Laurel’s TV Picks

Best Bets

Rerun of Chuck (Sci-Fi, 7pm)
Part 1 of two-part season finale of Monk (USA, 8pm, 11:02pm)
Season finale of Las Vegas (NBC, 8pm - 10pm)
New In Treatment (HBO, 8:30pm)
Season finale of Psych (USA, 9:02pm and 12:02am)
Neil Patrick Harris, Daniella Sarahyba, Yeasayer on Late Night with Conan O’Brien (NBC, 11:37pm)
Jeffrey Tambor, Ivana Milicevic, Bobby Miyamoto on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (CBS, 11:37pm)

News & Notes

CBS has picked up all these shows for the 2008-2009 season: Cold Case, Criminal Minds, CSI, CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, Ghost Whisperer, NCIS, Numb3rs, Two and a Half Men, Without A Trace, and The Big Bang Theory. CBS already announced that both Survivor and The Amazing Race will be back next season. Of course other series may yet be added to this list, but if a CBS show you like didn’t make this list, it might be good to show your support of that show in any way you can (watch it, encourage others to watch it, email CBS, etc).

Primetime Grid

Primetime

It’s NBA All-Star weekend. The All-Star Celebrity Game airs today (ESPN, 6pm, rerun at 2am) as does the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge & Youth Jam (TNT, 8pm). Slam dunk and other competitions are tomorrow (TNT, 7:30pm Saturday) and the game itself airs on Sunday (TNT, 7:30pm Sunday).

Turner Classic Movies airs Oscar nominated films from the ’70s tonight: Little Big Man (TCM, 7pm, letterboxed), Save The Tiger (TCM, 9:30pm, letterboxed), The Shootist (TCM, 11:15pm, letterboxed), Nashville (TCM, 1:15am, letterboxed), and The Wind and the Lion (TCM, 4am, letterboxed). You can read all about them on the TCM website.

Now that Flash Gordon has finished its season, the Sci-Fi Channel has moved their Friday night reruns of Chuck up from 6pm to 7pm. This is a rerun of the third episode where Chuck needs help from his friends to prove he’s ready to be an assistant manager at the store, he also goes on his first undercover spy mission in the “Chuck Versus the Tango” episode of Chuck (Sci-Fi, 7pm).

Chuck: “Why are these people sleeping?”
Casey: “They’re not sleeping.”
Sarah: “These people were killed Chuck and we would like to know why.”
Chuck: “I have no idea!”
Casey: “Well look again.”
Chuck: “I would rather not! It’s kinda creepy!”
  from Chuck

Back to back reruns of House (FOX, 7pm, 8pm) including the one that aired post-Super Bowl (that’s the 8pm one).

New Gone Country (CMT, 7pm).

“Fun facts” will appear during tonight’s rerun of Ghost Whisperer (CBS, 7pm). This seems to be a trend, eh? Last night I noticed that ABC was running more pop-up facts during the rerun of Lost that aired at 7pm before the new episode.

Rebroadcast of latest new episode of The Wire (HBO, 7pm).

Animal Planet airs new episodes of Lemur Kingdom (Animal Planet, 7:30pm, 10:30pm, 2:30am), Escape to Chimp Eden (Animal Planet, 8pm, 11pm, 3am), and Orangutan Island (Animal Planet, 8:30pm, 11:30pm, 3:30am).

Part one of a new two-part season finale of Monk (USA, 8pm and 11:02pm; also on Saturday at 6pm and Sunday at 8am). It somehow involves the mystery surrounding Trudy’s death, it also finds Monk going to jail (and then escaping). Scott Glenn guest stars. DVR Alert: Runs two-minutes long.

Special new two-hour season finale of Las Vegas (NBC, 8pm). Some people are taken hostage, and the title of the show is “Three Weddings and a Funeral” which gives you some idea of what else is going on in this episode. I normally don’t care much for this show, but can’t help but sometimes enjoy the show’s dramatic finales.

Josh Groban and will.i.am make appearances along with Celine in the new special Celine Dion: That’s Just the Woman in Me (CBS, 8pm).

