Tonight on the Tube: Grey’s Anatomy, Office, 30 Rock, CSI & The Beast

News & Notes

Tonight, ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC will all have the Bush Farewell Address at 8:00-8:15 p.m. ET, which will only affect east coast start times, CBS will be playing their lineup in its entirety, so everything will just start 15 minutes later than normal. The CW has the return of new episodes of Smallville and Supernatural, and FOX has postponed the first Thursday night episode of Bones for next week, but in the second hour will have the second season finale of Kitchen Nightmares.

Over on cable, A&E has the series premiere of The Beast, BET has the third season finale of American Gangster, Discovery Channel has the series premiere of Treasure Quest, MTV has the third season premiere of Randy Jackson Presents: America’s Best Dance Crew, TLC has the series premiere of Saw for Hire, and VH1 has the series premiere of Celebrity Rehab Presents: Sober House.

Will be on TV Talk with Shaun OMac later today. The show starts at 3:00 p.m. PT and I, along with Amrie from Seat42f, among other places, will be on in the second hour at 4:00 p.m. PT, so why not drop on in and listen live. Also, you can call in or join the chat room.

Prime Picks

Smallville (The CW): New. Clark does battle with The Persuader and Braniac tells Davis who he is and what he was created to do.

Grey’s Anatomy (ABC): New. Meredith meets Derek’s mother for the first time, played by guest star Tyne Daly (Judging Amy, Cagney & Lacey). Mark is trying to hide his relationship with Lexie. Owen attempts to take Cristina out on their first date. Runs 61 minutes.

Private Practice (ABC): New. Addison thinks she may actually be attracted to Wyatt. Violet is dating Pete and Sheldon, but neither of them knows about the other. Charlotte has a family emergency that may bring her and Cooper closer again. Starts a minute after the hour and runs 59 minutes.

Solid Selection

My Name Is Earl (NBC): New. Someone has found out about Darnell, while Joy is trying out for a reality TV show. Runs 30 minutes. Plays 15 minutes after the address or after a repeat episode of the show depending on your time zone.

The Office (NBC): New. Michael doesn’t know what to expect at a corporate meeting. Andy still has no idea about Angela’s affair with Dwight. Runs 31 minutes.
30 Rock (NBC): New. Jack is deciding who should get flu shots among the cast and crew when the flu starts to run rampant. Runs 30 minutes, but starts a minute after the half hour and goes a minute past the hour.

Eleventh Hour (CBS): New. Hood is in a small Texas town investigating recent violent outbreaks when he comes down with the same condition.

Cable Choices

Good Eats (Food Network): Repeats. Alton has to “Wake Up Little Sushi” and then wonders “Et Tu Mame.” Both episodes play again later.

Iron Chef America (Food Network): Repeat. Chef Susur Lee challenges Iron Chef Bobby Flay. Plays again later.

The Beast (A&E): Series Premiere. Patrick Swayze plays an undercover FBI agent that is willing to do just about anything to get the job done, but has he stepped over the line and gone too far. This is a pretty good show that sets up lots of questions and presents some interesting characters in the world of undercover work for the Bureau. It’s worth watching, probably better than any of the third hour options on the networks. Plays twice and again later twice.

Other Option

• Ace of Cakes (Food Network): New. Duff is making a cake for the Firefighters Combat Challenge. A repeat episode follows. Both episodes play again later.
• CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (CBS): New. This is Grissom’s final episode, as William Peterson will be exiting the show and Laurence Fishburne takes his place in the cast, as Dr. Raymond Langston. The previous episode that introduced the Langston character replays right before.
• Supernatural (The CW): New. Dean and Sam are checking out an abandoned house for a ghost, but there plans are complicated when a family moves into the place.

Sports Notes

• ESPN has doubleheader college basketball action with Connecticut at St. John’s followed by North Carolina at Virginia.
• ESPN2 has college basketball action with Purdue at Northwestern.
• Golf Channel has Round 1 action of the Sony Open in Hawaii.
• TNT has doubleheader NBA action with the Cleveland Cavaliers at the Chicago Bulls followed by the Phoenix Suns at the Denver Nuggets.

TV Marathon

A&E has 14 episodes of The First 48.
Bravo has six episodes of Top Chef.
Oxygen has 30 episodes of Snapped.
Sci Fi has eight episodes of Night Stalker.
Spike has 14 episodes of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.
VH1 has the five-part 100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs.