new and noteworthy tv: 10/14-10/20

What-Not-To-Wear

The premieres are getting closer to wrapping up so I’m getting closer to culling it back down to a watchable list, one or two more to go…

Monday

  • Russell Peters vs the World (Net, 12:01am) Series Premiere – Check out his world tour, whoever he is.

Tuesday

  • The Biggest Loser (NBC, 8pm) Season Premiere – From the promos I know that Ruben Studdard is on.
  • Baggage Battles (Trav, 9pm) Season Premiere – More unclaimed items up for bid.
  • Real Husbands of Hollywood (BET, 10pm) Season Premiere – So some stuff happens with some people.

Wednesday

  • Toy Story of Terror! (ABC, 8pm) – The toys face their fear.
  • Nature (PBS, 8pm) Season Premiere – The season starts with otters, who are in fact adorable.

Thursday

  • Big Bad Wood (NGC, 9pm) Series Premiere – Following tree cutting companies.
  • Reign (CW, 9pm) Series Premiere – Formalized marriage meets some complication, worth taking a peek at this new take on the old, well young monarchs.
  • White Collar (USA, 9pm) Season Premiere – Can Neal clear Peter’s name, was sort of over this last season but let’s hope they can keep the episodic fun without too much overarching drag.
  • #Rampage4Real (Spike, 11pm) Series Premiere – Following fighter Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.

Friday

  • What Not to Wear (TLC, 8/9pm) Series Finale – Stacy and Clinton answer some viewer mail and then offer their final tips on combining color, pattern, texture, and shine.
  • Comedy Bang! Bang!/The Birthday Boys (IFC, 10/10:30pm) Season/Series Premieres – Rainn Wilson and Andy Daly guest and then more sketch-comedy.

Saturday

  • When Calls the Heart (Hall, 9pm) Series Premiere – Based on Janette Oke’s Canadian West book series, city teacher hits the frontier.
  • Dancing on the Edge (Starz, 10pm) Mini-Series Premiere – Kicking off with upstart jazz band in this five part dramatic series.
  • The Graham Norton Show (BBCA, 11pm) Season Premiere – Guests Benedict Cumberbatch and… oh you had me at Benedict.

Sunday

  • Guy’s Grocery Games (Food, 8pm) Series Premiere – Cooking competition right in the store.
  • Queer Eye (Brav, 9pm) – Reunion special 10 Years later.

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

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 and noteworthy tv: 1/16-1/22

Enough good tv starting that I may not get sucked into the Australian Open…

Monday

  • Australian Open (ESPN2, ongoing/various) – The play continues.
  • The Revolution (ABC, 2pm) Series Premiere – Lifestyle experts transform.
  • Alcatraz (Fox, 8pm) Series Premiere – Always willing to give JJ Abrams shows a shot, a mix of cops and supernatural, and a reason to see Hurley again on another island.
  • Betty White’s 90th Birthday/Betty White’s Off Their Rockers (NBC, 8/9:30pm) Series Premiere – Everybody toasts Betty and then seniors play pranks what could be more hilarious.
  • Being Human/Lost Girl (Syfy, 9/10pm) Season/Series Premiere – More irregular folks and the new/lost girl is a succubus.

Tuesday

  • Remodeled (CW, 9pm) Series Premiere – More businesses get makeovers, this time modeling agencies.
  • Ink Master (Spike, 10pm) Series Premiere – Nobody wants to be tattooed by the losers in this competition.
  • Justified (Fx, 10pm) Season Premiere – Raylan I missed you.
  • Ragin’ Cajuns (Disc, 10pm) Series Premiere – Shrimp fishing, or should i say fishin’.
  • Southland (TNT, 10pm) Season Premiere – This cop show tends to not disappoint and this seasn’s guests include Lucy Liu.
  • White Collar (USA, 10pm) Season Premiere – Who will betray who?

Wednesday

  • American Idol (Fox, 8pm, and Thurs/Sun) Season Premiere – I keep saying I’m out, but depending on scheduling…
  • Mistresses (BBCA, 10pm) Season Premiere – Relationship problems?
  • Royal Pains (USA, 10pm) Season Premiere – More doctoring.

