tv

next week 5/5

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New and notable for the week to come:

Monday

  • Two and a Half Men (CBS, 9pm) – Thursday’s CSI writer’s swap with these guys whilst George Eads makes a pop by to see the men this evening.

Tuesday

  • Dancing with the Stars (ABC, 8/9pm) – It’s the 100th episode at 9 after we see the judges all-time top 10 at 8.

Wednesday

  • Audition: Barbara Walter’s Journey (ABC, 10pm) – She’s got an autobiography out where she talks about sleeping with some senator forever ago, if that’s the most interesting who knows what else she’ll talk about.

Thursday

  • Scrubs (NBC, 8:30) Season Finale – Hard to tell the difference between fantasy and the regular show, but this one takes it down the fairy-tale road.

Friday

  • TV’s All-Time Funniest (ABC, 8pm) – I don’t know that recounting what’s funny is all that funny, but for nostalgia’s sake…

Saturday

  • I can’t talk about movies of the week again, so perhaps go to an actual theater.

Sunday

  • Survivor (CBS, 8/10pm) Season Finale – I don’t watch this show anymore but I think they still have a good balance of playing the game and keeping it interesting, the two-hour finale is followed by the reunion show.
  • Brothers and Sisters (ABC, 10pm) Season Finale – This family drives me crazy but I’m still watching them get into mischief and in each other’s way.
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next week 3/17

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Monday

  • The Big Bang Theory/How I Met Your Mother/Two and a Half Men (CBS, 8/8:30/9pm) – Back after a little strike lull! They’ll keep The New Adventures of Old Christine company.
  • Dancing With the Stars (ABC, 8pm; also Tues, 9pm) Season Premiere – A new gang cuts some rug, again not exactly A-list but some sports and interestingly the deaf Marlee Matlin.
  • The Bachelor (ABC, 9:30pm) Season Premiere – The single guy London style, who will get the rose? Of course who cares, they’ll break up soon anyhow.

Tuesday

  • It’s the Easter Beagle Charlie Brown (ABC, 8pm) – Looks like Easter must be coming, at least for the Peanuts gang.
  • The Riches (FX, 10pm) Season Premiere – This con family kept me on the edge of my seat as they pretended to be The Riches, it’s tough pretending to be a lawyer and his family whilst your con friends are out to get you.
  • Miss/Guided (ABC, 10:30; returns on Thurs 8/8:30pm) Series Premiere – The delightful Judy Greer returns to her alma mater as a guidance counselor for some old and new high school fun.

Wednesday

  • Well I’ll probably tune into acronym city ANTM, AI, and then L&O.

Thursday

  • Lost (ABC, 9pm) – Last for a couple of weeks before we get the new post strike eps going late April, I have been digging this season.
  • Lipstick Jungle (NBC, 10pm) Season Finale – And done. For now, and forever?

Friday/Saturday

  • Netflix, cineplex, book? – Though they are playing the next ep of Jezebel Friday, I’ll set the tivo just in case.

Sunday

  • The L Word (Show, 9pm) Season Finale -The fifth season wraps up as the ladies… uh I don’t know… I don’t get Showtime and I’ve never watched this show but since it’s about lesbians I assume it’s mostly ladies…
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tv catch up

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As the strike continues some of you may be at a loss for what to watch. This might be a good time to catch up on early seasons of some good shows that you may have missed out on. Here are some of my favorites that are worth a look, or even a second look:

  • Bones (Season 1 and 2) – Great chemistry between Bones and Booth and a fun supporting cast as the squints/lab kids help the FBI solve crimes through forensic anthropology, think of it as CSI/Crossing Jordan for the bodies that are just bones.
  • Brothers & Sisters (Season 1) – A fun soapy drama about partly dysfunctional and totally loving family with a great cast, although uneven there’s always something interesting going on from matriarch Sally Field to newest Walker Emily Van Camp.
  • Grey’s Anatomy (Seasons 1-3) – More soapy fun, and the best was the first season as we first meet our surgical interns and get involved in their work and romance, mostly romance at work,  I’m even ok with the fact that Meredith bugs.
  • Heroes (Season 1) – The first season introduces us to our ‘heroes’ as they get their powers and their plotlines bring them together, somewhat uneven as they get rolling but engaging from the start and riveting by the end.
  • House (Seasons 1-3) – Crotchety, drug addicted, medical genius is how he’s portrayed and you get to watch him abuse patients and coworkers as he tries to diagnose the undiagnosable patients and somehow pretty entertaining, mostly thanks to Laurie but good surrounding folks for him to play off of.
  • Lost (Seasons 1-3) – This show has a faithful following partly because it’s really different and really well done with the interplay of on island action and back story character development, and partly because you really can’t miss an episode for fear of missing some big explanation.
  • Prison Break (Season 1 – Season 2 also available) – I recommend this with a warning, I loved the first season fun, watching one guy’s plan to break his brother out of prison, and watching it mostly getting thrown for a loop, but was super annoyed by the second, I have yet to tune into the third.

