tv

new and noteworthy tv: 9/27-10/10

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La Brea

I dabbled with some of the new series over the last week. Will give The Big Leap, Our Kind of People, and The Wonder Years another view. I’m likely not going to continue with NCIS; Hawai’i, FBI: International, or Ordinary Joe. I also wrapped up sweet and odd The Detectorists (Am), brutal but still touching Mr. Inbetween (FX/Hulu), and the inaugural (will there be more?) season of The Ultimate Surfer (ABC) which was fun.

In addition to checking out some new shows like La Brea, CSI: Vegas, and Ghosts I’ll be checking out the return of United States of Al (CBS, 10/7), The Equalizer (CBS, 10/10), and the second half of the first season of Leverage: Redemption.

  • La Brea (NBC) Series Premiere, Tuesday 9/28 – No word on this yet but fingers crossed this tale of a sinkhole leading to a primeval world has some fun and intrigue.
  • Good Grief (SundN) Series Premiere, Thursday 9/30 – Two sisters inherit their father’s funeral home in New Zealand
  • Ten-Year-Old Tom (HBOM) Series Premiere, Thursday 9/30 – An animated comedy from Steve Dildarian, no word but he did The Life and Times of Tim which I remember as having some moments, so maybe like that.
  • Maid (Net) Series Premiere, Friday 10/1 – I’ve head some good things on this story of a woman fall into poverty and cleanig.
  • CSI: Vegas (CBS) Series Premiere, Wednesday 10/6 – If you liked the original then sure, this return of some of the originals and introduction of new peeps and stories will likely be up your alley.
  • One of Us Is Lying (Pea) Series Premiere, Thursday 10/7 – Based on a novel, five high schoolers walk into detention and only four make it out.
  • Ghosts (CBS), Series Premiere, Thursday 10/7 – A couple inherit property and are turning it into a B&B when they find that it’s haunted, it’s based on a BBC series that is supposed to be pretty funny and I like Rose McIver (iZombie).
  • Mr And Mrs Murder (Ova) Series Premiere, Thursday 10/7 – I’ve been picking up random older series rerunning on Ovation and kind of enjoying them, this one looks like it’s a light hearted crime show where a couple are crime scene cleaners who get involved in solving the crimes.
  • Acapulco (App+) Series Premiere, Friday 10/8 – This compedy is in both Spanish and English as we see the life of a cabana boy in 1984 at the hottest resort in Acapulco.
  • Pretty Smart (Net) Series Premiere, Friday 10/8 – Emily Osment plays a book-smart girl who moves in with her ‘bubbly’ sister and her roommates.
  • Baking Impossible (Net) Series Premiere, Wednesday 10/6/Baker’s Dozen (Hulu) Thursday 10/7 – I had a request for cooking shows and while I don’t watch them here’s two coming.

More streaming:

  • The Chestnut Man (Net) Series Premiere, Wednesday 9/29 – Danish crime show where detectives hunt a killer linked ot a politician’s missing child.
  • Luna Park (Net) Series Premiere, Thursday 9/30 – Italian drama about a family circus in 1960s Rome.
  • Nina Furia (HBOM) Series Premiere, Monday 10/4 – A drama about everyday lives of Nicaraguan students in Costa Rica.
  • The Five Juanas (Net) Series Premiere, Wednesday 10/6 – A Mexican drama about five women with the same birthmark unraveling lies.
  • The Billion Dollar Code (Net) Series Premiere, Thursday 10/7 – A German courtroom drama based on a true story.

Returning streaming: Midsommer Murders (Acorn, 9/27), Bitchin’ Rides (MT, 9/28), The Circle (Net, 9/29), Meateater (Net, 9/29), Love 101 (Net, 9/30), More than an Athlete (ESPN+, 9/30), The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo (HBOM, 9/30), Red Table Talk (FB, 9/30), Welcome to the Blumhouse (Am, 10/1), Cops (FoxN, 10/1), Extraordinary Stories Behind Everyday Things (Disc+, 10/1), Seven Deadly Sins (Net, 10/1), Scissor Seven (Net, 10/3), On My Block (Net, 10/4), One Lane Bridge (SundN, 10/7), Sexy Beasts (Net, 10/7), The Way of the Househusband (Net, 10/7), Leverage: Redemption (IMDB, 10/8), Family Business (Net, 10/8), First Time Fixer (Disc+, 10/8), Fear the Walking Dead (AMC+, 10/10)

The procrastinator lists mostly scripted items that may not be on your regular season-pass, though notation does not imply recommendation. Times noted are typically PST, please check your local listings.

