Laurel’s TV Picks

Best Bets

New In Treatment (HBO, 8:30pm)
New Back To You (FOX, 8:30pm)
New Jericho (CBS, 9pm)
Series premiere of quarterlife (NBC, 9pm)

News & Notes

Great Deal of the Day at Amazon today, you can get Angel - Complete Series Collector’s Set for just $56. I do recommend the show, even to people who didn’t care for the character of “Angel” when he was on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It’s a very different show from Buffy and at times, I think, it was the better of the two shows. One needn’t have seen Buffy to check it out. If you like David Boreanaz in Bones, but haven’t seen this show, it’s definitely worth a look.

Robert Nathan, who has worked on Law & Order and Law & Order: SVU), has been selected to take over as showrunner for Women’s Murder Club; ABC has ordered three more episodes of the show (which would complete the initial 13 episode order for the series).

NBC has ordered six more scripts for Lipstick Jungle; seven episodes have been produced so far.

Daytime

“Inside the Operating Room for a Sex Change” on The Tyra Banks Show (syndicated, check your local listings). Actually, it sounds like they’re covering the whole transition process. Also includes an interview with an employee of the show who came out as being transgendered.

Rick Springfield, William Shatner, and Henry Winkler on Oprah (syndicated, check your local listings).

Primetime Grid

Featured Pick

Series premiere of quarterlife (NBC, 9pm).

This TV series began as a series made exclusively for the internet, but during the WGA strike, NBC picked up the series. Of course this show has a better pedigree than most “made for the net” shows, it was created by Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick (of Once and Again, Relativity, My So-Called Life, and thirtysomething). Zwick has also directed some movies, including Blood Diamond, The Last Samurai, Courage Under Fire, Legends of the Fall, and Glory.

NBC will air six hour-long episodes of this show– I’ve seen two of them.

If you like the shows I just mentioned, you’ll want to check out this show, it also should appeal to people who like Jack & Jill and Felicity. I found the similarities to Jack & Jill rather striking, if you leave out the core romance of that series. Series star Bitsie Tulloch even looks a bit like Amanda Peet.

This show is about a group of friends who are in their 20s; a group of them live together in a house, others are always stopping by. Some of them work together or at least are trying to get business ventures off the ground. Bitsie Tulloch stars as Dylan, who is at the center of this group of friends. Dylan works for a magazine, but on the side she’s got a video blog where she writes about her life (including her friends). I guess she hadn’t told her friends she was keeping a video blog as they learn of this for the first time in tonight’s episode.

There’s all sorts of confessional stuff from Dylan and lots of her interactions with her roommates and other friends. Don’t expect much plot here, it’s all about the relationships and struggles of these people as they go about their lives. It’s a talky show. You either like this kind of thing or you don’t.

I enjoyed the two episodes I’ve seen and look forward to future installments. If you like what you see in this hour, you should check out the quarterlife website as there’s lots more stuff there and a rather neat community has sprung up around the show. Art that is posted to the site sometimes ends up on the show, for instance.

Devon Gummersall, who is still best known for playing “Krakow” on My So-Called Life, has written some episodes of the show. And Majandra Delfino, who is probably best known for playing “Maria” on Roswell, shows up for a few episodes (just not the one that airs tonight). Normally I don’t cover stuff about the personal lives of people in TV, but I just learned that Gummersall and Delfino got married in October and thought that some of you might want to know that. Cool.

The series premiere of quarterlife airs tonight on NBC at 9pm. The episode is also available on iTunes starting today.

Primetime

College basketball: Ohio State at Indiana (ESPN, 6pm), Southern Illinois at Bradley (ESPN2, 6pm), Tennessee at Vanderbilt (ESPN, 8pm).

A new Nova (PBS, check your local listings) looks at the possible link between dinosaurs and birds by focusing on a specimen of a four-winged dinosaur found in China.

Oscar nominated films from the ’40s: Talk of the Town (TCM, 7pm), The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (TCM, 9:15pm), To Be or Not to Be (TCM, 11pm), Hamlet (TCM, 12:45am), and Portrait of Jennie (TCM, 3:30am). Read more about them.

The “Top 10 boys” perform on American Idol (FOX, 7pm - 8:30pm).

A naval officer is murdered and the team investigates on NCIS (CBS, 7pm). But it turns out a political refugee may be involved somehow. Jonathan Adams guest stars (h was the boss on Bones during its first season).

Ziva: “You’re xenophobic?”
Tony: “I am not xenophobic. That’s one of my favorite shows: leather skirts, lesbian sword fighting, female empowerment. Maybe I am little Zivaphobic.”
  from NCIS

Mitch Pileggi, who was “Skinner” on The X-Files, guest stars as a police detective in this rerun of Reaper (CW, 7pm). The vessel is a taser gun, the case involves a murder. Sock also becomes obsessed with Gladys the DMV demon (played by Christine Willes, who was “Delores” on Dead Like Me). I actually didn’t completely hate Sock in this episode, which is a first.

Sam: “Sock, Sock, don’t do something stupid.”
Sock: “Sam, I am almost certainly going to do something stupid. It’s in my blood. You know that.”
  from Reaper

A look at some myths and misconceptions about The Universe (History Channel, 8pm and midnight).