Thursday

  • Archer/Unsupervised (Fx, 10pm) Season/Series Premiere – The return of the animated government agency followed by high school misfits.

Friday

  • Shark Tank (ABC, 8pm) Season Premiere – Get your inventions ready.
  • On Freddie Roach (HBO, 9:30pm) Series Premiere – A look at boxing trainer and Parkinson patient.
  • Swanderosa (CMT, 10pm) Series Premiere – The Swan family hosts events on their Texas estate.

Saturday

  • Drew Peterson: Untouchable (Life, 8pm) – I’m only including this because people are talking about how awesomely gross Rob Lowe is in it.
  • Bayou Billionaires/My Redneck Vacation (CMT, 9/9:30pm) Series Premieres – More people out of their elements, with new money or new vacay locals.
  • Idiot Abroad (Sci, 10pm) Season Premiere – More torturing of Karl.
  • Scorned (ID, 10pm) Series Premiere – Investigating crimes where love has gone awry.

Sunday

  • Prime Suspect (NBC, 9pm) – In case you were following the changing time slots on the remaining eps.

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

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: 6/6 – 6/12

Monday

  • Masterchef (Fox, 8pm) Season Premiere – A few kitchen dudes look for the next amateur ready to make it big time.
  • My Yard Goes to Disney/House Hunters on Vacation/HGTV’d (HGTV, 8/8:30/9pm) Series Premieres – Outdoor spaces Disneyfied, travelers visit homes before selecting one as a vacation stay, and surprise makeovers.
  • Switched at Birth (ABCFam, 9pm) Series Premiere – It reads like a Lifetime movie but this latest fictional look at the rare familial entanglements will keep going week after week, this family channel is often too trite but sometimes worth a look.
  • Unfaithful/The Dr Laura Berman Show (OWN, 9/10pm) Series Premieres – A look at infidelities and then a camera joins the dr’s radio show.
  • Behind Mansion Walls (ID, 10pm) Series Premiere – Why just look at murders when you can look at murders involving rich people.

Tuesday

  • White Collar/Covert Affairs (USA, 9/10pm) Season Premieres – Campy spy business back to back, I’m more enamored with the likable hustler than the newest addition to the CIA.
  • 19 Kids & Counting (TLC, 9pm) Season Premiere – Please tell me these people aren’t still counting on more kids.
  • Love/Lust (Sund, 10pm) Season Premiere – The season starts out with a look at street foods.

Wednesday

  • CMT Music Awards (CMT, 8pm) – Country goodness.
  • Operation Repo (Tru, 9pm) Season Premiere – More repossessions.

Thursday

  • Nightmare Next Door (ID, 10pm) Season Premiere – Crimes in your own neighborhood, depending on where you live.

Friday

  • My Babysitter’s a Vampire (Dis, 7pm) Series Premiere – Disney’s take on vampires in our midst.
  • FBI: Criminal Pursuit (ID, 10pm) Season Premiere – Cops FBI-style.

Saturday

  • Color Splash (HGTV, 9pm) Season Premiere – A tranquil bedroom update.

Sunday

  • The Tony Awards (CBS, 8pm) – Host Neil Patrick Harris has been teasing me with glorious reviews of broadway’s best, via twitter of course.
  • Bridezillas/Amsale Girls (WE, 9/10pm) Season Premiere – Difficult brides from bride and bridal store perspective.
  • Finding Sarah (OWN, 9pm) Series Premiere – Folks like Dr Phil and Suzy Ormand help out Sarah Ferguson.
  • The Glee Project (Oxy, 9pm) Series Premiere – Real life Gleeks compete for a role on Glee, I’m mildly intrigued though don’t think I get this channel.
  • Swamp Wars (AnPl, 9pm) Series Premiere – Beheaded pythons and gator killings.
  • Keeping Up With the Kardashians/Ice Loves Coco (E!, 10/10:30pm) Season Premieres – Blah, blah, reality, blah, blah.
  • The Protector (Life, 10pm) Series Premiere – This series introduces us to a divorced homicide detective’s work and home.

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

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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