Laurel’s TV Picks

Best Bets

New My Name Is Earl (NBC, 7pm)
New Grey’s Anatomy (ABC, 8pm – 9:01pm)
New CSI (CBS, 8pm)
New 30 Rock (NBC, 8:30pm)
New Life on Mars (ABC, 9:01pm)
New Eleventh Hour (CBS, 9pm)
Anthony Edwards returns to ER (NBC, 9pm)
Bruce Willis, Sia on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm)

News & Notes

The Sci-Fi Channel has ordered a second season of Sanctuary.

The CW has ordered five more episodes of Privileged. Yay! (That means so far there are 18 episodes on order for this season.)

Multiple sources are reporting that NBC has canceled My Own Worst Enemy and Lipstick Jungle, though I haven’t seen a press release or anything official from NBC yet. I wanted to like My Own Worst Enemy, but the first episodes have been a disappointing mess. I’ve actually been enjoying this season of Lipstick Jungle, but I’m not all that brokenhearted to hear it’ll be ending. (I still miss Men in Trees and Women’s Murder Club, which were two recent shows with strong female leads that I liked more.) It sounds like they’re gonna finish filming the ninth episode of My Own Worst Enemy before pulling the plug. Thirteen episodes of Lipstick Jungle have already been filmed for this season. It looks like they’re going to continue airing episodes, possibly until they run out, but networks frequently change their minds about struggling shows– I’ll keep you apprised of any new developments.

One possible good result of the cancellation of these two NBC shows is that it may mean Medium will return to take over one of their timeslots once their runs are complete. I’d like to see Medium return to Monday nights and could easily see it following Heroes.

FOX has announced that this will be the last season for Mad TV. Though there’s an outside chance some other station will try to pick up the show.

Joshua Malina (of Big Shots, The West Wing, and Sports Night) has been cast in a recurring role for the next season of In Plain Sight. No word yet on when season two will air.

Daytime

Jennifer Aniston, Beyonce, and Owen Wilson on a new Oprah (syndicated, check your local listings).

Primetime Grid

Primetime

Jason Priestly (of Beverly Hills 90210) guest stars as Earl’s successful cousin on My Name Is Earl (NBC, 7pm). Earl remembers his first wedding anniversary with Joy. And there are killer bees in Camden county– yikes!

Betty needs to reach Daniel to stop an issue of Mode from shipping which could result in a PR nightmare on Ugly Betty (ABC, 7pm). Of course Daniel is hard to reach when Betty needs him. And Hilda starts an illegal business.

Brainiac quite literally messes with Chloe’s mind on Smallville (CW, 7pm).

Visits to Smith & Wesson, Dreyer’s, Simmons Mattress, and Diamond Match factories on a new Factory Floor with Marshall Brain (National Geographic, 7pm and 10pm; also on Saturday at 11am).

“Corn” is the subject of a new How Stuff Works (Discovery, 7pm and 11pm).

NBA hoops on TNT: Nuggets at Cavaliers (TNT, 7pm), Pistons at Warriors (TNT, 9:30pm).

Fred Goss guest stars as Phil’s best friend on Kath & Kim (NBC, 7:30pm).

One of Meredith’s oldest friends becomes an intern at Seattle Grace on Grey’s Anatomy (ABC, 8pm – 9:01pm); Meredith’s friend Sadie is played by Melissa George (of In Treatment, Alias, and Thieves). And Mary McDonnell (of Battlestar Galactica) begins a stint on the show as a new surgeon at the hospital. Today ABC announced that Kevin McKidd (of Journeyman) will be joining the cast as a regular (he’s the new head of trauma, he’s been listed as a guest star up ’til now). This episode was directed by Eric Stoltz. In case you somehow missed the big news, last week’s episode was the last for Brooke Smith as Erica Hahn– the character was written out of the show rather abruptly which I think was a mistake.

There’s a shooting in the middle of Koreatown and none of the witnesses will say anything (or at least not anything useful) on CSI (CBS, 8pm). Guest stars include Patrick Labyorteaux (of JAG) and Lauren Tom (of Men in Trees, Futurama).

