Laurel’s TV Picks

Best Bets

New The Closer (TNT, 8pm and 11pm)
New The Middleman (ABC Family, 9pm and 11pm)
New Weeds (Showtime, 9pm, 10pm)
Summer finale of Saving Grace (TNT, 9pm and midnight)

News & Notes

Today’s “Deal of the Day” at Amazon is on The O.C. – The Complete Series Collection for just $73; the list price for this set is $180, though it’s usually for sale for $130 or so. It’s a great deal on a really cool set. That price is good today only, while supplies last. I still kinda miss this series– when it was good, it was a lot of fun.

Don’t forget that there’s still a contest going on; this contest is just for readers of this site so your odds of winning are much better than in most contests you might find online.

I made some software upgrades for the site over the weekend, will try to work out any kinks this week and make some improvements this week. If you notice any odd behavior on the site and the behavior is still odd an hour or a day later, please tell me about it.

Daytime

The Tennis: U.S. Open airs on USA. Coverage of the opening rounds starts at 11am.

Primetime Grid

Primetime

CSPAN, CNN, MSNBC, PBS, and other stations air coverage of the Democratic National Convention starting tonight. CSPAN starts their coverage at 4pm, CNN starts coverage at 5pm, MSNBC begins their coverage at 6pm, and PBS coverage starts at 7pm. ABC, CBS, and NBC have coverage at 9pm.

Baseball: Dodgers at Phillies (ESPN2, 6pm). Followed by Baseball Tonight (ESPN2, 9pm or so, begins after the game).

Preseason Football: Seahawks at Chargers (ESPN, 7pm).

Tennis: U.S. Open, First Round (USA, 7pm).

Debut of the special Secret Access: Air Force One (History Channel, 7pm and 11pm).

New episode of Top Gear (BBC America, 7pm, 10pm, midnight) followed by a rerun (BBC America, 8pm, 11pm, 1am).

Rerun of the “Sandwich-Craft” episode of Good Eats (Food Network, 7pm and 2am).

Aretha Franklin and folks from The Biggest Loser make special appearances in the season premiere of Deal or No Deal (NBC, 7pm).

Rerun of the first season finale of Gossip Girl (CW, 7pm). There’s a wedding to attend and the friends prepare for summer vacation. Plus there’s the little matter of Georgina to deal with and all sorts of stuff happens, as you might expect. The second season premiere airs next Monday! Yay! I’m a lucky duck and have seen the first three episodes of the second season– if you’re a fan of this show who enjoyed season one, so far all signs point to season two being as good as the first. I’ll say more about the new season of the show in my picks next Monday.

New episode of Mystery ER (Discovery Health Channel, 7pm and 10pm).

Rerun of the final two episodes of last season of Prison Break (FOX, 7pm – 9pm). In case you missed them the first time or want to refresh your memory as the season premiere airs next Monday! I’ll tell you what I think of the premiere in my picks next week.

Sheldon is booted from his friends’ Physics Bowl team and replaced by Leslie Winkle (guest star Sara Gilbert) in this rerun of The Big Bang Theory (CBS, 7pm).

Sheldon: “Teams are traditionally named after fierce creatures, thus intimidating one’s opponent.”
Koothrappali: “Then we could be the Bengal Tigers.”
Sheldon: “Poor choice—gram for gram, no animal exceeds the relative fighting strength of the army ant.”
Koothrappali: “Maybe so, but you can’t incinerate a Bengal tiger with a magnifying glass.”
  from The Big Bang Theory

Cherries are the topic on a new episode of How’d That Get on My Plate? (Food Network, 7:30pm and 2:30am). Hosted by Sunny Anderson.

New episodes of these shows on HGTV tonight: Curb Appeal (HGTV, 7:30pm and 11:30pm) and Hidden Potential (HGTV, 8:30pm and 12:30am).

Rerun of “The Goat” episode of How I Met Your Mother (CBS, 7:30pm) which takes place after Barney breaks “the Bro Code” in a big way. I was disappointed in this episode and I’m rarely disappointed in this show.