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new and noteworthy tv: 7/5-7/18

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Note to my subscribers: The provider that I was using to email out my posts has shut down its service so I have moved to follow.it. This is the first post using the new service so we’ll see how it goes : ) And for anyone reading who is not subscribed, to ensure you don’t miss a post hit the email icon on the “please follow & like us :)” box in the sidebar/footer.

Leverage: Redemption

I wrapped up the very good second season of Mythic Quest on Apple+ before my free trial gets cut off, though think I’ll let it slide for a month to catch Ted Lasso before I cut ties. We’ll see what I’ll do when the third seasons of those come out, I have refrained from getting into anything else. I also enjoyed Bridgerton and wrapped the series of The Bold Type which was ridiculous in anything having to do with the business side of things but fun and light in a Sex in the City/Younger kind of way.

I’m excited for the return of brutal Animal Kingdom on TNT and the entertaining This Way Up and Never Have I Ever. My main recommendation would be the return/new Leverage, though I’m also cautiously optimistic about Wellington Paranormal based on the ridiculous What We Do In the Shadows.

  • The Beast Must Die (AMC) Series Premiere, Monday 7/12, 10pm (7/5 on AMC+) – This six-part ‘revenge thriller’ where a mother, Cush Jumbo, looks to take revenge on the man she thinks killed her son, Jared Harris, a good enough cast to have potential.
  • Gossip Girl (HBOM) Series Premiere, Thursday 7/8 – I dropped the old GG after a few seasons but the start sure was fun, here’s hoping this updated version brings it.
  • Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness (Net) Series Premiere, Thursday 7/8 – I remember these movies as being sort of fun though not as interested in an animated series.
  • Leverage: Redemption (IMDB) Series Premiere, Friday 7/9 – This original series was a fun light caper each episode, and glad to see the majority of the cast back, though Noah Wyle taking over for controversial Timothy Hutton and Aldis Hodge in limited eps.
  • Wimbledon (ABC) – Men’s and women’s finals Saturday and Sunday at noon, previous rounds on ESPN.
  • Wellington Paranormal (CW) Series Premiere, Sunday 7/11 – This New Zealand horror-comedy about the investigation into paranormal cases is a spinoff of What We Do In the Shadows so sure I’m in.
  • The White Lotus (HBO) Series Premiere, Sunday 7/11 – This six-episode series takes various guests to an exclusive Hawaiian resort, but is there a darker side to this drama, initial reviews are good.
  • Professor T (PBS) Series Premiere, Sunday 7/11 – Teaching at Cambridge about the science of crime but his self-imposed sterile state from his OCD is disrupted when he helps a former student with an actual crime.
  • Eden (Spec) Series Premiere Monday 7/12 – All is not as it seems in this Australian thriller series where we look at characters and events before, during, and after a woman goes missing.
  • American Horror Stories (Fx/Hulu) Series Premiere, Thursday 7/15 – If you didn’t get enough of American Horror Story, this is a weekly anthology series.
  • Dr. Death (Pea) Series Premiere, Thursday 7/15 – Based on the podcast, a drama exploring the twisted mind of a doctor and the failures of the medical system with Joshua Jackson, Alec Baldwin, Christian Slater, and AnnaSophia Robb.
  • The North Water (AMC+) Series Premiere, Thursday 7/15 – Based on the novel, set in the late 1850s a disgraced ex-army surgeon finds a job on an ARctic whaling ship.
  • Schmigadoon! (App+) Series Premiere, Friday 7/16 – A parody of musicals with Cecily Strong and Keegan-Michael Key and many other great talents, where they get trapped in a magical town to find “true love.”
  • SurrealEstate (Syfy) Series Premiere, Friday 7/16 – Haunted and possessed houses calls for a special team of realtors in this drama.
  • The End (Show) Series Premiere, Sunday 7/18, 8pm – This dark comedy is set in an Australian retirement community.
  • Power Book III: Raising Kanan (Starz) Series Premiere, Sunday 7/18, 8pm – A prequel about the early years of “Power.”