Michael goes on a business trip to Canada on The Office (NBC, 8pm). And Jim can’t wait for Pam to return from art school.

There’s a girl who can hear angels and then Sam tells Dean what happened while he was in Hell on Supernatural (CW, 8pm). The episode is titled “I Know What You Did Last Summer”.

Jennifer Aniston (of Friends) guest stars as a friend of Liz and Jenna’s who pays them a visit and then becomes obsessed with Jack on 30 Rock (NBC, 8:30pm). When Kenneth is upset, Tracy arranges a surprise for him that involves the cast of Night Court. Harry Anderson, Markie Post, and Charlie Robinson appear in this episode which is titled “The One with the Cast of Night Court”. Get it? Because Aniston is on the show?

There’s a hostage situation at County Hospital (not County General?) on Life on Mars (ABC, 9:01pm). Bill Irwin and Lisa Bonet guest star. Sam has more confusion between past and present or however you want to put it. He must at some point see himself as being part of a soap opera because Grant Aleksander is listed in the credits as playing “soap opera doctor” and Elizabeth Hubbard is listed as “Sam’s soap opera mother”. And Alicia Minshew is listed as his “soap opera nurse”. This is very cool if you’re a soap fan as Aleksander played “Philip Spaulding” on Guiding Light for years and Elizabeth Hubbard plays “Lucinda Walsh” on As The World Turns. Alicia Minshew plays “Kendall Hart Slater” on All My Childen. I really wish Aleksander would return to Guiding Light, but then there are many actors I wish would/could return to that show.

A body that is frozen solid shows up on a sunny beach on the hottest day of the year on Eleventh Hour (CBS, 9pm).

Anthony Edwards returns to ER (NBC, 9pm) as Dr. Mark Greene in this special episode of the series. How? During the course of this episode, Dr. Banfield (played by Angela Bassett) has flashbacks to a trip she and her husband (played by her real life husband Courtney B. Vance) made to the ER years ago where Dr. Greene treated their son. Other actors return to the show to play the characters they played during Greene’s last year at the hospital– I could tell you who they are, but figure it might be fun to be surprised. I stopped watching the show a few years ago, but NBC sent me this episode and I watched it. Is a good episode where we learn a lot about Banfield as she works a tough case in the present and flashes back to a traumatic event of her own that took place in the same hospital. Bassett, Vance, and Edwards are all great in this episode.

Venus Williams and Wyclef Jean on a new Iconoclasts (Sundance Channel, 9pm and 1am; also airs on Friday at Noon, Saturday at 8am, Sunday at 1pm).

A woman needs to update her wardrobe after she receives a promotion on Tim Gunn’s Guide to Style (Bravo, 9pm and 10pm).

A look at what killed the Aztecs on Naked Science (National Geographic, 9pm and midnight; also on Saturday at Noon).

The gang tries to give a family an extreme home makeover on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (FX, 9pm, 10pm; also on Friday at 10pm). Oh dear.

Kat and her fellow smokers from the shop seek help quitting smoking from a hypnotist on L.A. Ink (TLC, 9pm and 11pm).

Sarah is oblivious to the fact that she’s nine-months pregnant– she just thinks she’s really bloated on a new episode of The Sarah Silverman Program (Comedy Central, 9:30pm and 11:30pm).

Ron and Peter test an experimental new pheromone spray that makes them irresistible to women on Testees (FX, 9:30pm and 10:30pm; also on Friday at 10:30pm).

Late Night

Bill O’Reilly on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Comedy Central, 10pm and midnight).

Stephen Moore on The Colbert Report (Comedy Central, 10:30pm and 12:30am).

Bruce Willis, Sia on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm).

Anderson Cooper, Bobb’e J. Thompson, Sarah McLachlan on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (NBC, 10:35pm).

Paul Rudd, John Stamos, Boz Scaggs on Late Night with Conan O’Brien (NBC, 11:37pm).

Andy Richter, Cold War Kids on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (CBS, 11:37pm).

Daniel Craig, Olga Kurylenko, Ben Folds on Jimmy Kimmel (ABC, check your local listings).

Gideon Yago, Kathy Griffin on Last Call with Carson Daly (NBC, check your local listings).