“Icky, Gooey, and Sticky Food Jobs” on a new Dirty Jobs (Discovery, 8pm and midnight).

Three desperate dens get dynamic designs on Desperate Spaces (HGTV, 8pm and midnight). Definitely.

New Last Restaurant Standing (BBC America, 8, 11pm, 1am).

Jim donates the last of their old baby stuff and young kid stuff on According To Jim (ABC, 8pm). Then, of course, Cheryl tells him she’s got a big surprise . . .

Haley, Brooke, Peyton, Lindsey (guest star Michaela McManus), and Mia (guest star Kate Voegele) wind up locked in the Tree Hill High library on One Tree Hill (CW, 8pm). This all happens during the first basketball game of the season.

The challenge on tonight’s Big Brother (CBS, 8pm) is related to the series Jericho. It involves a lot of peanuts, but there’s also something else revealed that may be a “clue to tonight’s episode” or something like that. I doubt it’s worth watching Big Brother just for this if you’re a Jericho fan, but figured I’d mention it just in case you want to see for yourself. I haven’t seen the episode and don’t know much about it.

Alex (Blair Underwood) pays Paul (Gabriel Byrne) another visit on In Treatment (HBO, 8:30pm and 11pm). Gosh, I bet they talk about Laura.

New episode of Back To You (FOX, 8:30pm). It’s entirely possible you’ve forgotten about this show, so I’ll refresh your memory: Kelsey Grammer stars as anchorman Chuck Darling, Patricia Heaton plays his co-anchor Kelly; they have a complicated history which includes a child (who doesn’t know that Chuck is her Dad). Fred Willard plays a wacky (of course) sports reporter on the show. In tonight’s new episode, Kelly is asked to give the eulogy for a former news anchor at the station and Chuck volunteers to babysit for her. Hijinks presumably ensue in this solid old school sitcom.

When his Dad refuses to support his new business, Marmaduke (T.J. Miller) moves in with Laird (Jerry O’Connell) on Carpoolers (ABC, 8:30pm). Sounds like an even weirder episode than usual and not just because Marmaduke’s business is a lawn-cutting business that involves sheep.

There’s a deadly virus going around, but the government doesn’t want the fine folks of Jericho (CBS, 9pm) to have the vaccine for it. Needless to say, this doesn’t sit well with Jake or anybody else. Are they going to do something about it? Of course they are. It’s good to see Dale on the show in a vital role in this episode as I’d been wondering what he was up to. It’s less good to see the folks Ravenwood again. I’ve seen this episode and I enjoyed it.

Series premiere of quarterlife (NBC, 9pm). My featured pick for tonight, see above.

Primetime: What Would You Do? (ABC, 9pm) has a look at the question: “When people see a situation that cries out for action, do they step in, back away, or just walk on by?” Situations in this episode: a Muslim woman wearing a veil is denied service by the owner of a popular bakery, three girls verbally attack another girl in a park, a friend’s husband is out on a date with a stranger, and someone hits a car when trying to park in a spot that is too small.

New episode of Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern (Travel Channel, 9pm and 1am) titled “Best Bites”.

Rerun of another early episode of Bones (TNT, 9pm). This one (”A Boy in a Bush”) involves a missing child.

Brennan: I’m afraid Angela might quit.
Booth: I’m amazed she stuck it out this long.
Brennan: Why?
Booth: Because she’s human? I’m sorry Bones, it’s just, you know, Angela didn’t get the same training the rest of you got on planet Vulcan.
Brennan: I don’t know what that means.
Booth: She’s more sensitive.
Zack: Who’s more sensitive?
Brennan: Angela.
Booth: She likes puppies and kitties and ducklings and, you know, Jell-O shots, and dancing on bars.
Brennan: I know that. She’s my best friend. And Angela is not the only person in the world who likes baby animals.
Zack: I never got the big attraction.
Booth: I rest my case.
  from Bones

Kat consults a doctor and gets a scare on a new L.A. Ink (TLC, 9pm, 10pm). Or else she has a scare and then consults a doctor, I’m not sure which.

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

A recruiting session for millionaires Robby and Brendan turns into a comedy of errors as an eclectic group of women parade through the Millionaire’s Club offices on The Millionaire Matchmaker (Bravo, 9pm, 11pm, 1am).

Late Night

The Greens & Grains staff pose for a patriotic calendar on a new 10 Items or Less (TBS, 10pm and 1am). Are any of you fans of this show? I want to hear from you about what you think of this series.

New Janice & Abbey (Oxygen, 10pm, 12:30am).

Courteney Cox, Thomas Friedman, Chingy with Ludacris on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm).

Dennis Quaid, David Koechner, Lupe Fiasco on The Tonight Show (NBC, 10:35pm).

Regis Philbin, Shanna Moakler, Alice Smith on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (CBS, 11:37pm).

Will Ferrell, Rashida Jones, Fred Simmons on Late Night with Conan O’Brien (NBC, 11:37pm).

Nate Berkus, Mary J. Blige, Missy Higgins on Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC, check your local listings).

Rex Lee, Fat Joe on Last Call with Carson Daly (NBC, check your local listings).