More Streaming:

  • You Are My Spring (Net) Series Premiere, Monday 7/5 – A hotel concierge and a psychiatrist form a bond over a local murder case in this Korean romantic drama.
  • The War Next-Door (Net) Series Premiere, Wednesday 7/7 – The matriarchs of two families in a posh neighborhood good to war in this Mexican comedy.
  • The Cook of Castamar (Net) Series Premiere, Friday 7/9 – Based on a novel, in 1720s Madrid a cook catches the eye of a duke.

Returning streaming: I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson (Net, 7/6), Dogs (Net, 7/7), Mire (Net, 7/7), The Dog House (HBOM, 7/8), Motherland (SundN, 7/8), This Way Up (Hulu, 7/9), Atypical (Net, 7/9), Biohackers (Net, 7/9), Virgin River (Net, 7/9), Jack Irish (Acorn, 7/12), El Cid (Am, 7/15), Archibald’s Next Big Thing is Here (Pea, 7/15), Beastars (Net, 7/15), First Wives Club (BET+7/15), Never Have I Ever (Net, 7/15), Making the Cut (Am, 7/16), Explained (Net, 7/16), Serengeti (Disc+, 7/18).

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

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psych-like

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Psych

I was having a happy hour with friends (virtual of course) and mentioned that I was going to dive into Peacock to watch the latest Psych movie. I had recently binged the whole series and wanted to close it out. A friend said his mom has enjoyed Psych and was looking for similar shows to recommend, I think he also mentioned Chuck (which is also super fun) as another good example. So thinking fun, episodic, kind of capery,

I as per usual spaced on anything good. One of the reasons I capture lists in this blog is so that I don’t continually forget things. Another friend suggested Burn Notice which we all agreed was a good choice. But after some time Leverage was announcing a reboot, and I thought that too would be a good option. So with a moment to think here are a few of the shows I wish I could come up with off the top of my head, in alphabetical order of course. They might not all be for every Psych fan but there’s a little something here for everyone.

  • Bones* (Hulu, Prime) FBI agent and forensic anthropologist crack cases, and while the romance heats up between these opposites attract it’s really her team of scientists that give this a ton of appeal.
  • Bored to Death (HBO/Prime) Jason Schwartzman decides to become a detective when stifled by his writing, what could be better, well side kicks Ted Danson and Zach Galifianakis as his friends who get dragged into the hijinks, great fun.
  • Burn Notice (Hulu, Prime) A spy recently disavowed by the U.S government uses his special skills and ragtag spy friends to save folks in trouble, funny, charming, and action packed.
  • Castle* (Prime Purchase) Another opposites attract/partners premise Nathan Fillion as crime writer turned consultant has enough charm to keep things interesting.
  • Elementary (Hulu) Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu make an updated version of Holmes and Watson consulting with the NYPD and make for a lot of fun solving an odd case or two.
  • Eureka (Prime) This one is a little more quirky genius scientists than a typical crime buster but the sheriff finds himself investigating one calamity after another that tends to have someone beyond the norm explanations which is good fun.
  • Firefly (Hulu) This one is actually a bit more space cowboys but take my word for it, it’s full caper fun as Nathan Fillion is on our list again as the captain of a ship filled with an odd group of passengers and crew that is as busy getting into trouble as evading those trying to find them.
  • iZombie (Netflix) This show is a bit Veronica Mars meets zombies, and while it is a zombie show our protagonist taking on the personality of the victim (yes through eating their brain) each week and helping solve the case is a delight.
  • Leverage (Prime Purchase) A team of criminals pull off an elaborate con each week, but all in the name of righting a wrong, as noted they’re rebooting this with Noah Wyle replacing Timothy Hutton, still a great team.
  • Mentalist (Prime) – So you can’t have this list without the comparable premised ‘psychic’ handling cases, but Simon Baker has enough charm to make this less campy version still a lot of fun.
  • Monk (Prime) Tony Shalhoub carries this former police officer turned police consultant as his character’s OCD, among other things, makes him unbearable but excellent at figuring out what others can’t.
  • Pushing Daisies (Prime) This piemaker can bring someone back from the dead with his touch, but only for a minute or someone else dies, and he uses it to solve murders along with a fab supporting cast including his love interest who he of course can’t touch.
  • Sherlock (Netflix) This isn’t quite as campy as some of the others but Benedict Cumberbatch’s detective is a ton of fun and while each season is more of an overarching story there’s just three extended eps per.
  • Terriers (Hulu) A little grittier than some of the other options but our unlicensed PI ex cop/recovering alcoholic and criminal buddies are such a pleasure to meet and watch then get as much into trouble as out of it.

