tv

new and noteworthy tv: 6/27-7/3

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Now comes the time of year when I decide how much tennis and cycling is too much…

Monday

  • Weeds/The Big C (Show, 10/10:30pm) Season Premieres – I’m only on season 2 of Weeds and can’t believe they’ve got this many season’s worth and have yet to try out the Laura Linney’s character has cancer show.

Tuesday

  • I Kid With Brad Garrett (TLC, 8pm) Series Premiere – Hanging with kids trying to be funny.

Wednesday

  • Melissa & Joey/State of Georgia (ABCFam, 8/8:30pm) Season/Series Premieres – Former sitcom star Raven-Symoné joins former sitcom stars for a night of formulaic sitcoms.
  • Royal Pains/Necessary Roughness (USA, 9/10pm) Season/Series Premiere – New gal shrinking football players joins doctors on the fluffy formulaic network, some of which is fun.
  • Love in the Wild (NBC, 10pm) Series Premiere – Bachelor Pad meets Survivor?
  • Behind the Music (VH1, 10pm) Season Premiere – Missy Elliott shares her stuff.

Thursday

  • Wicked Attraction (ID, 9pm) Season Premiere – And you thought your ex was crazy…
  • Extreme Chef (Food, 10pm) Series Premiere – Unmarked can goods, cooking on a car engine… is takeout really that bad?
  • Ugly Americans (Com, 10:30pm) Season Premiere – Something about a succubus on this animated series of not your everyday beings.

Friday

  • Bucket & Skinner’s Epic Adventures (Nick, 8pm) Series Premiere – Two bros search for surf and whatnot in this new comedy series.

Saturday

  • Tour de France (Vs, 5am, NBC, 11am, and various) – The tour kicks off as does hours upon hours of coverage.

Sunday

  • Wimbledon (NBC, 6am, and various) – The fortnight of tennis coverage wraps up with the Women’s and Men’s finals.

The procrastinator lists items that may not be on your regular season pass, though notation does not imply recommendation other than those underlined. Times noted are typically PST.

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new and noteworthy tv: 7/19-7/25

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Monday

  • Do Something Awards (VH1, 9pm) – Jane Lynch hosts the honoring of folks for accomplishments other than celebrity.
  • Rupaul’s Drag U (Logo, 9pm) Series Premiere – What’s better than a Drag Queen to get some ladies to get some style going on.
  • Fabulous Cake (TLC, 10pm) Series Premiere – Start the season by touring three top bakeries in Vegas.

Tuesday

  • I’m Pregnant And… (Health, 9pm) Season Premiere – The season starts off with a woman who has a 50-50 chance of her child being a dwarf.
  • Teen Mom/If You Really Knew Me (MTV, 10/11pm) Season/Series Premiere – Check in with the teen moms and then catch teens that are breaking down the walls between cliques.

Wednesday

  • Confessions: Animal Hoarding (AnPl, 9pm) Series Premiere – A mix of hoarding and animal rescue?
  • Pros vs Joes (Spike, 10pm) Season Premiere – NBA vs NFL in a basketball challenge.

Thursday

  • Time to catch up on some Tour, or perhaps some summer series, or perhaps a good book!

Friday

  • Your Chance to Dance (CMT, 9pm) Series Premiere – Dance baby, dance.
  • The Pillars of the Earch (Starz, 10pm) – This miniseries kicks off with an adaptation of the 1989 book.

Saturday

  • Being Human (BBCA, 10pm) Season Premiere – A werewolf, a vampire, and a ghost… what more could fans want?

Sunday

  • Tour de France (Vs, various) – It’s been a long couple weeks for these guys and it’s put some wear and tear on those watching as well, so let’s see who rides into Paris with the yellow, and white, and green, and polka dot, and of course a final sprint stage win.
  • I Survived… (Bio, 9pm) Season Premiere – This series should probably be hopeful that folks survive but I find it super creepy the things that almost kill them.
  • Mad Men (AMC, 10pm) Season Premiere – I’ve missed too many of these, on my list to check out on dvd.
  • My Boys (TBS, 10pm) Season Premiere – This show looks perfectly pleasant, but what with it starting when my cable was out I’ve never caught an episode.
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new and noteworthy tv: 6/28-7/4

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Monday

  • Huge/Make It or Break It (ABCFam, 9/10pm) Series/Season Premiere – The family network brings us kids at weight loss camp and then another season of gymnastics.
  • Intervention/Obsessed (A&E, 9/10pm) Season Premieres – Stepping in with addicts and psychological issues.

