Monday, September 1, 2008
Best Bets
Season premiere of Gossip Girl (CW, 7pm)
New The Closer (TNT, 8pm and 11pm)
Season finale of The Middleman (ABC Family, 9pm and 11pm)
Series premiere of Raising The Bar (TNT, 9pm and midnight, also airs at 10pm on Tuesday)
More Premieres
Season premiere of Prison Break (FOX, 7pm – 9pm)
Season premiere of One Tree Hill (CW, 8pm)
News & Notes
Today and tonight the networks may opt to air special reports on Hurricane Gustav and the situation in the gulf coast states depending on how things go. It’s possible scheduled programming on ABC, CBS, and NBC might change at the last minute; it’s possible that the scheduled coverage of the Republican National Convention will change into coverage of the situation in the gulf coast. I’m guessing FOX and the CW will air their programming as scheduled.
Premieres next Monday: The Sarah Connor Chronicles season premiere will air next Monday on FOX at 7pm. And Monday Night Football has their season premiere at 7pm next Monday on ESPN. The Fall 2008 Schedule Grid has the schedule as well as premiere dates and other useful information.
Amazon deal of the Day is on Desperate Housewives – Seasons 1-3
Daytime
U.S. Open Tennis on CBS; PGA Golf on NBC.
Most daytime talk shows have their season premieres next Monday, including returning talk shows Oprah, Ellen DeGeneres, Rachael Ray, and Tyra Banks; that will also be the day some new talk shows debut including The Bonnie Hunt Show. The Martha Stewart Show season premiere will air on September 15th.
There are plenty of marathons of TV shows during the day today. Some of the ones I noticed:
The Closer on TNT.
Monk on USA.
Army Wives on Lifetime.
CSI: Miami on A&E.
Star Trek: The Next Generation on Sci-Fi.
Unwrapped on the Food Network.
Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations on the Travel Channel.
Murder, She Wrote on Hallmark.
CSI on Spike.
America’s Next Top Model on MTV.
Tougher in Alaska on the History Channel.
Dirty Jobs on Discovery.
Tyler Perry’s House of Payne on TBS.
Baseball: Astros at Cubs (WGN, 3pm).
College Football: Fresno State at Rutgers (ESPN, 3pm).
Primetime Grid
| Mon | 7:00 | 7:30 | 8:00 | 8:30 | 9:00 | 9:30 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | High School Musical: Get in the Picture | Samantha Who? Rerun | Republican National Convention | |||
| CBS | Big Bang Theory Rerun | How I Met Your Mother Rerun | Two and a Half Men Rerun | Old Christine Rerun | Republican National Convention | |
| NBC | Deal or No Deal | America’s Toughest Jobs | Republican National Convention | |||
| FOX | Prison Break Season premiere | Local Programming | ||||
| CW | Gossip Girl Season premiere | One Tree Hill Season premiere | Local Programming | |||
| Fam | The Middleman Season finale, also at 11pm | |||||
| TNT | The Closer Rerun | The Closer also at 11pm | Raising the Bar Series premiere | |||
| Show | Weeds Rerun | Weeds Rerun | Weeds Rerun | Californication Rerun | ||
Featured Pick
Season premiere of Gossip Girl (CW, 7pm).
The first season of Gossip Girl was certainly fun (if uneven in spots) and after screening the first three episodes of season two, I’m excited about the new season.
The season premiere opens with an excellent “previously on” montage that is a good refresher course on season one for those who watched and also a good intro for people who haven’t seen the show before. When the show opens, most characters (other than the Humphries) are in the Hamptons for the last days of the summer. The scenery is gorgeous and it’s fun to see where folks ended up.
One character has a (somewhat surprising) new relationship, another is playing the field in a big way, and others are reeling from the events of last season’s finale in their own unique ways. Blair and Chuck are in fine form, especially when they see each other again for the first time since we saw them together last season. When this series began, I felt those characters were the weak links in the show; over the course of the first season, they became the two most exciting and interesting characters. It’s been really fun to watch them develop and I look forward to seeing what they’ll get up to this season.
If I have a complaint about the first three episodes, it’s that Kelly Rutherford is nowhere to be found as Lily and Rufus makes a supposedly “big decision” that is predictable and as a result seems small. When this show works (and where The O.C. excelled) is when the adult characters have good storylines of their own and along with their children. Fortunately Margaret Colin returns as Blair’s mother the fashion designer and has great scenes in one episode. And I’m sure Lily will show up before too long, probably when school starts.
The first three episodes cover the end of summer and the last days some characters spend in the Hamptons before returning to the city for school. Rufus has been touring and returns to the city as well. Jenny and Dan both have internships their working on. Vanessa is as awesome as ever in her interactions with the Humphries and with Nate. And I’m pleased that Serena’s younger brother Erik is in the episodes and that he gets some scenes with Jenny.
