tv

new and noteworthy tv: 3/8-3/14

No Comments

Monday

  • The Bachelor (ABC, 8pm) – For those doubters out there, we have a couple getting married.
  • Gossip Girl (CW, 9pm) – I missed a bunch of these and now folks seem to be hooking up with their partners from three years ago.
  • Trauma (NBC, 9pm) – Did you think this show was canceled?

Tuesday

  • 90210/Melrose Place (CW, 8/9pm) – Trash or trashy goodness? I have given up but if you haven’t they’re back.

Wednesday

  • America’s Next Top Model (CW, 8pm) Season Premiere – They’ve dropped the tiny models and are back for another season of bitchiness, I dropped this last season but I’m giving it another go.
  • High Society (CW, 9:30pm) Series Premiere – Just what was missing from the schedule, more reality, this time following some Manhattan socialite and her ‘friends’.
  • First Love, Second Chance (TVL, 10pm) Series Premiere – Couples that didn’t happen, give it another go.
  • Billy the Exterminator (A&E, 10:30pm) Season Premiere – Billy exterminates.

Thursday

  • Sober House (VH1, 10pm) Season Premiere – Some of the gang new and old gives sober living a shot, including Tom Sizemore, Heidi Fleiss, Dennis Rodman, Seth Binzer, Kari Ann Peniche, Kendra Jade Rossi, and Mike Starr, I still can’t look away.

Friday

  • Numb3rs (CBS, 10pm) Finale – This show hasn’t officially been canceled but if you’re a fan you might get ready to say goodbye.

Saturday

  • The Guard (Ion, 9/10pm) Series Premiere – The Canadian Coast Guard comes to the US.

Sunday

  • Minute to Win It (NBC, 7pm) Series Premiere – What will contestants be asked to do in a minute?
  • The Apprentice (NBC, 9pm) Season Premiere – Another round of ‘celebrities’ compete, who will be fired first? will Brett Michaels be seen without his bandanna?
  • The Pacific (HBO, 9pm) – This ten part miniseries kicks off at Pearl Harbor.
  • Ultimate Recipe Showdown (Food, 9pm) Season Premiere – Starting the season with comfort foods.
  • Sons of Tucson (Fox, 9:30pm) Series Premiere – The kind of funny guy from Reaper pretends to be a foster parent to some kids.
  • America’s Worst Driver (Trav, 10pm) Series Premiere – Do we really want to focus on bad driving.
  • The Antonio Treatment (HGTV, 10pm) Series Premiere – Hmm, they are redoing a gym?
  • Hoarding (TLC, 10pm) Series Premiere – If Hoarders wasn’t enough for you, you can chase it with some Hoarding.
  • Kendra/Pretty Wild (E!, 10pm) Season/Series Premiere – Some girl is followed by a few girls.
Continue Reading

tv

my schedule

1 Comment

Looks like fall shows have launched and now that I’ve given it a look or two, with my goal as always to keep shows to two per time slot max, until they cancel, reschedule, add, or I just get over something, here’s where I’m at:

Monday

  • 8pm – House (Fox) / How I Met Your Mother (CBS)
  • 9pm – Gossip Girl (CW) / Big Bang Theory (CBS 9:30)
  • 10pm – Castle (ABC)

House is one of those shows I wish I could give up but somehow don’t (Laurie is good but they just almost kill a person until they save them every week), Gossip Girl is a quality guilty pleasure, and Castle has Nathan Fillion who is great enough to pull off this relatively formulaic weekly crime drama; although I do occasionally catch 2 1/2 Men I would love to redo the schedule and put HIMYM and BBTheory in the same hour, both are good fun. I’ve been catching Trauma on Saturday repeats.

Tuesday

  • 9pm – Melrose Place (CW)
  • 10pm – The Good Wife (CBS)

Melrose has just been so bad I can’t quite turn away, mostly because there is no competition for me on this night (I hope the cheesiness is intended) but I’ll probably tune in until Heather shows, and have found Julianna and supporting cast to be interesting in the mix of personal drama and weekly lawyerness on Wife.

Wednesday

  • 8pm – The New Adventures of Old Christine (CBS) / The Middle (ABC) / Mercy (NBC)
  • 9pm – Glee (Fox) / Modern Family (ABC)

Christine is finally paired with something that might be kind of funny, too bad it’s on another network, let’s hope they don’t mess up my time blocks, unless they pair Middle with Modern which so far is good; Glee is my favorite new show of the season, and I don’t know why so far I keep watching Mercy it’s not actually good. Have been getting SVU and ANTM on repeat nights.

