Tonight on the Tube: Dollhouse & Sanctuary Season Finale

News & Notes

On cable tonight, Animal Planet has the third season premiere of I Shouldn’t Be Alive, CMT has the third season premiere of The Singing Bee, Discovery Channel has the second season premiere of Swamp Loggers, Syfy has the second season finale of Sanctuary, and VH1 has the 15th Annual Critics’ Choice Movie Awards.

In late night, TBS has the first season finale of The Very Funny Show.

Next Friday, the 22nd, is the series finale of Dollhouse on FOX, the return of Smallville on The CW, the series premiere of Spartacus: Blood & Sand on Starz, and the series premiere of Caprica on Syfy.

On Episode 55, “Winter TV Preview 2010,” of the TV times Three podcast, Amrie, Rae and I talk about some TV related news items and then take a look at what is coming up over the next few weeks on TV. We give you premiere and return dates for all the major scripted cable and network shows, plus a few reality shows as well. Lastly, we talked about some of the best TV episodes from the previous week in primetime including Make It or Break It and Better Off Ted.

Prime Picks

Law & Order (NBC): New. The murder investigation of a journalist leads to a blackmail scheme involving a talk show host.

Dollhouse (FOX): New. Echo leads a group to Arizona in an attempt to dismantle the Rossum Corp. mainframe. Next week is the series finale.

Numb3rs (CBS): New. A bunch of murders around Los Angeles seem to be linked to a lost shipment of guns. Amita and Charlie are having trouble picking a wedding date they both like.

Solid Selections

Smallville (The CW): Repeat. In “Kandor” from earlier this season, Jor-El comes looking for his son at the Kent farm, but finds Chloe. The last new episode of the fall, “Pandora,” replays following this one. New episodes return as of January 22nd.

Sanctuary (Syfy): Season Finale. Will falls ill and disappears on a trip to India while Magnus gets closer to finding out what the Cult of Kali is all about. Runs two hours. Plays again later. The entire second season replays leading up to this episode. The show has been picked up for a third season.

Other Options

• The Best Thing I Ever Ate (Food Network): New. Stars of the Food Network talk about their favorite “Cheesy” foods. A repeat episode follows. Both play again later.
• Medium (CBS): New. It’s the anniversary of the murder of Devalos’ daughter.
• What Not to Wear (TLC): New. Stacy and Clinton help a woman replace her, a little too bewitching, wardrobe. Plays again later.

Sports Note

• ESPN has doubleheader NBA action with the Phoenix Suns at the Atlanta Hawks followed by the Orlando Magic at the Portland Trail Blazers.

Late Night

• nip/tuck (FX): Repeat. This past Tuesday’s episode, “Willow Banks,” replays. Runs 61 minutes.

TV Marathons

Bravo has six episodes of Project Runway.
Oxygen has 20 episodes of Roseanne.
Spike has nine hours of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.
Syfy has all 13 hours of Sanctuary season two today.
WE has five episodes of Rich Bride, Poor Bride early.