Laurel’s TV Picks

Best Bets

Season finale of Traveler (ABC, 9pm)
New Rescue Me (FX, 9pm, 10pm)
series premiere of Back to the Grind (TV Land, 9:30pm and 12:30am)
Matt Groening on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Comedy Central, 10pm and midnight).
Teddy Thompson on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm)
Sandra Bullock, Chris Matthews, Suzanne Vega on The Tonight Show (NBC, 10:35pm)

News & Notes:

I recommend TV Tattle as an excellent site to watch for links to stories about all things TV. There’s lots of news breaking right now because the big summer press tour is going on right now in California (alas, I cannot afford to attend it).

Saving Grace premieres next week; originally it was going to premiere this week. In case you, like me, were a bit confused by this (I wrote up my review for today only to find it’s not on tonight. D’oh!).

Primetime Grid

Primetime

Ferrets compete (with a little help from their owners) in the country’s largest ferret show on Ferrets: The Pursuit of Excellence (PBS, check your local listings).

Baseball: Detroit Tigers at Minnesota Twins (ESPN, 7pm). Johan Santana is pitching for the Twins, I’ll probably be at the game tonight (assuming my bad back can take it) as we’ve got season tickets.

Some might say that “Psychodrama” is a good term for the things going on behind the scenes at Criminal Minds (CBS, 8pm) these days, but it’s actually the title of this rerun where a bank robber makes people strip naked while he robs them. In case you haven’t heard, Mandy Patinkin is leaving the series– you can read all about it on this fan site for the program (which is more reliable than reports at TV Guide’s site, etc).

New episodes of Tyler Perry’s House of Payne (TBS, 8pm, 8:30pm).

Jay and Tyler finally are reunited with Will Traveler on the season finale of Traveler (ABC, 9pm). This should prove interesting. Here’s hoping a whole lot happens in the finale as it looks like it’s also the series finale. I’ve enjoyed this short-lived show, though it does seem like the kind of show with a limited lifespan to begin with.

I think Rescue Me (FX, 9pm, 10pm) may have lost me with last week’s episode. Here’s hoping tonight’s new episode is better.

TV Land Confidential takes a look at series finales and cancellations (TV Land, 9pm and midnight).

Chefs serve a “Latin Lunch” on a new Top Chef (Bravo, 9pm, 10pm, midnight).

If you missed the debut of Scott Baio Is 45 . . . and Single and want to see it, it airs again tonight (VH1, 9pm).

Loni Anderson works as a receptionist at a radio station, Erik Estrada works with the California Highway Patrol on the series premiere of Back to the Grind (TV Land, 9:30pm and 12:30am). Celebrities take on the real-life jobs that they held in memorable roles on TV.

Lil’ George struggles with evolution on Lil’ Bush (Comedy Central, 9:30pm and 11pm).

Late Night

Matt Groening on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Comedy Central, 10pm and midnight).

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

You’ve got to sit through interviews with John Travolta and Paula Abdul in order to see fabulous musical guest Teddy Thompson (son of Richard & Linda Thompson) on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm). I’ll be recording it on my TiVo and fast forwarding as appropriate.

Sandra Bullock, Chris Matthews, Suzanne Vega on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (NBC, 10:35pm).

Adam Sandler, Vera Farmiga, Pegi Young on Late Night with Conan O’Brien (NBC, 11:37pm).

Dr. Drew Pinsky, Enrique Iglesias on a rerun of the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (CBS, 11:37pm).

Mark Consuelos, Louis C.K., Jason Aldean on Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC, check your local listings).

Patton Oswalt, Deerhoof on Last Call with Carson Daly (NBC, check your local listings).