Tonight on the Tube: Vice Presidential Debate, Earl, Smallville & It’s Always Sunny

News & Notes

Tonight, ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC all have coverage of the Vice Presidential Debate and MyNetworkTV has a WWE Smackdown special followed by the series premiere of Magic’s Secrets Finally Revealed.

Over on cable, BBC America has third season premiere of Dragons’ Den.

In late night, Bravo has the second season premiere of Tim Gunn’s Guide to Style.

Will be on TV Talk with Shaun OMac later today. The show starts at 3:00 p.m. PT and I, along with Amrie from Seat42f, among other places, will be on at 3:20 p.m. PT, so why not drop on in and listen live.

Prime Pick

Vice Presidential Debate (ABC, CBS, FOX & NBC): News. Special. Tonight is the big debate between Joseph Biden and Sarah Palin. Never has there been this much interest in a VP debate. I predict the numbers will exceed the Obama/McCain debate from last week. Begins at 9:00 p.m. Eastern.

Solid Selections

Smallville (The CW): New. Oliver is near death and in his weakened state, he flashes back to when he was stranded on the island and learns to use a bow and arrow. Chloe is linking about trying to use her healing power to help Oliver.

Supernatural (The CW): New. Dean gets sent back in time and runs into his father and his new girlfriend and meets his grandfather, who may be hiding a dark secret.

Cable Choices

Good Eats (Food Network): Repeat. Alton talks about the right piece of cutlery for the right job. Plays again later.
Food Detectives (Food Network): Repeat. The health risks of bar snacks are investigated. Plays again later.

American Chopper (TLC): Repeat. A penguin themed bike is being built. Plays again later.

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (FX): New. Mac and Charlie fake their own death after the find out about their father getting released from prison. Runs 60 minutes. Plays again later.

Other Options

• Ace of Cakes (Food Network): New. The gang makes a Viking ship wedding cake. A repeat episode follows. Both play again later.
• My Name Is Earl (NBC): New. Two new episodes play tonight. In the first one Earl tries to get Joy a hot tub, but things go wrong. In the second one Earl finds that the boys may have a problem that causes them not to make friends.

Sports Notes

• ESPN has college football action with Pittsburgh at South Florida.
• Golf Channel has the first round of Samsung World Championship LPGA tournament.
• TBS has tripleheader MLB Divisional Playoff games.

TV Marathons

Oxygen has 16 episodes of Captured followed by 12 episodes of Snapped tonight.
Sci Fi has eight hours of Stephen King’s Kingdom Hospital episodes.
Spike has 18 episodes of Married…With Children.
USA has five episodes of House tonight.