Tuesday

  • Rescue Me/Louie (Fx, 10/11/11:30pm) Season/Series Premiere – Fire drama returns and then cringe worthy Louie plays a version of himself that tries to make us laugh, either with or at him.

Wednesday

  • Locked Up Abroad (NGC, 10pm) Season Premiere – The season opens with the ‘real’ midnight express.
  • Man Shops Globe (Sund, 10pm) Season Premiere – Thailand markets.
  • The Real World (MTV, 10pm) Season Premiere – Eight strangers, blah, blah, blah… New Orleans.

Thursday

  • Ace of Cakes (Food, 10pm) Season Premiere – 100 episodes and a rollercoaster cake.

Friday

  • America Celebrates July 4th (ABC, 9pm) – It may seem weird that this is showing on the 2nd but it was taped June 6. June

Saturday

  • Tour de LanceFrance (Vs, multiple times) – Starts now through July 25, tune in for another year of drama (and let’s hope it’s all in the race).
  • Wimbledon (NBC, 6am) – Saturday and Sunday bring the women’s and men’s finals following a week of network coverage.

Sunday

  • Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular (NBC, 9pm); Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular (CBS, 10pm); A Capitol Fourth (PBS, 8pm) – Pick your fireworks spectacular.
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tv

damn you cable

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HDTPCubePaying money to watch television is something that I may still need some help in getting over. When NBC made its signal change eons ago I finally broke down and got ‘basic’ cable to get channels clearly. And when I say basic I don’t mean not premium, I mean cable to get regular networks clearly, something that a city dweller should not feel compelled to do. So when along with my basic cable I received one or two additional channels like VS. (formerly OLN) offering me access to things like the Tour de Lance France I felt giddy.

And then at some point I had a cable problem and my wonderful cable guy didn’t put the blocker back on. A whole new world opened up to me. The world that was normally reserved for visiting my parent’s house and watching cable (minus HBO). I was slowly sucked into show after show, The Closer, Breaking Bad, even Rock of Love… It was a world I always said wasn’t worth the cost but I was getting it for FREE. And even when cable problems arose at a later time I decided to wait it out in fear of inviting the cable guy back over and having him put the dreaded blocker back on.

And then one day, no call to the cable guy, I woke to find that I could no longer get Gillmore Girls reruns on ABC Family. I could no longer get Project Runway on Lifetime. I could no longer get the final season of Monk on USA. What is a person to do? Well, I could pay for more cable, $29.99 a month seems reasonable and when that expires after 12 months I could probably negotiate down from the standing $59.99, which is an amount that seem ridiculous. And then there’s always the reported triple play deal of packaging cable, internet, and phone. Or I could try to take better advantage of the posting of shows online (it’ll get me through at least some current missing episodes) and of course I can wait for the shows that I might really care about to release on dvd.

So what to do? At least for now I’ll leave it on my list of things to do, along with upgrading my tivo.

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tv

next week 7/20

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

Monday

  • Waking Up With Al (Weath, 3/6am) Series Premiere – Al Roker gets the limelight, well the crack of dawn weather limelight.
  • Torchwood (BBCA, 9pm) Season Premiere – I don’t really follow this but apparently there is a preview at 8 for part 1 of the Children of the Earth series.
  • Dating in the Dark (ABC, 10pm) Series Premiere – Blind dates usually don’t entail literally not being able to see, until now, though infrared cameras make it all watchable (this clearly has the right target following the Bachelorette – The Men Tell All).
  • The Tor Show (VH1, 10pm) Series Premiere – Talking with celebrity guests.

Tuesday

  • Restorer Guy/The Real Estate Pros/Moving Up (TLC, 7/7:30/8pm) Series/Season Premiere – The filx it up, sell it, fix it up.
  • Hell’s Kitchen (Fox, 8pm) Season Premiere – Gordon Ramsay is back berating kitchen staff.
  • Ruby & the Rockits (ABCFam, 8:30pm) Series Premiere – David Cassidy is back and he’s playing an 80’s heatthrob whose long lost daughter returns, and apparently his brother is also a Cassidy.
  • The Colony (Disc, 7pm) Series Premiere – Can these latest volunteers survive the wake of a fake disaster.

Wednesday

  • Toddlers & Tiaras (TLC, 10pm) Season Premiere – Four-year-old, Texas pageant, why oh why.

Thursday

  • Wild Russia (AnPl, 8pm) Series Premiere – Simple enough, looking at the wild in Russia.
  • Samantha Who? (ABC, 8/8:30pm) Series Finale – It’s too bad this series won’t be back again but here’s a last chance for some laughs with Sam.

