News & Notes
Tonight, CBS has the 19th season premiere of Survivor, FOX has the fifth season premiere of Bones followed by the second season premiere of Fringe, and NBC has the second season premiere of SNL Weekend Update Thursday, the second season premiere of Parks and Recreation, the sixth season premiere of The Office and the series premiere of Community.
Over on cable, Food Network has the series premiere of Extreme Cuisine With Jeff Corwin, FX has the fifth season premiere of It’s Always Funny in Philadelphia and the series premiere of Archer, HGTV has the first season finale of Real Estate Intervention, truTV has the second season finale of World’s Wildest Vacation Videos, and VH1 has a VH1 Divas special.
Premiering Next Thursday: ABC has FlashForward and Grey’s Anatomy and CBS has CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and The Mentalist.
Scheduled to be on TV Talk with Shaun OMac today at about 4:00 p.m. PT. The show starts at 3:00 p.m. PT and runs two hours. You can listen live or find it at iTunes later on.
Prime Picks
Bones (FOX): Season Premiere. Singer Cyndi Lauper guest stars as Angela’s psychic and tells Booth and Brennan about a mass grave under a fountain. They sure strayed down the stretch last season with the brain tumor thing and Booth hallucinating and such, hopefully they will find their way back this season. Despite that misstep, I’m looking forward to the new season.
Fringe (FOX): Season Premiere. Peter is in a race against time and an ominous force as he attempts to investigate Olivia’s trip to a parallel universe. After the way last season ended, I’ve been anxiously awaiting the new season. Can’t wait to see where they go from there.
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Food Network): Season Premiere. The gang tries their hand in the real estate market. Runs 30 minutes. Plays again later. I’ve always found this show to be very hit or miss and this episode falls into the latter category.
Archer (Food Network): Series Premiere. This is an animated comedy that spoofs the spy genre. The “Pilot” episode plays tonight, but the series has been pushed until January. Runs 34 minutes.
Solid Selections
The Vampire Diaries (The CW): New. Stefan is attempting to make Vicki forget who attacker her. Damon lets out information about Stefan’s past. This sure shot out of the gate last week with the biggest series premiere rating The CW has ever had. We shall see how many stick around for a second week. I’ll say that it will probably drop a bit, but not hugely. At any rate, even if it lost a third of its viewers, it’d still be the network’s second highest rated show.
The Office (NBC): Season Premiere. Michael is attempting to find a juicy secret to gossip about after he begins to feel left out of all the gossiping about the summer interns that is going on. Runs 31 minutes.
Community (NBC): Series Premiere. A lawyer that gets by on his charm and ability to talk ends up back in school after his degree is revoked. By accident he starts up a study group. Starts a minutes after the half hour and runs 29 minutes. I really liked this episode and think it serves as a very good setup for the series. It also provides many funny moments. The show has a great cast with Joel McHale (The Soup) and Chevy Chase, so if the writing can stay strong, this cast will be able to deliver. Already looking forward to next week.
Ace of Cakes (Food Network): New. A “Carnival Pride” cake is made. A repeat episode follows. Both play again later.
Other Option
- Grey’s Anatomy (ABC): Repeat. Last season’s two-episode finale, “Here’s to the Future” and “Now or Never,” replays. The new season premieres next week.
- Parks and Recreation (NBC): Season Premiere. Leslie attempts to promote the local zoo by arranging for two penguins to marry. Runs 30 minutes. I haven’t seen it, but I’ve been reading that it is actually funny, which can’t be said for much of last season, well any of last season except the finale episode. I hope they are right.
- Private Practice (ABC): Repeat. Last season’s finale episode, “Yours, Mine & Ours,” replays. The new season premieres next week with the best episode they have ever produced of this show. It really is very good.
- Skins (BBC America): New. JJ’s friendship group is split apart by Effy. Plays again later.
- SNL Weekend Update Thursday (NBC): Season Premiere. Seth Meyers and company deliver humorous takes on recent political and pop culture happenings. Runs 30 minutes.
- Supernatural (The CW): New. Castiel is searching for God to help defeat Lucifer.
Sports Notes
- ESPN has Thursday Night College Football with Georgia Tech at Miami.
- ESPN2 has doubleheader WNBA playoff action.
Late Night
- Monk (USA): Repeat. Last Friday’s episode, “Mr. Monk Takes the Stand,” replays.
TV Marathons
Bravo has seven episodes of The Real Housewives of Atlanta.
Discovery Channel has six episodes of Wrecks to Riches.
Oxygen has 12 episodes of Snapped tonight.
Spike has eight hours of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation episodes.
Syfy has eight episodes of Jeremiah early.