I didn’t much care for the storyline involving Georgina at the end of last season and some of the other surrounding events, so it’s nice that these new episodes do some work at explaining what was really going on with the characters at the end of the season which makes some decisions and behavior more believable or understandable.
I love the way this show occasionally tweaks our expectations. The pace can move faster than other shows of this sort would; secrets that on other shows might be drawn out over many episodes (or an entire season) come out much faster than you’d expect. Sometimes I’ll think it’s easy to predict what will happen in a scene or episode and the show will surprise me– it’s rare that shows surprise me and I love it when they do it in interesting ways.
A couple of new characters are introduced, which is something that’s needed in a show like this, to give the characters new people to bounce off of– and to date! I don’t want to say too much else about the new season as it’s far more fun to see for yourself. Be patient with this first episode, they don’t get all the characters and storylines in it as there just isn’t time. And of course, there are some developments which you may not like, but things change awfully fast on this show so relationships and stories are always in flux: what you don’t like in tonight’s episode, may be righted the following week or in weeks to come.
If you enjoyed season one, you should really enjoy these first episodes of the new season. If you’re new to the show, it’s safe to jump in here– you’ll be missing some backstory of course, but I think you can still enjoy the show or get a good feel for what kind of show it is and whether it’s your cup of tea. Season one is available on DVD for those who want to catch up or want to revisit that season: Amazon has Gossip Girl – The Complete First Season
As for how this show stacks up against the competition it faces on Monday nights? Well, it’s a tough timeslot. You can see for yourself on the Fall 2008 Schedule Grid. Other shows that air during the 7pm hour on Mondays: Chuck (NBC, returns 9/29), Sarah Connor Chronicles (FOX, returns 9/8), The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother (CBS, both return on 9/22) . . . these are all shows I like and recommend. And then there’s also Monday Night Football (ESPN, regular season starts next week) and Dancing with the Stars (ABC, returns on 9/22) for those who like them. Fortunately Gossip Girl reruns will also air on most local CW affiliates on Sundays at 5pm if you can’t find a way to watch or record it on Mondays once other shows start to air new episodes. Episodes should also be available for purchase from iTunes after they air (and you should be able to purchase the whole season once it starts if you’d like. Use this button to get to the Gossip Girl section on iTunes: 
)
The season premiere of Gossip Girl airs tonight on the CW at 7pm and will be rebroadcast in most markets on the CW at 5pm on Sunday.
Primetime
You’ll find coverage of Hurricane Gustav and related events on most news stations today, there may be some coverage of the Republican National Convention, though there isn’t much going on with it today.
Season premiere of Gossip Girl (CW, 7pm; also on Sunday at 5pm in most markets). Which is my “featured pick” above.
Blair Waldorf: “I wasn’t aware that robots got jealous. Did they update your software while I was away?”
from Gossip Girl
Special two-hour season premiere of Prison Break (FOX, 7pm – 9pm). I’ve seen this episode, after missing the last half of last season, and eh . . . it’s Prison Break alright. Complete with stupidity, brutality, and T-Bag. The premiere picks up a month after the events of the end of last season and some rather major events happen offscreen, which may annoy fans. There are also some ridiculous things as usual, like MIchael somehow getting that gigantic tattoo removed in what seems like just hours or a day. Of course the Big News is that a character thought dead, isn’t and is reunited with the remaining gang. If you still watch this show, you’re probably used to just having to “go with it” when things get stupid or ridiculous.
Cress Williams joins the cast of Prison Break this season as a stone cold killer who is tasked with killing Michael and everyone he knows or who knows about The Company, more or less. Michael Rapaport also joins the cast as a federal agent who wants to take down The Company and is willing to give members of the gang deals if they’ll work for him to do that. And James Hiroyuki Liao joins the cast as a computer hacker (and ex-con) who’ll be helping Michael and his cohorts. Characters are thrown together again to work together even though they have very complicated histories by now. If you somehow are still a fan of this show after three seasons, you’ll want to see this. If you were miffed by the events of last season (especially a certain character death), you may want to tune back in if you’d tuned out. This season they aren’t, at least at first, breaking out of any prison; it’s a whole new show in some respects. Basically, characters from the previous three seasons take a stand against The Company. Of course it’s complicated, it always is.
Next week Prison Break will move to its regular time of 8pm; the shows that are on opposite this season are: Heroes (NBC, returns 9/22), One Tree Hill (CW, returns today), the end of Dancing with the Stars (ABC, returns on 9/22) and Samantha Who? (ABC, returns 10/6), Monday Night Football (ESPN), and Two and a Half Men and Worst Week (both on CBS, both start on 9/22). Plus The Closer has a couple more episodes left and then later new series Raising the Bar will move into the 8pm timeslot on TNT (but of course both series have later airings on TNT). Amazon has Prison Break – Season 3
College Football: Tennessee at UCLA (ESPN, 7pm).