Friday

  • ATP Tennis (ESPN2, 1/10:30/12, Fri/Sat/Sun) – The US Open Series starts showing the quarters from Indianapolis.

Saturday

  • Action Sports (NBC, 1pm, Sat/Sun) – The Alli Dew Tour has the Skate Open coming from Boston.
  • Being Human (BBCA, 9pm) Series Premiere – A ghost, a werewolf, and a vampire live together, why do I feel like there should be a punch line somewhere in that.

Sunday

  • Tour de France (Vs, 4:30am) – The tour wraps up again in Paris, but who will be in yellow?
  • Easy Money (CW, 7pm) – Burning off eps of yet another canceled series.
  • Extreme Cuisine (Food, 10pm) Series Premiere – Jeff Corwin starts off eating weird stuff in Mexico.
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tv

next week 7/13

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

Monday

  • Tour de France (Vs, 5:30am and various) – Stage 9 starts out our week in Saint-Gaudens, who will be in yellow?
  • Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations (Trav, 10pm) Season Premiere – The chef heads to Chile.

Tuesday

  • MLB All-Star Game (Fox, 8pm) – The stars, and I believe they mean baseball stars, play.
  • Miami Social (Brav, 10pm) Series Premiere – Yet another reality show following folks.

Wednesday

  • Extreme Loggers (Disc, 9pm) Season Premiere – Ice bridges and subarctic forests.
  • Leverage (TNT, 9pm) Season Premiere – Will Nate get the team back together to continue their Robin Hood type cons?
  • Dark Blue (TNT, 10pm) Series Premiere – Dylan McDermott is back and this time he’s an undercover cop.
  • Verminators (Disc, 10pm) Season Premiere – Rodents and rats and bees, oh my, though I guess a rat is a rodent.
  • Michael & Michael Have Issues (Com, 10:30pm) Series Premiere – The Michaels, Ian Black and Showalter, sets them as characters who host a sketch comedy show.

Thursday

  • Joan of Arcadia (Syfy, 8am) – It’s not new but it was a fun series if you missed it the first time catch the marathon today starting with Joan meeting God.
  • Stoked (Cart, 8:30pm) Series Premiere – The animated cast of surfers work at a surf resort.

Friday

  • Catch It Keep It (Sci, 10pm) Series Premiere – Using science to win a game show.
  • Martin Lawrence Presents (Starz, 11pm) Season Premiere – It’s some stand-up.

Saturday

  • The Bill Engvall Show (TBS, 9pm) Season Premiere – Another season of another series with an average and immature hubby with a hotter than he wife.
  • Dirty Sexy Money (ABC, 10pm) – I remember really enjoying the cheese factor of this show, at least early on.

Sunday

  • Action Sports (NBC, 11am) – The boarders and bikers hit Costa Mesa for the Maloof Money Cup.
  • Labor Pains (ABCF, 8pm) – It’s just nice to hear Lindsey Lohan’s name in conjunction with something related to acting.
  • ESPYs (ESPN, 9pm) – Samuel L Jackson hosts the sporting awards.
  • AFI Life Achievement Award (TVL, 9pm) – The honoring of Michael Douglas.
  • Ace of Cakes (Food, 10pm) Season Premiere – Duff and the gang are back to baking, they look good but I wonder how they taste.
  • HGTV Design Star (HGTV, 10pm) Season Premiere – Design star wannabes hit LA.
  • Most Popular (WE, 10pm) Series Premiere – Graham Norton hosts this game show where being popular now equals money.
  • Pawn Star$ (Hist, 10pm) Series Premiere – What industry don’t we have a reality insight into?
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tv

next week 7/6

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

Monday

  • Cycling (Vs, 5:30am and various) – The Tour de Lance continues, you can catch stage 3 and keep watching all week at almost all hours of the day with Phil, Paul, Bob and Craig taking us along for the ride. 
  • The Great Debate (VH1, 10pm) – A week long look at things like J.Lo vs Beyonce.

Tuesday

  • 10 Things I Hate About You (ABCFam, 8pm) Series Premiere – Based on the ’99 movie, the wannabe popular sister and the wannabe serious sister deal with school and boys and dear old dad.
  • The Great American Road Trip (NBC, 8pm) Series Premiere – Families in challenges across America.
  • Warehouse 13 (SciFi, 9pm) Series Premiere – The latest collection of weird brings a new male female partner team, this time Secret Service, to a warehouse…
  • That’s Impossible (Hist, 10pm) Series Premiere – Invisibility, yes or no?

