Laurel’s TV Picks

Best Bets

Movies featuring Big Bands on TCM
New MI-5 (BBC America, 8pm and 11pm)

Recommended Reruns

Criminal Minds (CBS, 8pm)
Bones (TNT, 8pm, 9pm)

News & Notes

On Wednesdays in July, Turner Classic Movies will spotlight “Big Bands in the Movies”. You can read more about these films on the website.

Daytime

Rerun of the “What Makes America America” episode of Oprah (syndicated, check your local listings) which originally aired in January. Chris Rock appears on the show, it also covers “hamburgers, a music legend, and a priceless American treasure.” Plus a ’70s TV spot. And so on.

Primetime Grid

Primetime

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

Dick Powell, Rosemary Lane, and Lola Lane star in Busby Berkeley’s film Hollywood Hotel (TCM, 7pm). The song “Hooray for Hollywood” made its debut in this movie, you can read more about the film on the TCM website. Benny Goodman and his band are featured prominently in the movie.

If you missed the series premiere of Baby Borrowers (NBC, 7pm) last week, it airs again tonight. What’s this new show about? NBC says: “Five teenage couples from across the country arrive in Boise, and start to live as adults, setting up homes and dealing with wailing infants borrowed from five volunteer parents, who move in next door to oversee the proceedings.” The second episode debuts tonight (NBC, 8pm).

Rebroadcasts of the “A Pie in Every Pocket” and “Apple of My Pie” episodes of Good Eats (Food Network, 7pm and 2am, 7:30pm and 2:30am). Great stuff from Alton Brown.

VH1 Classic rebroadcasts all five hours of 100 Greatest Songs of the ’80s (VH1, 7pm – midnight).

Sean “Diddy” Combs receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Harlem to Hollywood (BET, 7pm; also Thursday at 7:30pm).

HGTV airs new episodes of Deserving Design (HGTV, 8pm and midnight) and Design on a Dime (HGTV, 8:30pm and 12:30am).

A terrorist group will detonate bombs every ten hours unless its leader is released on a new (to the U.S.) episode of MI-5 (BBC America, 8pm and 11pm).

A new episode of MonsterQuest (History Channel, 8pm and midnight) covers “Super Rats” which are getting bigger and more dangerous. There’s also a rerun (History Channel, 7pm and 11pm) of the “Ohio Grassman” episode.

A visit to Montana in On The Road in America (Sundance, 8pm; with additional airings later in the week).

Four young black women are murdered in a mostly white New York suburb in this rerun of Criminal Minds (CBS, 8pm). Camille Winbush (of The Secret Life of the American Teenager, The Bernie Mac Show) is among the guest stars.

Morgan: “It’s called empathy. And it’s a good thing.”
Reid: “It’s not. It’s got me all messed up. I don’t know how to focus, I can’t do my job as well. So, what do I do?”
Morgan: “You use it. Let it make you a better profiler. A better person.”
Reid: “A better person.”
  from Criminal Minds

Back to back reruns of Bones (TNT, 8pm, 9pm). Worth checking out if you’ve not seen this show before or have missed these episodes. These are the final two episodes from season one. The first episode involves an apparent suicide in Arlington National Cemetary, but of course the case isn’t quite what it seems; the second case involves Brennan’s parents. These are both crucial episodes in which we learn a ton about both Booth and Brennan.

A vaudeville act tries to turn a broken-down house into a posh nightclub in Las Vegas Nights (TCM, 9pm). You can read more about this movie on the TCM website, of course. It sounds like the main reason to see this movie is because it marks the screen debuts of Tommy Dorsey (and his band) along with some guy named Frank Sinatra.

A look at the death of Julie Jensen on Primetime: Crime (ABC, 9pm). Was it suicide, did her husband murder her, or did something else happen?

New episodes of Tyler Perry’s House of Payne (TBS, 9pm, 9:30pm).

New episode of Black Gold (TruTV, 9pm and 1am).

Robert goes on a scavenger hunt through all four of Disney’s major theme parks on a new Dinner Impossible (Food Network, 9pm and midnight).

The stylists are challenged to come up with sexy looks for very short hair on Shear Genius (Bravo, 9pm, 10pm, midnight). And the women from The Real Housewives of Orange County are clients for a challenge.

New episode of The Real World (MTV, 9pm, 10pm, 1:30am).

The five remaining women act in a commercial with celebrity guest, the winners are allowed a visit with a loved one on a new She’s Got the Look (TV Land, 9pm and midnight).

The team investigates a judge’s murder and think it may be connected to another death in this rerun of CSI: NY (CBS, 9pm). Meanwhile, Danny struggles to comes to terms with a different death.

Late Night

All the late night talk shows are in reruns, you can check out the guest lists on Sue Trowbridge’s Late Night Lineups page.

“Spice Capades” episode of Good Eats (Food Network, 10pm and 1am). All about spices.

The fabulous Ann Miller stars as “a tap-dancing lady disc jockey finds herself torn between a wealthy man and his former chauffeur” in Reveille With Beverly (TCM, 10:45pm). Frank Sinatra appears in the film, making his first solo performance in a movie. Count Basie, Bob Crosby, and Duke Ellington all appear in the movie with their bands. Ella Mae Morse appears, backed by the Freddie Slack Orchestra; and the Mills Brothers perform two songs. You can read more about this movie on the TCM website. I’ll definitely be checking this one out as I think I’ve only seen clips from it in the past, not the whole movie.

Lana Turner, Richard Carlson, and Artie Shaw star in Dancing Co-Ed (TCM, 12:30am). Ann Rutherford has a good dance number in this one; Artie Shaw plays “himself” here. You can read more about the movie on the TCM website.

Lucille Ball, June Allyson, and Gloria DeHaven star in Best Foot Forward (TCM, 2am). You can read more about this movie on the TCM website. Ball plays a young actress trying to generate publicity by acceptin ga prom date with a prep school student.

There are a bunch of shorts featuring Big Bands that air starting at 3:45am on TCM. Check the TCM website for details.