Things get personal for the squad in tonight’s new episode of The Closer (TNT, 8pm and 11pm; also on Saturday at 9am and next Monday at 7pm). Detective Sanchez’s brother is shot and, as you might imagine, he reacts poorly to this. Everyone wants to catch the culprit, but emotions run high and that complicates things. I’ve had a chance to screen this episode and it’s really good with excellent work by everyone, especially by Raymond Cruz as Det. Julio Sanchez.

Series premiere of America’s Toughest Jobs (NBC, 8pm). The press release from NBC describes the show this way: “a new extreme competition series that will test 12 people who venture out of their safe, comfortable careers and are injected into some of the most challenging, dangerous and demanding jobs on earth.” Josh Temple hosts the show.

Two reruns of Samantha Who? (ABC, 8pm, 8:30pm). Episodes are “The Virgin” and “The Restraining Order”.

Sam: “I can’t believe you, Andrea. How could you not tell about this? I mean, you call me at midnight to tell me to get my eyebrows waxed, but my restraining order just, like, slips your mind?”
  from Samantha Who?

Alan asks Charlie’s advice on how to break up with a woman in this rerun of Two and a Half Men (CBS, 8pm).

Charlie: Tell you what– I’ll be your wingman. I’ll go over and engage the mom in conversation. Then, after I’ve greased the wheels, I’ll give you a signal. You saunter over and work your magic.
Jake: “Saunter?”
Charlie: Walk.
Jake: Well, then, just say “walk”. You don’t have to make up words.
  from Two and a Half Men

Special hour-long July 4th episode of of Jon & Kate Plus 8 (TLC, 8pm and 11pm).

Christine writes an email to Barb about Mr. Harris, but accidently sends it to all the parents at school in this rerun of The New Adventures of Old Christine (CBS, 8:30pm). Yikes! Blair Underwood, Dave Foley (of NewsRadio, Kids in the Hall), and Jane Lynch guest star.

Oh no! Ida is infested by nanobots in tonight’s new episode of The Middleman (ABC Family, 9pm and 11pm). I am still loving this show and that’s partially because of Mary Pat Gleason’s fine work as “Ida”.

Tonight’s new episode of Weeds (Showtime, 9pm, 10pm) is titled “Head Cheese” and that’s really all I know about it. If you’re watching, I’m curious about what you think of the new season and location; so far I have mixed feelings about this season.

A young Mexican woman dies after being dropped off at an area hospital by a known white supremacist in the summer finale of Saving Grace (TNT, 9pm and midnight; also Tuesday at 10pm). They’ve been promoting this as a “season finale,” but more episodes are being prepared to air this winter; it really feels like this season just started! This is the seventh episode, fifteen episodes were ordered for season two of the show.

Amy Wynn (of Trading Spaces) helps a couple renovate their second floor and put in a sleek new bathroom and kitchen breakfast bar on a new episode of Make A Move (DIY, 9pm and 1am).

Democratic National Convention coverage (ABC, CBS, and NBC all air coverage at 9pm).

Rerun of the “LOL” episode of Californication (Showtime, 9:30pm, 10:30pm).

Late Night

It’s possible late night talk shows will start late if coverage of the Democratic National Convention runs long.

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

Dick Meyer on a rerun of The Colbert Report (Comedy Central, 10:30pm and 12:30am).

Tracy Morgan, Kim Kardashian, Solange on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm).

Sen. John McCain, Dara Torres, Juliana Hatfield on The Tonight Show (NBC, 10:35pm).

Sigourney Weaver, Stanley Bing, Three 6 Mafia on a rerun of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (CBS, 11:37pm).

Daniel Radcliffe, Steve Coogan, the Hold Steady on Late Night with Conan O’Brien (NBC, 11:37pm).

James Franco, Tommy Lee, From First to Last on a rerun of Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC, check your local listings).

Jose Canseco, Lupe Fiasco on a rerun of Last Call with Carson Daly (NBC, check your local listings).