Laurel’s TV Picks

Best Bets

Series premiere of 90210 (CW, 7pm – 9pm; airs again on Thursday at 7pm)
Season premiere of The Shield (FX, 9pm, 10pm)
Gov. Charlie Crist on a new The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Comedy Central, 10pm and midnight)
New The Colbert Report (Comedy Central, 10:30pm and 12:30am)
Katey Sagal, Nathan Fillion on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (CBS, 11:37pm)

Recommended Reruns

House (FOX, 7pm – 9pm)
NCIS (CBS, 7pm)

News & Notes

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Primetime Grid

Series premiere

Series premiere of 90210 (CW, 7pm – 9pm; airs again on Thursday at 7pm). Yes, it debuts on 9/02, which amuses me. The CW opted not to send any episodes of this show to critics so I haven’t seen it and can’t tell you what I think. Bummer. This is, as you’ve probably heard, a new series based on Beverly Hills, 90210. Here’s a link to a video promo for the show that the CW posted to YouTube back in May. You can check out the official website for the show to find out more.

Rob Estes (of Women’s Murder Club) plays “Harry Wilson” who is the new principal of West Beverly Hills High School; he moves from Kansas with his family back to the area where he grew up. Lori Loughlin (of Summerland, Full House) plays his wife, Shenae Grimes (of Degrassi: The Next Generation) plays their daughter Annie, and Tristan Wilds (who was “Michael” on The Wire) plays their adopted son Dixon. Jessica Walter, who was “Lucille Bluth” on Arrested Development, plays Harry’s mother, who happens to be a former TV star. Dixon and Annie’s schoolmates are played by Dustin Milligan (of Runaway), AnnaLynne McCord, Jessica Stroup, and Michael Steger. Ryan Eggold plays an English teacher at the school. Jennie Garth and Shannen Doherty make special appearances, reprising the roles they played on Beverly Hills, 90210.

Rob Thomas (of Veronica Mars, Cupid) wrote the script for the first hour of the series, but it has since been rewritten by Gabe Sachs and Jeff Judah, who penned the second hour of the series as well. They’ve worked on What About Brian, life as we know it, Freaks and Geeks, and Undeclared. Thomas won’t be running the show as he’s focusing on other projects (like the remake of his series Cupid), but last I heard he remains an executive producer on the series.

The regular timeslot for 90210 is Tuesdays at 7pm; shows that will air opposite it are: NCIS (CBS, new season starts on 9/23), House (FOX, new season starts on 9/16), The Biggest Loser (NBC, new season starts 9/16), and Opportunity Knocks (ABC, series premieres on 9/23). The new CW series Privileged debuts next week, it will air on Tuesdays after 90210.

Primetime

Expect coverage of the Republican National Convention on all the usual cable news stations and so forth. The network coverage airs at 9pm on ABC, CBS, and NBC and tonight they should be covering the convention more tonight.

Amy makes a decision about her future plans for school on a new episode of The Secret Life of the American Teenager (ABC Family, 7pm and 11pm; also on Friday at 5pm).

Follow rookies Glenn Dorsey, Darren McFadden, Aqib Talib, Rashard Mendenhall and Caleb Campbell as they prepare to make their NFL debut in Hey Rookie, Welcome to the NFL, Part 1 (ESPN2, 7pm; also on Thursday at 2pm).

Baseball: Astros at Cubs (WGN, 7pm).

Rerun of the two-part season finale of House (FOX, 7pm – 9pm). If you watch the show and somehow missed these episodes or if you don’t remember how the season ended, you’ll want to catch these. House is in an accident while on a bus. Episodes are: “House’s Head” and “Wilson’s Heart” and they’re chock full o’ angst. I’ve seen the first two episodes of the new season and the events of these episodes definitely do color what happens this year on the show. The House season premiere is scheduled to air on Tuesday, September 16th.

Dr. Cameron: “You’re staying the night. We need to monitor your brain for swelling.”
House: “How much bigger could it get?”
  from House

Rerun of the season finale of NCIS (CBS, 7pm). Or at least one half of it. More angst from this finale as well. The season premiere is set to air on Tuesday, September 23rd.

