Tonight on the Tube: Lost, White Collar & Parenthood

News & Notes

Tonight, ABC has a before they were famous 20/20 special and NBC has the series premiere of Parenthood.

Over on cable, Animal Planet has the series premiere of Madman of the Sea, BBC America has a Last Restaurant Standing special, Discovery Health has a Postpartum Nightmares special, History has the second season finale of How the Earth Was Made, Spike has the series premiere of Players, and TNT has the second season premiere of Southland.

On Episode 60, “Spring TV Preview 2010,” of the TV times Three podcast, Amrie, Rae and I talk about some TV related news items. We then went over the Spring 2010 TV schedule and talk about the shows we are most looking forward to and when they will be premiering. Then, we talked about some of the best TV episodes from primetime including Life Unexpected, Greek, Lost, and more. Lastly, we talked about Buffy S.6, “Once More, With Feeling,” as I continue to make my way through the series for the first time.

With the Olympics over along with all the repeats on competing networks and Jay Leno back after your late local news, there are actually a good number of shows worth checking out on this Tuesday night. How weird is that after the last few weeks? There is actually seven shows I would be checking out tonight had I not already seen a couple of them. How about you? What will your Tuesday night look like TV-wise?

Prime Picks

NCIS (CBS): New. Gibbs’ former mother-in-law is a witness in a murder case the team is working.

Lost (ABC): New. Sayid has to make a difficult decision. Claire sends the temple a warning.

Parenthood (NBC): Series Premiere. This is the story of the Braverman family based on the Ron Howard movie of the same name. Sarah, played by Lauren Graham (Gilmore Girls), moves back with her two kids to her parents’ home. Her brother Crosby, played by Dax Shepard (Baby Mama), has an old girlfriend track him down out of the blue. Adam, played by Peter Krause (Dirty Sexy Money, Six Feet Under), is having dealing with his eccentric youngest child that is having trouble at school. Julia, played by Erika Christensen (6 Degrees), is the star of the family that looks to have everything she could ever want, a loving husband, a great job as a lawyer, and a daughter. Camille, played by Bonnie Bedelia (The Division< .em>), and Zeke, played by Craig T. Nelson (The District, Coach), head up the family. Others you may recognize are Mae Whitman (Arrested Development), Sam Jaegar (Eli Stone), and Monica Potter (Trust Me, Boston Legal). Tonight’s “Pilot” is excellent. One of my favorite new shows this whole season. The cast, as you can see, is phenomenal. Yet, while large, they are used really well. Some are comparing it to Brothers & Sisters, but while it has some similarities, this is far superior to that. The story feels more grounded here than with B&S. While I love Graham, who replaced Maura Tierney (ER) due to her medical condition, as Sarah, her story is not the one that stood out for me in this opening episode. Adam’s storyline regarding his son is outstanding. Krause is at his best and the young Max Burkholder as his son is just plain great. I’m really looking forward to keeping up with the Bravermans for the rest of the season and you should give them a shot too. This is a high quality family drama and a definite step in the right direction at NBC.

Solid Selections

Lost (ABC): Repeat. Last week’s episode, “Lighthouse,” replays.

NCIS: Los Angeles (CBS): New. The team is investigating a murder that looked like a suicide. Nate goes out in the field with Kensi.

White Collar (USA): New. Neal gets lead into a trap after the daughter of a friend of his gets kidnapped. Plays again later.

Other Option

• Chopped (Food Network): New. Four contestants compete “Against the Tide.” Plays again later.
• The Good Wife (CBS): New. Peter is working on his political comeback strategy and trying to get used to being back at home. Diane and Alicia are working a case where they need a wife to testify against her husband.
• Southland (TNT): Season Premiere. Detectives are looking into a possible abduction of an elderly man and a freeway shooting. Chickie gets a new partner and things don’t go well. Plays again later. All seven first season episode replay leading up to tonight’s second season premiere. This is a solid show, but one I just can’t get into and this episode was no exception. I really like the Ben McKenzie (The O.C.) and Michael CudlitzStandoff storyline, yet it has progressed past where I would like to follow it. The story of a rookie cop and his training officer is interesting to me, but not much else of what goes on here. A show doesn’t have to be overly polished and slick, but this just doesn’t feel polished enough, or at all really. I know they are going for gritty and real, but the filming and editing style continue to be a less than desirable aspect of the show for me. The cast is great and the stories are good, but everything together just doesn’t work for me. As for whether what we see in the episode was to much for the second hour of primetime on NBC, I think not. It will be interesting to see how the first new episode on TNT does tonight, especially since it is up against some solid offerings, all of which I’d prefer to watch, in the third hour of primetime.

Sports Notes

• ESPN has doubleheader college basketball action.
• ESPN2 has a college basketball game.
• NBA TV has the Boston Celtics at the Detroit Pistons.

Late Night

• Burn Notice (USA): Repeat. Last Thursday’s episode, “Good Intentions,” replays.
• Psych (USA): Repeat. “A Very Juliet Episode” from a couple of weeks ago replays.

TV Marathons

Bravo has five episodes of Millionaire Matchmaker tonight.
Discovery Channel has six episodes of Overhaulin’.
Oxygen has 19 episodes of The Bad Girls Club.
Spike has five episodes of Deadliest Warrior.
Syfy has eight episodes of Primeval early.
TNT has all seven first season episodes of Southland leading up to tonight’s second season premiere.
USA has 16 episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
WE has five episodes of Little Miss Perfect tonight.