Jan 25 2009
TV to Watch this Week
With fall shows returning, midseason TV starting up, and special movies running, there’s a lot to watch on television this week. Can’t decide what to tune in for? Here are TV News and Reviews’ primetime suggestions for the week of January 25, 2009:
Sunday
Cold Case, CBS, 8/7c. Tune in early for this thoughtful, heartstring-tugging cop procedural that typically runs an hour earlier on Sundays. This week’s case involves the murder of a 1967 brush salesman.
The Last Templar, Part I, NBC, 9/8c. I’m not familiar with the novel by Raymond Khoury, but this two-part mini-series about an archaeologist and FBI agent exploring the long-hidden secrets of the Knights Templar looks like it might be a fun National Treasure-ish style adventure. With an exciting line-up of Mira Sorvino (who reportedly broke 5 teeth during a boating action scene accident), Scott Foley, Victor Garber and Omar Shariff, I’m looking forward to checking this one out.
Monday
The Last Templar, Part II, NBC, 9/8c. The conclusion to Sunday night’s mini-series adventure.
The Closer, TNT, 9/8c. Set your DVR or stay up late if you want to catch both The Last Templar and the first new episode of the year for The Closer. Following last fall’s cliffhanger, viewers are anxious to see what happens with Brenda (Kyra Sedgwick) and Fritz’ (Jon Tenney) wedding plans and the fate of wounded team member Detective Sanchez. Catch the encore at midnight Eastern/11pm Central to avoid recording. As Brenda would say: “Thank you so much.”
Tuesday
Scrubs (2 episodes), ABC, 8/7c. The Mentalist is still doing reruns on CBS, so now’s your chance to take a peek at the last season of this clever ensemble comedy, with tonight’s guest star Elmo.
Wednesday
Lost, ABC, 9/8c. Be prepared to bend your brain with the third episode of the new season with our castaways. The season opener managed to clear up a few questions while opening up a whole new can of worms to consider. It wouldn’t be Lost if you weren’t lost, so just go along for the ride and see where it takes you.
Life on Mars, ABC, 10/9c. I loved this quirky American remake of a British show, starring Jason O’Mara (The Closer, Men in Trees) as police detective Sam Tyler, who gets hit by a car and wakes up in 1973. The mystery of the show lies in all the possible explanations for Tyler’s predicament–is he in a coma, hallucinating, on drugs, or dead? Or is it really time travel or some sort of dimension shifting? The beauty of Life on Mars is that it’s a great nostalgia piece and gritty cop show, with little bits of the mystery of Tyler’s past and future woven in. Paired up with fellow mind-bender Lost, here’s hoping Life on Mars finds the ratings it deserves. Heavy-hitters Harvey Keitel, Gretchen Mol, and Michael Imperioli also star.
Thursday
Burn Notice, USA, 10/9c. This witty spy action drama is a heck of a lot of fun to watch. With Jeffrey Donovan’s smooth spy moves and deadpan voiceovers, Gabrielle Anwar’s gleeful attachment to solving everything with violence, and blustery Bruce Campbell conning everyone in sight, the show delivers good old-fashioned entertainment in a slick, sexy, fun package. USA is treating us with a few midseason episodes before Burn Notice returns for its regular season in the summer.
Friday
Friday’s a deadzone this week, with not much going on and no new episodes. Even TLCs What Not to Wear is a recap episode, highlighting women from past episodes who had gone through impressive weight loss but hadn’t figured out how to dress their new figures. Though made up of old clips, we should be treated to some new banter from hosts/stylists Stacy London and Clinton Kelly, so tune in to TLC at 9/8c.
Saturday
Crusoe, NBC, 8/7c. This is it, folks, the season finale of this exciting romp with pirates, cannibals, and MacGyver-esque treehouses full of gadgets. And don’t forget the gorgeous Philip Winchester and Tongai Chirisa running around shirtless as they trade boyish banter.
I’ve never seen “Life on Mars” before, and had barely even heard of it before this week, but I’ve been seeing lots of ads for it all week, and the first time I saw the ad, I thought — OMG, there’s Christopher from “The Sopranos”!! Plus, it’s set in 1973 New York, and I lived in NY in 1973, so it could be a major nostalgia trip for me (but all that bad hair!!). Anyway, I’m definitely going to check it out (if I can remember not to turn the TV off after Lost! ;)). Thanks for the recommendation!
In the fall “Life on Mars” started at the same time, in the same time slot as “Eleventh Hour”. I was leaning towards “Life on Mars” due to the cast, and the plot seemed fairly interesting, and then I heard “Eleventh Hour” was on the gory side–that did it for me. I can only watch so many autopsy shows, you know?
“Life on Mars” is sometimes all over the map on the mystery part, but it certainly keeps you guessing, and Harvey Keitel seems to be having a ball…heh. Michael Imperioli definitely got the bad hair card in this one…but he’s really good as always. It’s definitely interesting to see 1973 through a modern man’s eyes–we don’t think much has changed in a few decades but it really has. And what I like about the show is it doesn’t always say that the modern ways/attitudes are better. It makes you question your thinking, so that’s pretty cool. Check it out and let me know how you like it.
Will do. I’m really curious to see how they make NY look like it’s 1973 again.
Hey, MM, if you have the time, you can watch Part I online at NBC.com to catch up. Barring that, I’m sure they’ll do a “last night on The Last Templar” recap before tonight’s installment. It’s a fairly straightforward story so I don’t think you’ll be too lost!
As for Friday Night Lights, I’ve never seen it so it’s not on my radar. I know a lot of people do enjoy it. And you’re right about The Soup on Fridays–I should do a “What to Watch” on late night TV…heh.
Well, Lost really has gone on too long, but I’m kind of hooked–I’ve invested too much time to give up now…heh.
USA has current full episodes online if you’re inclined to watch it that way:
http://www.usanetwork.com/series/burnnotice/video/fullep/
I’m going to miss Crusoe a lot. I love that crazy show.
I watched “Life on Mars” on tape last night — after “Lost,” I had to decompress, and couldn’t focus on anything else!
I’m not sure yet about this show. I loved the music, and I (sort of) liked the way it combined comedy with the usual cop show stuff. But there wasn’t much about the guy being from the future. Except for a couple of lines about his being an “immigrant,” it could have been any cop show that just happened to be set in 1973. I was hoping to see his reactions to being in the past, but there didn’t seem to be any of that, at least in that one episode I saw. I’m going to give it one more try.
I actually missed the second half of the episode because our furnace went out…always great when it’s 12 degrees out. I’ll have to catch it online. The stuff about his reactions to the new time period happened in a lot of the earlier episodes in the fall that you missed. He’s more or less settled in at this point, though some things still throw him. I’m sure it’ll come up again…they kind of shift back and forth with the focus. Some episodes in the fall centered on him finding himself as a kid and learning the real story about the people his parents were. So that might come up again, too.
Wow - brrrrrrr — I hope you were able to get your furnace fixed quickly!
Thank you! We did, but it was expensive…gah. Gotta love winter.