News & Notes
Over on cable, ABC Family has the TV movie premiere of Christmas Cupid, BBC America has a Rebel Truce: The History of the Clash special, BET has A Very BET Christmas, HBO has Carrie Fisher’s Wishful Drinking special, History has the fourth season premiere of Ax Men, Lifetime has the miniseries premiere of Mary Me, Showtime has the fifth season finale of Dexter, TNT has the third winter season premiere of Leverage, and TV Land has a Hot in Cleveland behind the scenes special.
In late night, Adult Swim has a Robot Chicken Christmas special.
Prime Picks
The Simpsons (FOX): New. Homer attempts to bribe an official and ends up in jail. Homer is offered a deal by an FBI Agent, voiced by Jon Hamm (Mad Men). Runs 30 minutes.
Dexter (Showtime): Season Finale. Dexter knows he is being lured to a trap. Debra lets her feelings get in the way. Quinn needs Dexter’s help. Plays again later. Last week’s episode, “Hop a Freighter,” replays right before. I can’t wait to see how the season ends. How about you?
Brothers & Sisters (ABC): New. Nora takes off on a last minute trip with Karl. Saul runs into a past lover. Starts a minute after the hour and runs 59 minutes.
Solid Selections
The Amazing Race (CBS): Season Finale. The finale three teams are headed for California and the final leg of the race.
Leverage (TNT): Winter Premiere. The team attempts to help a mall Santa Clause after he is fired for no reason and happens upon a bigger scheme going down and an old nemesis behind it all. Plays again later. Next week is the two-hour third season finale. This is a really fun episode. Just when I think I couldn’t like Beth Riesgraf as Parker any more than I do, they go and give us an episode like this one. She is just fantastic.
CSI: Miami (CBS): New. The CSIs come across a shocking discovery about an employee of a sugar refinery where they are investigating an explosion.
Other Options
- Desperate Housewives (ABC): New. Paul puts his plan into effect. Juanita finds out the secret her mother has been keeping. Bree asks Keith to move in with her. Runs 61 minutes.
- Mary Me (Lifetime): Miniseries Premiere. This two-part miniseries stars Lucy Liu (Ally McBeal) as Rae Ann Carter, who is an Atlanta social worker that may have met the man of her dreams after the guy she thought was decides to leave on a photography job that takes him around the world. She gets confused when the ex returns and adds his proposal in with the new guy’s. Romantic comedy type hijinks ensue. Also stars Bobby Cannavale (Cupid), Vanessa Marano (Scoundrels), Enrique Murciano (Without a Trace), Steven Pasqualie (Rescue Me), and Annie Potts (Designing Women). Runs two hours. Plays twice and again tomorrow night before part two. I’ve seen both parts and before I tell you what I thought, I need to preface it with one thing: I’m not in Lifetime’s target demo. So, this movie is not meant for me, but I’m sure there will be a few guys that will get stuck watching it with their girlfriends, wives, etc. So, here’s what they are in for. Marry Me has a very rough intro, as in really bad. So bad in fact that I almost just turned it off about 20 minutes in, which would be about 30 minutes in with commercials. When Rae finally meets the new guy, it gets interesting for a moment and from then on it’s intermittingly humorous and/or interesting. Liu is eminently watchable and her dialogue delivery at times is dazzling, yet the cliché filled script doesn’t allow for this nearly often enough. The side story involving a hard to place in foster care sarcastic teen girl played by Marano is actually pretty good, if for no other reason than one spot-on reference between her and Liu. Overall, I can’t recommend it; yet see my one thing above.
Sports Notes
- CBS has NFL football action.
- FOX has NFL football action.
- NBC has Sunday Night Football with the Philadelphia Eagles at the Dallas Cowboys.
Late Night
- Eureka (Syfy): Repeat. Last Tuesday’s Christmas episode, “O’ Little Town,” replays.
- Glory Daze (TBS): Repeat. Last Tuesday’s episode, “Papa Don’t Pre-Game,” replays.
- Warehouse 13 (Syfy): Repeat. Last Tuesday’s Christmas episode, “Secret Santa,” replays.
TV Marathons
A&E has 13 episodes of Gene Simmons Family Jewels.
Discovery Channel has seven episodes of MythBusters tonight.
Hallmark Channel has made for TV holiday themed movies all day.
History has 13 episodes of Ax Men.
Lifetime has five made for TV holiday themed movies leading up to Marry Me premiere.
Spike TV has eight episodes of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.
Travel Channel has nine episodes of Food Paradise.
USA is playing Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Raider of the Lost Ark, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
WE has six episodes of My Fair Wedding With David Tutera followed by six episodes of Bridezillas.
What will you be watching tonight?
Thank you so much for your hard work on compiling the information on TV Marathons. Always beneficial in scheduling upcoming TV for the DVR. Happy holidays.
Kelly, Thank you for the kind words and I’m glad you find them beneficial. Happy Holidays to you as well.