Laurel’s TV Picks

Best Bets

New Jericho (CBS, 7pm)
New Bones (FOX, 7pm)
New Lost (ABC, 8pm)
New Criminal Minds (CBS, 8pm)
New The Nine (ABC, 9:01pm)
New Top Chef (Bravo, 9pm, 10pm, midnight, 3am, lots of other airings)

News & Notes:

The “recurring payment” or “subscription” options for donations to this site has returned; it’s available from the support page along with the other options. Two readers recently made donations which are very much appreciated– sorry I haven’t had time to reply yet or thank you here (will get to that soon).

Remember that Kidnapped has moved to Saturday nights. Tonight’s episode of Twenty Good Years may be the last we see ever or for a while. 30 Rock is moving to Thursday nights soon.

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

Primetime Grid

Daytime

In some sort of strange tie-in with Marvel Comics, Harley (as played by Beth Ehlers) gets super powers in today’s very special episode of Guiding Light (CBS, check your local listings. Yes, really– I’m not making this up. Though I’m guessing this may just last a single episode as Wednesdays are the day that Guiding Light does episodes that revolve around a single character and which are often kindof standalone or take a different format than usual. I’ll be watching ‘cuz Harley is one of my favorite soap characters ever.

Primetime

ESPN has NBA basketball; I think the regular season starts today. Sweet!

Remember those guys that set off in four different directions in that one episode of Jericho (CBS, 7pm)? One of them returns with a report (the one possibly responsible for that one guy’s death). And there are negotiations with one of the horse thieves, I think. James Remar guest stars as someone who has history with Skeet (I forget his name on the show). I don’t think I’ve mentioned Alicia Coppola who has a recurring role as an IRS agent– I always like her in whatever role she plays and she’s good on this show.

At long last, Bones (FOX, 7pm) returns with a new episode. A beauty queen is found dead at a water filtration plant (that can’t be good for filtration, eh?). And one regular may ask another on a date (oooooh ahhhhh).

I’m told that 30 Rock (NBC, 7pm) is improving and I’m glad as it has potential; it will be moving to Thursday nights later this month. Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, and Tracy Morgan star. Baldwin steals every scene he’s in.

It’s a recap special (oh joy) on America’s Next Top Model (CW, 7pm).

Judith Light returns for a new Twenty Good Years (NBC, 7:30pm). 30 Rock is moving to Thursdays and this hour block will be replaced with something else so it sounds like this show isn’t long for the world (and this may be the last episode to air). I am not broken up about this.

Eko is delirious (could this be an Eko flashback episode?), Locke and some of the others (not The Others) head to the Pearl to see if that can help them find Jack, Kate, and Sawyer. And there are more developments with the prisoners and their captors on Lost (ABC, 8pm). Good times, eh? Though I could do without any torture, thank you. DVR/VCR Alert: Runs 61 minutes.

Three college athletes disappear on the night of a pep rally on Criminal Minds (CBS, 8pm).

Teams consisting of strangers compete to win money by completing lists on the series premiere of The Rich List (FOX, 8pm). You’d have to be quite the primetime game show fan to watch this instead of Lost or Criminal Minds– I’m just saying, is all. Eamonn Holmes hosts.

Joshua Malina (of Sports Night and The West Wing) guest stars on The Nine (ABC, 9pm). Awesome! Bank manager Malcolm (Chi McBride) is conflicted when dealing with the widow of a friend (who I presume to be the bank guard). And could deceased bank teller Eva have been in on the robbery? (Doubtful, but I’m sure they’ll have “fun” looking into it). I wasn’t sure this show could hold my interest and it’s wavered a little here and there, but I’m still hooked and interested. Intriguing premise and I like how they’ve doled out bits of the incident in the bank so far.

Alton Brown designs the perfect stuffing in the “Stuff It” episode of Good Eats (Food, 9pm and midnight).

A new Top Chef (Bravo, 9pm, 10pm, midnight, 3am, lots of other airings). It’s preceded by the previous two episodes in case you missed them the first time around (Bravo, 7pm, 8pm).

A young woman is found dead in a train car on CSI: NY (CBS, 9pm).

Madonna is interviewed yet again on Dateline NBC (NBC, 9pm).

Late Night

There’s a link to late night listings in the sidebar (on the website).

Rerun of the season finale of Weeds (Showtime, 10pm). Talk about explosive! Talk about cliffhangers!

Rerun of last season’s finale of Las Vegas (TNT, 10pm). In case you were confused by the season premiere or want to revisit it.

Rerun of the latest episode of The Wire (HBO, 11pm).