Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Best Bets
New Pioneers of Television (PBS, check your local listings)
New Mythbusters (Discovery, 8pm and midnight)
New Law & Order (NBC, 9pm)
New Project Runway (Bravo, 9pm, 11pm, midnight, 2am)
Season premiere of Reno 911! (Comedy Central, 9:30pm and 11:30pm)
Michael Douglas, Katherine Heigl, Wyclef Jean on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm)
James McAvoy, Jon Cryer, Blake Lewison on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (CBS, 11:37pm)
News & Notes:
If you usually read the picks via email or as a feed, please stop by the website once in a while to see things there. Remember that times listed in the emails and feed are for the Central timezone, on the website you can adjust the timezone (via gizmo in the sidebar).
The SoapNet contest to win an LCD TV is still on, keep those entries coming as they’re fun to read.
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Daytime
Ted Danson (of Damages), Catherine Bell (of JAG), Soulja Boy Tellem on Live with Regis and Kelly (check your local listings).
Sam Waterston (of Law & Order), Maroon 5 on The View (check your local listings).
Rebecca Budig returns to the role of Greenlee today on All My Children (ABC, check your local listings). In case you care about that sort of thing.
Marilu Henner, Joshua Radin, artist Dan Dunn (whose work is on YouTube), mother & son Jane and Steve Hambleton on The Ellen DeGeneres Show (syndicated, check your local listings).
John Leguizamo, a visit to an organic dairy farm in Maine, a new sandwich recipe from chef Chris Schlesinger on a new Martha Stewart Show (syndicated, check your local listings).
Bob Greene (of Oprah) visits The Rachael Ray Show (syndicated, check your local listings). Plus Jarod the animal guy.
“Sex SOS: Can My Sex Problem Be Solved” on The Tyra Banks Show (syndicated, check your local listings). With guest Dr. Drew Pinsky (of Loveline, Celebrity Rehab).
Marion Jones’ first interview (since you-know-what), Natalee Holloway’s mother and brother speak out, Ellen Page and Jennifer Garner visit to talk about Juno on a new Oprah (syndicated, check your local listings).
“Get Rich Quick Disasters” on Dr. Phil (syndicated, check your local listings).
Mini marathon of Reno 911! (Comedy Central, 3pm – 6pm). In preparation for tonight’s season premiere, in case you forgot where the show left off last season.
Primetime Grid
| Wed | 7:00 | 7:30 | 8:00 | 8:30 | 9:00 | 9:30 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Wife Swap | Supernanny | Cashmere Mafia | |||
| CBS | Power of 10 | Comanche Moon Part 3 of 3 | ||||
| NBC | Deal or No Deal | Law & Order: Criminal Intent first time on NBC | Law & Order | |||
| FOX | American Idol | Local Programming | ||||
| CW | Crowned: Mother of All Pageants also on Sun | Gossip Girl rerun of the first episode | Local Programming | |||
Primetime
College basketball: Duke at Florida State (ESPN, 6pm), North Carolina at Georgia Tech (ESPN, 8pm), and Texas A&M at Texas Tech (ESPN2, 8:30pm).
The third installment of Pioneers of Television (PBS, check your local listings) focuses on variety shows– remember those?
There’s also installment of a fascinating series called The Jewish Americans which may air on PBS in your neck of the woods tonight or on some other night this week (PBS, check your local listings). You can read more about it on the PBS website.
Two more new hours of American Idol (FOX, 7pm- 9pm) to kick off this season/round. If only they would stop showing the painfully bad competitors, but then some people (other than those who make the promos) must enjoy watching them.
Alton Brown does his thing in the “Sub Standards” and “Mission: Poachable” episodes of Good Eats (Food Network, 7pm and 2am, 7:30pm and 2:30am). These aren’t new, but they are good.
Ellen DeGeneres is a surprise “celebrity briefcase model” on Deal or No Deal (NBC, 7pm).
I didn’t quite know what to make of My Shocking Story: Half Man, Half Tree (TLC, 7pm and 10pm), but after further research I guess it’s about a man from a remote village in Indonesia who has rootlike structures on his hands and feet. Very weird.
Tonight’s new episode of Mythbusters (Discovery, 8pm and midnight) has the guys testing out stuff from James Bond movies. Awesome!
