News & Notes
Over on cable, Animal Planet has the series premiere of Snakeman of Appalachia, Cooking Channel has the first season finale of Pitchin’ In, HBO has the documentary premiere of Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, and VH1 has the 17th Annual Critics’ Choice Movie Awards.
Yesterday, I uploaded some videos to theTVaholic YouTube Channel of Sarah Jones, Jorge Garcia and others talking about Alcatraz from Comic-Con 2011 and the panel interview sessions with Anna Silk and Zoie Palmer talking Lost Girl S.1 and Sam Witwer, Meahgan Rath and Sam Huntington talking Being Human S.2 from Syfy Digital Press Tour 2011. All three of these shows premiere on Monday, January 16th.
Prime Picks
The Vampire Diaries (The CW): New. A party is thrown for Caroline. Damon and Stefan don’t agree on how to handle Klaus. Bonnie finds out that Jeremy plans on leaving. Tyler stands up to Klaus.
Person of Interest (CBS): New. Finch is investigating a building super that seems too friendly with his tenants. Reese helps out a little, but is wheelchair bound. Det. Carter finds out more about Reese and Finch. This is a very good episode that expands some of the back-story on the machine and how Carter deals with what she knows and finds out.
The Mentalist (CBS): New. The team is investigating the death of a divorce attorney. Jane answer’s questions about Red John’s involvement in Panzer’s murder.
Solid Selections
30 Rock (NBC): Season Premiere. Jack isn’t sure about the network’s new reality competition series. Tracy is trying to upset Liz and none to happy at his inability to do so.
Parks & Recreation (NBC): New. Leslie needs some help to stage an event. Ben has found a new hobby. April and Andy get a new pet.
The Secret Circle (The CW): New. Adam and Cassie are looking into her father’s past. Faye’s attempt at getting her own individual power goes badly.
Private Practice (ABC): New. Everyone is adjusting to his or her new lives. Starts two minutes after the hour and runs 58 minutes.
Other Options
- The Big Bang Theory (CBS): New. Sheldon isn’t impressed with Amy’s recent accomplishment and she is none to happy with the response.
- Bones (FOX): New. The team ends up on a scavenger hunt after a bloody message is found at a national monument. This is the last episode of this show for a little bit. The season will resume sometime in the spring.
- The Finder (FOX): Series Premiere. A teen boy comes to Walter for help in finding his father, a military pilot that disappeared on mission. Leo and Walter are watching over a teen girl parolee. This show is fun and feels very much like Bones. There has been a few changes since the backdoor “Pilot” episode that was part of the last season of Bones. The main one being that Walter and Leo end up working with a female U.S. Marshal, which makes it feel a little like a reverse Bones. So, if you like Bones, you will probably enjoy this one too.
- The Firm (NBC): New. Mitch defends the son of one of the partners at the firm he has joined forces with. Mitch begins work on the Sarah Holt case. Did you watch the first two episodes on Sunday? What did you think?
- Grey’s Anatomy (ABC): New. The doctors team up to perform a surgery on conjoined twins. Teddy wants to know about Henry’s surgery from Cristina. Runs 62 minutes.
- The Office (NBC): New. Andy has the office involved in a trivia contest.
- Rob (CBS): Series Premiere. Rob meets the large Mexican-American family of the woman he just married and finds he doesn’t fit in very well. This show is not good. Attempted humor all comes from ethnic stereotypes and are pretty bad. That landscape is well traversed in this first episode, which makes me wonder about future episodes and where the humor will come from. Much like Mike & Molly relied on fat jokes in its first episode and many that followed. I long stopped watching it; so don’t know if they have moved away from that. If I had to make a prediction, I’d say that Rules of Engagement will be back soon.
Sports Notes
- ESPN has doubleheader college basketball action with Wisconsin at Purdue followed by Virginia at Duke.
- ESPN2 has tripleheader college basketball action with Clemson at Boston College, Tennessee at Mississippi State and Gonzaga at St. Mary’s.
- NHL Network has a game.
- TNT has doubleheader NBA action with the New York Knicks at the Memphis Grizzlies followed by the Orlando Magic at the Golden State Warriors.
TV Marathons
Syfy has eight episodes of Highlander.
USA Network has seven episodes of Burn Notice followed by five episodes of NCIS.
