What to Watch on Thursday: The Vampire Diaries S.4 Premiere, Homeland Encore & More

News & Notes

Tonight, ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC has the 2012 Vice Presidential Debate and The CW has the fourth season premiere of The Vampire Diaries and the series premiere of Beauty and the Beast.

Over on cable, FX has the eighth season premiere of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and the fourth season premiere of The League.

In late night, FX has the first fall season premiere of Brand X With Russell Brand and the first fall season finale of Totally Biased With W. Kamau Bell.

Prime Picks

The Vampire Diaries (The CW): Season Premiere. Stefan hopes that they can find some way to keep Elena from going through the transition and Bonnie runs into some big problems trying to help. This show is never afraid to change things up and they definitely do as the fourth season gets underway. Next week’s episode is really good too.

Dexter (SHO2): Repeat. This past Sunday night’s episode, “Sunshine and Frosty Swirl,” replays.

Homeland (SHO2): Repeat. This past Sunday night’s episode, “Beirut Is Back,” replays.

Other Options

• 30 Rock (NBC): New. Jack and Liz get into it over political satire on the show. Runs 30 minutes.
• The Big Bang Theory (CBS): New. Amy doesn’t like Sheldon’s new assistant. Runs 30 minutes.
• Beauty and the Beast (The CW): Series Premiere. A police detective begins investigating a case that may be related to the death of her mother and ends up meeting a man with a secret that she must keep as well. This show is pretty darn bad. I am not a Kristin Kreuk hater, but still don’t buy her as a cop. Also, the “Beast” aspect is pretty dumb. I call the show “Beauty and the Hulk,” because he only gets “beastly” when he gets angry or worked up and the rest of the time he’s a pretty darn good looking guy with a scar on his face. Will you be watching?
• Last Resort (ABC): New. The crew embarks on a mission to find three missing crew members.
• Two and a Half Men (CBS): New. Lyndsey and Alan talk about spicing things up. Runs 30 minutes.

Sports Notes

• ESPN has Thursday Night College Football with Arizona State at Colorado.
• ESPN2 has WNBA Playoff coverage.
• NFL Network has Thursday Night Football with the Pittsburgh Steelers at the Tennessee Titans.
• TBS has doubleheader MLB Playoff coverage.

Late Night

• Boss (Starz): Repeat. Last Friday night’s episode, “Consequence,” replays. Plays earlier this afternoon as well.

Thursday TV Marathons

ION has 10 episodes of Numb3rs.
Oxygen has 16 episodes of House.
TNT has 12 episodes of The Mentalist.
USA Network has five episodes of Burn Notice followed by nine episodes of NCIS.

What are you going to watch on Thursday night?