Laurel’s TV Picks

Best Bets

Chuck (Sci-Fi, 7pm)
New In Treatment (HBO, 8:30pm)
New Stargate Atlantis (Sci-Fi, 9pm and 11pm)

News & Notes

Wow, quarterlife got really really awful ratings, so it’s not really a surprise that no further episodes will be airing on NBC. If you want to see the rest of quarterlife, you’ll need to check it out on the website. The good news is, if you were one of the few who watched it (and you liked it), there’s a lot more of the story that’s already online.

Daniel Cerone (of Dexter) will be taking over as showrunner for Dirty Sexy Money, but that should be a good thing; series creator Craig Wright and exec producers Greg Berlanti, Matthew Gross, and Bryan Singer are still involved with the show.

Interestingly enough, Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain have joined the staff of Joss Whedon’s forthcoming series Dollhouse. They created Women’s Murder Club, but were recently ousted in favor of a new showrunner. Before they created Murder Club, they worked on The Shield and before that they worked with Whedon on Angel.

ABC announced some more renewals for the 2008-2009 TV season: America’s Funniest Home Videos, Dancing with the Stars, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Supernanny, and Wife Swap will all be back.

Featured Pick

Guiding Light (CBS, check your local listings).

I’m a third generation fan of Guiding Light, though to be honest I mostly stopped watching a few years ago. I still check in occasionally, usually with the special Wednesday episodes or when I hear something particular interesting is going to happen (especially if it involves the return of a favorite character from years past). My Mom will tell me about what’s going on the show sometimes.

One of the things I always liked about Guiding Light is the fact that it has such a rich history, having been on the air now for 70 years. It and As The World Turns always seemed more down-to-earth and even sometimes old-fashioned, but I liked that. If your show has been around for as long as they have, you should use the history and honor it. Of course Guiding Light hasn’t always been down to Earth, the occasional storyline has been rather out there (cloning! time travel!).

Now Guiding Light is going to try something new, even bolder than the special Wednesday episodes they’ve done for a while now, which focus on a single character or storyline. Now they’ve made some enormous changes in how the show is made and today we see the first complete episode of the new Guiding Light.

What have they done? Most soaps are filmed on sound stages and have a limited number of sets. The sets are traditional TV sets, usually without ceilings and missing a wall or two. Guiding Light now has an unprecedented forty sets or, I guess you could say, forty rooms. Because these are rooms with ceilings and doors and walls. To give you some idea what a change this is– previously they only had eight sets to work with.

Most soap operas also only film on location for special events, maybe a couple times a year– sometimes more, sometimes less, depending on the show. But now Guiding Light has essentially adopted a town in New Jersey to use for external shots of Springfield. They’re estimating that 20% of the show will be filmed outdoors, on location, in this town.

Now, in order for them to film so many scenes outdoors and in so many rooms at their studio, it means they’ve jettisoned the old way of shooting scenes with traditional lighting and camera set-ups. Most scenes will be shot using handheld cameras.

It’s this last change that concerns me the most, especially having had a chance to preview today’s episode. I’m cool with the new sets and with filming on location– that sounds like stuff that will help make Springfield seem even more like a real place. It’s a little weird to see a town that doesn’t really look like the town I imagined in my head over the years or that we’ve seen bits of over the years, but that’s okay. The handheld digital cameras definitely add to giving the show a new and different look, but I fear the camera operators aren’t as steady with the cameras as they should be.

If you’re filming with handheld cameras, that will be evident, there’s no need to try to make it obvious or get cute with how you film stuff. I don’t want to see “shaky-cam” when I’m watching a soap opera, it’s important to see the actors faces even more so I think than on any other kind of show.

While watching today’s episode of Guiding Light, I couldn’t help thinking of my Mom, who has been watching the show for forty years or so now, I’d guess. She gets motion-sick at some movies and doesn’t much care for the camera-work on some TV shows; I worry that she’s gonna have a tough time with the new look of the show given the camerawork– I’m betting she won’t be alone in that.

I’m intrigued by the changes to Guiding Light and there’s a lot to like about them. But I really hope they steady the cameras a bit. There’s a nifty montage at the end of today’s episode, but some of the cuts between characters and shots are so fast that I think some people will get a little cranky that there’s no time to really see what’s going on. I’m just imagining my Mom and others like her wishing they’d slow the cameras down a bit and honestly, I’m right there with them.

I imagine these changes were not cheap. They also used more music in this episode than I’m accustomed to on the show, I’m guessing that may be part of the changes. And there are new opening credits with a new theme song, too. It’s a lot of change to take in, but the same characters are there with all their same problems so some things don’t change. Reva is still Reva, after all. And I bet there’ll be a Bauer barbecue this summer too, it just may actually be filmed outdoors.

You can read more about the changes on the Guiding Light website. Guiding Light airs on CBS today and most weekdays, check your local listings for the time.

Daytime

“Oprah’s Big Give Kickoff Party” on Oprah (syndicated, check your local listings).

Primetime Grid

Primetime

NBA hoops: Wizards at Bulls (ESPN, 7pm), Clippers at Nuggets (ESPN, 9:30pm).

Chuck (Sci-Fi, 7pm) goes on his first stakeout. James Hong guest stars as “Ben Lo Pan” which is funny because he played “David Lo Pan” in Big Trouble in Little China (get it? He’s been Lo Pan). Actually, he’s been in many many shows and movies over the years and has played “Lo Pan” other times as well. But did you know he was born in Minneapolis and went to the University of Minnesota? I did not.