A military wife wants a fashion intervention as a homecoming gift for her husband who has been deployed for five months on a new What Not To Wear (TLC, 8pm and 10pm; also at 1pm on Saturday). DVR Alert: It looks like some listings may list the show name as What Not To Wear: Homecoming rather than the usual name of simply What Not To Wear.

Season finale of How To Look Good Naked (Lifetime, 8pm; also on Saturday at 10pm). A rerun of another episode airs at 8:30pm tonight and 10:30pm on Saturday.

A funny car crashes and disintegrates in a fireball, a mountain biker goes 107 mph down a volcano, a Navy fighter pilot’s routine carrier landing turns disastrous, a freighter hits a bridge over Canada’s Welland Canal, and a rescue in Hawaii on a new Shockwave (History Channel, 8pm and midnight).

College hoops: Pittsburgh at Marquette (ESPN, 8pm).

A super-villain uses evil euphemisms; two British actors are unable to keep their rivalry from coming across on screen; a heroin addict’s Christmas on the sketch comedy show That Mitchell and Webb Look (BBC America, 8:20pm, 11:20pm, 1:20am). The episode has a runtime of 40 minutes.

Paul (Gabriel Byrne) surely has a lot to talk about with Gina (Diane Wiest) this week on a new In Treatment (HBO, 8:30pm). Preceded by a rerun of last week’s episode (HBO, 8pm). Episodes are available on the HBO website and via iTunes as a podcast.

Shawn and Gus are called in when a mummy disappears from a museum seeminly under its own power on the season finale of Psych (USA, 9:02pm and 12:02am; also 5pm on Saturday). This show is such fun, I’m a little sad to see the season end.

Col. Carter asks Teal’c to serve as Ronan Dex’s mentor before his suitability review by the IOA on a new Stargate Atlantis (Sci-Fi, 9pm and 11pm).

Carefully preserved human bodies on display leads to trafficking in cadavers, a 12-year-old plane crash survivor talks about her 52-hour ordeal waiting for rescue on a new 20/20 (ABC, 9pm).

Paula Deen hosts a “Romancing the Stove Party” where Joe Nichols, Deion Sanders, and their wives prepare dishes meant to stir up romance on a new Paula’s Party (Food Network, 9pm and midnight).

A look at The Von Bulow Affair on a new Dominick Dunne: Power, Privilege, and Justice (TruTV, 9pm and 1am; also 11am on Saturday, Noon on Sunday). Remember TruTV is the station formerly known as Court TV.

Jimmy and Doug experience the popular world of Brazilian jujitsu and train with the legendary Gracie family on a new Fight Quest (Discovery Channel, 9pm and 1am; also on Saturday at Noon). A rerun of the episode featuring the Korean martial art hapkido airs tonight at 10pm.

A stand-up comic worries about her appearance, a woman needs her fashion to be on par with her business, a woman wants to be transformed for her high-school reunion on a new 10 Years Younger (TLC, 9pm and midnight; also on Saturday at Noon).

Special Oscar nominees episode of Shootout (AMC, 9:30pm; also on Sunday at 10:30am).

Late Night

Advocate Paul Rieckhoff, political scientist Nina Hachigian, and blogger Andrew Sullivan. Plus, via satellite: Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO), and pollster Frank Luntz on a new Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO, 10pm).

Charles Barkley, Bill Burr on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm).

Kristen Chenoweth, Russell Peters, Lifehouse on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (NBC, 10:35pm).

Neil Patrick Harris, Daniella Sarahyba, Yeasayer on Late Night with Conan O’Brien (NBC, 11:37pm).

Jeffrey Tambor, Ivana Milicevic, Bobby Miyamoto on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (CBS, 11:37pm).

Matt Nathanson on Jimmy Kimmel (ABC, check your local listings).

Jarod Miller, Regina Spektor on a rerun of Last Call with Carson Daly (NBC, check your local listings).

Saturday Morning

I should have picks for Saturday up late tonight or early Saturday, but wanted to give you a head’s up that TCM is featuring a bunch of Oscar-nominated films tomorrow that featured Katharine Hepburn. Starting at 6am and running ’til 9pm. Check the TCM website for a full list.