News & Notes
Tonight, ABC has a Jennifer Hudson: I’ll Be Home for Christmas special, The CW begins its two episodes a night weeklong marathon of The Vampire Diaries, FOX has the second fall finale of Lie to Me, and NBC has the series premiere of The Sing-Off.
Over on cable, Bravo has the third season finale of Million Dollar Listing, E! has the series premiere of Bank of Hollywood, HBO has an Every F—ing Day of My Life special, HGTV has the second season finale of For Rent, and USA has a three-hour WWE Raw special.
Prime Picks
How I Met Your Mother (CBS): New. The whole gang is trying to quit smoking and Robin is dealing with a new co-worker that is pretty jaded.
Accidentally on Purpose (CBS): New. Billie is trying to keep that fact that she and Zack are living together from her parents over Christmas.
The Closer (TNT): New. A lab the LAPD has used in the past has been discredited, so the squad is revisiting some old cases. This includes Provenza’s old partner coming in to help with a seven-year-old case. Plays again later.
Men of a Certain Age (TNT): New. Joe is thinking of getting a new place. Owen doesn’t care for his new car. Terry almost gets run over and sets out to find the person. Plays again later. I didn’t care for this episode anymore than the first one. I found it just as depressingly slow as the premiere. Actually, it’s kinda depressing and slow. I watched the first two episodes back-to-back and it seemed like it took forever. I couldn’t latch onto anything that would give me a reason to want to follow these three around on a weekly basis. Will you be checking out tonight’s episode? What did you think of last week’s premiere? It will be interesting to see if the ratings hold up at all from last week. My suspicion is that they won’t.
Solid Selections
Good Eats (Food Network): Repeat. Alton cooks up some long forgotten holiday favorites. Plays again later.
Two and a Half Men (CBS): New. Jakes girlfriend is away over Christmas and Charlie is giving him some tips on infidelity. Runs 31 minutes.
The Big Bang Theory (CBS): New. Leonard’s mother comes for a visit. Guest starring Christine Baranski (Cybill). Starts a minute after the half hour and runs 29 minutes.
CSI: Miami (CBS): New. Delko is back, but this time as a witness for the defense.
Other Options
- Lie to Me (FOX): New. A pissed off farmer is threatening to detonate a bomb during a political protest. Loker gets stuck with a group of 3rd graders in the office during the crisis.
- The Vampire Diaries (The CW): Repeats. See how it all began or relive it all again, as The CW begins replaying the entire 10 episode fall run of the series this week. Tonight the first two episodes, “Pilot” and “The Night of the Comet,” replay.
Sports Notes
- ESPN has Monday Night Football with the Arizona Cardinals at the San Francisco 49ers.
- NBA TV has the New Orleans Hornets at the Dallas Mavericks.
- Versus has NHL action.
TV Marathons
Discovery Channel has five episodes of Overhaulin’ followed by six episodes of River Monsters.
Hallmark Channel has six Christmas/Holiday themed TV movies.
Oxygen has 18 episodes of Living Single.
Spike has nine hours of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation episodes.
Syfy has eight episodes of Highlander: The Raven early.
USA has eight episodes of Law & Order: Criminal Intent.