Maybe you’re more of a 1/2 hour comedy sort of person? How ’bout:

  • Girlfriends (Seasons 1-3) – Four sassy mostly professional gals deal with life and love and each other and their one guy pal through their different experiences.
  • How I Met Your Mother  (Seasons 1 & 2) – Hopeless romantic Ted tells his tales of love, but its the ensemble cast that makes this work, as theoretically we eventually meet Ted’s true love.
  • My Name is Earl (Seasons 1 & 2) – I find Jason Lee kind of endearing in general and enjoy his bad guy turned good, using his lottery winning to fix his karma by righting his wrongs, with the help, or harm, of his misfit friends.
  • The New Adventures of Old Christine (Season 1) – Julia Louis-Dreyfus found a great format for her broad humor as she plays a hapless single mom hanging with her family and friends trying to get her act together.
  • The Office (Seasons 1-3) – A painful office (based on the British series) at first pained me to think of why I’d want to watch at the end of a day at the office, but its oddball characters and biting humor won me over.
  • Scrubs (Seasons 1-6) – Hospital comedy seen through the eyes of goofball JD as he and his buddies treat patients… well it’s kind of like Grey’s Anatomy but shorter and wackier.
  • 30 Rock (Season 1) – This show took a little while to find its rhythm but when it does this behind the scenes look at a sketch show gets it super right with Tina Fey at the helm.
  • Two and a Half Men (Seasons 1 & 2) – Kind of an Odd Couple, where the guys are brothers and one of them has a kid (at least shared custody), sometimes kind of a crass humor, but pretty good humor nonetheless.
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my schedule

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Well almost everything has started and until they cancel more stuff, move stuff around, or we get to midseason changes. Here is where things seem to be settling in for me for watching, or at least tivo backlog. (I do try to narrow things down to no more than two shows per time slot.)

Monday

  • 8pm NBC – Chuck (CBS – How I Met Your Mother)
  • 9pm NBC – Heroes (CBS – Two and a Half Men/Samantha Who?)

Tuesday

  • 8pm Fox – Bones
  • 9pm Fox – House (CW – Reaper)
  • 10pm NBC – L&O SVU

Wednesday

  • 8pm ABC – Pushing Daisies (CW – ANTM or in repeats Sun 9pm)
  • 9pm CW – Gossip Girl (NBC – Bionic Woman)
  • 10pm ABC – Dirty Sexy Money

Thursday

  • 8/8:30pm NBC – My Name is Earl/30 Rock
  • 9/9:30pm NBC – The Office/Scrubs (ABC – Grey’s Anatomy)

Friday

  • 10pm CBS – Numb3rs

Sunday

  • 5pm CW – (encore) Girlfriends
  • 10pm ABC – Brothers and Sisters

And for a full grid of the current listings check out a couple of sites that I find helpful:

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more returning fall tv

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So in addition to the fall favorites there are some other shows that tend to hit my tivo:

  • 2 1/2 Men – (CBS, Mon 9/24, 9:00) This sitcom sometimes errs on the crass side of comedy but for the most part they’ve made these somewhat stereotypical characters pretty funny, think Felix and Oscar as brothers only Oscar has a crude, lazy, maybe stupid kid.
  • 30 Rock – (NBC, Thurs 10/4, 8:30) A ‘comedic’ look at behind the scenes of a SNL type show, the characters and stories started to get a good groove toward the end of the season.
  • America’s Next Top Model (ANTM) – (CW, Wed 9/19, 8:00) Ok I admit it, this show is super cheesy, but it’s a pretty good mix of actual challenges and model judging with that unbelievable stupid crazy that reality shows (and probably reality) tend to find.
  • Bones – (Fox, Tues 9/25, 8:00) So maybe I tuned into this just because I would watch anything Angel moved on to, but he and his not yet romantic partner both have good characters and chemistry as she, a forensic anthropologist, and her team, help out the FBI.
  • Brothers and Sisters – (ABC, Thurs 9/30, 10:00) I still don’t love Calista, but again I found myself looking forward to this show. This soapy mess of a family deals with business and personal drama that they mostly create themselves, though much was initially triggered by secrets hidden by the recently deceased patriarch of the family.
  • House – (Fox, Tues 9/25, 9:00) I watch it, but I find the fact that since they are always dealing with a difficult disease in a short amount of time they basically look like they try a bunch of stuff that isn’t working for an hour until they land on the right thing mostly just in time. Also though the House character is too over the top, Hugh Laurie does do a great job.
  • My Name is Earl – (NBC, Thurs 9/27, 8:00) I just sort of like Jason Lee as the bumbling white trash small time crook trying to right his wrongs, with the crazy cast of supporting characters.
  • The New Adventures of Old Christine – (CBS, Midseason) Julia Louis-Dreyfus finally found a good vehicle to do her own brand of self deprecating and physical comedy while she deals with trying to reenter the dating world, among other things, with support from her family and friends.
  • Numb3rs – (CBS, Fri 9/28, 10:00) A relatively formulaic crime show, I guess I like the way they use math to solve the crimes, explaining complex algorithms with silly metaphors, and the family dynamic with math wiz, fbi guy, and normal guy dad.
  • The Office – (NBC, Thurs 9/27, 9:00) I was pained at first by watching annoying people in an office, I mean don’t we all get enough of that at our own offices, but this US version seems to have hit it’s stride with some added subtlety to the comic folks.
  • Scrubs – (NBC, Thurs 10/25, 8:30) This hospital comedy has a pretty good dose of ridiculous characters and scenarios but I think it works.

I do tend to hold some procedurals ’til summer reruns: L&O, L&O: SVU, and Criminal Minds with the occasional dash of CSI.

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