Laurel’s TV Picks

Best Bets

David Letterman on the season premiere of Oprah (syndicated, check your local listings)
Season finale of The Closer (TNT, 8pm and 11pm)
Season finale of My Boys (TBS, 9pm – 10pm; also on Tuesday at 11pm)
New Weeds (Showtime, 9pm, 10pm; 9pm tomorrow)
New Saving Grace (TNT, 9pm, Thursday at 10pm)
Jodie Foster, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm)
Paul Giamatti, Alyson Hannigan, Bad Religion on Late Night with Conan O’Brien (NBC, 11:37pm)

News & Notes

The Amazon.com Deal of the Day is Dawson’s Creek – The Complete Series (Seasons 1-6 Plus Series Finale) for just $110. Wow, that’s a great deal if you like Dawson’s Creek and don’t have any of the sets yet. 60% off the usual price.

Some new shows take the airwaves today in syndication, you’ll have to check your local listings to see when/where they air on your local stations. New shows include: Crosswords (new game show), Judge David Young (‘cuz we needed another judge show, right?), The Steve Wilkos Show (he was a security guard on Jerry Springer, now he’s got his own show), Temptation (a quiz game show), and TMZ. When possible, the titles of the shows are links to the official sites for the shows, so you can find out more information. In some cases the official websites will have info on where you can watch the show.

Family Guy, The George Lopez Show, and Two and a Half Men begin airing in syndication today. That is, you’ll find reruns of their first episodes on a local station near you (check your local listings). Episodes will air five-days-a-week, usually in the afternoon or evening, sometimes late night. George Lopez also begins a run on Nick at Nite tonight at 9pm and 9:30pm.

Daytime

Michael Douglas, Terrence Howard on Live with Regis and Kelly (check your local listings).

Dr. Phil McGraw, cast of Xanadu on The View (ABC, check your local listings).

Oprah is in New York City to (finally!) talk to David Letterman on the series premiere of Oprah (syndicated, check your local listings). Lisa Marie Pressley also makes an appearance (“singing with her Dad”?).

Martha Stewart has a “big announcement” to make on the season premiere of The Martha Stewart Show (syndicated, check your local listings). Also: Usher is going to work with Martha to make some recipes for a cocktail party. Martha will show pictures from her summer vacation and introduce a new member of her family. And she’ll talk about their new Healthy Living Initiative.

Teri Hatcher is the first guest on the season premiere of the Rachael Ray Show (syndicated, check your lcoal listings). Rachael will have breakfast, lunch, and dinner with the stars of High School Musical 2.

Tyra’s show moves to New York City on the season premiere of The Tyra Banks Show (syndicated, check your local listings). Tyra will play catch with Derek Jeter, cook with NYC firemen, and do other “New Yorky” things, I guess.

Season premiere of Dr. Phil (syndicated, check your local listings). A “handsome fireman” with an “ugly secret” is the main guest, I guess. And then there’s a preview or start of a new edition of “Man Camp”. Plus meet a teen who gets 5,000 text messages a month while driving.

Montel is in Las Vegas for the season premiere of The Montel Williams Show (syndicated, check your local listings). Criss Angel appears on the show.

Daniel Radcliffe, Harvey Levin, Sabra Johnson on a new episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show (syndicated, check your local listings). New season started last week.

A Greek marathon starts at 11am on ABC Family and runs ’til the summer season premiere debuts at 8pm.

Primetime Grid

Primetime

It’s Monday Night Football, ESPN style with NFL Football: Ravens at Bengals (ESPN, 6pm) and NFL Football: Cardinals at 49ers (ESPN, 9:30pm or so).

New Top Gear (BBC America, 7pm).

HGTV has a lineup of new episodes of shows: Designed To Sell (HGTV, 7pm and 11pm), Buy Me (HGTV, 7:30pm and 11:30pm), Color Splash (HGTV, 8pm and midnight), and Hidden Potential (HGTV, 8:30pm and 12:30am).

Reruns of the final two episodes of last season of Prison Break (FOX, 7pm, 8pm). In case you need a reminder of where things were left last season; the new season starts a week from today. Previous seasons are available on DVD: Prison Break – Season One and Prison Break – Season Two.

Back to back reruns of Everybody Hates Chris (CW, 7pm, 7:30pm). “Everybody Hates DJ’s” and “Everybody Hates Baseball”. Guest stars include Todd Bridges, Robert Wuhl, and Ernest Thomas. Everybody Hates Chris – The Second Season will hit stores on October 9th.

Chris Rock: “Rappers are the big stars now, but back then it was the DJs. DJ Jazzy Jeff actually had top billing over the Fresh Prince.”
  from Everybody Hates Chris

Everything goes wrong on Marshall and Lily’s wedding day on a rerun of the “Something Borrowed” episode of How I Met Your Mother (CBS, 7pm). It’s the second-to-last episode from last season.

