Laurel’s TV Picks

Best Bets

New Lost (ABC, 8pm – 9:02pm)
New In Treatment (HBO, 8:30pm)
New Eli Stone (ABC, 9:02pm)
Steve Martin on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm)
Don Rickles, Joe Mantegna (of Criminal Minds) on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (CBS, 11:37pm)
Summer Glau (of Sarah Connor Chronicles, Firefly) on Last Call with Carson Daly (NBC, check your local listings)

News & Notes

Some TV series that are just becoming available on DVD which are now available for pre-order: Day Break – The Complete Series, Crossing Jordan: Season 1, My Boys: The Complete First Season, I Spy – Season 1, I Spy – Season 2, Newhart – The Complete First Season, The Invisible Man: Season One, The Smurfs: Season One, Vol. One, The Love Boat – Season One, Vol. 1, Lil’ Bush – Resident of United States – Season One, Tin Man (Two-Disc Collector’s Edition), Bionic Woman – Volume One, Becker – The First Season, John from Cincinnati – The Complete First Season, Burke’s Law: Season 1 , The Invaders – The First Season, and Matlock – The First Season.

Some other TV DVDs available for pre-order: Battlestar Galactica – Season Three, The Muppet Show – Season Three, Mission: Impossible – The Fourth TV Season, The 4400: The Complete Fourth Season, Lovejoy – The Complete Season 3, Extras – The Extra Special Series Finale, Magnum P.I. The Complete Eighth Season, and The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones, Volume Three – The Years of Change.

When you shop via these links, you support this site. Thanks!

ABC has announced when their shows (whose seasons were interrupted by the strike) will return with new episodes (return date, number of episodes are in parenthesis): Samantha Who? (April 7th, six episodes), Boston Legal (April 8th, six episodes), Desperate Housewives (April 13th, seven episodes), Brothers & Sisters (April 20th, four episodes), Ugly Betty (April 24th, five episodes), Grey’s Anatomy (April 24th, five episodes), and Lost (April 24th, five episodes). Of course Lost is still currently airing new episodes.

Pushing Daisies, Private Practice, and Dirty Sexy Money will return next season as previously announced.

There are still some ABC shows with new episodes that will be back soon; Men in Trees is a good example (nineteen episodes were filmed, only eight have aired so far this season). Men in Trees returns on February 27th.

No word yet on the fate of Women’s Murder Club, but 20th Century Fox TV is making major changes to the show. They’ve let go executive producers Scott Gemmill, Elizabeth Craft, and Sarah Fain and are looking to find new showrunners; it sounds like whether ABC sticks with the show depends on who they get to run the show. My info is from Variety.com, you can read more there.

Daytime

Dancing with the Stars champions on Oprah (syndicated, check our local listings). Plus the competitors for the next season/round are introduced.

Primetime Grid

Primetime

Oscar nominated war movies are featured today on TCM; check their website for the full schedule.

College basketball: Pittsburgh at Notre Dame (ESPN, 6pm), Massachusetts at Rhode Island (ESPN2, 6pm), Michigan at Minnesota (ESPN2, 8pm). Go Gophers!

NBA hoops: Heat at Rockets (TNT, 7pm), Sonics at Trail Blazers (TNT, 9:30pm).

Two men and two men are voted out of the competition on American Idol (FOX, 7pm).

The Fans get to face off against the Favorites in a “head to head battle” on Survivor (CBS, 7pm). Any Survivor fans watching this season? What do you think of it thus far?

Well, last week’s episode of Lost (ABC, 7pm) sure was interesting. If you missed it, you can check it out tonight; if you’ve seen it before, you might want to watch again. I think the episode may air with text commentary, which could be interesting.

NBC rebroadcasts the first two episodes of this season of My Name Is Earl (NBC, 7pm) together as if they are one episode. Kinda makes sense because this was a two-part episode. Earl’s prison sentence begins.

