TiVoWorthy TV for the Week of February 3, 2008

 

 

MTV this afternoon will debut three new installments of its excellent documentary franchise True Life, beginning at 1 p.m. with I Need Anger Management, about three young people who cannot control their tempers and are trying to change before they alienate their families and friends. I'm Coming to America, about a 19-year-old women's basketball player from Czech Republic and a 21-year-old war refugee from Burma who are hoping to start new lives in the United States, follows at 2 p.m. I Have a Husband in Iraq, at 3 p.m., follows three young women who are coping with the difficulties that come with having their husbands fighting overseas.

 

Live. Senator Barack Obama, Senator Hillary Clinton, Governor Mike Huckabee and Representative Ron Paul will participate from different locations in question and answer sessions with young people via MySpaceIM and ChooseOrLose.com. At press time Senator John McCain and Governor Mitt Romney were not scheduled to participate.

 

Burglars get more than they bargain for when they choose the wrong home to burgle, and when the Torchwood team investigates the wholesale slaughter that follows, it learns that the earth is once again imperiled -- this time by hideous alien "sleeper" agents. John Barrowman stars.

 

Delta Burke, last seen tackling Denny Crane and sparring with Shirley Schmidt as lusty Bella Horowitz on Boston Legal, stars as a romance novelist with six failed marriages behind her who helps two single thirty-something women find their Mr. Rights. Andrea Roth (Rescue Me) co-stars.

 

 

 

 

Live. Why wait until 6 o'clock to begin your annual orgy of Super Bowl food and drink? You can start your excess four hours early with Fox's pre-game programming, which will include red-carpet coverage of celebrities and VIPs arriving at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, hosted by the seriously over-exposed Ryan Seacrest.

 

Live. It's the Patriots vs. the Giants, in between dozens of commercial breaks. Throughout the year, television viewers do what they can to avoid watching commercials while media executives excitedly promote technology that facilitates dodging them altogether. Then along comes Super Bowl Sunday and suddenly commercials are the most talked about and eagerly anticipated programming in the land. As you read this, people are going online to get an advance look at some of the Super Bowl spots on corporate Web sites and YouTube. You read that right: They are devoting their own time to seeking out and watching commercials, and then encouraging their friends to watch them, too. Is there a way to spread that love through the rest of the year? This would appear to be the overriding challenge for Madison Avenue. Perhaps advertisers should strive to make and market commercials with similar effectiveness on an ongoing basis, rather than putting all of their power behind one lone day of programming. During the live telecast of Super Bowl XLII you should watch for new spots by Pepsi (featuring Justin Timberlake), Bridgestone Firestone North America (starring Alice Cooper and Richard Simmons!), Dell (making its Super Bowl debut), Unilever's Sunsilk Hair Care (with Madonna and Shakira) and Frito-Lay (which will name the winner of the Crash the Super Bowl homemade commercial contest on www.doritos.com). Also look for a striking silent PepsiCo spot filmed in American Sign Language during Fox' pre-game show.

 

If you aren't too bloated by the middle of the big game and you aren't interested in the musical performances at the halftime show, check this out: Thirty-minutes of commercial-free eating contests, taped in Las Vegas! First, eight of the world's top ten competitive eaters will attempt to break the hard-boiled egg eating record set by Sonya Thomas (52 eggs in five minutes) back in 2004. Then it's on to the spiral-ham eating. Due to an injured jaw, champion eater Takeru Kobayashi did not participate.

 

Animal Planet's fourth-annual three-hour puppy romp (continuously repeated beginning at 3 p.m. today) promises to be the usual feel-good Super Bowl Sunday alternative to football and halftime festivities.

 

Premiere. This biographical drama dramatizes the brief life and failed romances of the legendary Jane Austen. Among the men she turned away were the very wealthy Harris Bigg, whose fortune would have brought financial security to the Austen family; Reverend Brook Bridges, a tongue-tied vicar whom she teased mercilessly; and Charles Haden, a handsome young surgeon Jane called upon to treat her gravely ill brother Henry. Olivia Williams stars as Jane. Greta Scacchi, Samuel Roukin, Jack Huston and Hugh Bonneville co-star.

 

McNulty's case receives increased attention from the newspaper thanks to the addition of Templeton to the reporting team, Bond raises his public profile, Levy and Herc prepare for litigation, Elena confronts McNulty about his behavior, and Omar shows patience as Marlo throws out his bait. Dominic West, Callie Thorne, Sonja Sohn, Jamie Hector.

 

Walt and Jesse clean up the spectacular mess Jesse made last week when he attempted to dissolve a dead drug dealer's body in his bathtub, dissolving the tub and the floor beneath it in the process and ending up with a flood of bloody goop and nasty acid in his downstairs hallway. Meanwhile, Walt agonizes over what to do with the imprisoned drug dealer in the basement, and DEA agent Hank warns Walt Jr. about the dangers of drugs. Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Anna Gunn, Dean Norris and RJ Mitte star.

