new and noteworthy tv: 8/30-9/5

Another week before anything really new comes out, good thing I have tennis to entertain me.

Monday

  • Diners, Drive-ins & Dives (Food, 10/10:30pm) Season Premiere – Family joints and gas stations.

Tuesday

  • Presidential Address (MSNBC, 5pm) – Obama talks Iraq.

Wednesday

  • CMA Music Festival: Country’s Night to Rock (ABC, 8pm) – Tim McGraw hosts country stars rockin’.
  • Changing Lanes (BET, 8pm) Series Premiere – Vie for a spot on Nascar, or is it at Nascar?
  • Sci-Fi Science (Sci, 7pm) Season Premiere – Earth, the galaxy…

Thursday

  • Thursday Night College Football (ESPN, 8pm) Season Premiere – I think Saturday night college football also starts this week, but don’t quote me on my football scheduling knowledge.

Friday

  • Camp Rock 2 (Disney, 8pm) – The teenyboppers rock on.

Saturday

  • US Open (ESPN2/CBS, various) – Early rounds kick off on Monday with network coverage starting Saturday and Sunday, will there be enough healthy women to compete and could we see Nadal and Federer in the final?

Sunday

  • Jerseylicious/Mel B: It’s a Scary World (Style, 8/9pm) Season/Series Premiere – Omg, who cares?
  • Freaky Eaters (TLC, 10/10:30pm) Series Premiere – Addicted to cheeseburgers or sugar or…
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new and noteworthy tv: 8/23-8/29

Monday

  • Miss Universe Pageant (NBC, 9pm) – Hosted by Bret Michaels and Natalie Morales, and it looks like Sheila E will be one of the highlights.

Tuesday

  • Made: The Movie (MTV, 10pm) – Based on the reality series this scripted version of band gal goes cheerleader.

Wednesday

  • Ghost Hunters (Syfy, 9pm) Season Premiere – Shadows, voices, noises…
  • Who the (Bleep) Did I Marry (ID, 10pm) Series Premiere – Is your spouse hiding a shocking secret?

Thursday

  • Family Style (Food, 10:30pm) Series Premiere – Planning aphrodisiac apps for a speed dating event.

Friday

  • The Gulf is Back (CW, 8pm) – Hasselhoff follows up his roast with a hosting event, a tribute to Gulf Coast residents.
  • Beyond Survival with Les Stroud (Disc, 10pm) Series Premiere – The guy from Survivorman hobnobs with indigenous locals to learn survival skills.
  • Blood Dolphins (AnPl, 11pm) Series Premiere – For those of you who appreciate Whale Wars.

Saturday

  • Persons Unknown (NBC, 9pm) Series Finale – Persons become known?

Sunday

  • Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day (CBS, 9pm) – Kicking off the US Open is the annual charity event featuring tennis greats and some random teenybopper bands.
  • Emmy Awards (NBC, 7/8pm) – From the arrivals to the awards, Jimmy Fallon hosts.
  • Border Wars (NGC, 9pm) Season Premiere – Another look into illegal immigration.
  • Amazing Wedding Cakes (WE, 10pm) Season Premiere – Another show that looks at the cakes.
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new and noteworthy tv: 8/16-8/22

Monday

  • Weeds/The Big C (Show, 10/10:30pm) Season/Series Premiere – A couple ladies who find some funny and some drama in their tough situations.
  • Hardcore Pawn (Tru, 10/10:30pm) Series Premiere – How many pawn shop reality shows does this make?

Tuesday

  • Melissa & Joey (ABCFam, 8/8:30pm) Series Premiere – Our old school sitcom stars together at last, or again… well they’re together, it’s like Who’s the Boss.
  • Big Lake (Com, 10/10:30pm) Series Premiere – A new sitcom where big city failure comes back home to smalltown crazy.

Wednesday

  • Surviving the Cut (Disc, 10pm) Series Premiere – Candidates for elite military schools.
  • She’s Got the Look (TVL, 10:30pm) Season Premiere – This is the modeling competition for ‘old’ women.