I’m sure I’m missing some good ones, what would you add? And of course for more bingeable options check out the longer list. Availability as always subject to change. * Full transparency, while I really enjoyed each of these shows for a while I’m not sure I actually stayed with either until the end.

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new and noteworthy tv: 11/26-12/2

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No internet access is making this posting a bit of a challenge, good thing I’ve been meaning to read more…

Monday

  • Next Great Baker/Cake Boss (TLC, 9/10:30pm) Season Premieres – Cakes.
  • Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (ABC, 9pm) Season Premiere – Guest host Jenny McCarthy, where’s Ty?
  • Invention USA (Hist, 11pm) Season Premiere – Well the first ep is called “get the fork out of here,” intrigued?

Tuesday

  • How the Grinch Stole Christmas/Shrek the Halls (ABC, 8/8:30pm) – Ho to the ho.
  • Rizzoli & Isles/Leverage (TNT, 9/10pm) Season Premieres – Crimes good and bad.

Wednesday

  • Charlie Brown Christmas (ABC, 8pm) – Always rooting for Charlie.
  • Christmas In Rockefeller Center/SNL Christmas (NBC, 8/9pm) – Al and Savannah host then clasic holiday funnies.
  • The Hour (BBCA, 9pm) Season Premiere- What’s the real story, I kept meaning to watch season 1, any good?
  • Hot In Cleveland/Happily Divorced (TVL, 10/10:30pm) Season Premieres – Classic, meaning slightly dated feeling, comedies.
  • Love You, Mean It (E!, 10:30pm) Series Premiere – Whitney Cummings gets her own talker, for all you Whitney or 2 Broke Girls fans.

Thursday

  • Rocket City Rednecks/American Chainsaw (NGC, 9/9:30pm) Season/Series Premiere – Missiles and chainsaw sculptor.
  • Panic 9-1-1 (A&E, 10pm) Series Premiere – Docudramas of emergency calls.

Friday

  • Next Stop for Charlie (Show, 12:30am) Season Premiere – Charlie escapes a Lebanese prison.
  • Haunted Encounters (Bio, 10pm) Series Premiere – In case some of these haunted locations haven’t been visited.

Saturday

  • Big Ten Football Championship (Fox, 7:30pm) – Go team!

Sunday

  • Be the Boss (A&E, 10pm) Series Premiere – From the makers of Undercover Boss comes regular guy competing to run his (or her) own franchise.
  • Miss You Much (VH1, 10pm) Series Premiere – What happened to those celebrities of yore not already in the headlines.
  • Shahs of Sunset (Brav, 10pm) Season Premiere – They’re back.

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: 7/9-7/15

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Relieve to have the Tour as my only sports obligation, I mean it’s a fun obligation but it’s a lot of tv…

Monday

  • Tour de France (NBCSN, 5am) – Another week kicks off with the time trials, will Wiggins prevail?
  • Bizarre Foods in America (Trav, 9pm) Season Premiere – $750 cupcake?
  • The Closer/Perception (TNT, 9/10pm) Season/Series Premiere – Goodbye to Brenda and hello to Eric McCormack and his psychotically induced imaginary friends as he joins Rachel Leigh Cook to solve FBI cases.
  • The Bad Girls Club (Oxy, 10pm) Season Premiere – More bad.
  • Opening Act (E!, 10pm) Series Premiere – Picking a band from the online competition sounds like a recipe for success.