New episode of Top Gear (BBC America, 7pm, 10pm, midnight) followed by a rerun (BBC America, 8pm, 11pm, 1am).
A young man has a rash that “spreads before his eyes” in this new episode of Mystery ER (Discovery Health Channel, 7pm and 10pm).
New episodes of these shows on HGTV tonight: Designed to Sell (HGTV, 7pm and 11pm), Curb Appeal (HGTV, 7:30pm and 11:30pm), and Hidden Potential (HGTV, 8:30pm and 12:30am).
Tomatoes 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.
Brenda and her team investigate the murder of a hair stylist in this new episode of The Closer (TNT, 8pm and 11pm; also on Saturday at 9am and next Monday at 7pm). Brenda’s parents also stop by for a visit, which always makes things interesting.
Part one of the two-part season premiere of One Tree Hill (CW, 8pm). Dan’s life hangs in the balance, Nathan gets some news that may change his career, and Lucas makes a choice.
“Dip It” is the name of a new episode of Unwrapped (Food Network, 8pm and 11pm).
New hour-long episode of Jon & Kate Plus 8 (TLC, 8pm and 11pm). Jon and Kate show the kids the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit where they spent their first several weeks.
Wendy Watson finds herself in a parallel universe in the season finale of The Middleman (ABC Family, 9pm and 11pm). This should be fun! But then episodes of this show are always fun. If you’re a fan of the show, be sure to visit the official website for the show and let ABC Family know you like it (by visiting lots of pages there, posting there, writing to ABC Family). If you’re a fan, you’ll also want to check out the MiddleBlog where you’ll find all sorts of cool stuff including lists of pop culture references made in the episodes. Episodes of the show are available on the website and from .
No new episode of Weeds this week, just reruns from earlier in the season. The final two episodes of this season will air on September 8th and September 15th.
Tonight’s new episode of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations (Travel Channel, 9pm, 10pm, 1am) is titled “So Long Summer” and features “highlights of the show’s silliest, biggest and baddest moments.”
The series premiere of Raising The Bar (TNT, 9pm and midnight, also airs at 10pm on Tuesday) airs without commercial interruption tonight on TNT. The show will air on Mondays after The Closer until the end of this season of The Closer when the show will take over the 8pm Monday timeslot on TNT. This new series was created by Steven Bochco; it’s about a group of lawyers who are friends, but also work together or face up against each other in court.
Mark-Paul Gosselaar (of NYPD Blue, Saved By The Bell) stars as a public defender on Raising the Bar, his boss is played by Gloria Reuben (of ER) who unfortunately isn’t given much to do on the show in the episodes I’ve seen. Gosselaar’s character seems to often face off against a judge played by Jane Kaczmarek (of Malcolm in the Middle), and their interaction is especially heated in this episode. J. August Richards, who was “Gunn” on Angel, plays someone who works in the district attorney’s office. Rounding out the cast are Teddy Sears, Melissa Sagemiller (of Sleeper Cell), Currie Graham (of Men in Trees), and Jonathan Scarfe.
Raising The Bar reminds me a bit of Law & Order: Trial By Jury and not just because J. August Richards is in it. Young attorneys who know each other from college work and have relationships with each other. One of them works for the cranky judge, but has a secret life. Others work as public defenders or for the district attorney. It’s awfully convenient how the main character always is in the court of the one judge in the first three episodes, but that’s just the way TV is sometimes. I liked the first three episodes, though think the commercials have hyped this show a bit too much– it’s not a great show right now, just an okay legal drama with a little personal drama mixed in. I actually liked the first episode the least of the three episodes I’ve screened so if you aren’t wild about tonight’s episode, you might want to give the show another chance to win you over.
Josh Bernstein investigates the mysteries of the Chachapoya civilization in northern Peru on a new Into the Unknown with Josh Bernstein (Discovery, 9pm and 1am).
New episode of Date My Ex: Jo & Slade (Bravo, 9pm, 10pm, midnight).
Late Night
The Daily Show and The Colbert Report aren’t on tonight.
Penelope Cruz, Danny Way, Randy Newman on a rerun of The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm).
Jack Black, Caroline Gurtz, Conor Oberst on a rerun of The Tonight Show (NBC, 10:35pm).
Julie Bowen, Jonathan Winters, Priscilla Ahn on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (CBS, 11:37pm).
Steve Carell, Alyson Hannigan, Duffy on a rerun of Late Night with Conan O’Brien (NBC, 11:37pm).
Don Rickles, Maurice Greene (of Dancing with the Stars), The Game on a rerun of Jimmy Kimmel Live (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).
