Laurel’s TV Picks

Best Bets

More great films on TCM
New Modern Marvels (History, 7pm and 11pm)
New Smallville (CW, 7pm)
New Lost (ABC, 8pm – 9:03pm)
New Eli Stone (ABC, 9:03pm)

Daytime

The cast of Family Ties reunites on Today (NBC, 7am). I believe the occasion may be the publication of series creator Gary David Goldberg’s book Sit, Ubu, Sit: How I went from Brooklyn to Hollywood with the same woman, the same dog, and a lot less hair which sounds like a book I’ve gotta get (have added to my wishlist).

Sci-Fi marathon du jour is of The Outer Limits (Sci-Fi, 7am – 3pm). Looks like episodes are from the new show from not so long ago, not the old classic.

Vince Vaughn, Brooke Shields, Lenny Kravitz on Live with Regis and Kelly (syndicated, check your local listings).

Gary Dourdan (of CSI), Cat Cora on The View (ABC, check your local listings).

Series premiere of Ni Hao, Kai-lan (Nick, 10am). This is a cute new animated show for pre-schoolers. I’ve seen the first two episodes and thought they were neat, plus I learned a little Mandarin Chinese. My husband Kevin also liked the show, well as much as adults can like a show for really little kids. I recommend Tim Goodman’s review of the show if you want to learn more about it.

Bob Greene (of Oprah) talks about his book (and plan) The Best Life Diet, a look inside Kristan Cunningham’s Southern California home, a February favorite on The Rachael Ray Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

There are a lot of dogs in the audience for Martha’s third annual “dog show” on a new Martha Stewart Show (syndicated, check your local listings). It’s all about dogs . . . yay! Guests include Kate Walsh (of Private Practice, Grey’s Anatomy), tech editor Suzanne Kantra, Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show host David Frei, and Dr. Marty Becker.

Joey Fatone, the kids from Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader, Ephraim Salaam, and Chester Pitts on The Ellen DeGeneres Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

A look at “Unlikely Love” on The Tyra Banks Show (syndicated, check your local listings).

“Pill Popping Twins, Part 2″ on Dr. Phil (syndicated, check your local listings).

“Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat with Peter Walsh” on a new Oprah (syndicated, check our local listings). Clutter expert Peter Walsh plugs his new book Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat? and helps another family that’s drowning in clutter.

Primetime Grid

Primetime

College basketball: West Virginia at Pittsburgh (ESPN, 6pm), Clemson at Virginia (ESPN2, 6pm), Indiana at Illinois (ESPN, 8pm), and Xavier at St. Louis (ESPN2, 8pm).

NBA hoops: Cavaliers at Rockets (TNT, 7pm), Bulls at Warriors (ESPN, 9:30pm).

Turner Classic Movie’s “31 Days of Oscar” puts more Oscar-nominees from the ’60s in the spotlight tonight: 2001: A Space Odyssey (TCM, 7pm, letterboxed), Lolita (TCM, 9:45pm, letterboxed), Easy Rider (TCM, 12:30am), The Reivers (TCM, 2:15am, letterboxed), and The Whisperers (TCM, 4:15am). You can read about them on the TCM website.

The Black Canary pays a visit to Smallville (CW, 7pm) in this new episode. She takes an interest in Clark and the Green Arrow. Justin Hartley and Alaina Huffman (of Painkiller Jane) guest star.

If you’re a fan of the Minnesota Twins and you find yourself a little bummed out over the departure of Johan Santana for the Mets, perhaps you’ll be cheered by watching a young Twins player (who will be on the team this season) pitch an amazing game. FOX Sports Net North will air the Twins game from August 31st, 2007 where Scott Baker almost pitched a perfect game. Catch this on another edition of Twins Classics (FSN, 7pm – 9pm). I was at the Dome for this amazing game and look forward to seeing it again.

A tribe of big fans of the show are surprised to find themselves facing off against a tribe full of fan favorites on the season premiere of Survivor (CBS, 7pm). Fans and fan faves will compete in Micronesia for the 16th season/round of Survivor. DVR Alert: The show’s name may be different than it was for previous seasons, could be called “Survivor: Micronesia” or even “Survivor: Micronesia — Fans. vs. Favorites”. The faves on the show are Yau-Man Chan, James Clement, Ami Cusack, Jonny Fairplay, Cirie Fields, Amanda Kimmel, Oscar “Ozzy” Lusth, Eliza Orlins, Jonathan Penner, and Parvati Shallow.

Gordon visits a restaurant in what was once the chapel of a 19th-century convent on a new Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares (BBC America, 7pm, 10pm, midnight).

A new episode of Modern Marvels (History, 7pm and 11pm) has a look at “technologies of the ’90s” including: “the information superhighway,” DVDs, TiVo, GPS, Google, Amazon (specifically their distribution center), virtual pets, and George Foreman grills.

Eddie and Pippin investigate an underground fight club on Keen Eddie (Sleuth, 7pm and 10pm; also on Saturdays at 5pm). Mark Valley (of Boston Legal) stars in this shortlived series from 2003. With Sienna Miller and Julian Rhind-Tutt.