Tuesday

  • Destination Truth (Syfy, 8pm) Season Premiere – Bigfoots and Goblins oh my!
  • Hardcore Pawn (Tru, 9pm) Season Premiere – I’m sure there is a difference amongst the pawn shows but…
  • Trust Us With Your Life/NY Med (ABC, 9/10pm) Series Premieres – Celebrity improv and another visit to another hospital to see how the real healers heal.
  • White Collar/Covert Affair (USA, 9/10pm) Season Premieres – How Neal gets back into the FBI fold from his island escape is I’m sure one plot twist away and more CIA thrills.

Wednesday

  • Beverly Hills Nannies (ABCFam, 9pm) Series Premiere – Writing that title makes me physically ill.
  • Damages /Hit & Miss (DirTV, 9/10pm) Season/Series Premieres – Those crazy legal ladies are back, and then Chloe Sevigny as a contract killer who happens to be a transsexual, you bet.
  • Toddlers and Tiaras (TLC, 9pm) Season Premiere – More of this.
  • The Franchise (Show, 10pm) Season Premiere – A season with the Miami Marlins.
  • Picked Off (Hist, 10pm) Series Premiere – Throw team competition into a pawn show.
  • Restaurant: Impossible (Food, 10pm) Season Premiere – Steak and Seafood done wrong?

Thursday

  • Big Brother (CBS, 9pm) Season Premiere – Is this show still on?
  • Natural Born Sellers (HGTV, 9pm) Series Premiere – Too lazy to look up what they’re selling.
  • The Real L Word/Polyamory (Show, 10/11pm) Season/Series Premieres – NYC lesbians join and relationships multi partner style.
  • Property Wars (Disc, 10pm) Series Premiere – Battle on.
  • Top Spot (Trav, 10pm) Series Premiere – Your pick of the best of three.

Friday

  • Tyler Perry’s for Better or for Worse (TBS, 9pm) Season Premiere – I guess worse is more dramatic…

Saturday

  • Dark Matters (Sci, 10pm) Season Premiere – Looking into the dark?

Sunday

  • Leverage (TNT, 8pm) Season Premiere – I just can’t resist this fluffy con/heist show.
  • Breaking Bad/Small Town Security (AMC, 10/11pm) Season/Series Premiere – Walt and Jesse appear to have survived another season and the reality of private security.
  • Political Animals (USA, 10pm) Series Premiere – Word is good on this Sigourney Weaver as fictional not Hillary Clinton.
  • Strange Sex (TLC, 10pm) Season Premiere – More sexual irregularities.
  • 3 Days to Open with Bobby Flay (Food, 10pm) Series Premiere – Can he help in time?
  • Combat Pawn (Tru, 10:30pm) Series Premiere – How much pawn can we take?

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 summer show roundup

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Well it’s that time of year again, the summer fluff is mostly out. And what do I think so far?

