News & Notes

On cable tonight, CMT has the third season finale of Country Fried Home Videos and the first season finale of My Big Redneck Wedding, Discovery Channel has the first season finale of Fight Quest and Lifetime has the series premiere of Your Mama Don’t Dance.

WWE SmackDown! has found a new home for next season, as at the end of this season it will no longer be on The CW. When it returns in the fall, it will be on MyNetworkTV.

Prime Picks

Bones (FOX): Repeat. The body of a burned woman is found in a car along with evidence that she had a child that may have been kidnapped.

House (FOX): Repeat. A former band-mate of House’s brings in a girl having hallucinations about Hurricane Katrina. Meanwhile, Cuddy is looking for a sperm donor.

Numb3rs (CBS): Repeat. A player of an alternate reality game plunges to his death and the team investigates. Amita having played the game before is a big help.

Solid Selections

Grey’s Anatomy (ABC): Repeat. Meredith’s father comes to the hospital looking for her. A busload of teenagers crashes and many of them are brought into the ER. Dr. Bailey treats and old high school crush.

20/20 (ABC): Repeats. If you don’t like what ABC investigative reporters have dug up, then you can always watch Dateline NBC and see what they have found. Neither is a great selection, but is the best you can do after the Prime Picks on this Friday night in the second and third hours of primetime.

Cable Choices

Chuck (Sci Fi): Repeat. Episode five, “Chuck Versus the Sizzling Shrimp,” replays, where Chuck is caught between helping a Chinese spy and going against the agents assigned to him.

Monk (USA): Repeat. The sixth season premiere episode, “Mr. Monk and His Biggest Fan,” replays.

Stargate Atlantis (Sci Fi): New. Part two of “The Kindred” plays, where the team races against time to save a missing teammate. Plays again later. Part one replays right before. Next week is the fourth season finale. Production on the fifth season has already begun.

Other Options

• Paula’s Party (Food Network): Repeat. Paula’s “Black and White Ball” with guests Elmo and Bobby Flay replays. Replays again later.
• What Not to Wear (TLC): New. A college student about to graduate needs a new look before entering real life. Plays again later.

Sports Notes

• ESPN has doubleheader NBA action with the Washington Wizards at the Chicago Bulls followed by the Los Angeles Clippers at the Denver Nuggets.
• ESPN2 has Friday Night Fights.
• Golf Channel has round two action from the Honda Classic.

TV Marathons

Bravo has five episodes of Top Chef early and later has six episodes of The Millionaire Matchmaker.
MTV has 12 episodes of America’s Next Top Model.
Nickelodeon has 14 episodes of Home Improvement late.
Sci Fi has episodes 11-18 of Stargate SG-1 season seven early.
TLC has 10 episodes of What Not to Wear.

What do you think is worth watching tonight?

News & Notes

On cable tonight, VH1 has the season finale of Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew.

In the strike is officially over news, members of the Writers Guild of America voted to except the contract with less than 10 percent voting against. So, that means new TV shows until at least May 1st, 2011, which is when this contract ends.

Prime Picks

The Office (NBC): Repeat. Episode three from this season, “Launch Party,” replays, where Dwight tries to outsell the company’s new website.

Lost (ABC): New. Desmond and Sayid experience some difficulties with turbulence in the helicopter while trying to get to the freighter. How great has this season be so far?

Eli Stone (ABC): New. Eli is getting a chance to make up for a case that he won by less than appropriate tactics. His visions send him on a trip to Hawaii.

Solid Selections

Lost (ABC): Repeat. Last week’s episode, “Eggtown,” replays, where Kate is determined to find out what the people on the freighter know about her.

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (CBS): Repeat. Jorga Fox’s last episode, “Goodbye & Good Luck,” replays.

Lipstick Jungle (NBC): New. Wendy is trying to get a film made in India and gives Victory a chance to design for a star actress. Kirby is suing Nico. The show won’t be filming any additional episodes for the spring past the ones filmed pre-strike, but NBC has order an additional six scripts to be written. After three episodes, I would say that Cashmere Mafia is the superior show, as it is a lot more fun and this continues to be dreadfully depressing, for the most part.

