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Critic's Corner
The Gambler, the Girl, and the Gunslinger 9 p.m., Hallmark I love titles that just tell it like it is, no mystery or creativity getting in the way. So there’s this gambler, and this gunslinger, and they’re in a Wild West love triangle with this girl - er, lady. Allison Hossack is Liz Calhoun, Dean Cain is Shea McCall (above), ...
Critic's Corner
Eureka 9 p.m., Syfy Now that Sci Fi is officially Syfy, the world is different. You can feel it, right? Everything just seems more . . . “y’’-ey. Tonight, “Eureka’’ returns to the rebranded channel for 10 new episodes, following Sheriff Jack Carter and the doings in a Northern California town populated by scary-brilliant scientific minds. Is Carter being replaced ...
Critic's corner
Monsters Inside Me 9 p.m., Animal Planet No, it’s not a Sartrean drama about a man coping with his nihilistic impulses - although that might be fun. This is horror flick meets scientific documentary, as we follow cases of people whose lives were thrown off course by invisible parasites. Tonight’s episode focuses on mass attacks, including a flesh-eating parasite on ...
Critic's corner
Great American Road Trip 8 p.m., Channel 7 This NBC summer-filler series doesn’t exactly summon the ghost of Jack Kerouac. Seven families travel across the United States, compete in various challenges, and visit landmarks such as the Grand Canyon and the Washington Monument. Basically, it’s a summer-vacation take on “The Amazing Race,’’ and it’s hosted by comedian Reno Collier.
Critic's corner
The Great Debate 10 p.m., VH1 In this new series, some very, very important questions of our time will get full consideration. Which alien is better, Alf or E.T. ? Which blockbuster is tops, “Jurassic Park’’ or “Titanic’’? And that eternal conundrum, Jessica versus Ashlee? Somehow, I don’t think this show plans to address the VH1 versus E! question.
Critic's picks
Miss Marple: A Pocketful of Rye 9 p.m., Channel 2 Actress Julia McKenzie (above) takes over the role of Miss Marple in this new four-episode series of “Masterpiece Mystery!’’ Tonight, she investigates the murder of a businessman, his wife, and their maid.
Critic's corner
Fourth of July celebrations You have a variety of options tonight if you’re looking for fireworks.
Critic's corner
Invitation Only 11 p.m., CMT To use a phrase coined by Gomer Pyle when he was told to call like an owl, “Hootie who, Hootie who?’’ Darius Rucker is officially still a member of Hootie and the Blowfish, but he has struck out on his own in a big way courtesy of a hit album of country songs. Tonight, Rucker ...
Critic's corner
American Masters 8 p.m., Channel 2 This 90-minute episode focuses on Garrison Keillor, raconteur, poet, populist, and philosopher. The guy has an amazing mind, even if you’re not drawn to his “A Prairie Home Companion’’ wit. “Garrison Keillor: The Man on the Radio in the Red Shoes’’ travels across the country for a year with Keillor and his crew of ...
Two shows that revel in grossing out viewers
They are microscopic creatures with translucent exoskeletons. Invisible to the naked eye, they find their way inside your body, they multiply, they excrete. Sometimes, they grow into long, viscous, calamari-like worms, other times they simply feed on your flesh and leave gaping, fetid, canyon-like wounds. They are parasites, and, frankly, they are repulsive.
BET’s homage to Jackson had its moments but failed to stir
What do you get when you cross a Michael Jackson tribute with the BET Awards? Last night, you got a disjointed event that, alas, didn’t quite evoke the spirit of the late King of Pop.
Critic’s corner
Nurse Jackie 10:30 p.m., Showtime Love this show, and love the cast. Of note: Merrritt Wever (left), who plays Jackie’s nursing student, Zoey. She makes Zoey’s eagerness, innocence, and insecurity really sympathetic - and funny, too. She is the perfect foil for Jackie’s tough act. On her list of credits: She played Mountain Girl in “Neal Cassady’’!
Critic's corner
Hung Tomorrow at 10 p.m., HBO The title of the new HBO comedy implies raunchiness, but the series is more of a “Weeds’’-style black comedy. Thomas Jane plays an Average Joe with financial problems who decides to become an escort in order to make some money. Hilarity, and pathos, ensue.
Farrah was the poster girl for celebrity
At first blush, it’s hard to pinpoint exactly why Farrah Fawcett was so famous. She was a 1970s pinup girl, yes, with her blindingly white smile and her suggested nipple on millions of teenage bedroom walls across America. She was a TV star for one season on the forgettably light “Charlie’s Angels,’’ and she made brief, token forays into Serious ...