  • Alphas (Syfy) Stay Tuned – This is yet another spin on the Heroes theme, certain folks have unique abilities, this time they’re working with the government to stop the evil but good and evil just might not be all that clear, this isn’t as campy as some which may make it more watchable or may make it less engaging.
  • Awkward (Mtv) Stay Tuned – The high school awkward phase has been done before but there’s just a dash enough of good writing to make the characters and situations interesting, will she make it work with her crush, or is there another guy out there for her, and how much humiliation in the interim.
  • Combat Hospital (ABC) Tune Out – Grey’s Anatomy at war didn’t engage me enough to stick through the first episode which maybe isn’t fair or maybe watching at least part was more time than it was worth.
  • Falling Skies (TNT) Tune Out – I was borderline on this, it’s not a bad show, about putting up the good fight after an alien invasion, but I just found I didn’t much care about the battles or the relationships.
  • The Glee Project (Oxy) Tune In – This is my favorite new show, it has all the ingredients of a singing competition, but the combination of elements in each episode (initial challenge, music video, and final singing for save) and the reality of competing for a role in a specific show with really talented kids makes it a must see.
  • Franklin & Bash (TNT) Stay Tuned – The cases and premise are pretty dumb but Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Breckin Meyer are still somehow kind of endearing in their rebellious lawyer style.
  • Happily Divorced (TVL) Tune Out – Unless you have really been missing The Nanny, this dated feeling sitcom about Fran living with her gay now ex husband is a pass.
  • Love Bites (NBC) Stay Tuned – This show didn’t catch on but it was actually a pretty good take on the romcom, boiling every possible story down to three vignettes an episode.
  • Necessary Roughness (USA) Stay Tuned – A newly separated shrink gets what seems like a windfall when she’s asked to help out professional football player, but athletes, the team’s staff, and her family may still all be too crazy, she’s pretty likable in the overarching football story but the weekly cases in other sports seem a little too pat.
  • The Nine Lives of Chloe King (ABCFam) Tune Out – Always willing to give the weird a shot, in this version this girl finds she’s descended from some sort of cat people, she’s the hope of the race but unfortunately may kill anyone she gets kissy with, will she survive long enough to… whatever it is she’s supposed to do, just nothing really to grab onto.
  • The Protector (Life) Tune Out – Not a terrible show but just nothing noteworthy about this police procedural where the title character is a woman trying to balance family and work.
  • State of Georgia (ABCFam) Tune Out – Raven-Symoné and Majandra Delfino attempt to play this generation’s Lucy and Ethel and I just can’t get on board.
  • Suits (USA) Stay Tuned – It’s unbelievable that a lawyer would risk it all to hire a non law school grad to his firm that only hires Harvard grads, but this all business ‘closer’ has a dynamic with his protege who reads and learns it all protege that is keeping me engaged.
  • Switched at Birth (ABCFam) Tune Out – This show was actually sort of sweet in the look at the families and difficulties of two girls who learn they were the biological daughters of different families but it was a little too sappy too keep up with.
  • Teen Wolf (MTV) Tune Out – I was intrigued by the new guy as wolf trying to balance that along with friends and romance but it just got too stupid.
  • Web Therapy (Show) Stay Tuned – I wanted to like this Lisa Kudrow as internet shrink as her web series made the leap to broadcast, but couldn’t quite enjoy her terrible advice or uncomfortable relationship with her husband.
  • Wilfred (Fx) Tune In – The US update to the wacky Australian concept where a guy sees a dog as a man in a dog suit is super odd but I can’t turn away as I wait for whatever unpredictable hijinks Wilfred will get them into.

What else is sticking around in the TiVo queue: Burn Notice, Celebrity Rehab, Closer, Drop Dead Diva, In Plain Sight, Leverage, Louie, Project Runway, White Collar and on occasion but tenuous Eureka, Glades, Rizzoli & Isles.

I do tend to take a pass on most new reality fare.

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new and noteworthy tv: 6/20-6/26

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A decent amount of summer fluff to add to the queue…

Monday

  • Wimbledon (ESPN2, 4am and ongoing; NBC starting Sat) – Early round coverage kicks off, top four men look good and the Williams sisters are back!
  • Hoarders/Intervention (A&E, 9/10pm) Season Premieres – Problem behaviors in various states.
  • Rupaul’s Drag U (Logo, 9pm) Season Premiere – Who will they take to fabulous this season?
  • United States of Tara (Show, 10:30pm) Series Finale – Will any of the versions of Tara be end well?

Tuesday

  • Wipeout/101 Ways to Leave a Game Show/Combat Hospital (ABC, 8/9/10pm) Season/Series Premieres – Bad obstacles, physically crazy exits to what may be a quiz show, and the latest Canadian import hospital in a war zone.
  • History Detectives/POV (PBS, 8/10pm) Season Premieres – A look into some random historical events and artifacts and then kicking off with a look at pastry competition.
  • Hardcore Pawn/Storage Hunters (Tru, 9/10pm) Season/Series Premiere – People’s stuff and personalities.
  • Staten Island Cakes/The Cupcake Girls (WE, 9/10pm) Series/Season Premieres – People’s baked goods and personalities.
  • Nail Files (TVG, 10pm) Series Premiere – Following some celebrity manicurist.

Wednesday

  • I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant (TLC, 9pm) Season Premiere – I guess there are enough people for another season.
  • Life on a Wire (Disc, 10pm) Series Premiere – Death defying stunts.
  • Real World/Road Rules Challenge (MTV, 10pm) Season Premiere – Folks are teamed up with rivals.

