Tonight on the Tube: Bracket Busters, Series Premieres and Newpeats

After that last few days with mostly repeat, we finally get a day with plenty of new stuff to watch. Not just new episodes, but new shows. Andy Barker, P.I. and Raines premiere tonight on NBC, while ABC is trying to use Grey’s Anatomy to launch October Road. Also, don’t forget the first newpeat episode of The Office on NBC. Oh, in case you haven’t heard, the NCAA College Basketball Championship Tournament starts today. Let the March Madness begin.

Prime Picks

Smallville (The CW): New. Lex and Lana are about to get married and on the day in question a doctor threatens to tell Lana about her baby, which doesn’t set to well with Lex. Meanwhile, Clark is thinking about telling Lana his secret.

Grey’s Anatomy (ABC): New. The race for chief is on and a new doctor has entered the competition for the position. It turns out that Callie has a big secret. Alex is still working with Jane Doe. Runs 61 minutes.

Raines (NBC): Series Premiere. Jeff Goldblum as a detective that sees dead people. They don’t really help him. They more or less bother him until he figures out who killed them. From what I understand, this show is more Monk than Medium.

Solid Selections

The Office (NBC): Newpeat. What the heck is a Newpeat? Well, it is NBC’s latest concoction to get people to watch repeat episodes. The idea here is that they take two old episodes, “Traveling Salesman” and “The Return,” and put them together, add some new deleted scenes and turn it into an hour long episode for your viewing pleasure. What do you think of the idea? Will you be watching?

Scrubs (NBC): New. While the janitor is blackmailing Carla, the guys try to get an uninsured patient treated. Runs 31 minutes.
Andy Barker, P.I. (NBC): Series Premiere. Andy Richter (Andy Richter Controls the Universe, Late Night with Conan O’Brien) stars in this new comedy. He is an accountant who is mistaken for a private investigator. He takes on the case of a missing husband in tonight’s opener. Right now you can see this episode and the five to follow online at NBC.com.

October Road (ABC): Series Premiere. A guy left home and became a bestselling author. He used is friends and people from the small town he grew up in as characters in his story. The literary community thinks he’s a genius. The people back home, not so much. He is not happy living in New York and is battling writers block. Deciding that the last place he was truly happy was were he grew up, he returns home. Drama ensues.

Cable Choices

American Hot Rod (TLC): New. Watch as a 57 Chevy is revamped.

Iron Chef America (Food Network): Repeat. Sunday’s battle with Iron Chef Bobby Flay being challenged by Chef Marc Murphy is replayed. The secret ingredient was breakfast. There were lots of eggs, bacon and sausage to be used and the winner was …

Throwdown With Bobby Flay (Food Network): New. A macaroni and cheese battle is waged.
Ace of Cakes (Food Network): New. A tennis legend gets a spectacular cake.

Other Options

• The Showbiz Show With David Spade (Comedy Central): Season Premiere. There will be some new bits along with the regular ones like “There, I Said It.”
• Ugly Betty (ABC): New. Betty asks her orthodontist out on a date.

Sports Notes

• CBS has day one first round games in the NCAA Tournament. Today and tomorrow are the two best days and where you will see all the potential upset action. Will you be watching? Who is your Final Four?
• TNT has an NBA doubleheader with the Miami Heat at the New Jersey Nets in the first one and the Los Angeles Lakers at the Denver Nuggets in the second one.

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