 

Academy Award-winner Mira Sorvino plays a psychiatrist trapped at a South Pole research station who becomes gravely ill and receives instruction on how to perform painful diagnostic tests on herself from House via Webcam. Hugh Laurie stars.

 

 

 

 

Online Series Premiere. Ten college students who reside on the same dormitory floor are at the center of this 20-episode series that is constructed in "mockumentary" style. Four new episodes will be launched this week, each of them 4-5 minutes long. Going forward, additional episodes will roll out once a week. New content related to the series will be posted each weekday at dorm-life.com, including Webcam vignettes and photo and video features. Dorm Life is the first project from Attention Span Media (www.attentionspan.tv).

 

Series Premiere. This single camera comedy about the residents of a fabled Hollywood apartment building should be a lot funnier than it is. We'll say this on its behalf: The cast, including Jeffrey Tambor (Arrested Development), Chris Klein, Al Madrigal, Raquel Welch and newcomer Fran Kranz, is appealing, and Welch, in particular, is a hoot as an actress whose age seems to decrease every time the subject comes up. (It's great to see Welch in anything -- and she looks terrific!) Beyond that, we're tapped.

 

John learns the future isn't as safe as he had hoped, and Agent Ellison's investigation leads him to an interesting suspect. Brian Bloom and Garret Dillahunt are the guest stars.

 

Season Premiere. As Season 3 begins, Christine is finally ready to consummate her relationship with Mr. Harris (Blair Underwood), until Barb (Wanda Sykes) says something that makes her change her mind. Meanwhile, Matthew rethinks his commitment to medical school after discovering that his assigned cadaver is a former neighbor. Julia Louis-Dreyfus stars.

 

If it's Monday, it must be Laura (Melissa George), who surprises Paul with unexpected news about her boyfriend. Gabriel Byrne stars.

 

 

 

 

MTV today will offer the first-ever live mobile-to-Web content online and on television with its unique coverage of Super Tuesday. The network's Street Team '08 citizen journalists will stream live content from their video-equipped mobile phones to mtvnews.com and chooseorlose.com from polling stations, rallies and other gatherings in the 23 states that are holding primaries or caucuses today. Meanwhile, MTV throughout the day will break into its programming to telecast features excerpted from these live mobile reports.

 

Tonight's show is all about the Atlanta auditions.

 

In what is likely the last first-run episode of the season, House and his team treat a newly converted Hasidic Jewish woman who collapsed at her wedding. Also, House is preoccupied by Wilson's new relationship with a woman whose personality is oddly similar to House's. What's that about? Hugh Laurie and Robert Sean Leonard star.

 

Alex (Blair Underwood) recalls his return to the scene of the disastrous bombing in Iraq and reveals issues he has with his wife. Gabriel Byrne stars.

 

Fans of those high-gloss primetime serials of the Eighties won't want to miss this episode, which features Donna Mills and Joan Van Ark of Knots Landing, Shari Belafonte of Hotel and Deborah Shelton of Dallas as guest stars. And there are further developments in the increasingly disturbing story of Sean and his deranged fake agent Colleen (Sharon Gless), who neutralized a rival CAA agent in a particularly gruesome manner last week. Plus, John Schneider returns as porn king Ram Peters.

 

 

 

 

The final audition show of the season features highlights from the judges' cross-country search for Idol contenders.

 

Clips from the first nine cycles of the series are featured in a two-part retrospective that will conclude next week at this time. Also included: interviews with past winners and runners-up.

 

Season Premiere. Two episodes. Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates returns to guide a new group of prominent African Americans on a journey to discover their ancestry, utilizing DNA analysis, genealogical research and family oral traditions to trace their lineages back to Africa. Participants this season will include Maya Angelou, Morgan Freeman, Tina Turner, Chris Rock and Jackie Joyner-Kersee, along with one "ordinary" individual selected from more than 2,000 applicants who will work with Professor Gates on the quest for his or her roots.

 

Snotty and potentially suicidal teenage gymnast Sophie (Mia Wasikowska) vents about her teammates and her parents. Gabriel Byrne stars.

 

 

 

 

Season Premiere. They aren't exactly all-stars, but Survivor veterans Jonny Fairplay, Ami Cusack, Cirie Fields, Yau-Man Chan, James Clement, Amanda Kimmel, Ozzy Lusth, Eliza Orlins, Parvati Shallow and Jonathan Penner return for another shot at the coveted $1 million. They'll go up against ten first-timers, all of them devoted fans of the franchise. Jeff Probst is the host.

 

The Green Arrow returns to Metropolis, just in time to be attacked by the Black Canary, a powerful woman with an ear-shattering cry who is working with evil Lex Luthor. It seems Lex has convinced her that the Green Arrow and Clark Kent are terrorists who must be stopped. Meanwhile, Lois clashes with the Canary's alter ego, a conservative talk-show host who is working at the Daily Planet. She also discovers Oliver's secret. Justin Hartley returns as billionaire bad boy Oliver Queen and his crime-fighting alter ego, the Green Arrow. Alaina Huffman plays the Black Canary. Tom Welling, Erica Durance and Michael Rosenbaum star.