Thursday

  • Burn Notice/Suits (USA, 9/10pm) Season/Series Premieres – Michael and his campy spyness return and then non lawyer lawyer with some sort of crazy memory tries to hang with the upscale legal doers.
  • Expedition Impossible/Rookie Blue (ABC, 9/10pm) Series/Season Premiere – It’s like amazing race but with teams of three and then the rookies return and one can only hope they are more impressive.
  • Wilfred/Louie (Fx, 10/10:30) Series/Season Premiere – So is he a dog like everyone else sees or a man in a dog suit like Elijah Wood sees but more importantly is it funny enough to be a good fit with off kilter Louie?
  • Futurama (Com, 10pm) Season Premiere – More animated space adventures.

Friday

  • Rhett & Link/Young, Broke & Beautiful (IFC, 10/11pm) Series Premiere – Traveling to film commercials and traveling to uncover underground subcultures.

Saturday

  • Carson Nation (Own, 10pm) Series Premiere – Queer Eye’s Carson travels doing makeovers.

Sunday

  • Celebrity Rehab with Dr Drew (VH1, 9pm) Season Premiere – Can’t… look… away…
  • Leverage (TNT, 9pm) Season Premiere – Another season of the light but fun steal from the corrupt to make things right capers.
  • L&O: CI (USA, 9pm) Series Finale – Goodbye to the major case squad.
  • True Blood (HBO, 9pm) Season Premiere – Someday I will give this a go on Netflix.
  • The Marriage Ref (NBC, 10pm) Season Premiere – I didn’t think anyone watched this Seinfeld show of folks commenting on couples problems.
  • Extreme Chef (Food, 10:30pm) Series Premiere – Extreme food or extreme cooking conditions?

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: 12/6-12/12

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TNT is bringing back some good stuff before we hit the new year, did I say new year?

Monday

  • American Country Awards (Fox, 8pm) – Trace Adkins hosts the country kids.
  • The Sing-Off (NBC, 8pm) Season Premiere – I actually kind of enjoyed this a capella glee-esque reality competition.
  • The Closer/Men of a Certain Age (TNT, 9/10pm) Season Premieres – Will Brenda’s business change with a new chief and how will the men fare in business and in pleasure?
  • Next Great Baker (TLC, 9pm) Series Premiere – Pastry chefs compete.
  • Tabatha’s Salon Takeover (Brav, 10pm) Season Premiere – Hairy business.
  • True Life/The Vice Guide to Everything (MTV, 10/11/11:30pm) Season/Series Premieres – A look at ladies without sex and then lots of sex.

Tuesday

  • Charlie Brown Christmas (ABC, 8pm) – Good grief.
  • Minute to Win It (NBC, 8pm) Season Premiere – More weird tasks for money.
  • Cupcake Wars (Food, 9pm) Season Premiere – Cakes, small but with wow.
  • Eureka/Warehouse 13 (Syfy, 9/10pm) – Holiday specials syfy style.
  • Ramsay’s Best Restaurant (BBCA, 9pm) Series Premiere – Because we need more Gordon Ramsay.
  • Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys (Sund, 10pm) Series Premiere – Reality with a gals and gays grouping.

Wednesday

  • Fashion Forward (CW, 9pm) – Fashion, designers, celebrities…
  • MANswers (Spike, 10:30pm) Season Premiere – Random dude stuff.

Thursday

  • Shrek the Halls/Prep & Landing/Barbara Walter’s Specials (ABC, 9/10pm) – Animation, Oprah, and… the 10 most fascinating people

Friday

  • Tom Brokaw Presents Bridging the Divide (USA, 7pm) – Civil rights, the economy, technology…

Saturday

  • Frosty the Snowman/Frosty Returns/The Flight Before Christmas (CBS, 8/8:30/9pm) – It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.
  • Video Game Awards (Spike, 8pm) – Get your joysticks ready.