Joy: “You’re not just dumb; you’re broken, like a daddy-longlegs after the kids pull his legs off. It’s just a little vibratin’ ball that can’t do nothing for itself. That’s you.”
Randy: “I’m the ’spider ball’?”
Joy: “Yep, and you’re a burden to your brother. Now, I could babysit you for two years, but when Earl gets out of prison you wouldn’t be any better. And you don’t want to be albacore around your brother’s neck, do you?”
  from My Name Is Earl

New episode of Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares (BBC America, 7pm, 10pm, midnight).

Another episode of Keen Eddie on Sleuth (Thursdays, 7pm and 10pm; also on Saturdays at 5pm).

I don’t know much about tonight’s new episode of Lost (ABC, 8pm – 9:02pm) and probably wouldn’t tell you much if I did. All I know is that Kate may be in the forefront of this one, possibly with a flashback (or forward). Hasn’t this season been awesome so far? Wow. DVR Alert: Runs long.

Agent Hendricksen catches up with Sam and Dean on Supernatural (CW, 8pm). Last episode to be filmed before the strike so some are calling it the season finale.

New American Chopper (TLC, 8pm and 10pm). Part 2 of the “Gander Mountain” episode.

The remaining eight competitors must pitch products on QVC on The Celebrity Apprentice (NBC, 8pm – 9:01pm).

Ice T stars in and produced the show Players (Sleuth, 8pm and 11pm).

See what happens next for Jake & Amy on a new In Treatment (HBO, 8:30pm). Preceded by a rerun of last week’s episode with Jake & Amy (HBO, 8pm). Additional airings throughout the week on the various HBO stations, check your local listings. I misspoke yesterday when I said episodes are available on the website and via podcast– that was only true for the first three weeks of the show. This week’s episodes and future episodes are only available on HBO stations and via HBO On Demand. I’m sure you’ll be shocked to learn that I sometimes copy things from previous editions of the picks– yesterday I accidently left in old info about this show. Oops. My bad. Thanks to reader Allison for pointing out my mistake.

Eli Stone (ABC, 9:02pm) tries to help a man who awakens from a coma and wants his life back. Eli’s boss (Victor Garber) defends an old friend (played by James Avery) who is accused of not liking a job applicant for reasons other than his resume. The episode title is “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” as all the episode titles are named for George Michael or Wham! songs.

The book about Healy (Brooke Shields) hits stores on Lipstick Jungle (NBC, 9:01pm). Wow, that was fast. She tries to prove she’s a good mother, but of course that will backfire. Nico (Kim Raver) wants to slow down her affair with Kirby. And Victory (Lindsay Price) decides it’s time to introduce her boyfriend (Andrew McCarthy) to her friends. Lorraine Bracco guest stars again as the person who put out the very unflattering book.

New Randy Jackson Presents: America’s Best Dance Crew (MTV, 9pm, 11pm).

New Make Me A Supermodel (Bravo, 9pm, 10pm, 1am, 2am).

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

Tonight’s new episode of Ace of Cakes (Food Network, 9:30pm and 12:30am) is titled “The Spy Who Caked Me” and I think it’s more fun to imagine the episode based on the title than to have me explain.

Late Night

Mark Siegel on a rerun of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Comedy Central, 10pm and midnight).

David Gracer, Richard Thompson Ford on a rerun of The Colbert Report (Comedy Central, 10:30pm and 12:30am).

Steve Martin, Raymond Crowe (hand shadows performance) on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm).

Heidi Klum, James McAvoy, John Fogerty on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (NBC, 10:35pm).

Barbara Walters, heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, Black Mountain on Late Night with Conan O’Brien (NBC, 11:37pm).

Don Rickles, Joe Mantegna (of Criminal Minds) on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (CBS, 11:37pm).

Taylor Dayne on Jimmy Kimmel (ABC, check your local listings).

Summer Glau (of Sarah Connor Chronicles, Firefly), Fat Joe on Last Call with Carson Daly (NBC, check your local listings).