Thursday

  • Pitchmen (Disc, 6pm) Season Premiere – What will the inventors propose this season?
  • Extreme Cuisine with Jeff Corwin (Food, 8pm) Season Premiere – Starting off in New Zealand with what can only assume are weird foods.
  • Nightline Prime (ABC, 10pm) – Start of a four part series on the brain.
  • You’re Wearing That?!? (WE, 10/10:30pm) Series Premiere – Mother daughter makeover show.
  • WCG Ultimate Gamer (Syfy, 11pm) Season Premiere – Something about gamers…

Friday

  • Death Comes to Town (IFC, 7pm) – An eight part miniseries brought in by the comedic troupe Kids in the Hall.

Saturday

  • Persons Unknown (NBC, 8pm) – After watching tonight’s episode be sure the catch the next one online only before the two hour finale next week.

Sunday

  • Tennis (CBS, 9am) – The finals of the Western & Southern Masters in Cincinnati, following earlier coverage on ESPN2.
  • Delocated/Children’s Hospital (AdSw/Cart, 10/10:30pm) Season Premieres – These odd series return with made for tv episodes.
  • Swamp People (Hist, 10pm) Series Premiere – The latest reality follows folks in the swamp lands of Louisiana.
  • Family Style (Food, 10pm) Series Premiere – Siblings open an eatery in Carlsbad.
  • Keeping Up with the Kardashians/The Spin Crowd (E!, 10/10:30pm) Season/Series Premiere – The Kardashians and then we follow the opening of a PR firm.
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new and noteworthy tv: 8/9-8/15

Monday

  • Teen Choice Awards (Fox, 8pm) – Katy Perry hosts this latest surf board giveaway.
  • Bachelor Pad (ABC, 8pm) Series Premiere – All the smarmiest do a Big Brother-esque live in the same house and compete for money kind of thang.
  • Too Fat for 15 (Style, 8pm) Series Premiere – It’s like that Huge show but with real kids.
  • Wild Nights (NatGeo, 9pm) Series Premiere – Starting with New Orleans nocturnals.
  • Dating in the Dark (ABC, 10pm) Season Premiere – Can you build a real connection without seeing the other person, and when you see them will the connection break?

Tuesday

  • Flipping Out (Brav, 9pm) Season Premiere – More house flipping by some guy.
  • Swords (Disc, 6pm) Season Premiere – Hmm, I think this is swordfishing not swordfighting.
  • Hair Battle Spectacular (Oxy, 10pm) Series Premiere – Another hair cutting competition, this one is extreme.
  • IT Crowd (IFC, 7:30pm) Season Premiere – Is work advancement worth it.

Wednesday

  • Man vs Wild (Disc, 9pm) Season Premiere – What’ll Bear get into and out of this season?
  • Hard Knocks (HBO, 10pm) Season Premiere – This season we start off with the NY Jets.
  • LA Ink (TLC, 10pm) Season Premiere – New tattoos, new people.

Thursday

  • American Chopper/BBQ Pit Masters (TLC, 9/10pm) Season Premieres – Jr vs Sr and then pitmaster vs pitmaster.
  • Deadly Women (ID, 6pm) Season Premiere – Women who kill for revenge.

Friday

  • Perhaps a dvd to entertain, I might finish up Carnivale.

Saturday

  • Dew Tour (NBC/USA, sat/sun, 1pm/various) – The event also shown on USA continues the competition at this event and for the overall Dew cup.
  • Visa Championships (NBC, 8pm) – Let the gymnasts compete.
  • The Cupcake Girls (WE, 9/9:30pm) Series Premiere – The challenges of the cupcake business.

Sunday

  • The Great Food Truck Race (Food, 10pm) Series Premiere – May the most sales win.
  • Lottery Changed My Life (TLC, 10pm) Season Premiere – What would you do if you won the lottery, looking at real life people who have.
  • Roast of David Hasselhoff (Com, 10pm) – So much fodder.
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new summer show roundup

Though the summer isn’t bringing any break out shows that are a must to Tune In for , there’s enough new fluff out there for almost everyone to find something to occupy their time or at least Stay Tuned to see if it comes into its own. For the rest of you there’s always Netflix, or I guess you could turn off your tv and go outside… crazy talk…