Chuck: “My first stake out. Okay, okay. Yeah. What do I need to bring? Sweater? Light jacket?”
Casey: “You just bring that computer in your head.”
Chuck: “Okay, you know what, I have a lot more to offer this team other than the Intersect. For instance, what are we doing for tunes tonight? I could make a stakeout mix.”
  from Chuck

The always fabulous Zeljko Ivanek guest stars in this rerun of Bones (FOX, 7pm) from the first season of the show. And I don’t call Ivanek “fabulous” just because I went and saw him play “Hamlet” four or five times at the Guthrie Theater way back when (Julianne Moore played “Ophelia” in that production). He’s just done good work in many shows over the years, though he’ll always be “Danvers” from Homicide to me. This episode also has a funny subplot where the team is questioned in order to get them security clearance or something like that.

Zack: “I’m getting a degree in Forensic Anthropology. I’m halfway through another in Engineering. What are you afraid I’ll do? Build a race of criminal robots, who’ll destroy the Earth?”
Agent Pickering: “Do you have that kind of fantasy often?”
Zack: “Very often.”
  from Bones

Meredith’s Dad (Jeff Perry) winds up in the ER, McDreamy goes on a date with Sydney, and Bailey is unexpectedly reunited with a man she had a crush on years ago in this rerun of Grey’s Anatomy (ABC, 7pm – 8:02pm). Chandra Wilson (who plays “Bailey”) gets an episode to submit for the Emmy Awards here. D.B. Woodside guest stars and I think we can all understand him as crush material; you may know him from playing “Wayne Palmer” on 24, or “Principal Wood” on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Derek: “You okay?”
Bailey: “What do you care? With your hair products and your perfect little face, perfect little life. What do you care how I am?”
Derek: “My perfect little life. Have you been paying attention at all?”
Bailey: “Yeah, I pay attention. I pay attention! I pay attention to people in all walks of life, all types. I notice people. I see people. It’s guys like you who don’t see people like me.”
  from Grey’s Anatomy

Rebroadcast of latest 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 Clinically Wild: Alaska (Animal Planet, 8:30pm, 11:30pm, 3:30am).

Series premiere of Your Mama Don’t Dance (Lifetime, 8pm and 11pm; also on Sat and Sun at 10pm), a new dance competition series. Young professional dancers are each teamed with their mother or father as they compete for prizes. Ian Ziering (of Dancing with the Stars, Beverly Hills 90210) hosts. The judges are Ben Vereen, Cris Judd, and Vitamin C.

A twenty-two-year-old is about to graduate from college and she’s still dressing like a teenage rebel until she gets help from Stacey and Clinton on What Not To Wear (TLC, 8pm and 10pm; also on Saturday at 1pm).

A midget race car crashes and explodes, a San Francisco mansion collapses into a sinkhole, an Air Force flight training exercise spins out of control, a speedboat disintegrates; a pregnant sky diver survives a mishap, helicopter crash in Arizona on Shockwave (History Channel, 8pm and midnight).

Back-to-back new episodes of 20/20 (ABC, 8pm, 9pm) which focus on “unthinkable crimes”. The first episode covers the Mark Jensen trial and his wife’s murder or suicide. The second episode reports on two British women who were found murdered in Japan (separately, years apart) and another case involving an Australian woman which may also be connected.

An old friend of House’s (played by D.B. Sweeney) brings his daughter to see House (FOX, 8pm). Or at least he thinks this 16-year-old who lived through Hurricane Katrina is his daughter– House isn’t so sure. Rerun from near the end of season two of the show.

Dr. Cuddy: “The guy who brought the girl in, says he knows you. I thought I knew all your friend.”
  from House

Sarah Silverman guest stars as Monk’s biggest fan in this rerun of the first episode of this season of Monk (USA, 8pm); it originally aired in July. Sharon Lawrence also guest starred.

Melinda encounters the ghost of a college student who was having an affair with his professor in this rerun of Ghost Whisperer (CBS, 8pm). Guest stars include Victoria Pratt (of Day Break, Cleopatra 2525) and Mike Erwin (who was “Colin” on Everwood).

Robert Webb and David Mitchell star in a new episode of sketch comedy show That Mitchell and Webb Look (BBC America, 8:20pm, 11:20pm, 1:20am). The episode has a runtime of 40 minutes. A dinner guest uses chloroform to deal with boring conversation.

Paul has a lot to talk about (again) with Gina on a new In Treatment (HBO, 8:30pm). And it looks like his wife is going to the session with him, which should be very interesting. The always awesome Michelle Forbes plays Paul’s wife. Preceded by a rerun of last week’s episode (HBO, 8pm).

An old friend’s return spurs a race against time to rescue a missing teammate on a new Stargate Atlantis (Sci-Fi, 9pm and 11pm).

Jimmy and Doug travel to San Francisco to learn kajukenbo, a combination of karate, judo and other fighting styles on Fight Quest (Discovery Channel, 9pm and 1am).

New 10 Years Younger (TLC, 9pm and midnight; also on Saturday at Noon).

The case in this rerun of Numb3rs (CBS, 9pm) involves alternate reality gaming.

Late Night

Shashi Tharoor, Dan Savage on Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO, 10pm).

Woody Harrelson, Tommy Tiernan on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm).

Dave Salmoni (and animals), Patricia Arquette (of Medium), the Punch Brothers on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (NBC, 10:35pm).

Christina Ricci, Jason Sudeikis, Shooter Jennings on Late Night with Conan O’Brien (NBC, 11:37pm).

Coolio, Dweezil Zappa, Jason Randal on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (CBS, 11:37pm).

Rerun of Jimmy Kimmel (ABC, check your local listings).

Neil Strauss, Regina Spektor on Last Call with Carson Daly (NBC, check your local listings).