‘Virtuality’ a sci-fi starter that only ends
‘Virtuality’’ is an exercise in futility, but not because it’s bad. Indeed, this two-hour sci-fi presentation, tonight at 8 on Channel 25, has plenty going for it. A drama about 12 astronauts on a 10-year space journey to find an alternative to a drowning Earth, it made me want to see more.
In ‘Hung,’ an ex-jock fights downward mobility
There’s an argument to be made that every single story about men and power, particularly when guns are involved, is, at least metaphorically, about penis size. And the spirit of Dr. Freud would of course need to be invoked along the way. But HBO’s new comedy “Hung’’ may be the first TV show to take the theme quite literally, as ...
Critic's Corner
Princess Protection Program 8 p.m., Disney This is Disney, not Logo, so the whole princess thing is literal. Alas. Demi Lovato plays a young member of foreign royalty who is relocated to rural Louisiana after a coup in her native country. Selena Gomez plays the girl she moves in with. Bonding ensues.
‘The Philanthropist’ tries hard to please
What is an Obama-era TV show? NBC’s “The Philanthropist’’ calls out for that moniker by giving us a billionaire playboy who decides to devote his life to charitable works. Reeling from a personal tragedy, Teddy Rist (James Purefoy) discovers that, as Barack Obama promised, there’s nothing laughable about community service, even global-community service. In tonight’s premiere, at 10 p.m. on ...
Critic's corner
The Closer 9 p.m., TNT Tonight’s episode focuses on Sergeant Gabriel after he has shot a murder suspect, and actor Corey Reynolds always does a nice job when he has more than a few lines. But I’m waiting for the Lieutenant Provenza episode, when we learn why he has been so up and down this season, and why his body ...
Critic's corner
Eli Stone 10 p.m., Channel 5 ABC is in the process of burning off the remaining episodes of its canceled series on Saturday nights. “Pushing Daisies’’ wrapped last week, and “Eli Stone’’ begins its final four tonight, with an episode in which Eli (Jonny Lee Miller, above), Matt, Taylor, and Maggie take a road trip. “Dirty Sexy Money’’ will return ...
Little magic in young 'Merlin'
The CW has “Smallville,’’ about Superman as a teenage hunk, and now NBC has what amounts to “Camelotville.’’ “Merlin,’’ a summer series imported from the BBC, chronicles the early days of Arthurian legend, when the fledgling magician was still honing his craft. Essentially, the show is a portrait of the wizard as a young man, with the impossibly handsome Prince ...
End-of-world miniseries 'Impact' is a near-disaster
Duck! On so many levels, my friends, duck. There’s a fat chunk of TV debris hurtling toward you on ABC. Called “Impact,’’ it’s a two-part miniseries that has the potential to take four hours of your precious life and smash them to smithereens. An apocalypse would be a welcome relief from this wretched disaster knock-off, which premieres tomorrow night at ...
Kent Jones is just funny enough for the news
Most of the news on “The Rachel Maddow Show,’’ which airs nightly at 9 on MSNBC, is pretty serious. You know, what with the economic crisis, election protests in Iran, and, oh yeah, the wars. But if you stay with Maddow until the end of her hour, you get a guaranteed exclamation point: a two-minute segment called “Just Enough With ...
Critic's corner
Mr. Troop Mom 8 p.m., Nickelodeon George Lopez stars in this made-for-TV movie as a workaholic single father who goes to camp to chaperone his daughter Naomi (Daniela Bobadilla) and her friends. Hey, what do you know, just in time for Father’s Day. Do you think Dad will finally bond with Naomi? Such suspense.
Critic's corner
Burn Notice 9 p.m., USA The more I watch this show, the better I like the casting of Sharon Gless as Michael’s mother. She and actor Jeffrey Donovan actually have some similar facial features. Indeed, the more I watch this stylish action show, the more I enjoy it, particularly the humor. Check out Michael’s efforts to get a guy to ...
Father figures, from Ward Cleaver to Frank Costanza to Tony Soprano
If we listed only the "best'' TV dads, most of them would probably be from the 1950s. Back then, elevision was more interested in portraying ideality than reality. Here's a selection of the most memorable fathers, for good ("The Andy Griffith Show'') and for ill ("The Sopranos''), from the past ("Leave It to Beaver'') and from the present ("Friday Night ...