Cable Choices

Friends (TBS): Repeats. First up is “The One With the Ultimate Fighting Champion” and then “The One at the Beach House,” where the gang heads to the beach to support Phoebe going to meet her birth mom.

American Chopper (TLC): New. The guys begin work on a Craftsman/Diehard bike. Plays again later.

Breaking Bad (AMC): Repeat. Sunday’s episode “Gray Matter” replays, where Walter and Skyler go to a party for a former colleague of his. Jesse is trying to go straight. Starts on the half hour after Murder by Numbers ends. Plays again later. Check out a clip from the episode below. (RSS and eMail may need to click to the site to view the video)

Other Options

• American Idol (FOX): New. Two more boys and two more girls get sent home. Who do you think they will be?
• Iron Chef America (Food Network): Repeat. Sunday’s battle between Iron Chef Bobby Flay and the Rathbun Brothers replays. Replays again later.
• Smallville (The CW): Repeat. Clark gets to meet his biological mother, played by Helen Slater (Supergirl).
• Without a Trace (CBS): Repeat. A cop with a few mistakes in her past has gone missing and the team investigates.

Sports Notes

• EPSN has doubleheader college basketball action.
• EPSN2 has doubleheader college basketball action.
• Golf Channel has first round coverage of the Honda Classic.
• TNT has doubleheader NBC action with the Dallas Mavericks at the San Antonio Spurs followed by the Miami Heat at the Los Angeles Lakers.

TV Marathons

Bravo has six episodes of Top Chef early.
Nickelodeon has 16 episodes of Home Improvement late.
Oxygen has 10 episodes of Living Single.
Sci Fi has eight episodes of Dark Angel early.

Will you be getting Lost with Eli Stone in the Lipstick Jungle tonight?

The girls took the stage singing songs of the 1970s and it was a night of bad song choices and the singing wasn’t much better. There were only a couple or really good performances. The guys were actually better, overall, than the girls than this week, which is not a good sign, since they didn’t do all that well.

Here’s how the TVaholic would rank last night’s Top 10 Girls:

1. Carly Smithson - Was first to go and finally started a night off with a really good performance. Randy thought it was “good towards the end” and that it was “all right.” Paula thought it was “an amazing job.” Simon thought it was “a much better song than last week,” but it didn’t provide that one “moment” that makes you stand out. Simon does think she is the girl to beat in the competition.
2. Brooke White - Was third to go and sang Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain.” Randy thought it was a “great song choice.” Paula thought it was “the perfect song choice.” Simon thought it “absolutely connected” and this is why they had put her through in the competition. I really like her and she sounded really good.
3. Kristy Lee Cook - Was fifth to sing and was definitely better than last week. Randy thought it was “100% improvement over last week” and that he “liked it.” Paula said, “You’re back.” Simon thought it was better than last week, but doesn’t know what kind of singer she is yet. I think if she headed down the country road, as Simon suggested, she might be able to stand out from the rest of the crowd.
4. Syesha Mercado - Was second to take the stage and was pretty good. Randy thought it “wasn’t the right song choice” and that she needs to pick better songs. Paula thinks she needs to pick songs that are better for her big voice. Simon thought it was “indulgent.”
5. Asia’h Epperson - She took the stage last and tried to go out big. Randy thought she did a “really good job.” Paula thought it was “great.” Simon thinks you need to be quite the diva to pull off the song and she isn’t one, but she almost got away with it. She sang Celine Dion’s “All By Myself.” It didn’t sound all that great to me. Would agree with Simon that she almost pulled it off, but the song showed her up.
6. Alaina Whitaker - She was seventh to take the stage and wasn’t really good. Randy didn’t think it was the right song choice for her. She sang Olivia Newton John’s “Hopelessly Devoted to You.” Paula thought she “did a real good job.” Simon likes her, but she seemed very “old fashioned.” He thinks she is the dark horse in the competition.
7. Ramiele Malubay - Randy thought it was “okay.” Paula thinks she is “one to beat,” but this wasn’t a great song for her. Simon agreed with Paula. She was fourth to sing and it was kind of odd sounding. Good at some points and not so good at others.
8. Kady Malloy - The ninth singer to take the stage tonight and she got off to a rough start. Overall she vocally sounded pretty good, but the performance was off and not that good. Randy thought, “It didn’t work.” Paula thought she sounded great when she powered. Simon didn’t think it went anywhere.
9. Amanda Overmeyer - Was sixth to take the stage and looked scary, not scary good, just scary and her performance wasn’t much better. She sounded pretty bad at some points. Randy didn’t think it was the right song choice and that she should keep the bluesy rock sound. She sang Kansas’ “Carry On Wayward Son.” Paula didn’t think it was the right song either. Simon “really, really didn’t get that.” It was not good.
10. Alexandrea Lushington - Was eighth to sing and didn’t do very well. She was my second favorite last week, but it was the worst of the night so far. Randy thought it was a “safe choice.” Paula rambled something. Simon thinks she is “struggling right now” and looked “uncomfortable” singing it.