  • 18 to Life (CW) Tune Out – Next door neighbors, young love, totally opposite families does not always equal hilarity, there just isn’t anything fresh about the situation or characters.
  • The Big C (Show) Stay Tuned – Aug 16, always worth checking out a new Showtime series, though clearly cancer is depressing, that rarely stops good drama.
  • The Bridge (CBS) Canceled – This latest Canadian import tried to bring us a sweeping drama of a regular cop taking care of police corruption, almost an interesting show but the over the top presentation of our hero and his moral choices just didn’t quite gel.
  • Children’s Hospital (Toon/Adult Swim) Stay Tuned – A web series import, has lots of perfect over the top comedy mocking all things medical drama, but what’re moments of hilarity may or may not make a sustainable series.
  • Covert Affairs (USA) Stay Tuned – She may not be the next Sydney Bristow but she’s close enough for me to tune in to see the latest caper, her support team who we may or may not trust, and of course the mystery of the lost love.
  • The Gates (ABC) Tune Out – Pull every cliched device, vampires, werewolves, witches, and of course murder, into a private community with a new big city police detective in charger and… apparently I’ll stop tuning in, not good enough or good/bad enough to be cheesy fun.
  • The Glades (A&E) Stay Tuned – Another fish out of water detective show, big city cop hits Florida and tells us he doesn’t play by the rules, but he closes cases and has a smarmy charm that no one is sure whether to buy or not, I’m engaged enough with the characters and the detecting.
  • The Good Guys (Fox) Tune Out – The latest odd couple buddy cops are almost interesting enough to keep me watching but the cases and the characters just didn’t do it, and I have to say the fine line between bumbling and successful is hard to walk, do these simple cases really turn into the big mysteries that they solve each week?
  • Haven (Syfy) Tune Out – It may be based on Stephen King’s Colorado Kid, but what it is seems to be the supernatural freak of the week mystery, of course set in small town up state New England, and the lead isn’t quite charismatic enough for me to care about her personal slant.
  • Hot in Cleveland (TVLand) Tune Out – The ladies from sitcoms gone by aren’t delving into any new territory or cutting edge laughs, but it doesn’t sound like anything more than that is needed, and the laughs are reportedly from a genuine studio audience.
  • Huge (ABCFam) Stay Tuned – I caught the first show of this and it’s not a bad family show, and I have to give it some extra credit for trying to show more than one kind of ‘fat’ kid, but it wasn’t either good enough or cheesy enough to make me tune back in, not necessarily a fault for an ABC Family show.
  • Louie (Fx) Stay Tuned – Louis CK does a Seinfeld-esque show, where he plays himself as a stand up comedian, showing some comedy and some slice of life, the difference is that both are dirtier and much more awkward than Seinfeld, he’s funny but after each show I can’t quite love it.
  • Melissa & Joey (ABCFam) Stay Tuned – Aug 17, this kind of looks like Who’s the Boss.
  • Memphis Beat (TNT) Tune Out – I’m a Jason Lee fan, and I do think he’s got the charisma to pull off one of these quirky detective roles, but the characters here and the show overall just couldn’t keep me engaged.
  • Persons Unknown (NBC) Stay Tuned – This series of folks kidnapped and trapped in a fake town, and their less interesting counterparts in the outside world trying to find out more, will undoubtedly be a mystery that is unfullfillingly resolved, but with the summer miniseries format I’m just hoping they resolve it.
  • Pretty Little Liars (ABCFam) Stay Tuned – I’m a sucker for a good cheesy soapy teen drama, and this one is cheesy and soapy enough to make up for the fact that it’s maybe not all that good, even though only half of the teens look young enough to be in high school, I keep tuning it to see whose secrets will be revealed next.
  • Rizzoli & Isles (TNT) Stay Tuned – The summer trend continues with more detectives, one is tough as nails detective and the other is maybe pays too much attention to her nails coroner, though not elevating the genre, Angie Harmon gets enough to do to keep it interesting.
  • Rubicon (AMC) Stay Tuned – This conspiracy series set in the world of code cracking is intriguing but enough on the slow side that I’m not sure whether I want to keep seeing where things are going.
  • Rookie Blue (ABC) Tune Out – Dubbed the Grey’s Anatomy of the detective world, I feel less safe on the streets with these rookies and since I also don’t care who is sleeping with whom I’m taking a pass.
  • Scoundrels (ABC) Tune Out – I like a good con family, but this family is not, good that is, in either execution or interest, as they try to go straight after the patriarch goes to jail.

And if the new shows aren’t doing it here are the somewhat fluffy returning series on my summer schedule:

Burn Notice (USA), The Closer (TNT), Drop Dead Diva (Life), Eureka (Syfy), Leverage (TNT), White Collar (USA).

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