Laurel’s TV Picks

Best Bets

New MI-5 (BBC America, 8pm and 11pm)
New Men in Trees (ABC, 9pm)
New Top Chef (Bravo, 9pm, 10pm, 11pm, 1am)

Recommended Reruns

Good Eats (Food Network, 7pm and 2am, 7:30pm and 2:30am, 10pm and 1am)
Criminal Mind (CBS, 8pm)

News & Notes:

Don’t miss my picks tomorrow– I’ll tell you what I think of the new CBS series Swingtown which debuts tomorrow night on CBS.

Daytime

Justin Timberlake, Reba McEntire, and Kelly Clarkson on a rerun of Oprah (syndicated, check your local listings).

Primetime Grid

Primetime

Baseball: Rays at Red Sox (ESPN, 6pm). Followed by Baseball Tonight (ESPN, 9pm or so).

Good Eats is one of my favorite cable series– it’s a cooking show for people who don’t think they’d have any interest in cooking shows (and for those that do too, of course). Clever, informative, and just plain fun– Alton Brown does a fabulous job with this little show. Summertime is a good time to check out reruns of any episodes you may have missed. Episodes that air tonight: “Cheesecake” (Food Network, 7pm and 2am), “Coconut Cake Revival” (Food Network, 7:30pm and 2:30am), and “Peanut Gallery” (Food Network, 10pm and 1am).

Conclusion of the first round of auditions on So You Think You Can Dance (FOX, 7pm).

Two more new episodes of Factory Made (Discovery Channel, 7pm and 11pm, 7:30pm and 11:30pm). First episode covers frozen meals and trumpets, second episode covers footballs and modular homes.

The team tries to undermine a racist member of Parliament on a new (to the U.S.) episode of MI-5 (BBC America, 8pm and 11pm).

“Advances in forensic science give solid answers to questions about bog mummies that have confounded scientists for decades” in a new episode of Explorer (National Geographic, 8pm and 11pm) titled “Mystery of the Mummy Murders”.

It looks like tonight there may be four new episodes of Tyler Perry’s House of Payne (TBS, 8pm, 8:30pm, 9pm, 9:30pm), but that seems a bit excessive so I’m not sure I trust the listings here. Expect at least one new episode, though.

“A mystery predator with a taste for blood prowls North Carolina, feasting on farm animals and pets” on a new MonsterQuest (History Channel, 8pm and midnight).

Rerun of the first episode of this past season of Criminal Minds (CBS, 8pm). It’s an interesting episode because it was originally filmed for the previous season, but then the episode was held back because of the events that transpired at Virginia Tech. The episode was changed slightly for use as the season premiere, some extra stuff was added to help explain Gideon’s departure from the show (Mandy Patinkin left the series between seasons; most of the scenes he’s in for this episode were filmed during the previous season).

There’s a “revealing game of truth or dare” (aren’t they always?) and a pie making contest of some sort on a new Farmer Wants a Wife (CW, 8pm).

Patrick returns to Elmo, Sam does something heroic, and Marin takes a trip to a spa where she sees something that creates an awkward situation on a new episode of Men in Trees (ABC, 9pm). Second-to-last episode of this fun series. I’m gonna miss it next year.

The four remaining chefs travel to Puerto Rico to compete on a new Top Chef (Bravo, 9pm, 10pm, 11pm, 1am).

Series premiere of She’s Got The Look (TV Land, 9pm, 10pm, 11pm, midnight). Women who are 35 and older compete in a new modeling competition reality show. Kim Alexis hosts the show; the judges are Beverly Johnson, Robert Verdi, and Sean Patterson.

Husband and wife Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner are profiled together on a new Biography (Biography Channel, 9pm and 1am). Preceded by a rerun of the episode that covers Affleck’s longtime friend Matt Damon (Biography Channel, 8pm and midnight).

Rerun of an episode of CSI: NY (CBS, 9pm) where a victim is found crushed under an object while wearing red shoes, which reminds everyone of The Wizard of Oz.

Baseball: Cubs at Padres (WGN, 9pm).

Late Night

Barbara Walters on The Daily Show (Comedy Central, 10pm and midnight).

Rep. Bob Barr, Salman Rushdie on The Colbert Report (Comedy Central, 10:30pm and 12:30am).

Jack Black, Esperanza Spalding on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm).

Jeff Foxworthy, Arianna Huffington, N.E.R.D. on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (NBC, 10:35pm).

Adam Sandler, Jewel on Late Night with Conan O’Brien (NBC, 11:37pm).

Jane Kaczmarek, Greg Proops on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (CBS, 11:37pm).

Cynthia Nixon (of Sex and the City, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Coldplay on Jimmy Kimmel (ABC, check your local listings).

John Cho, Dean Edwards, Your Vegas on a rerun of Last Call with Carson Daly (NBC, check your local listings).