So, the TVaholic would send Alexandrea Lushington and Amanda Overmeyer home after last night’s performances from the top 10 girls on Season 7 of American Idol. But, I don’t think that Overmeyer will be going anywhere just yet. Lushington might not either, but it looks it will be her and Kady Malloy this week. Was right on the money last week, so will probably be completely off this week.

How did you think the top 10 girls did last night? Who is your favorite? Who do you think will be going home? Leave your picks in the comments.

News & Notes

Tonight, ABC has Men in Trees making its return to the airwaves.

Prime Picks

American Idol (FOX): New. The top 10 girls perform and then two must be sent home tomorrow. Runs 90 minutes.
Back to You (FOX): New. Younger anchorman asks Kelly out on a date and Chuck gets jealous. This is the last of the pre-strike episodes, as many as eight new episodes begin airing on April 16th.

Men in Trees (ABC): New. Finally, hopefully ABC will leave it here for the rest of the 11 episodes they have this season. Tonight, Marin gets an a visitor, Jack is still lost at sea. Sam finds out about Jane’s controlling side. Buzz tries to help Patrick regain his memory, but things don’t work out very well.

Solid Selections

Deal or No Deal (NBC): New. I guess somebody finally won the million, so it is back to its normal number on million dollar cases.

Criminal Minds (CBS): Repeat. Penelope has been shot and the team is trying to determine who did it.

Law & Order (NBC): New. The detectives look at a prostitute in the case of a high school girl found dead.

Cable Choices

Good Eats (Food Network): Repeats. First up Alton cooks with chilies and then in the next episode he cooks up some chili. Both play again later.

Ultimate Recipe Showdown (Food Network): Repeat. Sunday’s episode, “Burgers,” replays, where the three categories are Beef, Poultry and Seafood. The winner goes home with $25,000. Plays again later.

Head Case (Starz): New. David Alan Grier (Life With Bonnie, In Living Color) talks with Dr. Goode about his slavery dream. Plays again later.
Hollywood Residential (Starz): New. Chris Kattan (Saturday Night Live) has to tell Tony that he screwed up an audition. Plays again later.

Other Options

• CSI: NY (CBS): Repeat. The team is investigating a murder at the “Amityville Horror” house.
• Law & Order: Criminal Intent (NBC): Repeat. Logan and Falacci are up and catch the case of a beautiful blonde’s murder.
• Tyler Perry’s House of Payne (TBS): Repeats. Four episodes replay tonight. Next week, March 5th, there will be two new episodes and following them will be a live web chat with the cast at TBS.com.

Sports Notes

• ESPN has doubleheader college basketball action with Kansas at Iowa State followed by Georgia Tech at Duke.
• ESPN2 has college basketball with West Virginia at DePaul.
• NBA TV has the Cleveland Cavaliers at the Boston Celtics.

TV Marathons

A&E has five episodes of CSI: Miami tonight.
Bravo has 12 episodes of Project Runway.
CMT has five hours of Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team.
Oxygen has 13 episodes of Roseanne.
Sci Fi has eight episodes of Doctor Who early.
VH1 has the five-part 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders.

What looks good to you tonight?