Friday, September 5, 2008
Best Bets
New Monk (USA, 8pm and 11pm)
New Psych (USA, 9pm and midnight)
New Stargate Atlantis (Sci-Fi, 9pm and 11pm)
New The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Comedy Central, 10pm and midnight)
New Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO, 10pm)
New The Colbert Report (Comedy Central, 10:30pm and 12:30am)
John Malkovich, Hayden Panettiere, Steve Earle on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm)
News & Notes
I should have picks for you on Sunday as I want to tell you what I think of the new HBO series True Blood which premieres on Sunday night. No picks on Saturday unless I get really ambitious. Of course you can follow the RSS Feed for the site or watch for updates on twitter or get the emails, etc. See sidebar for details.
Sorry folks, I don’t know if the Sci-Fi channel will be airing any more episodes of Joan of Arcadia; there aren’t any currently on the schedule for this month. You can voice your displeasure and possibly find out more info on the Sci-Fi website for the show. The series is available on DVD: season one and season two.
Primetime Grid
| Fri | 7:00 | 7:30 | 8:00 | 8:30 | 9:00 | 9:30 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Stand Up To Cancer | America’s Funniest Home Videos Rerun | 20/20 | |||
| CBS | Stand Up To Cancer | CBS Fall Preview | Old Christine Rerun | Swingtown Season finale | ||
| NBC | Stand Up To Cancer | NFL Kickoff Special | Dateline NBC | |||
| FOX | Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? Season premiere | Local Programming | ||||
| CW | WWE Friday Night Smackdown! | Local Programming | ||||
| USA | Law & Order: SVU Rerun | Monk also at 11pm | Psych also at midnight | |||
| SciFi | Stargate Atlantis Rerun | Stargate Atlantis Rerun | Stargate Atlantis also at 11pm | |||
Primetime
College Football: Navy at Ball State (ESPN, 6pm).
2008 Basketball Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony (ESPN Classic & NBA TV, 6:30pm). Live! From Springfield, Mass. Airs again on ESPN2 on Sunday at 4:30pm. Here’s a link to the website for the Hall of Fame. Inductees this year are: Adrian Dantley, William Davidson, Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olajuwon, Pat Riley, Cathy Rush, and Dick Vitale.
The three big networks unite and all air a special called Stand Up To Cancer (ABC, CBS, NBC, 7pm). Featuring lots of celebrities, of course. Find out more and/or make a donation at StandUp2Cancer.org.
The first two hours of the six hour miniseries Samurai Girl air tonight on ABC Family (ABC Family, 7pm; also at 5pm on Saturday). Hours 3 & 4 air on Saturday night, hours 5 & 6 will air on Sunday night. The cast of this miniseries includes Jamie Chung, Brendan Fehr (of Roswell, CSI: Miami), Saige Thompson, Kyle Labine, Anthony Brandon Wong, Steven Brand, and Kenneth Choi. You can find out more on the official site for the miniseries (a.k.a. “special event”>). Here’s how ABC Family describes the series:
Based on a series of popular young adult novels, “Samurai Girl” tells the story of a 19-year old Japanese girl named Heaven, who discovers that the wealthy businessman who adopted her as an infant is really the head of the Yakuza (the Japanese mafia) and may have had her beloved brother brutally murdered. She breaks from her family and begins training to become a samurai, and with the help of a group of new American friends, sets out to take down her father’s evil empire.
Kathy Ireland and a State Superintendent from Georgia are the competitors on the season premiere of Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? (FOX, 7pm - 9pm). Jeff Foxworthy hosts.
New episode of Gone Country (CMT, 7pm).
The gang gathers to view a TV show that covers how Monk handled a serial-killer case in the 100th episode of Monk (USA, 8pm and 11pm). Of course while watching the show, Adrian notices something amiss . . . Episode airs again on Sunday at 8am.
Lara Spencer hosts the CBS Fall Preview (CBS, 8pm) which is what it sounds like: a preview of the new fall season of shows on CBS.
NBC airs a NFL Kickoff Special (NBC, 8pm) which is “A preview of the 2008 NFL season and NBC’s Fall television lineup. Featuring performances by Usher, Keith Urban and Natasha Bedingfield.”
Four of the most challenging dogs rescued from NFL quarterback Michael Vick’s illegal dogfighting venture overcome their violent pasts to go on to happier lives on a two hour installment of DogTown (National Geographic, 8pm, 11pm; also on Sunday at 10am).
New episodes of Grizzly Man Diaries (Animal Planet, 8pm and midnight, 8:30pm and 12:30am).
A thirty-year-old still mostly wears t-shirts, they also wear socks with sandals! Oh no! I’m guessing they’ll get schooled in the ways of fashion on a new What Not to Wear (TLC, 8pm and 11pm; also on Saturday at 9am)
A look at “Infinite Winds” on a new episode of Discovery Project Earth (Discovery, 8pm and midnight) which is followed by a new episode called “Hungry Ocean” (Discovery, 9pm and 1am). The wind episode features a look at a proposed “revolutionary turbine powered by winds from 1,000 feet above sea level.” In the ocean episode, “scientists try to restore and enhance phytoplankton production to remove more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.”
New episode of Outsiders Inn (CMT, 8pm). Wherein Maureen McCormick, Bobby Brown, and Carnie Wilson run a B&B.
O’Hara goes undercover with a roller derby team and then Shawn and Gus try to “help” her on a new episode of Psych (USA, 9pm and midnight; also on Saturday at 10pm and Sunday at 9am).
The team explores abandoned catacombs and discovers one of Michael’s labs on a new Stargate Atlantis (Sci-Fi, 9pm and 11pm)
Season finale of Swingtown (CBS, 9:03pm). Which is almost certainly the series finale. Most of the major events of the episode happen at Trina and Tom’s annual end of the summer clambake and key party.
Exclusive reports about the case of the missing toddler Caylee Anthony on a new episode of 20/20 (ABC, 9pm).
New Dateline NBC (NBC, 9pm)
New episode of Shockwave (History Channel, 9pm and 1am).
Baseball: Diamondbacks at Dodgers (ESPN, 9pm).
They look for cutting edge gowns on a new Say Yes to the Dress (TLC, 9pm and midnight).
Rerun of The Cleaner (A&E, 9pm and 1am).
New episode of The Soup (E!, 9pm and 11:30pm; also at 9am and 10pm on Saturday).
Late Night
New episode of Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO, 10pm). Guests are actress Kerry Washington, fmr. White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan and former Lt. Governor Michael Steele (R-MD). Plus correspondent Dan Savage and (via satellite) legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin.
A special Friday edition of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Comedy Central, 10pm and midnight) from St. Paul with more coverage of the Republican National Convention.
“Unfinished Business” episode of Criminal Minds (A&E, 10pm and 2am).
“It’s a Wonderful Lie” episode of House (USA, 10pm).
The Pad Thai episode of Good Eats (10pm and 1am).
Gov. David Paterson on a special Friday edition of The Colbert Report (Comedy Central, 10:30pm and 12:30am).
John Malkovich, Hayden Panettiere, Steve Earle on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 10:35pm).
Eva Mendes, Chris Matthews, Shinedown on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (NBC, 10:35pm).
Jerry O’Connell, Christian Lander on Late Night with Conan O’Brien (NBC, 11:37pm).
Eva Longoria, Jamie Lidell on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (CBS, 11:37pm).
Taye Diggs, Sarah Jane Morris, Black Kids on Jimmy Kimmel (ABC, check your local listings).
Maria Menounos, Benjamin Nugent, Local H on a rerun of Last Call with Carson Daly (NBC, check your local listings).
