Laurel’s TV Picks

Best Bets

New In Treatment (HBO, 8:30pm)
New Jericho (CBS, 9pm)
New Boston Legal (ABC, 9pm)

News & Notes

The Gold Box Deal today at Amazon is on Boston Legal – Seasons 1 – 3 which can be had for $65 while supplies last. An excellent deal on this fun show, though I think I’m going to hold out and hope that when this series ends its run, they’ll put together a nice complete series set. I’ve been disappointed that there aren’t more extras on these sets, but it’s still cool to see a David E. Kelley series released as the show airs.

Reruns of Boston Legal will start airing on ION in the Fall.

I received a couple of inquiries today about when the cool History Channel special The History of the Joke would air again; at this point I don’t see it listed as airing again in the next two weeks. You can find out more about this excellent special (which debuted last night) on the website for the show and I imagine that’d be a good place to check to see about additional airings (if none are scheduled, you could always contact the History Channel on their website to ask about it).

Primetime Grid

Primetime

TCM features movies from the ’40s that were nominated for Academy Awards or which include work that was nominated for the award: The Ox-Bow Incident (TCM, 7pm), Duel in the Sun (TCM, 8:20pm), Samson and Delilah (TCM, 11pm), Since You Went Away (TCM, 1:15am), and Mrs. Miniver (TCM, 4:15am). You can read all about these films on the TCM website.

College hoops: Purdue at Indiana (ESPN, 6pm), UNC-Greensboro at Davidson (ESPN2, 6pm), Georgia at Kentucky (ESPN, 8pm).

A new Nova (PBS, check your local listings) explores the secret mental lives of great apes (chimps, orangutans, gorillas, and bonobos) and how their brains are alike and different from humans.

Frontline (PBS, check your local listings) airs an episode titled “Rules of Engagement” which looks into the killing of twenty-four residents of Haditha, Iraq by the U.S. military.

The “top 12 boys” perform in this special two-hour episode of American Idol (FOX, 7pm – 9pm). I think it’s a little weird the way they refer to the competitors as “boys” and “girls” when promoting episodes of American Idol. I guess I’d prefer “guys” and “gals” if they aren’t going to say “men” and “women”. Anyway. The men perform tonight, viewers get to vote on who proceeds to the next round. The women compete tomorrow.

Reruns of the “Your Pad or Mine: Thai” and “Wake Up Little Sushi” episodes of Good Eats (Food Network, 7pm and 2am, 7:30pm and 2:30am). Alton Brown hosts my favorite Food Network series.

The “Requiem” episode of NCIS (CBS, 7pm) opens with Tony racing to save Gibbs’ life and that of a woman; the episode then does that whole “48 hours earlier” thing that’s become so popular (and which drives my husband crazy; I forget the exact time frame here). This is an intense episode also because the case involves someone who knew Gibbs’ daughter.

Tony: “Calling Gibbs?”
Ziva: “He did not pick up.”
Tony: “Worried about him?”
Ziva: “Are you?”
Tony: “You be worried about him. I’ll be tentatively troubled, privately perturbed, fleetingly flustered.”
Ziva: “Have you called him?”
Tony: “I would have to be deeply discombobulated to even think of calling him.”
  from NCIS

The vessel in this rerun of Reaper (CW, 7pm) is an eight-track tape of a movie soundtrack. Sam and company pursue a couple of escaped souls who enjoy orchestrating car crashes. Guest stars include Mercedes McNab (best known for playing “Harmony” on Buffy and Angel), Craig Stanghetta (who recently played “Terek” on Flash Gordon), Pascale Hutton (who was “Kim” on Traveler), and Curtis Armstrong (of The Chronicle, Moonlighting, Revenge of the Nerds).

New installment(s) of Last Restaurant Standing (BBC America, 7pm – 9pm, 10pm – midnight, midnight – 2am). Actually, it looks like this week it’s split into two episodes, but they’re both new.

Rerun of the “Shanghai” episode of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations (Travel Channel, 7pm and 11pm).

A new episode of The Universe (History Channel, 8pm and midnight) covers constellations including highlights of some of the 88 official constellations, a star in Orion which is due to explode, Polaris, the North Star, and the 13th sign of the zodiac.