Thursday

  • 8pm – Bones (Fox) / Community / Parks & Recreation (NBC)
  • 9pm – Grey’s Anatomy (ABC) / The Office / 30 Rock (NBC)
  • 10pm – The Mentalist (CBS)

I still dig Bones and am happy that Community actually seems to be funny paired with P&R which I still find a little uneven but funny. I am almost over Grey’s (I’m never excited to watch but still seem to enjoy the episodes) and still enjoying Office and looking forward to return of 30Rock; oh yeah and Simon is still good on the Mentalist.

Friday

  • 8pm – Law & Order (NBC)
  • 9pm – Dollhouse (Fox) / ANTM (CW)
  • 10pm  – Numb3rs (CBS)

L&O is always a good staple but I don’t so much care, Dollhouse is still a little uneven but I love the way they explore the themes of identity, and I really want to be over ANTM (the less of Tyra the better); Numb3rs is a show I just keep on the list just because I kind of like the math FBI brothers and their dad.

Saturday

  • 9pm – Trauma (NBC)
  • 10pm – Law & Order: SVU (NBC)

I don’t know if I’ll stick with Trauma but we’ll see, and if I miss an ep of any of the L&Os I don’t really notice but keep them in the queue.

Sunday

  • Day of rest.

But what about cable? Fortunately those shows I’m still getting tend to repeat in the off hours so I can catch at random times, currently I am mostly catching Sons of Anarchy on FX and am going to have to check online for the final eps of Greek and Monk until I decide on a cable commitment (I’ve got some Dexter waiting for me one someone else’s Tivo as well).

Continue Reading

tv

new for fall

1 Comment

gleeThe shows are starting to roll out and although I don’t get advanced copies for review, the previews and critics have me interested in the following:

  • Community (NBC, 9/17) – Joel McHale from Talk Soup plays an ousted lawyer hitting community college with a misfit study group including Chevy Chase.
  • FlashForward (ABC, 9/24) – This year’s weird entry has folks black out and envision their future and then?
  • Glee (Fox, 9/9) – Yes, it’s funny but not a typical comedy and yes there’s singing but it’s not a typical musical, tune in.
  • The Good Wife (CBS, 9/22) – Julianna Margulies is back as the wife of a disgraced politician, Chris Noth, and has to start at the beginning with her law practice.
  • Modern Family (ABC, 9/23) – Three interlinking wacked out families includes the family that tries too hard, adopting gay parents, and an older rich dude with a hot young wife.
  • V (ABC, 11/3) – It’s a remake but supposedly picks up with alien intrigue with Elizabeth Mitchell, Scott Wolf, and Morena Baccarin among others.

And of course time will tell for these as well:

The Beautiful Life: TBL (CW, 9/16) – Life behind the scenes of models up and coming to has beens, good bad or just bad; The Cleveland Show (Fox, 9/27) – Family Guy character takes his family to his own show, if you liked the Family Guy;  Cougar Town (ABC, 9/23) Courtney Cox gives it another go as an ‘older’ divorced woman, early buzz isn’t great; Eastwick (ABC, 9/23) – Rebecca Romijn, Jaime Ray Newman, and Lindsay Price take on the roles of women discovering their powers, potential is rumored to not yet be realized; The Forgotten (ABC, 9/22) – Christian Slater joins the cast of folks finding lost folks, late replacement Slater and retooling of plot so we’ll see; Melrose Place (CW, 9/8) – Soapy over the top drama with characters new and old, meh; The Middle (ABC, 9/30) – Patricia Heaton is back with family in hard times, hard times are supposedly funny times; NCIS: Los Angeles (CBS, 9/22) – Chris O’Donnell and LL Cool J head up the new spin LA style, hipper than the old version means something; Three Rivers (CBS, 10/4) – That guy from that other vampire show Moonlight is one of the drs in the organ transplant unit, looks like a snore; Trauma (NBC, 9/28) – Lots of explosions and then maybe some EMT drama, explosions can’t be maintained and the drama’s not quite dramatic yet; Vampire Diaries (CW, 9/10) – They look into each other’s eyes longingly, if you’re looking for fluff.