Wednesday

  • Ghost Hunters International (SciFi, 9pm) Season Premiere – It’s like Ghost Hunters but it’s International.

Thursday

  • Big Brother (CBS, 8pm) Season Premiere – It’s back, season 11 of people trapped in a house.
  • LA Ink (TLC, 10pm) Season Premiere – Returning from a book tour to a busy shop…

Friday

  • Eureka (SciFi, 9pm) Season Premiere – Silly but fun, will the fired sheriff stay away from this isolated town of genius’s their inventions and their calamitous disasters.

Saturday

  • Eli Stone (ABC, 10pm) Series Finale – I’ve been tivo’ing the return of this series but have yet to tune back in, as I recall I enjoyed it.

Sunday

  • Drop Dead Diva (Life, 9pm) Series Premiere – A dead model gets dropped into a ‘plus-size’ lawyer’s body, and I’m sure she’ll grow as a person.
  • I Survived… (Bio, 9pm) Season Premiere – I believe these are reenactments.
  • Entourage (HBO, 10:30pm) Season Premiere – The boys are back, I think I watched season one through netflix and it was funny then, season six who knows.
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next week 3/2

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

Monday

  • The Bachelor (ABC, 8/10pm) Season Finale – Will the single father pick the blonde or the brunette? And will he change his mind, perhaps for returning Bachelorette DeAnna? After the Rose starts at 10 and continues in part two on Tuesday, will it be the most dramatic show yet?
  • Rules of Engagement (CBS, 9:30pm) Season Premiere – This show about folks at different stages of relationships with David Spade and Patrick Warburton among others, was one I found almost funny.
  • Ax Men (Hist, 10pm) Season Premiere – I think we look at more loggers… I think this is like the third logger show, maybe logging is that hot.
  • Harlem Heights (BET, 10/10:30pm) Series Premiere – This reality version follows folks in their twenties, in you guessed it, Harlem.
  • Saving Grace (TNT, 10pm) Season Premiere – Looks like Grace is still a mess and we love that about her, and now she has to break in new partner Christina Ricci, at least she won’t sleep with this partner, though I hate to rule anything out.
  • Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (NBC, 12:30am) – Will you tune in for De Niro and Timberlake or would you tune in for Fallon alone as he takes the desk.

Tuesday

  • Reaper (CW, 8pm) Season Premiere – This slacker dude whose soul has been sold to the devil and now has to be a bounty hunter for said devil developed a great cast and even some intrigue last season.

Wednesday

  • ANTM (CW, 8pm) Season Premiere – A two hour kick off brings 34 hopefuls down to 13 house dwellers, and then the mess continues with the first standard show.
  • Make Me A Supermodel (Bravo, 10pm) Season Premiere – For an alternate take on model wannabes check out Tyson hosting a crop of dudes and chicks who try to be fierce, or whatever that show’s catch phrase is.

Thursday

  • American Idol (Fox, 8pm) – In a special additional Thursday ep, the judges pick some favorites to try it again for the wild card slots.

Friday

  • Say Yes to the Dress (TLC, 10/10:30pm) Season Premiere – The process of picking a wedding gown, can’t wait!
  • Trick my Truck (CMT, 10pm) Season Premiere – A truck tricked in tribute to speedboats, woo hoo!

Saturday

  • Ashes to Ashes (BBCA, 9pm) Series Premiere – I’m not sure but this show sounds like Life on Mars but someone finds themselves in the 80s, oh wait it’s a sequel, to the BBC version of course.

Sunday

  • Cycling (Vs, 2pm) – Check out the guys at Paris Nice.
  • SNL (NBC, 7/8pm) – Game show parodies is followed by commercials.
  • The L Word (Show, 8/9pm) Series Finale – A special at 8 reviews the past seasons getting us all ready for the finale.
  • Sunday Best (BET, 9pm) Season Premiere – Undiscovered gospel singers.
  • Breaking Bad (AMC, 10pm) Season Premiere – The school teacher turned meth maker/dealer to support his family when he learns of his terminal cancer continues as he and his partner get into more messes – marathon to catch up on season 1 starting with the pilot at 8pm on Fri.
  • Keeping Up with the Kardashians (E!, 10pm) Season Premiere – Does anyone really care?
  • Candy Girls (E!, 10:30pm) Series Premiere – Eye candy for sale, well for rent, for music videos or whatever in this latest reality show.

* Always check your local listings, all times are PST.

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sports, tv

next week 2/16

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

Monday

  • Tour of California (Vs) – Check the week for stages 3-9, usually showing about three times a day, and get a look at some of the top cycling teams.
  • Little People, Big World (TLC, 8pm) Season Premiere – They’re heading to Iraq with a surgeon to help some kids.