Mike Rowe recalls the jobs that required him to squeeze into some tight spaces on a new Dirty Jobs (Discovery, 8pm and midnight).

A dining room is overrun with roses on Desperate Spaces (HGTV, 8pm and midnight).

Jim just wants to “get together” with his wife at the airport on a new According To Jim (ABC, 8pm), but he ends up getting arrested in the men’s room. This episode was directed by series star Jim Belushi. The fabulous Ian Gomez guest stars, he was “Adrian” on Jake in Progress, “Larry” on The Drew Carey Show, and “Javier” on Felicity. He’s also famous for being married to Nia Vardalos (of My Big Fat Greek Wedding).

Peyton admits her feelings for Lucas on a new One Tree Hill (CW, 8pm).

Alex talks some more about Laura on a new In Treatment (HBO, 8:30pm). I’m sure that goes over well. Last week’s “Alex” episode airs at 8pm (on HBO).

Aubrey invites his fellow Carpoolers (ABC, 8:30pm) to his daughter’s piano recital and the guys end up examining whether there’s a difference between being friends and being “carpool friends”. And Marmaduke helps Gracen train to race his wife in a charity run. Oh-oh. T.J. Miller (of Cloverfield) plays Marmaduke.

The President of the Allied States of America pays a visit to Jericho (CBS, 9pm) in this new episode. Mr. Hawkins sees this as an opportunity to get some information, but will he get away with it? And can his wife handle her part in the plan? I thought this a decent episode given the new direction the show has taken. George Newbern guest stars as the President, he’s probably still best known for playing the groom in the Father of the Bride movies. Isn’t it weird that his last name is “Newbern” given the war Jericho had with New Bern? Strange coincidence. His voice may sound familiar if you’re a geek like me as he was the voice of “Superman” on Justice League.

Andrea (Alison LaPlaca) hires the firm yet again on a new Boston Legal (ABC, 9pm). Last week she slept with Denny and Alan, this week she hires Carl Sack (John Larroquette) to handle her case. La Placa co-starred with Laroquette on The John Larroquette Show, she played his neighbor Catherine in seasons 2-4 of the show. She sues a company that was supposed to use her mother’s ashes to make a diamond, but they misplaced the ashes. Yikes. That’s a big “oops”. There are a number of other cases too. Plus Denny Crane and Alan Shore prepare to take the Coast Guard test. This is the last episode to be filmed before the strike, presumably will return with more new episodes later this season. Isabella Hofman is one of the guest stars, she was “Cecile” on Beggars and Choosers and “Megan Russert” on Homicide.

Season finale of Nip/Tuck (FX, 9pm, 10pm; also on Fri at 10pm and Sun at 9pm).

Rerun of “The Man in the Bear” episode of Bones (TNT, 9pm) from early in season one; it’s the fourth episode. Marguerite MacIntyre guest stars, she plays “Nicole” on Kyle XY.

Booth: “You know, it’s beautiful here. It’s feels good to be out of the city.”
Brennan: “Yeah, where murderers feed their victims to bears.”
  from Bones

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

Late Night

Leslie hires Amy to be Greens & Grains’ new assistant manager on a new 10 Items or Less (TBS, 10pm and 1am).

Series premiere of Janice & Abbey (Oxygen, 10pm, 12:30am). Janice Dickinson spends six weeks helping Abbey Clancy make a name for herself in the United States. This series makes it’s U.S. cable debut, already aired on the web and in the U.K. Abbey Clancy was a runner-up on Britain’s Next Top Model.

Daily Show, Colbert Report, and Jimmy Kimmel are all reruns. See Sue’s page for details.

Randy Jackson (of American Idol), Saffron Burrows (of Boston Legal), Ray Davies on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm).

Will Ferrell, Hayden Christensen, the Hives on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (NBC, 10:35pm).

Andre Benjamin, Craig Bierko, Melinda Hill on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (CBS, 11:37pm).

Bill Hader, Jake Shimabukuro on Late Night with Conan O’Brien (NBC, 11:37pm).

Marisa Miller, Hellogoodbye on Last Call with Carson Daly (NBC, check your local listings).