Critic's corner
Time Warp 8 p.m., Discovery Channel At times, this show's exceedingly slow-motion technique creates some really artful clips. A few decades ago, they might have been shown on video in cutting-edge museums. Tonight, hosts Jeff Liberman and Matt Kearney take their aaawwweeesssooommmeee series to Las Vegas, to view some of the stars and attractions. I'm thinking Cirque du Soleil will ...
Critic's corner
CMT Music Awards 8 p.m., CMT Greetings, all y'all. Tonight is the annual live event in Nashville, with Bill Engvall as the host. Performers will include Trace Adkins, Toby Keith, Brad Paisley, Kellie Pickler, Darius Rucker, Taylor Swift, and Keith Urban. Among the presenters: Bill O'Reilly.
Nurse in 'HawthoRNe' too good to be true
At the height of "ER," doctors were the gurney-side heroes. In the heat of crisis and chaos, they prevailed over the broken American healthcare system - and yes, gunmen, bombs, floods, hostage situations, and other sweeps events - to save lives. They were emotionally flawed, of course, but so much more believably human than, say, Marcus Welby, who came off ...
Critic's corner
True Blood 8 p.m., HBO2 One of the many reasons I'm glad "True Blood" is back: Michelle Forbes. Forbes, who was extraordinary as Gabriel Byrne's wife on "In Treatment," returns as Maryann, the mysterious woman who has taken Tara under her wing. She presents herself as a compassionate hedonist and feminist, but you can see the anarchic anger boiling right ...
Critic's corner
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three 8 p.m., Channel 56 Maybe it's time to watch the original 1974 version on TV tonight, now that the remake with Denzel Washington and John Travolta is in theaters?
Critic's corner
Jesse James Is a Dead Man Tomorrow at 10 p.m., Spike TV How do you follow "Monster Garage," "Celebrity Apprentice," and marriage to Sandra Bullock? How about going all Evel Knievel on us? James's new series, in which he takes on death-defying challenges involving cars, motorcycles, and trucks, has become a small hit for Dude TV.
Critic's corner
Nurse Jackie 9:30 p.m., Showtime The series began just this week, but Showtime has already renewed it for a second season. Edie Falco plays a New York City ER nurse who, like so many other Showtime characters, is leading a fractured life. A married mother of two, she's sleeping with - and getting drugs from - the hospital pharmacologist. Amusingly, ...
Overheated atmosphere keeps 'True Blood' flowing
The title sequence of HBO's "True Blood" is among TV's best ever. Created by Digital Kitchen, the same outfit that made the "Six Feet Under" intro, the clip is a breathtaking flash tour of gothic Louisiana - a swamp alligator, rotting cars and carcasses, roadhouse lust, ecstatic prayer, blood. Edited to a tension-and-release rhythm, it's a visual tone poem about ...
Critic's corner
Royal Pains 10 p.m., USA Good luck, Mark Feuerstein. The actor hasn't caught a break when it comes to headlining his own TV shows, which have included "Conrad Bloom," "3 lbs.," and "Good Morning, Miami." "Royal Pains," a thin, light-hearted medical drama set in the ritzy Hamptons, just may do the trick for him, thanks to a strong lead-in by ...
Critic's corner
Neil Young: Don't Be Denied 9 p.m., Channel 2 This episode of "American Masters" is devoted to the career of Neil Young, beginning with his pre-Buffalo Springfield days. The hour will include interviews with Young and various musicians he's worked with. A valid look at a master? Or a plug aimed at baby boomers for his much-delayed new "Archives Vol. ...
Critic's corner
Out of the Wild: The Alaska Experiment 10 p.m., Discovery Channel Would I mention this docu-series simply as an excuse to once again grieve the lack of respect paid to Sean Penn's "Into the Wild"? No, I just wouldn't do that. The "Out of the Wild" group of travelers have undergone hard work, cold temperatures, and hunger in Alaska. Tonight, ...
Critic's corner
The Closer 9 p.m., TNT I think the cable TV's short seasons work in favor of "The Closer." If there were 22 episodes a year, the show, and Kyra Sedgwick's Brenda (above), might become too much. But a dozen or 15 episodes a year always leaves me wanting more, and I am very happy that season 5 is beginning tonight. ...
Critic's corner
The 63 d Annual Tony Awards 8 p.m., Channel 4 Neil Patrick Harris (above) hosts this year's event, which will air live from New York's Radio City Music Hall. The musical "Billy Elliot" leads the pack with 15 nominations.