Tuesday

  • American Idol (Fox, 8pm) – Time to get the speed dial ready, and remember it’s a singing competition, let’s get this down to a good top 12.
  • Dogg After Dark (MTV, 9pm) Series Premiere – Snoop Dogg gets a variety show.
  • Real Housewives of NYC (Brav, 11pm) Season Premiere – New housewife, old tension.

Wednesday

  • Little Miss Perfect (WEtv, 10pm) Series Premiere – Junior beauty pageants and their parents compete.
  • High School Reunion (TVL, 10pm) Season Premiere – After my high school was in consideration for a season of this I have almost been tempted to tune in, almost.

Thursday

  • Being Erica (Soap, 10pm) Series Premiere – Can you relive old moments in your life, this new series shows a gal do just that?

Friday

  • Mistresses (BBCA, 8pm) Series Debut – Four ladies have some drama on this new drama.
  • Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO, 10pm) Season Premiere -Bill has a real time.
  • Late Night with Conan O’Brien (NBC, 12:35am) – Say goodbye to Late Night with Conan O’Brien and hello to The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien, but not until June 1.

Saturday

  • Taking Chance (HBO, 8pm) – Do people still do the six degrees of Kevin Bacon, check out this flick if you want fodder.
  • 2009 Film Independent’s Spirit Awards (IFC, 9pm) – These awards go indie style.
  • Aisha Tyler Is Lit: Live at the Fillmore (Com, 11pm) – I worked with Aisha forever ago at a regular office job and don’t know whether her success inspires or depresses me.

Sunday

  • Barbara Walters Special (ABC, 8:30pm) – Anne Hathaway, Mickey Rourke, Hugh Jackman, and the Jonas Brothers.
  • The 100 Most Outrageous Moments 2 (NBC, 9pm) – Outrageous home videos, that must be much better than the funniest home videos.
  • The 81st Annual Academy Awards (ABC, 3:30/5/5:30pm) – Silly preshow interviews, awkward host moments with Jackman, boring speeches, and noteworthy fashions, oh and a chance to win my Oscar pool.

* Please note all times are PST.

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next week 2/9

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

Monday

  • Presidential News Conference (various, 5pm*) – Obama talks the talk.
  • Top Gear (BBCA, 8pm) Season Premiere – Looks like there is some truck and porsche driving.
  • Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show (USA & others mon & tues, check your local listings) – Doggies!
  • BET Honors (BET, 6pm) – Gabrielle Union hosts the latest honors.
  • The Girls of Hedsor Hall (MTV, 9pm) Series Premiere – Another chance for crass girls to turn sophisticated, but this time they ship them to England.

Tuesday

  • TI’s Road to Redemption (MTV, 9pm) Series Premiere – Awaiting his own sentencing on weapons charges TI is clearly the model citizen to try to help some at-risk teens.
  • From G’s to Gents (MTV, 10pm) Season Premiere – I think they keep these bad boys away from the Girls of Hedsor Hall as they try to make them more gentlemanly.

Wednesday

  • Important Things with Demetri Martin (Com, 10:30pm) Series Premiere – Sketch comedy and more.

Thursday

  • NAACP Image Awards (Fox, 8pm) – Halle Berry and Tyler Perry host this one.
  • Survivor (CBS, 8pm) Season Premiere – The eliminations start early when they hit the Brazilian highlands.
  • Millionaire Matchmaker (Brav, 10pm) Season Premiere – I only caught one ep of this last season but it looked like an annoying owner of an ill equipped dating service helping socially inept men meat their trophy wives.

Friday

  • Dollhouse (Fox, 9pm) Series Premiere – I do love Joss Whedon (Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Dr Horrible) and I’m willing to give any new series of his more than a few eps of devotion, this latest brings us Buffy’s Faith/Eliza Dushku as one of a set of operatives who get new identities implanted and then wiped clean for weekly missions.

Saturday

  • Tour of California (Vs, 2pm, various times through next week) – They start out in Sacramento…
  • My Valentine Charlie Brown/A Charlie Brown Valentine (ABC, 8pm, also on previous Tues) – Romantic problems start in your youth…

Sunday

  • The Amazing Race (CBS, 8pm) Season Premiere – This year we’re going to see among others… the show’s first hearing-impaired contestant, along with some oldsters, some youngsters…
  • Eastbound & Down (HBO, 10:30pm) Series Premiere – Washed up big league baseball guy returns to his hometown to do the PE thing.

* Times noted are PST, check your local listings.

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