next week 5/11

New and notable in the week ahead. Procrastinator picks underlined

Monday

  • Big Bang Theory (CBS, 8pm) Season Finale – The gang is all getting ready to take 3 months off.
  • House (Fox, 8pm) Season Finale – I believe there will be a case and they will solve it at the end of the hour.
  • Charm School (VH1, 9pm) Season Premiere – This season they add contestants from other VH! shows as Ricki Lake steps in for Sharon Osborne in trying to class up the ladies.
  • Castle (ABC, 10pm) Season Finale – Castle solves a crime, and probably.

Tuesday

  • The Biggest Loser (NBC, 8pm) Season Finale – I wish I knew this finale was three hours long before I agreed to go watch it with a friend.
  • Fringe (Fox, 9pm) Season Finale – Leonard Nimoy adds to his recent Star Trek public appearances with a guest as founder of Massive Dynamics.
  • The Real Housewives of New Jersey (Brav, 11pm) Series Premiere – The latest look at ladies of leisure.

Wednesday

  • America’s Next Top Model (CW, 8pm) Season Finale – Commercials and catwalk decide the latest model winner to drop into oblivion.
  • Lie to Me (Fox, 8pm) Season Finale – There’s lying and lie detecting.
  • Lost (ABC, 8/9pm) Season Finale – Highlights at 8 are followed by the two hour finale, I’m still 12 episodes behind so more to add to the tivo.
  • Rules of Engagement/New Adventures of Old Christine (CBS, 8/8:30pm) – Bumped by Barack last week, these two shows try out a new night.

Thursday

  • Bones/Hell’s Kitchen (Fox, 8/9pm) Season Finale – Motley Crue joins the crew and then a chef wins.
  • Smallville/Supernatural (CW, 8/9pm) Season Finale – The guys fight the villains and demons.
  • My Name is Earl/Parks & Recreation/The Office/30 Rock (NBC, 8-10pm) Season Finale – The laughs ensue.
  • CSI/CSI: NY (CBS, 9/10pm) Season Finale – The crime scene gets investigated.
  • Grey’s Anatomy (ABC, 9pm) Season Finale – Whose lives will change in the finale and will Izzie be back next season?

Friday

  • America’s Funniest Home Videos (ABC, 8pm) Season Finale – Two hours of funny videos.
  • Don’t Tell the Bride (BBCA, 8pm) Series Premiere – The get money for a wedding but the groom has to plan it.
  • The Game (CW, 8pm) Season Finale – This show wraps up with a wedding or does it?
  • Ghost Whisperer/Flashpoint/Numb3rs (CBS, 8/9/10pm) Season Finale – Ghosts and crimes and crimes.
  • Prison Break (Fox, 8pm) Series Finale – Finally putting this show out of its misery.

Saturday

  • Primeval (BBCA, 9pm) Season Premiere – A monstrous crocodile is loose.
  • Beverly Hills Groomer (AnPl, 10pm) Series Premiere – We follow someone from Groomer Has It trying to make it.

Sunday

  • Extreme Makeover/Desperate Housewives (ABC, 7/9pm) Season Finale – Crazy enthusiasm and then just plain crazies.
  • Sit Down, Shut Up/The Simpsons/King of the Hill/Family Guy/American Dad (7, 8-10pm) Season Finales – The animation continues.
  • Survivor (CBS, 8/10pm) Season Finale – Two hour finale followed by the reunion show.
  • Saturday Night Live (NBC, 9pm) – This special shows the shorts.
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midseason fun

Midseason has been rolling out for some time, and I thought it might be time to take a look at what we’ve taken a look at.

  • Better Off Ted (ABC) – Set in the corporate world where crazy people invent crazy things, it does a funny take on the soulless company and has some funny folks, but maybe Ted’s too much of a company man, I’m not fully into it yet, I’m still watching.
  • Castle (ABC) – The premise and cases aren’t groundbreaking but Nathan Fillion is engaging as the crime writing novelist paired with a by the book detective, plus his family is kind of funny, this got a season pass.
  • Cupid (ABC) – The psychologist and the maybe crazy guy/maybe cupid are at odds for the best way to help the lovelorn, I just wasn’t that into either of the leads or the romances, much preferred Rob Thomas’ first take, I tuned out.
  • Dollhouse (Fox) – This latest Joss Whedon has grown on me as we’ve come to learn more about the folks who are programmed to be anyone and the people who hire, program, and protect them, this got a season pass.
  • Harper’s Island (CBS) – So cheesy it was almost entertaining but couldn’t quite bring myself to check back on this mysterious island wedding where the secrets are plenty and one cast member gets killed off a week, I tuned out.
  • Kings (NBC) – I was intrigued by the premise of this alternate reality where the King of a country and his family cross paths with a young idealist, but at least in the pilot the characters and dialogue were too simplistic and heavy handed, I tuned out.
  • In The Motherhood (ABC) – I always want to enjoy a half hour comedy and this series taken from a web version had a good enough cast including Megan Mullally and Cheryl Hines, but the mom jokes just weren’t making me laugh, I tuned out.
  • Lie to Me (Fox) – These folks study the art of lies and use their expertise to consult on cases to find the lies and then the usually the truth, but the science and the characters didn’t quite pull me in, I tuned out.
  • Parks & Recreation (NBC) – From the creators of The Office, I feel like they’re still trying to get their footing with the documentary style now set in the government, with Amy Poehler doing the heavy lifting as misguided bright-eyed optimist, I’m still watching
  • Sit Down, Shut Up (Fox) – I have to admit I missed this last weekend, it has a good pedigree and cast, but the reviews I read weren’t good, might still catch an ep.
  • Southland (NBC) – From the creators of ER, this time they’re focusing on cops, with an interesting cast and a gritty style, I am not totally drawn in but will give it some time, I’m still watching.
  • Surviving Suburbia (ABC) – Bob Saget can actually be funny, it’s too bad I’ve never seen him be funny in a series, this is a relatively typically loser head of the household comedy, I tuned out.
  • The Unusuals (ABC) – This cop drama is set in a detective office where there’s some corruption, some secrets, and a whole lot of quirky in the cases and the characters, this got a season pass.

