Laurel’s TV Picks

Best Bets

Series premiere of Grizzly Man Diaries (Animal Planet, 8pm and midnight, 8:30pm and 12:30am)
New The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Comedy Central, 10pm and midnight)
New Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO, 10pm)
John McWhorter on The Colbert Report (Comedy Central, 10:30pm and 12:30am)
Amy Sedaris, Kim Kardashian, Brian Regan on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm)

News & Notes

I will be posting picks on Labor Day as there are some season and series premieres to cover on Monday. Probably won’t post picks on Saturday and Sunday as I’m swamped trying to get ready for next week.

The usual Sci-Fi Friday line-up is pre-empted, instead Sci-Fi airs a Star Trek: Enterprise marathon today and tonight.

NBC has picked up Chuck for a full season of 22 episodes. Very cool! Previously it just had a 13 episode commitment for the second season, it’s unusual for a network to go ahead and order the “back nine” episodes as well before the season has started so this is a good sign for the show. Yay! It was one of my favorite new shows last season. The season premiere of the show will air on Monday, September 29th.

The Fall 2008 Schedule Grid page has been updated to include all (hopefully final) premiere dates for new and returning shows this Fall. Still working on updating the “info” links as needed and some other tweaks. Hope you guys find the page helpful.

And yes, the timezone gizmo is back and seems to be working properly. Well, when I was on the Fall Grid page and adjusted the timezone, I was thrown back to the front page for some inexplicable reason. The solution to this issue? Just click on the Fall Grid link to take you back to where you were and the timezone should be correct on the page. Please let me know if you run into any other issues with this (and yes, I’m working on fixing this behavior).

I’ve begun contacting the winners of the latest contest; if you entered the contest, you should check your mailbox for email from me. I need mailing addresses for the winners, of course.

Today’s Deal of the Day at Amazon is on the The Pink Panther Classic Cartoon Collection for just $27; it normally goes for about twice that.

Primetime Grid

Primetime

Marlon Brando is the star of the day on Turner Classic Movies, you can see a full schedule and read all about him and the featured films on the TCM website. Some good stuff is featured tonight: On The Waterfront (TCM, 7pm, letterboxed), Mutiny on the Bounty (TCM, 9pm, letterboxed), and Apocalypse Now (TCM, 12:15am, letterboxed).

Tennis: U.S. Open coverage continues on USA.

College Football: Temple at Army (ESPN Classic, 6pm).

College Football: Southern Methodist at Rice (ESPN, 7pm).

New episode of Gone Country (CMT, 7pm). Another group of performers try their hand at learning how to be country singers. The competitors this time around are: Sebastian Bach, Irene Cara, Mikalah Gordon, Jermaine Jackson, Chris Kirkpatrick, Lorenzo Lamas, and Sean Young. You can read all about the second season of this show on the official website.

No new episode of Monk this week as USA airs coverage of the U.S. Open tonight. Monk will return next Friday with a new episode which also happens to be the show’s 100th episode. I just received a copy of the episode from USA and will be sure to tell you what I think of it next week.

Series premiere of Grizzly Man Diaries which is followed by another new episode (Animal Planet, 8pm and midnight, 8:30pm and 12:30am). “This eight-part miniseries chronicles the fascinating yet ultimately tragic career of Timothy Treadwell, the wildlife filmmaker and photographer who spent 13 summers in an Alaska national park, filming a community of wild grizzly bears.” This production includes footage from his video diaries as well as still photographs he took. You can find out more about the series on the website for the show. The score for the series is done by Richard Thompson, who also scored the movie Grizzly Man; Thompson is one of my favorite songwriters, guitar players, and performers.

Topics scheduled for a new two-hour Datline NBC (NBC, 8pm – 10pm): Shocking conditions inside Serbian mental institutions, two boys who survived horrific violence of war in Africa meet at a center sponsored by the UN, and the Manson family’s desert hideout. Of course they may opt to skip any of these stories so they have more time to spend on breaking news and current events.

Two new episodes of Discovery Project Earth (Discovery, 8pm and midnight, 9pm and 1am). The first covers a program that involves replinishing the world’s forests to planting saplings via “a massive helicopter launch system”. The second covers a proposal “to make clouds brighter in order to reflect the sun’s heat, lowering Earth’s temperature.”

A Doberman/Lab and a pit bull develop behavioral issues after not being walked for months; an Italian greyhound acts aggressively toward the men of the house on a new Dog Whisperer (National Geographic, 8pm and 11pm).

New episode of Outsiders Inn (CMT, 8pm). Wherein Maureen McCormick, Bobby Brown, and Carnie Wilson run a B&B.

No new Psych tonight either, but a new episode is schedule for next Friday which is titled “Talk Derby to Me”.

New episode of 20/20 (ABC, 9pm). Topics scheduled for the show: Bill Tancer, author of Click: What Millions of People Are Doing Online and Why it Matters, talks about what people look for on the internet. A look at Olympic athletes who get sponsorship deals. And a look at the controversial documentary The Bridge which shows people jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge. It is, of course, possible that they’ll skip some or all of these to talk about politics or other current events.

Roger and Susan plan a surprise party for Janet in this new episode of Swingtown (CBS, 9:03pm). Only one more episode left after this one. I’m guessing there’ll be some big surprises at the surprise party.

One woman gets some help from Stacy London (of What Not To Wear0, another wants her sister’s approval on a dress in this new episode of Say Yes to the Dress (TLC, 9pm and midnight).

Rerun of The Cleaner (A&E, 9pm and 1am; also on Sunday at 1pm).

New episode of The Soup (E!, 9pm and 11:30pm; also at 9am and 10pm on Saturday).

One of the dances is to “Super Freak” on a new Rock the Reception (TLC, 9:30pm and 12:30am); the other finds bridesmaids helping with the first dance.

Late Night

Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO, 10pm) returns with a new episode. Will include an analysis of the Democratic National Convention with Gov. Jon Corzine (D-NJ), journalist Michel Martin, and Craig Ferguson (of The Late Late Show). Plus correspondent Matt Taibbi and, via satellite, Gov. Tim Kaine (D-VA).

A special Friday edition of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Comedy Central, 10pm and midnight) from Denver with more coverage of the Democratic National Convention.

“Riding the Lightning” episode of Criminal Minds (A&E, 10pm and 2am). Gideon interviews a married couple that’s on death row and becomes convinced that the woman is actually innocent, but he only has two days to prove it.

Steve Valentine, who played “Nigel” on Crossing Jordan, guest stars as a magician in this rerun of House (USA, 10pm).

“My Big Fat Greek Sandwich” episode of Good Eats (10pm and 1am).

John McWhorter (author of All about the Beat: Why Hip-Hop Can’t Save Black America) on a special Friday edition of The Colbert Report (Comedy Central, 10:30pm and 12:30am).

Amy Sedaris, Kim Kardashian, Brian Regan on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm).

Arsenio Hall, Shawn Johnson, Chuck Berry on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (NBC, 10:35pm).

Bob Costas, Sophia Bush (of One Tree Hill) on Late Night with Conan O’Brien (NBC, 11:37pm).

Mary Steenburgen, Criss Angel on a rerun of the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (CBS, 11:37pm).

Lauren Conrad, Tyrese, Glen Campbell on Jimmy Kimmel (ABC, check your local listings).

Kate Flannery, Moby on a rerun of Last Call with Carson Daly (NBC, check your local listings).