And a few to pull out that have been labeled as losers:

Accidentally on Purpose (CBS, 9/21) – Jenna Elfman gets pregnant by a young one night stand; Brothers (Fox, 9/25) – Ex NFL star moves home after dad’s heart attack; Hank (ABC, 9/30) Kelsey Grammar is back as a family patriarch recently hitting harder times; Mercy (NBC, 9/23) – Another hospital drama from the nurse’s POV.

Continue Reading

tv

next week 9/7

2 Comments

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

Monday

  • Durham County (ION, 10pm – repeats various) Series Premiere – This Canadian import follows a cop wanting to start over, something says it won’t be drama free.

Tuesday

  • 90210/Melrose Place (CW, 8/9pm – repeats Fri/Sun) Season/Series Premiere – Ok, I don’t even watch the new 90210, and I don’t think I stuck out with the originals until the end, but I’m recommending this night for nostalgia’s sake alone even if it doesn’t make it to a season pass.
  • Sons of Anarchy (Fx, 10pm) Season Premiere – Ready to dive back in to SAMCRO’s internal and external drama as the bikers face some white supremacists.

Wednesday

  • Presidential Address (various, 5pm/pst) – Obama addresses a joint session of Congress, health-care anyone?
  • ANTM (CW, 8pm) Season Premiere – I keep trying to stop watching this show but will tune in to this year’s crop of slightly shorter ‘top model’ wannabes let the makeover meltdowns commence.
  • So You Think You Can Dance (Fox, 8pm) Season Premiere – More dancers, more dancing.
  • Glee (Fox, 9pm – repeats Fri) Season Premiere – Let’s hope this series gets enough viewers to give this fun quirky show, someone aptly compared the tone to Election, enough time to find its legs.
  • Inside the NFL (Show, 9pm) Season Premiere – I’ll go out on a limb and say this show is football related.
  • Nostradamus (Hist, 9pm) Series Premiere – For a cheery look at Doomsday prophecies, is the next Hitler still on his way?
  • The Day Before (Sund, 10pm) Series Premiere – A four part documentary series that explores behind the scenes of a few fashion folks before a big runway show.
  • Destination Truth (Syfy, 10pm) Season Premiere – Some guys investigate some stuff to get some truth.

Thursday

  • Sunday Night Football (NBC, 5:30pm/pst) Season Premiere – Titans at Steelers, need I say more.
  • The Vampire Diaries (CW, 8pm – repeats Fri/Sun) Series Premiere – If you think this looks a little like Twilight Dawson’s Creek style you were right, creator Kevin Williamson brings us the latest vampire book adaptation, it might not be good but worth a look.
  • Destroyed in Seconds (Disc, 8pm) Season Premiere – Hurricanes, explosions…
  • Supernatural (CW, 9pm) Season Premiere – The boys are back, well I assume they are, I didn’t make it past the first couple of episodes.
  • Behind the Music (VH1, 10pm) Series Premiere – First look, Lil Wayne in this relaunch series.

Friday

  • US Open (CBS, Fri/Sat/Sun, 9:30/9am/5pm/1pm/pst) – Following more ESPN2 coverage, the players hit the network, will it be Federer and Serena in the end?
  • Friday Night with Jonathan Ross (BBCA, 9pm) Season Premiere – Jamie Oliver, Ricky Gervais, and a cricketer.
  • Say Yes to the Dress (TLC, 9pm) Season Premiere – Wedding dresses, wedding dress wearers, wedding dress sales people.
  • 20/20 (ABC, 10pm) Season Premiere – Barbara Walters gets a Jackson to talk about Michael, La Toya it is.

Saturday

  • Cops/America’s Most Wanted (Fox, 8/9pm) Season Premieres – Criminals new and old.
  • The Locator/Adoption Diaries (WE, 9/10pm) Season/Series Premiere – Give family up for adoption and find lost family…
  • Robin Hood (BBCA, 9pm) Season Premiere – A return to Sherwood Forrest.
  • Heart of the City (BET, 9:30pm) Series Premiere – A documentary series focusing on issues facing black communities.

Sunday

  • Football Night in America (NBC, 4pm/pst) Season Premiere – Highlights and previews.
  • VMA Awards (MTV, 8/9/11:15pm) – It’s a night of VMAs with the opening act followed by Russell Brand hosting the awards themselves, filled with performances of course, followed by a post show.

Additional airings noted for pilot episodes (various other shows repeat) but schedules do update so please check your local listings.

Continue Reading