Did you miss the season premiere of Lost (ABC, 7pm) last week? Or maybe you just want to watch it again? Well, here’s your chance as ABC airs the episode again tonight right before a new episode.

I’ve had a chance to see tonight’s new episode of Lost (ABC, 8pm – 9:03pm; also next Thursday at 7pm) and let me just tell you– it doesn’t disappoint. Great stuff. I really hope the showrunners have a plan for how this will play out over the show’s last seasons; this season sure starts out well with a whole lot going on and it really does now feel like they must have a plan. New people do arrive on the island– but are they there on a rescue mission or for some other reason? I shouldn’t say more much about this episode lest I spoil anything, but I am happy to report that Vincent makes an appearance. When does he get a flashback (or flashforward) episode? ‘Cause I want to see a dog’s perspective on this. DVR Alert: Runs three minutes long. Originally was scheduled to have a shorter running time.

The brothers “come face to face with their own personal nightmares” after Bobby falls into a coma on a new Supernatural (CW, 8pm). Jim Beaver guest stars again as Bobby.

Nine couples compete for one restaurant and the backing of world-renowned chef Raymond Blanc, on the series premiere of Last Restaurant Standing (BBC America, 8pm, 11pm, 1am). The series is set to run for fifteen episodes, with each couple living and working together to start and run a restaurant. There’ll be challenges and judges and stuff like that as they narrow the field down over the course of the season. The judges are Lee Cash, Sarah Willingham, and John Lederer.

Mikey reveals the University of Michigan bike, the guys go to Hollywood for a reveal party with the cast of My Name Is Earl on a new American Chopper (TLC, 8pm and 10pm).

The celebs are asked to construct store front displays for Vera Wang (who appears on the show) on a new episode of The Celebrity Apprentice (NBC, 8pm – 9:01pm).

Miguel Sandoval (of Medium) plays a gun-running general on Players (Sleuth, 8pm and 11pm). Ice-T, Costas Mandylor, Frank John Hughes, and Mia Korf starred in this shortlived series from 1997 about con men who were released from prison to work for the FBI. Dick Wolf, Shaun Cassidy, and Ice-T were all producers on the show.

I was mistaken yesterday when I said it was time for session with Jake & Amy, last night was Sophie the gymnast’s second session, tonight we get our second session with the couple on In Treatment (HBO, 8:30pm and 10:30pm). Preceded by a rerun of last week’s episode with Jake & Amy (HBO, 8pm and 10pm). Additional airings throughout the week on the various HBO stations, check your local listings.

Eli Stone (ABC, 9:03pm) returns to work after his trip to the Himalayas in this new episode. A first year associate (played by Julie Gonzalo of Veronica Mars) brings a case to him that involves pesticides and a couple from Mexico. Will Eli continue to take cases that aren’t the types of cases his firm likes? I bet he will. I forgot to mention last week that Tom Amandes, who was fabulous as Dr. Abbott on Everwood, has a recurring role on this show. I’ve seen this episode and I liked it, I’m looking forward to the next episode. Episode title is “Freedom” which begins the practice of naming episodes after George Michael songs.

Series premiere of Lipstick Jungle (NBC, 9:01pm; airs again on Sunday at 10am on USA and at 3pm on Oxygen). I’ve seen the first two episodes of this. Brooke Shields stars as a successful movie executive (and wife and mother), Kim Raver plays a successful magazine editor who is bored with her marriage, and Lindsay Price portrays a formerly successful fashion designer who is in a bit of a slump. The women are friends with each other, of course. If this sounds a lot like Cashmere Mafia, it is. I’d say that this is the less-flashy of the two shows, possibly a bit more nuanced. I like this show more than the other one, but neither is all that good– I’d much rather spend time with the women of Women’s Murder Club or Men in Trees. Andrew McCarthy, and Julian Sands also star. Lorraine Bracco shows up in the next episode. The characters face a lot of the same “struggles” here as in Cashmere Mafia, as Tim Goodman points out in his review.

A woman in Detroit is shot in her home, a young man is found dead in a parking lot after an attempted robbery on a new The First 48 (A&E, 9pm and 1am). In case you aren’t familiar with this show, it follows the first forty-eight hours of police investigations (and anything else having to do with the cases).

Mario Lopez hosts the series premiere of Randy Jackson Presents: America’s Best Dance Crew (MTV, 9pm – 10:30pm, 10:30pm – midnight). JC Chasez and Shane Sparks are the judges of this show where hip-hop dance teams (of 5-7 people) compete against each other.

The models go to work during Fashion Week on Make Me A Supermodel (Bravo, 9pm, 10pm, 1am, 2am). They’ll get to see what it’s like working with established working models. If you’re late to this show and want to catch up, it looks like Bravo airs all the previous episodes tonight as well (Bravo, 5pm – 9pm). Niki Taylor and Tyson Beckford host the show.

Rebroadcast of the latest episode of The Wire (HBO, 9pm).

Duff and the gang have orders that include replicas of a Delta airliner, Noah’s ark, and a subway car on a new Ace of Cakes (Food Network, 9:30pm and 12:30am).

Late Night

Kate Hudson, Jack Hanna on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm).

Jon Favreau, Alicia Coppola, Shelby Lynne on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (CBS, 11:37pm).