News & Notes
, CBS is all repeats, and NBC has second season premiere of The Sing-Off.
Over on cable, Bravo has the third season premiere of Tabatha’s Salon Takeover, Lifetime has the TV movie premiere of Sundays at Tiffany’s, MTV has the 11th season premiere of True Life, TLC has the series finale of Little People, Big World and the series premiere of Next Great Baker, TNT has the sixth winter season premiere of The Closer and the second season premiere of Men of a Certain Age, and Travel Channel has anAnthony Bourdain: No Reservations holiday special.
In late night, MTV has the series premiere of The Video Guide to Everything.
Prime Picks
How I Met Your Mother (CBS): New. Ted asks to spend some time with Zoey’s husband. Robin and Marshall decide to hangout.
Rules of Engagement (CBS): New. Timmy tries to help Russell create a budget after the power at his place gets turned off.
The Closer (TNT): Winter Premiere. Brenda is out to clear one of her detectives after they are accused of witness tampering. Plays again later. This is one of my favorite shows and Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson is one of my favorite characters on TV. It is also always good to see Mary McDonnell (Battlestar Galactica) on my TV screen and she returns as Capt. Raydor in tonight’s episode. She is such a great foil for Brenda. Even when she is being nice, you are wondering why? The focus is on one of the detectives and we get a great performance from him. Overall, it’s a fantastic episode. They do such a good job of creating and continuing to build characters that you care about and want to know more about within the format of the best police procedural on TV right now. This is the first of five new episodes to close out season six, which has its finale on January 3rd. Are you happy to have Brenda and her team back for a few weeks?
Castle (ABC): New. A bar owner’s body is found in the East River and Beckett and Castle investigate. Castle ponders the idea of owing a bar. Starts a minute after the hour and runs 59 minutes.
Solid Selections
90210 (FOX): New. Everything seems to be going great for Adrianna until Victor lets loose with her secret. Annie and Liam may be rekindling things. Silver and Navid talk about how they feel.
Gossip Girl (The CW): New. Dan and Blair are looking for Juliet. Chuck thinks that Lily isn’t telling him everything.
Men of a Certain Age (TNT): Season Premiere. The story picks up a couple of months after the end of last season. Joe is trying to get his life under control and is practicing to take a shot at the Champions Tour. Terry isn’t working out as well has Owen had hoped at the dealership. Owen is getting used to being the boss. Plays again later. I did not like this show in the beginning, but somewhere around episode seven it really started to get good. The comedy started to work more, the stories became more interesting to me, and the actors really seemed to have their characters figured out. All of that remains true as season two starts off. I really enjoyed tonight’s episode and am looking forward to spending the next few weeks with this group of guys trying to navigate mid-life. Did you watch season one? Will you be watching season two?
Other Options
- Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations (Travel Channel): New Special. Tony and friend prepare a huge holiday potluck feast. Plays again later.
- The Best Thing I Ever Ate (Food Network): New. Two new episodes play tonight. First up, Food Network personalities talk about the best thing “I Ever Made for the Holidays” and then in the second episode they talk about the best holiday dishes they’ve ever had. Both play again later.
- Hawaii Five-0 (CBS): New. A woman gets abducted on her honeymoon and her husband is killed. It looks like it might match a string of similar unsolved murders.
- Modern Family (ABC): Repeat. The “En Garde” episode from last season replays, which has one of my favorite scenes of the first season. Runs 31 minutes.
- Sundays at Tiffany’s (Lifetime): Premiere. Romantic fantasy based on the James Patterson novel that stars Alyssa Milano (Charmed). She plays a woman about to be married that takes another look at her life when her imaginary friend from childhood returns all grown up. Runs two hours. Plays again next Saturday night.
- Two and a Half Men (CBS): New. Alan attempts to get creative for Lyndsey’s birthday present.
Sports Note
- ESPN has Monday Night Football action with the New York Jets at the New England Patriots.
TV Marathons
Bravo has seven episodes of Tabatha’s Salon Takeover.
History has 12 episodes of American Pickers.
Oxygen has 12 episodes of Roseanne followed by five episodes of Snapped.
TLC has 12 episodes of Little People, Big World.
TNT has six episodes of Rizzoli & Isles.
USA has 11 episodes of Law & Order: Criminal Intent.
WE has seven episodes of Amazing Wedding Cakes and later 10 episodes of The Golden Girls.
What looks good to you tonight?
Hmm, I wasn’t a fan of Season 1 of Men of a Certain Age and hadn’t planned on watching the second season. However, I forgot to delete my season pass and see it scheduled on the TiVo. Yours is the second positive review I’ve seen, so maybe I’ll give it a second chance.
How is CBS “all repeats” yet then several NEW shows listed after that? HIMYM, Rules of Engagement, Two and a Half Men and Hawaii Five-O are all listed as new.
TxGowan, Thanks for pointing that out. I use the previous week’s posts as templates for the current week’s posts and occasionally I forget to delete or change something. Everything is new tonight on CBS. Sorry for the mix up.