Big new role for Edie Falco
NEW YORK - Edie Falco has set up shop in a shoebox of a café called Peace & Love.
Critic's corner
The 63rd annual Tony Awards Tomorrow at 8 p.m., Channel 4 I haven't gotten tired of Tina Fey yet, and I haven't gotten tired of Neil Patrick Harris. Both TV comedy stars have run the risk of serious overexposure, and, for me, prevailed. Indeed, the promise of Harris as host may get me to watch the theater awards live from ...
Critic's corner
Plastic Fantastic Brain 8 p.m., Discovery Health This two-hour documentary profiles people who have profound brain abilities and disabilities. There's a woman who, despite having half of her brain removed, can still walk, see, talk, and speak three different languages. There's a guy who has hyperthymesia, which enables (or curses) him to remember every day of his life since he ...
Critic's corner
Burn Notice 9 p.m., USA This show, which returns for a third season tonight, is always a kick. Last season, the writers pushed hard on the overarching plotline about who pushed Michael out of the CIA, but the show is most fun when he and his pals are rescuing victims in the crime-of-the-week stories. Oh, and it's always a good ...
'Royal Pains' doctor to the rich is quite a character
'Royal Pains" is very USA. With each passing TV season, the basic cable channels are further refining their brands, cultivating ever-more distinctive tones. FX has come to specialize in gritty amorality, AMC is building a franchise around men in extremis, and USA - with "Monk," "Psych," and "Burn Notice" - is all about funny-neurotic heroes and dramedic atmosphere.
Today on television
Law & Order 10 p.m., Channel 7 If you are 18, you are younger than this series, which premiered in 1990 and finishes up its 19th season tonight. The cast has changed completely over the years, with S. Epatha Merkerson taking the prize as the senior cast member. She started her run as Lieutenant Anita Van Buren in 1993. The ...
Tonight on TV
According to Jim 8:30 p.m., Channel 5 This show has taken a lot of critical grief over the years, as the quintessential mediocre domestic sitcom. I've beaten up plenty on the weak writing, the stereotypical characters, and the laugh track. So, on the occasion of tonight's series finale, I've tried to come up with something nice to say. And I've ...
Critic's corner
I'm a Celebrity . . . Get Me Out of Here! 8 p.m., Channel 7
Critic's corner
Maneater 9 p.m., Lifetime This two-part miniseries, starring Sarah Chalke (above) as a socialite desperate to marry, concludes tonight. Part one, which aired last night, will repeat at 7.
'Maneater': A shallow plot for gold digger
Hollywood, you've no doubt read in countless books or seen in a kajillion movies and TV shows, is the shallowness capital of the world. As the hub of rubber lips, air-kiss intimacy, and star-making machinery, it has been much-much chronicled and satirized. So the central theme of Lifetime's sudsy "Maneater" - money worship and spiritual vacuity in La-La Land - ...
Critic's corner
2009 MTV Movie Awards Tomorrow at 9 p.m., MTV Andy Samberg is hosting this annual excuse to promote movies to the youth market. The categories include best villain, best kiss, and best WTF moment (go Amy Poehler peeing in a sink in "Baby Mama"). Among the presenters: Will Ferrell, Jonah Hill, Denzel Washington, and Vanessa Hudgens, with Eminem scheduled to ...
Critic's corner
The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 11:35 p.m., Channel 7 Jay Leno says goodbye to the "The Tonight Show" with a guest visit from his successor, Conan O'Brien. In other words, rather than creating a schmaltzy farewell, NBC is turning Jay's last hour into a promotional opportunity for O'Brien (above left, with Leno last year). Don't worry Leno fans, he ...
Critic's corner
National Spelling Bee 8 p.m., Channel 5 Tunight, it's the phinal champeenship round of the speling be, whosted by Thom Bergiron. This is the 82d anual eevent in Warshington, D.C. Buy the whey, you kan wach the semiphinals from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. on ESPN. (I love doing battle with spell check.)
On 'Mental,' a doc that looks like Sting, acts like House
If Chris Vance of "Mental" doesn't get to play Sting in a movie in the near future, the earth just won't sit right on its axis. Seriously. Vance is the latest UK actor to head up an American TV series, after Hugh Laurie, Tim Roth, Rufus Sewell, Simon Baker, and Damian Lewis, and he bears a remarkable resemblance to the ...
