Laurel’s TV Picks

Best Bets

Series premiere of FlashForward (ABC, 7pm; also on Fri)
New Bones (FOX, 7pm)
Season premiere of CSI (CBS, 8pm)
Season premiere of Grey’s Anatomy (ABC, 8pm – 10pm)
Season premiere of The Mentalist (CBS, 9pm)
Craig Ferguson, Kristin Chenoweth, Snow Patrol on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm)

Daytime

Jay-Z, Barbra Streisand on Oprah (syndicated, check your local listings).

Primetime Grid

Primetime

MLB: Detroit at Cleveland (MLB Network, 6pm).

Series premiere of FlashForward (ABC, 7pm; airs again on Friday at 7pm). Of all the new series, this is the one that intrigues me the most. (Sadly ABC no longer believes in sending episodes of their shows to critics, so I haven’t seen it.) Joseph Fiennes stars; alon with John Cho, Courtney B. Vance (of Law & Order: Criminal Intent), Peyton List, Dominic Monaghan (of Lost), and a bunch of others. The series is, at least in some part, based on the novels by Robert Sawyer. Brannon Braga & David S. Goyer are the series creators. What would happen if everyone blacked out for 2 minutes and during that time saw a glimpse of what would happen in the future? That’s the basic premise, I suspect it’s best to just watch the show and see it unfold.

Booth and Brennan investigate the murder of a CIA agent on Bones (FOX, 7pm). Michael Grant Terry returns as intern Wendell.

I’m amused by the fact that tonight’s new episode of The Vampire Diaries (CW, 7pm) is titled “Friday Night Bites”.

Tom and Leslie discover marijuana planted in the community garden on Parks & Recreation (NBC, 7:30pm).

Special two-hour season premiere of Grey’s Anatomy (ABC, 8pm – 10pm). The first hour deals with aftermath from last season’s finale, including a funeral presumably. I’ve hated how off-screen stuff has affected this show, but am still sticking with it; I hope this season is better than last season. Jessica Capshaw has been made a series regular (she plays “Arizona”). Guest stars tonight include: Debra Monk, Martha Plimpton, Mitch Pileggi, and Amy Madigan.

The team investigates the death of a famous young actress killed in a traffic accident on the season premiere of CSI (CBS, 8pm). Jorja Fox returns to the show as “Sara Sidle”.

A construction worker goes missing and is drawn into a tunnel filled with human remains, Walter attempts to simulate travel between realities on frogs on Fringe (FOX, 8pm).

Toby and Dwight “go undercover” to investigate a worker’s comp claim on The Office (NBC, 8pm).

Sam decides to give up hunting, but a late night visitor won’t let him on Supernatural (CW, 8pm). Dean teams up with Castiel to try and stop the apocalypse.

New Extreme Cuisine with Jeff Corwin (Food Network, 8pm and 11pm; also on Saturday at 6pm).

New episode of Skins (BBC America, 8pm, 11pm, 1am).

New episode of of House Hunters (HGTV, 8pm and midnight).

Jeff’s attempt to become Britta’s partner for a class project backfires on Community (NBC, 8:30pm).

Patrick Jane and the team are not happy when they learn that the Red John case has been reassigned to another CBI team in the season premiere of The Mentalist (CBS, 9pm). Terry Kinney joins the cast in a recurring role as the head of the CBS team that has been assigned to the Red John case.

The gang goes on a road trip to the Grand Canyon on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (FX, 9pm – 9:31pm, 10:02pm – 10:32pm; also on Saturday at 10:30pm).

New episode of Project Runway (Lifetime, 9pm, 10:30pm, midnight).

New L.A. Ink (TLC, 9pm and 11pm).

New Ace of Cakes (Food Network, 9pm and midnight).

Rush Limbaugh, Smokey Robinson with Joss Stone on The Jay Leno Show (NBC, 9pm).

New episode of The Real Housewives of Atlanta (Bravo, 9pm, 10pm, 11:30pm).

Late Night

Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Comedy Central, 10pm and midnight).

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

Craig Ferguson, Kristin Chenoweth (Emmy winner for her work on Pushing Daisies), Snow Patrol, a Top Ten List presented by New Zealand Prime Minister John Key on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm).

Dave Salmoni, Joel McHale (of Community), India.Arie on The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien (NBC, 10:35pm).

Jason Schwartzman, Angela Kinsey on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (CBS, 11:35pm).

Rob Lowe, Lisa Lampanelli, pizza throwers Chris Green, Sam Niemeier and Ryan Larose, a special appearance by Tommy Lasorda on Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC, 11:05pm).

Megan Fox, Anthony Anderson (of Law & Order), Phoenix on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (NBC, 11:35pm).

Mike Henry, Chris Hui, Paolo Nutini on Last Call with Carson Daly (NBC, 12:35am).