NBC wants you to know that tonight’s Law & Order: Criminal Intent is new (to NBC). Um, yeah. It was the second episode to air this season on USA, but NBC is now airing these episodes too. This is a Detective Logan episode, in case you’re wondering. Alicia Witt joins him for the first part of this season (at least) as his new partner Det. Nola Falacci. The case involves a fertility doctor, DNA, all that good stuff. Devon Gummersall (who was “Brian Krakow” on My So-Called Life) is among the guest stars. Jean de Segonzac directs this episode; I’m always pleased to see him direct episodes of shows (he’s directed many) as did brilliant work on Homicide: Life on the Street as camera operator and director of photography.
Part 3 (of 3) of Comanche Moon (CBS, 8pm). If you haven’t seen parts one and two, you really shouldn’t bother with this.
HGTV airs new episodes of Deserving Design (HGTV, 8pm and midnight), Design on a Dime (HGTV, 8:30pm and 12:30am), House Hunters (HGTV, 9pm and 1am), and Sleep On It (HGTV, 9:30pm and 1:30am). I sometimes forget that Deserving Design is Vern Yip’s show (you may remember him from Trading Spaces).
DIY airs new episodes of Sweat Equity (DIY, 8pm) and Man Caves (DIY, 8:30pm).
Rerun of the very first episode of Gossip Girl (CW, 8pm; also on Sun in most markets, check your local listings). I kinda liked the first episode, but was also unsure. I’m happy to report that the show improved in subsequent episodes as all of the characters were fleshed out in interesting ways, plus more characters joined the cast (like Margaret Colin as Blair’s Mom). It’s a teen soap, but the adults are more a part of things now than they were in the first episode. Some of the same folks who brought us The O.C. are behind this show, which is a good reason to give it a chance.
I kinda love that tonight’s new episode of Law & Order (NBC, 9pm) is titled “Bottomless” as the case really does involve a dispute over a pair of pants that goes missing. ‘Course it’s rather serious business as people wind up dead– all because of pants. Um, it’s complicated. I’ve seen this episode and I liked it quite a bit . . . and not just because I like to say “pants”. Just remember, there is no silent “K” in pants. (Will we ever get the complete Get A Life on DVD? C’mon, we need that!)
It sounds like the designers end up basing their design on hairstyles (or something like that) on a new Project Runway (Bravo, 9pm, 11pm, midnight, 2am).
Juliet (Miranda Otto) tries to figure out whether she really wants to have that affair with the guy from her past or not on a new Cashmere Mafia (ABC, 9pm). Plus Caitlin may be outed by a gossip blog, Mia (Lucy Liu) butts heads with an editor, and Zoe is caught in the middle of an office affair. Or something. It still kinda boggles my mind when blogs are mentioned on TV shows, but then I had one of the first thirty weblogs ever (and never would’ve dreamed of this).
Nobody I know can understand why any man would choose Uma Thurman over Janeane Garofalo in The Truth About Cats and Dogs (FOX Movie Channel, 9pm, letterboxed & uncut; also airs earlier in the day at 5pm). Of course, I hang out with geeks so this shouldn’t surprise anyone. Ben Chaplin is torn between the two in this cute updated version of the Cyrano story.
They test out crash-absorbing concrete on Smash Lab (Discovery, 9pm and 1am).
Two new episodes of Tyler Perry’s House of Payne (TBS, 9pm, 9:30pm).
A team searches the rain forest of Sumatra for mystery ape orang pendek, said to have a humanlike face on a new MonsterQuest (History Channel, 9pm and 1am).
Debut of a new episode of Inside the NFL (HBO, 9pm). Cris Carter, Cris Collinsworth, Bob Costas, and Dan Marino talk football.
Season premiere of Reno 911! (Comedy Central, 9:30pm and 11:30pm). When it’s funny, it can be very very funny; when it’s not funny, it can be painful.
Late Night
Michael Douglas, Katherine Heigl (of Grey’s Anatomy, Roswell), Wyclef Jean on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm).
James McAvoy, Jon Cryer (of Two and a Half Men, Partners), Blake Lewison on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (CBS, 11:37pm). I went all old school and obscure with the reference to Partners, didn’t I? Seriously, if any of you have episodes, I’ve been looking for them for years as I really liked this show. Tate Donovan and Maria Pitillo were Cryer’s co-stars in this short-lived series about a couple of architects.