 

The perpetually puzzled survivors begin to question the intentions of their supposed rescuers -- who turn out to be just as squirrely as everyone else they have met on the island. Do not miss the opening sequence of this episode! It's a game changer.

 

Sam and Dean try to help Bobby after he lapses into a coma and discover that someone poisoned him with a potion that will kill him if he doesn't wake up soon. With no other choice than to stand by and watch Bobby die, the Winchester brothers decide to take the poison potion and enter Bobby's coma-dream in order to save him -- only to come face to face with their own personal demons in the process. Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles star.

 

It's a rough day for Paul (Gabriel Byrne). First, his session with combustible couple Jake (Josh Charles) and Amy (Embeth Davidtz) comes to an abrupt end, and then his wife (Michelle Forbes) forces him to confront the problems in their own marriage.

 

After two weeks without visions, Eli returns to work refreshed and reinvigorated. But when he resists taking the case of married farmhands from Mexico seeking compensation against a large produce manufacturer whose pesticide made the wife infertile, he experiences two new hallucinations: a singing boys' choir and a menacing biplane. As you might expect, Eli takes the case. Jonny Lee Miller and Victor Garber star.

 

Series Premiere. Brooke Shields, Kim Raver (24) and Lindsay Price play high-powered Manhattan businesswomen in this lighthearted drama based on the best-selling book by Candace Bushnell (Sex and the City). Filmed on location in New York City. Andrew McCarthy (St. Elmo's Fire), Julian Sands (24 again), David Alan Basche, Paul Blackthorne (24 yet again) and Robert Buckley (Fashion House) co-star.

 

Series Premiere. Nine dance crews of five to seven members compete to prove they have the best moves in this competition series from American Idol judge Randy Jackson. Each week, viewers will vote for their favorite crews via text messaging, phone and the Internet (http://dancecrew.mtv.com). The following week, the two weakest teams (as determined by viewer voting) will compete to impress judges JC Chasez, Lil Mama and Shane Sparks in the hope of avoiding the dreaded weekly elimination -- and then the cycle repeats. Mario Lopez is the host.

 

 

 

 

Host and group mentor John Rich (of Big & Rich) takes would-be country artists Carnie Wilson, Dee Snider, Bobby Brown, Diana DeGarmo, Julio Iglesias Jr., Maureen McCormick and Sisqo to Gretchen Wilson's ranch, where the "redneck woman" (like Rich a member of the MuzikMafia) tests their abilities to clean stalls, corral yearlings and feed horses. And the worst is yet to come: The group later heads for downtown Nashville, where they compete in a belching contest, a watermelon seed-spitting competition and a toilet seat toss.

 

God help us! This is the last original episode of Friday Night Lights that was completed before the WGA strike, and it may be the last ever if the strike doesn't end soon and NBC decides to not renew it for next season. It cannot end this way! (Are you listening, Ben Silverman?) Peter Berg, the executive producer of this series and the movie on which it is based, guest stars as Tami's high school boyfriend, a self-made real estate mogul who comes to Dillon to develop property, leading to much tension in the Taylor marriage. Meanwhile, Smash receives a surprising offer from an unlikely college, Jason receives huge news and must decide if he wants to change his life completely, Tim gets his own show at the Christian radio station, and Lyla meets her new boyfriend's family. Kyle Chandler, Connie Britton, Taylor Kitsch, Jesse Plemons, Adrianne Palicki, Aimee Teegarden, Zach Gilford, Scott Porter, Gaius Charles and Minka Kelly star.

 

Gina (Dianne Wiest) makes a suggestion that Paul (Gabriel Byrne) rejects, leading to increased tension between the two.

 

Series Premiere. This series will take you inside the Jane Goodall Institute's Chimpanzee Eden deep in the Mpumalanga region of South Africa, where abused and neglected chimps are rehabilitated and given the chance to live wild and free, all under the watchful eye of rescue director Eugene Cussons.

 

Here's another entertaining series that has no additional original episodes left this season and is not assured a renewal for next fall. (We'd like to see this one return as well, Mr. Silverman!) Terry Bradshaw plays a man who is betting on horses and enjoying a perfect winning streak, which makes Cooper, Danny and Mike very suspicious. Meanwhile, one of Sam's whales brings his grandmother (Kathryn Joosten of Desperate Housewives) to the casino and asks Sam to entertain her by playing bingo, a seemingly innocent request that leads to tremendous complications for everyone. Josh Duhamel, Tom Selleck, James Lesure, Vanessa Marcil and Molly Sims star.

Clinically Wild Alaska (Animal Planet, 10:30 p.m. ET)
Series Preview. This observational reality series, which will officially begin its run on February 22 at 9:30 p.m., chronicles the lives of the talented and eccentric veterinarians at the 24-hour Pet Emergency Treatment hospital in Anchorage, Alaska.

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