Tennis: U.S. Open continues on USA.

Back to back reruns of Eureka (Sci-Fi, 7pm, 8pm). These are the most recent episodes, the first has the wedding and the second involves a mummy. It’s a bummer there’s no new episode tonight, but the show will be back with a new episode next Tuesday.

New episode of Gavin and Stacy (BBC America, 7:40pm, 10:40pm, 12:40am). DVR/VCR Alert: This comedy has a run time of 40 minutes.

New episode of The First 48 (A&E, 8pm and midnight). A grandfather is shot after answering his front door, an elderly man is found strangled in his bedroom.

New episode of Food Detectives (Food Network, 8pm and 11pm).

New episode of Making the Band 4 (MTV, 8pm and 10pm; also on Wednesday at 1pm and 7pm).

Casey and Ashleigh are interested in the same guy at a party in this new episode of Greek (ABC Family, 8pm; also on Wednesday at 11pm).

Sisters in Cornwall install a wind turbine, a Somerset family begins livestock farming in this new episode of It’s Not Easy Being Green (Sundance, 8pm; also on Friday at 9am and Sunday at 2pm). DVR/VCR Alert: This show has a runtime of 35 minutes.

New episode of The Stagers (HGTV, 8:30pm and 12:30am).

I could enthuse about the season premiere of The Shield (FX, 9pm, 10pm; also airs at 10pm on both Saturday and Sunday), but I’m not sure what the point would be. If you’re a fan of the show, you’ll want to watch the season premiere of the final season of the show. If you aren’t a fan of the show, this is not the place to start as this really is a show you’ve got to watch from beginning to end. All signs point to this being another intense and sometimes surprising season of this great show. In tonight’s episode, Vic challenges Shane and deals with the threats to his family; and a federal agent comes to town.

Rerun of an episode of How to Look Good Naked (Lifetime, 9pm; also airs on Friday at 8am).

An old friend asks William for help with a troubled student who is using heroin and prescription drugs in this new episode of The Cleaner (A&E, 9pm, 10pm, 1am, 2am).

New episode of The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency (Oxygen, 9pm, 10pm, 11pm, 1am).

A look at flight on a new episode of Evolve (History Channel, 9pm and 1am).

New episode of Million Dollar Listing (Bravo, 9pm, 10pm, 1am).

A look at “specialty models” in a new episode of The Secret Lives of Women (We, 9pm and midnight).

Pamela Anderson travels to Abu Dhabi for a charity event in this new episode of Pam: Girl on the Loose (E!, 9pm and 12:30am). This is a new timeslot for the show.

New episode of From G’s to Gents (MTV, 9pm and 11pm; also on Wednesday at 3pm and 6pm).

Late Night

Gov. Charlie Crist on a new episode of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Comedy Central, 10pm and midnight). Filmed in St. Paul, Minnesota which is where the Republican National Convention is being held this week.

New episode of General Hospital: Night Shift (Soap Network, 10pm; also on Saturday at 5am and 5pm).

Rerun of the series premiere of Raising the Bar (TNT, 10pm).

New episode of My House is Worth What? (HGTV, 10pm and 2am).

New episode of The Colbert Report (Comedy Central, 10:30pm and 12:30am).

Nicolas Cage, Anna Torv, Terrence Howard on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm).

Russell Brand, Eva Longoria Parker, Ingrid Michaelson on The Tonight Show (NBC, 10:35pm).

Katey Sagal, Nathan Fillion (of Dr. Horrible, Desperate Housewives, Drive, Firefly) on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (CBS, 11:37pm).

Jarod Miller, Jason Lezak, Ra Ra Riot on Late Night with Conan O’Brien (NBC, 11:37pm).

Jo Frost, Taye Diggs (of Private Practice), Judas Priest on Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC, check your local listings).

Rob Corddry, Steve Hely, Vali Chandrasekaran on a rerun of Last Call with Carson Daly (NBC, check your local listings).