Sunday

  • Ax Men (Hist, 9pm) Season Premiere – Alaska logging at its finest.
  • Basketball Wives (VH1, 9pm) Season Premiere – Will someone offend someone else?
  • Leverage (TNT, 9pm) Season Premiere – Let’s get our con on.
  • Midseason Preview (NBC, 9:30pm) – What, more television?
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new summer show roundup

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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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new and noteworthy tv: 1/11-1/17

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The midseason shows are starting to come in, Idol alone would take up a chunk of time if I didn’t feel like I could skip most of the early auditions, how did I get sucked back in to that show again? Anyhow, procrastinator picks are underlined.

Monday

  • Diners, Drive-Ins, & Dives (Food, 10pm) Season Premiere – Pizza, pork, and paprikash, need I say more?
  • Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations (Trav, 10pm) Season Premiere – Tony heads to Panama.
  • Fantasia For Real (VH1, 10pm) Series Premiere – If you’ve been wondering, what is Fantasia up to these days this is the show for you.

Tuesday

  • American Idol (Fox, 8pm, tues/wed) Season Premiere – We kick off the early rounds of night after night of auditions for those who just can’t get enough, and there will be some guest judges until Ellen takes her regular chair come Hollywood.
  • Southland (TNT, 10pm) – Remember that show that was canceled before they started airing the second season, well they’re starting it out from the beginning on cable, and will air at least all the produced episodes though no guarantees they’ll get anymore.
  • Blue Mountain State (Spike, 10/10:30pm) Series Premiere – It’s a new football comedy, maybe for those who get too upset watching Friday Night Lights.
  • Little Miss Perfect (WE, 10pm) Season Premiere – Does the girl without an entourage stand a chance in this latest pageant?

Wednesday

  • Monsterquest (Hist, 9pm) Season Premiere – Monster Sharks!
  • High School Reunion (TVL, 10pm) Season Premiere – This season the class of ’89 brings 11 folks from Las Vegas to Hawaii.
  • Leverage (TNT, 10pm) Season Premiere – The team hits the runway to right another wrong, with some sort of con of course.
  • Solving History (Disc, 10pm) Series Premiere – Apparently the host of this show’s name is Olly Steeds but I keep reading it as Oily.
  • Tosh.0 (Com, 10:30pm) Season Premiere – Daniel Tosh puts ‘his indelible stamp on everything crazy the Web has to offer’.

Thursday

  • First 48/Manhunters (A&E, 9/10/10:30pm) Season Premieres – Real life murders and fugitives.
  • Ace of Cakes (Food, 10pm) Season Premiere – Apparently there is a DIY show that some guys are visiting from to make a ‘man cave’ out of Duff’s basement, and there will still be some cakes.
  • Archer (FX, 10/10:30pm) Series Premiere – Spy spoof animation.
  • Project Runway/Models of the Runway (Life, 10/11pm) Season Premieres – They’re back…
  • Watch What Happens (Brav, midnight) Season Premiere – I think if you tune in something will happen.

Friday

  • Critic’s Choice Movie Awards (VH1, 8:30/9pm) – First the arrivals and then Kristin Chenoweth hosts as the awards season moves along.
  • I Shouldn’t Be Alive (AnPl, 9pm) Season Premiere – Creepy stories where people could have died but didn’t.
  • The Singing Bee (CMT, 9pm) Season Premiere – More karaoke singing competition.
  • Swamp Loggers (Disc, 10pm) Season Premiere – Swamps, logging…

Saturday

  • Alli Winter Dew Tour (NBC, 10am sat, 12pm sun) – Winter action sports hit Snowbasin, Utah.
  • Pit Boss (AnPl, 10pm) Series Premiere – I feel like making a little person/pit bull rescue joke would be un-pc…

Sunday

  • Golden Globe Awards (NBC, 7/8pm) – Ricky Gervais hosts this one for television and filmmakers from the Hollywood Foreign Press.
  • Human Target (Fox, 8pm) Series Premiere – Mark Valley puts himself between his clients and their deaths, based on a comic book, it moves to its regular timeslot on Wednesday.
  • Food Network Challenge (Food, 8pm) Season Premiere – 4 barbecue teams need to master 4 kinds of meats.
  • 24 (Fox, 9pm) Season Premiere – That guy must be very good at his job to have survived all these days, or the show could be unbelievable, nah…
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