Rerun of Antiques Roadshow (PBS, check your local listings) where they’re in Hawaii.

The History Detectives (PBS, check your local listings) investigate artifacts that may (or may not) have something to do with: the USS Thresher, a Pete Gray Cartoon, and a Manhattan Project Letter. This show is always fascinating and cool.

Season finale of The Closer (TNT, 8pm and 11pm). Awwww. I’m bummed to see the finale because I really enjoy this show. This is the conclusion of a two-part episode that began last week. At least I assume it’s a conclusion and not a season ending cliffhanger. If you missed part one, it airs at 7pm and 10pm on TNT. DVR/VCR Alert: Parts 1 and 2 have the same title, this can sometimes cause confusion depending on how your DVR is set up; there also doesn’t appear to be a rebroadcast later in the week.

Sin City Law (Sundance, 8pm, 9pm).

A new Unwrapped (Food Network, 8pm and 11pm) takes a look at the “Sweet and Salty”.

Nathan meets up with Linderman and Hiro tries to steal a sword in this rerun of the “Parasite” episode of Heroes (NBC, 8pm). Episode 18 (of 23) from last season. DVD set is available now: Heroes – Season One and season two begins on September 24th.

Nathan: When I first met you, I thought you were nuts.
Hiro: Is okay, I thought you were mean. But now I know, you pretend that you don’t care about anyone, but you care too much.
  from Heroes

Enrique Iglesias guest stars as a handyman on a rerun of Two and a Half Men (CBS, 8pm).

Jake: She brought soup!
Charlie: Why would she bring soup?
Alan: You told her you had a bug. So she assumed it was bronchial. If you had been more specific like I suggested, you could have precluded this. Nobody just drops by when they think you have diarrhea.
Jake: And I bet they don’t bring soup, either.
  from Two and a Half Men

Baseball Tonight (ESPN2, 8:30pm – 10pm).

I also kinda love My Boys (TBS, 9pm; also on Tuesday at 11pm) and hate to see it come to an end. The good news is that we get a full hour of P.J. and the gang tonight as there’s a new episode at 9pm followed by the season finale at 9:30pm.

Tonight’s new episode of Saving Grace (TNT, 9pm; also on Thursday at 10pm) is titled “Everything’s Got A Shelf Life” and that sounds ominmous to me.

I haven’t a clue what will happen next on Weeds (Showtime, 9pm, 10pm; 9pm tomorrow), but I can’t wait to find out.

Anthony Bourdain is in Agentina on Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations (Travel, 9pm and midnight).

Ed Begley Jr. “Talks Green with Larry Hagman” on a new Life with Ed (HGTV, 9:30pm and 1:30am). This is a reality show that follows Begley Jr. around, more ore less, with a focus on his green lifestyle. I guess in this episode Ed visits Larry Hagman’s solar powered mansion. Sweet!

There’s a new episode of Californication (Showtime, 9:30pm, 10:30pm) tonight. The show has been picked up for a second season.

Late Night

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

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

Jodie Foster, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm).

Brad Garrett, Ashley Force (“Funny car racer”), Cirque du Soleil on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (NBC, 10:35pm).

Paul Giamatti, Alyson Hannigan (of How I Met Your Mother, Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Bad Religion on Late Night with Conan O’Brien (NBC, 11:37pm).

Frank Caliendo, Sherman Alexie, Clay Walker on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (CBS, 11:37pm).

Melanie Brown, Mandy Moore, Jon Hamm, Joss Stone on a rerun of Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC, check your local listings).

Joel McHale, Glenn Hansard and Marketa Irglova on a rerun of Last Call with Carson Daly (NBC, check your local listings).

Tuesday Daytime

Jodie Foster, Lyle Lovett on Live with Regis and Kelly.

Miranda Cosgrove on The View.

Kathy Griffin, 5-year-old golfer Kyle Lograsso on The Ellen DeGeneres Show (syndicated, check your local listings)>

On a new Martha Stewart Show (syndicated, check your local listings), Martha reveals some of her latest and favorite finds; she takes you behind the scenes when she welcomes her chicks and chickens to their new home; chef Ron Suhanosky of Sfoglia makes spaghetti with figs, basil, brown butter, and hazelnuts.

Valerie Bertinelli on a new Rachael Ray (syndicated, check your local listings).

Montel is still in Las Vegas, this time Toni Braxton is a guest. He also participates in a celebrity poker tournament with celebrities on The Montel Williams Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

“Man Camp” on a new Dr. Phil (syndicated, check your local listings).

“15 Rules You Should Completely Ignore” on The Tyra Banks Show (syndicated, check your local listings).