My Name Is Earl (NBC, 7pm)
New The Office (NBC, 7:30pm)
New Grey’s Anatomy (ABC, 8pm)
New CSI (CBS, 8pm)
New Shark (CBS, 9pm)
Thursday Primetime Grid
| Thu | 7:00 | 7:30 | 8:00 | 8:30 | 9:00 | 9:30 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Ugly Betty | Grey’s Anatomy | Six Degreees | |||
| CBS | Survivor: Cook Islands | CSI | Shark | |||
| NBC | My Name Is Earl | The Office | Deal or No Deal | ER starts at 8:59 | ||
| FOX | Baseball: Cardinals at Mets NLCS, Game 7 | |||||
| CW | Smallville | Supernatural | Local Programming | |||
| myNet | Desire | Fashion House | Local Programming | |||
Thursday Primetime Notes
A Dick Cavett (TCM, 7pm and 10pm) interview with Katharine Hepburn. Runs 75 minutes.
Giovanni Ribisi guest stars (again) on My Name Is Earl (NBC, 7pm).
The Green Arrow shows up in Smallville (CW, 7pm).
Summer Glau (of Firefly) guest stars on Supernatural (CW, 8pm).
Rerun of the season finale of Project Runway (Bravo, 8pm, 11pm, 2am).
Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant star in one of my favorite movies: Howard Hawks’ Bringing Up Baby (TCM, 8:15pm). The “baby” in question is a leopard named “Baby”. If you’ve never seen this movie, you’re missing a hilarious classic.
Rerun of the season premiere of Top Chef (Bravo, 9pm, 3am).
Forest Whitaker (of The Shield) guest stars on ER (NBC, 8:59pm).
The Lakers face the Clippers in a NBA Pre-season game (TNT, 9pm).
Friday Best Bets:
New Doctor Who (Sci-Fi, 7pm and 11pm)
New Battlestar Galactica (Sci-Fi, 8pm and 10pm)
New Men in Trees (ABC, 8pm)
New Numb3rs (CBS, 9pm)
New Law & Order (NBC, 9pm)
Friday Primetime Grid:
| Fri | 7:00 | 7:30 | 8:00 | 8:30 | 9:00 | 9:30 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Extreme Makeover Season premiere | Men in Trees | 20/20 | |||
| CBS | Ghost Whisperer | Close To Home | Numb3rs | |||
| NBC | Deal or No Deal | 1 vs. 100 | Law & Order | |||
| FOX | Trading Spouses: Meet Your New Mommy Season premiere | Local Programming | ||||
| CW | WWE Friday Night Smackdown | Local Programming | ||||
| myNet | Desire | Fashion House | Local Programming | |||
| SciFi | Doctor Who also at 11pm | Battlestar Galactica also at 10pm | Threshold Rerun | |||
Friday Primetime Notes
Catch the three most recent episodes of The Wire (HBO, 7pm, 8pm, 9pm) in case you missed them. Great stuff.
Ever Carradine (of Once and Again, Commander in Chief) guest stars as Marin’s sister on Men in Trees (ABC, 8pm).
Ice-T’s Rap School (VH1, 8pm, plenty more airings).
The detectives investigate the death of someone who was caught on tape on a segment that sounds a lot like Dateline’s “To Catch A Predator” on Law & Order (NBC, 9pm).
Jason Alexander, Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), and writer John Fund. Plus, via satellite, Gov. Bill Richardson (D-NM) on Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO, 10pm).
Saturday Best Bets
World Series, Game 1 (FOX, 7pm)
New Kidnapped (NBC, 8pm)
Saturday Primetime Grid
| Sat | 7:00 | 7:30 | 8:00 | 8:30 | 9:00 | 9:30 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets | |||||
| CBS | 48 Hours Mystery | The Bourne Identity | ||||
| NBC | Dateline NBC | Kidnapped | Law & Order: SVU Rerun | |||
| FOX | Baseball: Game 1 of the World Series | |||||
| myNet | Desire Recap episode | Fashion House Recap episode | Local Programming | |||
Saturday Primetime Notes
The Cardinals or the Mets head to Detroit to play the Tigers in Game 1 of the World Series (FOX, 7pm).
A new episode of the excellent series Kidnapped (NBC, 8pm). If you missed earlier episodes, you can still jump on board with this show and enjoy it. (That’s what those “previously on” things are for, right?). Great cast, truly fine show. It’s a pity that there will only be thirteen episodes, but at least the story will get told with a decent resolution. Episodes will air on Saturday nights. I live in hope that a lot of people will tune in to the show on Saturdays and perhaps the series will get another chance. A girl can dream, right? (I know, it’s extremely unlikely).
Jerry Seinfeld is the guest on a new Talk Show with Spike Feresten (FOX, after baseball).
John C. Reilly hosts Saturday Night Live (NBC, check your local listings) with musical guest My Chemical Romance.
Sunday Best Bets
World Series, Game 2 (FOX, 6:30pm)
New The Amazing Race (CBS, 7pm)
Reruns of Heroes (NBC, 7pm - 10pm)
New Without A Trace (CBS, 9pm)
New Dexter (Showtime, 9pm, 10pm, midnight)
Sunday Primetime Grid
| Sun | 6:00 | 6:30 | 7:00 | 7:30 | 8:00 | 8:30 | 9:00 | 9:30 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | America’s Funniest Home Videos | Extreme Makeover: Home Edition | Desperate Housewives | Brothers & Sisters | ||||
| CBS | 60 Minutes | The Amazing Race | Cold Case | Without A Trace | ||||
| NBC | Football Night in America | Heroes Rerun | Heroes Rerun | Heroes Rerun | ||||
| FOX | Local News | World Series, Game 2 | ||||||
| CW | Smallville Rerun | 7th Heaven | America’s Next Top Model Rerun | Local Programming | ||||
| Show | Weeds | Weeds Rerun | Dexter | |||||
Sunday Primetime Notes
No new episode of The Wire this Sunday; the next new episode airs on October 29th.
Runaway appears to have been pulled from the schedule; note that the rerun of America’s Next Top Model will air at 8pm.
Remember that football can cause shows to start late. I’ve generally told my TiVo to record the 10pm news on my local CBS affiliate to make sure I get all of Without A Trace as for the last few weeks everything on CBS has been airing a half hour late.
NBC rebroadcasts the three most recent episodes of Heroes (NBC, 7pm, 8pm, 9pm). So that’s all but the very first episode and honestly the second episode recaps so much of the first episode, you can get by without having seen it (or else catch it online). Excellent show; I like these three episodes better than the first one (so if you gave up after episode one, I recommend checking these out). One of the best new shows of the season.
Summer Glau (of Firefly), Mika Boorem, Jennifer Tilly, and Morgan Fairchild star in the new version of The Initiation of Sarah (ABC Family, 7pm and 9pm).