A few more titles keep coming up that might be on the horizon: The Goode Family, The Listener, The Philanthropist, Meet the Browns, Mental, Merlin… And I didn’t really mention the reality fare, for that you’re on your own. Next week’s will continue to note new shows.

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next week 3/9

New and notable in the week ahead… procrastinator picks are underlined.

Monday

  • Dancing with the Stars (ABC, 8pm) Season Premiere – Jewel and Nancy O’Dell are out, and I hear at least one is being replaced by Holly, one of the Girls Next Door.
  • Battles BC (Hist, 9pm) Series Premiere – Were you wondering what really happened in ancient clashes, I mean what tactics did they really use?
  • Castle (ABC, 10pm – repeats Sunday) Series Premiere – It’s a straight-laced cop paired with not so by the book writer, with Nathan Fillion (Firefly/Dr Horrible) playing the writer I will of course tune in.

Tuesday

  • WCG Ultimate Gamer (SciFi, 10pm) Series Premiere – Twelve gamers move in together and compete at Rock Band 2, partay!

Wednesday

  • The Chopping Block (NBC, 8pm) Series Premiere – The guy who trained Gordon Ramsay has his own restaurant competition.
  • Ghost Hunters (SciFi, 9pm) Season Premiere – Clean your guns, or whatever the guys on Ghostbusters used, Ghost hunting season has started.
  • South Park (Com, 10pm) Season Premiere – Can these kids really be thirteen years older?

Thursday

  • Bridget’s Sexiest Beaches (Trav, 8pm) Series Debut – I can only assume we see sexy beaches with former Girl Next Door Bridget, the girls are happening this week.
  • Warriors (Hist, 10pm) Series Debut – Looks like we get to take a walk down memory lane and learn how to hold a sword among other things.

Friday

  • Batman (Cart, 8pm) Season Premiere – This is the animated one, no Christian Bale…

Saturday

  • Will Ferrell: You’re Welcome America (HBO, 9pm) – A Final Night with George W. Bush Live From Broadway… need I say more?
  • The Graham Norton Show (BBCA, 10pm) Season Premiere – Sarah Ferguson greets Graham for the season opener.

Sunday

  • Kings (NBC, 8pm) Series Premiere – It’s the fake country of Gilboa (in an alternate fake world) and it’s got a king, and I’m going to say some drama.
  • Tough Love Boot Camp (VH1, 10pm) Series Premiere – A matchmaker gives eight single gals a wakeup call on what they’re doing wrong when trying to find love.

* Always check your local listings (times noted are PST).

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midseason

dollhouse.jpg Midseason dates tend to shift around, so check your local listings, and I’ll note these on ‘next week’s as they arrive.

  • Game Show in My Head (CBS, 1/3) – A hidden camera game show.
  • Superstars of Dance (NBC, 1/4) – The folks who do So You Think You Can Dance bring in the experts.
  • Momma’s Boys (NBC, 1/5) – The moms get into the act on this latest dating series.
  • 13 – Fear is Real (CW,1/7) – Folks face their fears to survive this reality gameshow. 
  • Howie Do It (NBC, 1/9) – Mandell does something with folks.
  • Lie to Me (Fox, 1/21) – Tim Roth is some sort of perceptive crime fighter.
  • XIII (NBC, 2/8) – This miniseries stars Val Kilmer in an ‘adrenaline charged’ conspiracy.
  • Dollhouse (Fox, 2/13) – The latest from Whedon where folks are programmed with new identities each week.
  • Castle (ABC, 3/9) – Who can pass up Nathan Fillion, he’s a mystery writer helping out a cop in the latest buddy crime of the week.
  • Kings (NBC, 3/19) – The two hour premiere kicks things off before it moves to its normal night, this is supposedly a modern day telling of David and Goliath
  • Cupid (ABC, 3/24) – Can they do justice to this remake of the Piven/Marshall show, it’s all about the chemistry, oh and the writing.
  • The Unusuals (ABC, 4/8) – Amber Tamblyn joins as fresh detective with an ‘unusual’ group of homicide detectives.
  • Harper’s Island (CBS, 4/9) – Can a new cast member be killed off each week and the show survive?

Returning: The Bachelor (ABC, 1/5), Scrubs (ABC, 1/6), Biggest Loser Couples (NBC, 1/6), Flashpoint (CBS, 1/9), American Idol (Fox, 1/13), Hell’s Kitchen (Fox, 1/15),  Friday Night Lights (NBC, 1/16), Lost (ABC, 1/21), Medium (NBC, 2/2), Survivor (CBS, 2/12), The Amazing Race (CBS, 2/15), Celebrity Apprentice (NBC, 3/1), Dancing with the Stars (ABC, 3/9), Reaper (CW, 3/17).

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