Laurel’s TV Picks

Best Bets

New Lost (ABC, 8pm – 9:02pm; airs again next Wed)
New Life (NBC, 8pm)
New Lie To Me (FOX, 8pm)
New Law & Order (NBC, 9pm)
New Damages (FX, 9pm, 10:01pm, midnight)
New Life on Mars (ABC, 9:02pm)
Steve Martin on The Colbert Report (Comedy Central, 10:30pm and 12:30am)
Jon Hamm, Ginnifer Goodwin, Theresa Andersson on Late Night with Conan O’Brien (NBC, 11:37pm)

News & Notes

8pm on Wednesday nights is shaping up to be another tough timeslot for fans of good TV who can only watch and record so many shows at one time. I always watch Criminal Minds, Lost, and Life; plus I’ve liked what I’ve seen of Lie To Me so far. If you’re willing (and able) to watch episodes online, episodes of Lost are available the day after they air on the ABC website; ABC has also been rebroadcasting episodes of Lost the following week at 7pm on Wednesday. FOX has been making full episodes of Lie To Me available on their website. Episodes of Life are available for free on the Hulu website; tonight’s episode should be available starting tomorrow.

No new Criminal Minds or CSI: NY tonight, those shows will be back with new episodes next Wednesday at 8pm and 9pm respectively.

Primetime Grid

Primetime

George Carlin is the posthumous recipient of the Mark Twain Prize for comedy in George Carlin: The Mark Twain Prize (PBS, check your local listings). I guess Carlin died one week after learning he’d receive the 2008 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.

Tiki Barber guest stars as a “tough-as-nails drill sergeant” on Knight Rider (NBC, 7pm). Mike infiltrates a fight club.

Demolition experts bring down urban buildings in Glasgow, Scotland, and Alabama in a new episode of The Detonators (Discovery Channel, 7pm and 11pm).

Someone knows the truth about Aaron’s real parents and they continue to pester Kate in tonight’s new episode of Lost (ABC, 8pm; also next Wednesday at 7pm). And the shifts in time continue for those on the island. Fun! Tom Irwin guest stars as a lawyer, Stephanie Niznik (who was “Nina” on Everwood) guest stars as a doctor.

A retired NASA pilot is shot to death mid-flight in the winter premiere of Life (NBC, 8pm). The show returns after a winter break with this new episode. Crews was shot at the end of the last episode, this episode finds Crews trying to remember who shot him.

The team investigates a NASA test pilot and looks into the murder of the daughter of a federal judge on a new Lie To Me (FOX, 8pm). Isabella Hofmann guest stars as the judge, I remember her best for playing “Megan Russert” on Homicide: Life on the Street, but she’s been on a lot of other TV shows as well.

Herbie Hancock is Elvis Costello’s guest on Spectacle (Sundance, 8pm; also on Thursday at 7pm and 11pm, Sunday at 1am and 11am, and next Monday at 11pm).

Katie Couric interviews Justin Timberlake, Lil Wayne, Katy Perry, and Taylor Swift in Katie Couric’s All Access Grammy Special (CBS, 8pm). Criminal Minds returns with a new episode at 8pm next Wednesday.

Cast members reunite on Beverly Hills, 90210: The Reunion Show (Biography Channel, 8pm and midnight).

I’m sure they cover the Super Bowl on a new Inside the NFL (Showtime, 8pm).

Dog the Bounty Hunter (A&E, 8:30pm) returns with a new episode and 12:30am).

Patty begins to suspect Ellen’s motives for returning to the firm, she also tries to stop a corporate merger that she thinks may be connected to Christine Purcell’s murder in a new episode of Damages (FX, 9pm, 10:01pm, midnight; also on Sunday at 11:01pm). DVR Alert: this episode has a running time of 61 minutes. Last week’s episode sure packed a punch, didn’t it?

The investigation into the death of a police officer leads to a string of murders that involve memorabilia on a new Law & Order (NBC, 9pm). Rue McClanahan and Christopher McDonald are among the guest stars. I really think Law & Order has been great this season, better than it’s been in years.

A string of bizarre decapitations (is there any other kind?) is linked to Sam and Ray (that’s the detective played by Michael Imperioli) on a new Life on Mars (ABC, 9pm). Eric Balfour guest stars. This episode will be available on ABC.com tomorrow.

The contestants cook at Le Bernardin where their final product will be judged by chef Eric Ripert on a new Top Chef (Bravo, 9pm, 10pm, 11pm, midnight).

Two new episodes of Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns (TBS, 9pm, 9:30pm). The latter episode is the season finale.

An angry mother raccoon tries to protect her young and they also deal with a 7-foot-long beehive in the series premiere of The Exterminators (A&E, 9:30pm and 1:30am). You can find out more on the official website for the show. Here’s A&E’s description of the show:

A&E’s new original real-life series “The Exterminators,” premiering Wednesday, February 4, 2009 at 10:30pm ET/PT, follows Billy Bretherton and his family who make up Vexcon, one of Louisiana’s busiest pest removal companies, as they balance family life with the drama of running a successful business together. The 13-episode half-hour series follows the Vexcon team in their search and rescue efforts to rid clients of their most extreme pest cases, while also taking care to release as many animals as possible back into the wild. The company handles all types of removal and in the swamps of Louisiana that means big business from colonies of ants to giant snakes, Billy and his team have seen it all.

Late Night

Karen Greenberg on The Daily Show (Comedy Central, 10pm and midnight).

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

Joe Torre, Demetri Martin, Lyle Lovett and John Hiatt on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm).

Drew Barrymore, Matthew Goode, will.i.am on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (NBC, 10:35pm).

Jon Hamm (of Mad Men), Ginnifer Goodwin (of Big Love, Ed), Theresa Andersson on Late Night with Conan O’Brien (NBC, 11:37pm).

Samuel L. Jackson, Jason Hudy on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (CBS, 11:37pm).

Justin Long (of Ed), Camilla Belle, Nick Kroll on Jimmy Kimmel (ABC, check your local listings).

Yelle on Last Call with Carson Daly (NBC, check your local listings).