Tonight on the Tube: State of the Union, Veronica Mars and American Idol

The president delivers the State of the Union tonight. This will affect what you will find on the tube tonight. Out here on the west coast the speech will be on at 6:00 p.m. but will still play havoc with primetime programming on the Networks since it falls in the second hour of primetime on the east coast and the first hour of primetime in both the central and mountain time zones. So instead of Prime Picks and Solid Selections for each hour of primetime as per normal, tonight I will list the shows that are supposed to have NEW episodes at some point and time tonight on Network TV. When exactly they will be on depends on what time zone you are in.

New Episodes Tonight

American Idol (FOX): New. The auditions continue.
Boston Legal (ABC): New. According to the ABC website there is to be a new episode tonight but here in Seattle it isn’t showing up on the schedule.
Gilmore Girls (The CW): New. The holidays have been put on hold until Rory returns from London and Luke asks Lorelai to write him a recommendation letter to help him in his custody battle.
NCIS (CBS): New. The team is on the hunt for a terrorist they have faced before in order to stop his nefarious plan.
Veronica Mars (The CW): New. The Dean’s wife wants to hire Keith to look into her husband’s death. Veronica helps some researcher track down a monkey that has gone missing.

Cable Choices

Dead Like Me (Sci Fi): Repeat. The second of two episodes tonight has George being mean on purpose to people.

Eureka (Sci Fi): Repeat. The “Many Happy Returns” episode replays where Allison is having ghost appear in her home and a recently deceased woman walks the streets.

The Closer (TNT): Repeat. The second season replay continues with the team investigating the deaths of a woman and her daughter who were found dead in the harbor tied together.

Other Options

• Dirt (FX): New. Lucy uses blackmail to get a basketball player to help her track somebody down. Runs 62 minutes and plays twice.
• Dirty Jobs (Discovery Channel): New. Mike tries barrel making.
• Lincoln Heights (ABC Family): Repeat. Last night’s new episode, “Betrayal,” replays twice tonight.
• Rachael Ray’s Tasty Travels (Food Network): New. Cuisine on the coast is searched for.

Sports Notes

• ESPN has a college basketball doubleheader.
• ESPN2 has continued coverage of the quarterfinals from the Australian Open tennis tournament.
• NBA TV has the Phoenix Suns at the Washington Wizards.
• Versus has the NHL Hockey All-Star skills challenge followed by a college basketball game.