News & Notes
Tonight, ABC has the series premiere of The Unusuals and NBC has the second season finale of Life.
Over on cable, Animal Planet has the series premiere of Night, Discovery Channel has the second season premiere of Time Warp and the seventh season premiere of MythBusters, HGTV has the first season finale of Renovation Realitites, MTV has the 17th season premiere of The Real World/Road Rules Challenge, and TV Land has the fifth season finale of High School Reunion.
On this week’s TV times Three podcast, Episode 23, “Ratings Rant,” we talked about TV show ratings and how much we dislike them most of the time. We also touched on some recent TV news items. Lastly, we recapped the previous week in primetime by talking about the The Amazing Race, Greek, Better Off Ted, Lost, Supernatural, and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. You can follow TVtimesThree on Twitter and easily keep up with when new episodes go live.
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Prime Picks
Scrubs (ABC): New. Janitor and Lady come up with a way to score some cash by planning a fake wedding.
Better Off Ted (ABC): New. The company’s state-of-the-art sensor system creates racial controversy at the company.
Lost (ABC): New. Ben must deal with the smoke monster to atone for his past. Runs 62 minutes.
The Unusuals (ABC): Series Premiere. A vice cop, played by Amber Tamblyn (Joan of Arcadia), gets a sudden transfer to a new squad after a detective is murdered. She is partnered up with the partner of the dead cop to investigate the case. She starts to learn about the other officers of the squad. Starts two minutes after the hour and runs 58 minutes. I really, really enjoyed this first episode. It has lots of interesting characters and offbeat humor. It’s a cop procedural, but has a bit of an odd bent to it. Definitely recommended.
Solid Selections
The New Adventures of Old Christine (CBS): New. Christine thinks that it may be time to just let Ritchie go to public school.
Gary Unmarried (CBS): New. Gary’s bowling team has made the championship of their league, but his way of motivating the team causes one of them to quit. So, he has to try and find a replacement.
Life (NBC): Season Finale. While searching for Reese, Crews comes across shocking details in the conspiracy that sent him to prison. I so hope this is not the last we see of these characters, but unless some type of Friday Night Lights deal comes along, it seems that it most certainly will be.
CSI: NY (CBS): New. Stella is investigating the death of a man in a theater, but starts to think that the scene was staged.
Cable Choices
Good Eats (Food Network): Repeats. Alton is cooking with eggs. Both episodes play again later.
MythBusters (Discovery Channel): Season Premiere. The guys take a look at automotive myths in “Demolition Derby Special.” Runs two hours. Plays again later.
Other Options
- American Idol (FOX): New. Find out who is going home and who will be apart of next week’s top seven.
- Bones (TNT): Repeat. The last new episode on FOX, “The Doctor in the Den,” episode replays, where an ex of Cam’s is found dead in a wild animal park.
- Criminal Minds (CBS): New. Serial killer is knocking off coed during spring break and the team investigates.
- Lie to Me (FOX): New. Lightman discovers a big cover-up at a building collapse. A billionaire wants the Lightman Group to tell him whether his girlfriend loves him for the right reasons.
- Throwdown With Bobby Flay (Food Network): New. Bobby competes in a “Blueberry Pancakes” battle. A “Chicken and Waffles” battle replays right before. Both play again later.
- Tyler Perry’s House of Payne (TBS): New. Two new episode play following four repeat episodes.
Sports Note
- ESPN has doubleheader NBA action with the Portland Trail Blazers at the San Antonio Spurs followed by the Utah Jazz at the Dallas Mavericks.
- ESPN2 has MLB action with the Tampa Bays Rays at the Boston Red Sox.
Late Night
- Breaking Bad (AMC): Repeat. Sunday’s episode, “Breakage,” replays.
- My Boys (TBS): Repeat. Last night’s episode, “Private Eyes,” replays.
- Trust Me (TNT): Repeat. Last night’s season finale episode, “The More Things Change,” replay.
TV Marathons
Bravo has six episodes of Make Me a Supermodel.
Oxygen has 11 episodes of Amreica’s Next Top Modle.
Sci Fi has eight episodes of Invasion early.
VH1 has the five-part 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders.
I agree with you about The Unusuals, it’s the best season premiere I’ve seen Leverage. My only worry is that with such a high calibre cast, who are nearly all pitch perfect in their roles, this must be an expensive show. I dunno what ratings the pilot got but I hope they’re strong enough to satisfy the suits and keep this series on the air.
drax, I’m not sure how expensive it is to make, but it all depends on how many people watched. Pretty much no show has done well when following Lost, so lets hope this one is the exception.