Laurel’s TV Picks

Best Bets

Homicide: The Movie (Sleuth, 7pm and 10pm)
New House (FOX, 8pm)
New In Treatment (HBO, 8:30pm and 11pm)
New Some Assembly Required (Discovery, 9pm and 1am)
Bill Cosby, Lake Bell,the Matt Savage Trio on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm)
Raquel Welch, San Diego Charger Antonio Gates on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (CBS, 11:37pm)

News & Notes

Chiller is going to start airing episodes of Profit and Millennium in February. Cool! Both series are available on DVD, but it’s still nice to see them return to the airwaves. Some of the episodes of Profit will be making their U.S. television debut (as the show was cancelled fairly soon after it debuted).

Primetime Grid

Primetime

College basketball: Ohio State at Penn State (ESPN, 6pm), Virginia Commonwealth at George Mason (ESPN2, 6pm), Tennessee at Alabama (ESPN, 8pm).

If you’ve seen all seven seasons of Homicide: Life on the Street, but haven’t yet seen Homicide: The Movie (Sleuth, 7pm – 9pm, 10pm – midnight) or haven’t seen it lately, you should check it out. The entire cast of Homicide was reunited for this movie which was filmed after the end of the series. Somehow they gathered up all the regulars who had played homicide detectives and coroners over the years and worked them into a single story which was no easy feat. It’s not the best or cheeriest movie ever, but it’s a real treat for fans of the show. You really shouldn’t watch this movie if you haven’t seen the events of the final season and it really helps if you’ve seen most or all of the episodes. It’s sometimes hard to find this movie on DVD as it’s now out of print and the complete series set which included this movie is also now out of print so if you don’t own this on video and want a copy, you might want to record it tonight.

Ducky is understandably startled to find that a research cadaver is actually a murder victim in this rerun of NCIS (CBS, 7pm).

Abby: This, is why I love you guys. You bring me hair, you bring me blood, you bring me fluids, and you bring me mercury! Predictable, yet constantly surprising!
Gibbs: We try.
Abby: Of course, mercury is toxic. So you shouldn’t let kids break open thermometers and play with it.
Gibbs: Speaking from personal experience, Abs?
McGee: Actually explains a lot.
  from NCIS

A couple of cool reruns of Good Eats (Food Network, 7pm and 2am, 7:30pm and 2:30am): “Withering Bites” (which covers dried fruit) and “The Fungal Gourmet” (which covers mushrooms, of course). There’s also an episode called “Dill-icious” about pickles that airs later tonight (Food Network, 10pm and 1am).

Rebroadcast of the third ever episode of Reaper (CW, 7pm). The vessel is a toaster, the bad guy uses insects to attack people. Robert Foxworth guest stars. This one was written by Jeff Vlaming.

A doctor leads a film crew through Baghdad’s Al-Yarmouk hospital in the new documentary Baghdad Hospital: Inside the Red Zone (HBO, 7:30pm). I’ve found the commercials hard to watch, I imagine the documentary itself is even more intense.

Janel Moloney, who is still best known for having played “Donna Moss” on The West Wing, guest stars on a new episode of House (FOX, 8pm; will air again on Friday Feb 8th at 10pm on USA). Yes, she’s got a mysterious ailment. The doctors have a “Secret Santa” exchange, sure to remind you that this episode was filmed some time ago and intended to air around the holidays, but held back ’til now ’cause of the strike. The next new episode of House will air after the Superbowl on Sunday.

“Buoy cleaner” is the dirty job featured on a new episode of Dirty Jobs (Discovery, 8pm and midnight).

Part two of the two-part season premiere of The Unit (CBS, 8pm). Can the Unit clear their names and get back to work? I don’t think it’s much of a spoiler to say that they do, but it’s interesting to watch how they accomplish that in this episode. Mamet regulars Ricky Jay and Rebecca Pidgeon guest star yet again.

Cheryl’s 40th birthday approaches, and Mike enlists the children to throw her a surprise party on The Bussey Bunch (TLC, 8pm and 11pm).

In case you haven’t seen enough of The Real Housewives of Orange County, Bravo brings us the new special The Real Housewives Confess: A Watch What Happens Special (Bravo, 8pm and 10pm).

Ruby goes on her first date on a new According To Jim (ABC, 8pm). Series star Kimberly Williams-Paisley directed this episode.

Tonight’s new episode of One Tree Hill (CW, 8pm) is set three years in the past, so that’s back to where things were last season or at least closer to then, if I’m not confused. Daphne Zuniga (who plays “Victoria”) and Barry Corbin (who plays “Whitey”) return for this episode.

Blair Underwood plays “Alex,” the man who seeks treatment in tonight’s new episode of In Treatment (HBO, 8:30pm and 11pm). Alex is a Navy pilot who enters treatment to work through some events that transpired while he served in Iraq. I liked last night’s episode with Melissa George, though I imagine it was just laying the groundwork for a longer story with her (as each patient gets an episode each week). Will be curious to see the dynamic between this patient and the therapist (played by Gabriel Byrne).

When another man is dubbed “Handsomest Man” in the office building where Laird works, he freaks out a bit in this new episode of Carpoolers (ABC, 8:30pm). Jerry O’Connell stars as Laird, other castmembers of this comedy are Fred Goss, Faith Ford, Jerry Minor, Tim Peper, Allison Munn, and T.J. Miller (currently playing “Hud” in Cloverfield).

Sean’s acting career is heating up and when a new agent shows interest in him, his current one (played by Sharon Gless) isn’t very happy on Nip/Tuck (FX, 9pm, 10pm; also on Fri at 10pm and Sun at 9pm).

Rerun of the “Do Tell” episode of Boston Legal (ABC, 9pm) that originally aired back in mid-October. Shirley defends an old friend of Denny’s when he’s discharged from the Army for coming out of the closet, Alan experiences “word salad” whenever Lorraine is around. And there’s a custody battle over a child who is a bullfighter. Henry Gibson and Roma Maffia both play judges on the show again. There are still some new episodes yet to air, the next one is scheduled for February 12th.

Rerun of Law & Order: SVU (NBC, 9pm). Could the death of a college counselor have something to do with her volunteer work at a refugee center working with soldiers tortured in Iraq? Seems like a safe bet. Guest stars include Steven Weber and Elizabeth McGovern.

(Benson and Stabler watch airport surveillance footage from Turkey.)
Elliot Stabler: “Security cameras across the globe, Munch’ll never leave his house again.”
  from Law & Order: SVU

TNT airs the very first episode of Bones (TNT, 9pm). David Boreanaz (of Angel) and Emily Deschanel star in this series that follows a FBI agent, a forensic anthropologist, and her team. The show is loosely based on the life and books of Kathy Reichs. I didn’t care much for this episode, but the show later found its footing and now I enjoy it and watch regularly. TNT will be airing old episodes on Tuesdays at 9pm, starting tonight with the first episode.

48 Hours Mystery (CBS, 9pm) asks the question “What turned a sweet soft-spoken wife and teacher into a killer?” in this new episode.

The men of Some Assembly Required (Discovery, 9pm and 1am) make a steel knife with the descendants of Samurai sword masters, have a tour of the country’s oldest chocolate factory, and see what goes into assembling a John Deere lawn mower.

The crew wants to make a fresh start, Pixie undergoes laser tattoo-removal, comic Tom Green helps Kat plan a surprise on a new L.A. Ink (TLC, 9pm, 10pm).

Two more new episodes of Parking Wars (A&E, 9pm and 1am, 9:30pm and 1:30am).

The Millionaire Matchmaker (Bravo, 9pm, 11pm, 1am) moves into its regular timeslot.

Late Night

Leslie tries to find someone to serve as his heir, in the sense that he can pass the store on to them after he retires or dies on 10 Items or Less (TBS, 10pm and 1am).

Bill Cosby, Lake Bell (of Boston Legal, Surface, Miss Match), the Matt Savage Trio on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm).

More first season episodes of Without A Trace (TNT, 11pm, midnight, 1am).

Rebroadcast of latest episode of Wildfire (ABC Family, 11pm).

Rebroadcast of latest episode of The Wire (HBO, 11:30pm) which debuted on Sunday night. It’s great, of course. DVR Alert: Runs 65 minutes.

Raquel Welch, San Diego Charger Antonio Gates on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (CBS, 11:37pm).

Yes, most the other late night talk shows may have new episodes, but they’re doing them without writers. And they aren’t usually announcing the guests in advance (or very much in advance) so I can’t tell you much about them.