Critic's corner
Diamonds 9 p.m., Channel 5 Part 1 of a two-part miniseries in which the murder of a senator's daughter is linked to the international diamond trade. Judy Davis (above) stars.
'Desk mode' TV viewing fits our multitasking culture
Right now, writing at my desk, a field of scrap paper, magazines, and coffee mugs between me and my screen, I'm watching the season finale of "Grey's Anatomy" at abc.com. The episode is very tragic, what with Cancer Izzie about to become a turnip and Bloody George incognito as the dying John Doe. And just as the pair take the ...
Critic's corner
Flying By 9 p.m. , Lifetime Billy Ray Cyrus - that's right, Miley's dad - stars in this made-for-TV movie. He plays a real-estate developer who starts playing music with his old band, against the wishes of his wife. Will he follow his bliss and go on a reunion tour with the guys?
Critic's corner
Hollywood Sings Country 9 p.m., CMT What happens when movie and TV stars decide they're country-music singers? CMT's website promises that "you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll cheer." Or did they mean "jeer"? Among the stars mentioned on the show: Kevin Costner, John Corbett, Vicki Lawrence, and Jerry Springer.
Critic's corner
So You Think You Can Dance 8 p.m., Channel 25 The fifth season begins tonight, with host Cat Deeley. By the way, Fox announced this week that it will run a sixth season of this series in the fall, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. In other words, the network is hoping to turn "So You Think You Can Dance" into an ...
Critic's corner
American Idol 8 p.m., Channel 25 Often, the two last "Idol" finalists represent quite divergent styles of music and audiences. I'm thinking of Carrie Underwood and Bo Bice, Ruben Studdard and Clay Aiken, David Cook and David Archuleta, and Fantasia Barrino and Diana DeGarmo. And this season's final two are particularly contrasting, with Kris Allen (left) as the safe, jeans-wearing ...
The intrigue isn't 'Lost' on them
Globe TV critic Matthew Gilbert chatted with readers this past Thursday on Boston.com. Here are excerpts.
'Glee' pilot hits the high notes in its high school
'Glee" is a funny word. It's onomatopoetic, so you can't hear it without sensing joy for a split second. And you can't say it without singing - "eeee" - ever so slightly. "Glee" is the perfect name for Fox's appealing new high school series, which is filled with joy and song. It's the latest iteration of that eternally uplifting "Let's ...
Critic's corner
The Mentalist 9 p.m., Channel 4 The season's biggest dramatic hit closes up shop tonight with an episode about Red John. He's the serial killer who murdered the wife and daughter of Simon Baker's Patrick Jane, and he's trying to lure Jane into a trap. I've really enjoyed this show, despite its procedural predictability. Baker has expertly walked the line ...
Critic's corner
The Bachelorette 9 p.m., Channel 5 Somehow Jason Mesnick rejected Jillian Harris (above) during "The Bachelor," despite her brilliant theory about how a man reveals his true self in his choice of hot-dog topping. Ketchup? All-American and safe. Sauerkraut? Bad-boy charisma. Tonight, Jillian is the new bachelorette as 25 bachelors arrive by limo and five party-crashers storm the gates.
Critic's corner
Desperate Housewives 9 p.m., Channel 5 In the show's fifth season finale, Orson threatens Bree with blackmail, Gaby's niece moves to Wisteria Lane, and Susan and MJ's lives are in danger at the hands of Dave. Pictured: Kyle MacLachlan as Orson and Marcia Cross as Bree.
Critic's corner
Saturday Night Live 11:30 p.m., Channel 7 Will Ferrell hosts the finale of what has been a big year for "Saturday Night Live." This 34th season saw the departure of Amy Poehler, the return of Tina Fey a number of times as Sarah Palin, and the full emergence of Kristen Wiig as the show's great hope. Green Day is the ...
Critic's corner
Escape to Chimp Eden 10 p.m., Animal Planet Eugene Cussons is the director of the Jane Goodall Institute's Chimpanzee Eden Sanctuary in South Africa, and he is the hero of the show. He's a kind of chimp whisperer. He rescues chimps being poorly treated in human captivity and helps them regain skills and find peace.
Season finale of 'Lost' is electric
Reprinted from late editions of yesterday's Globe. Wednesday night, season five of "Lost" ended in a vacuum-packed rush of electromagnetic something-or-other, a loophole of whatnot and wherefore, and the possible destruction of a multilingual guy named Jacob who was in all the right places - until, alas, it seems he wasn't. Indeed, it may take us months, perhaps even until ...
Season finale of 'Lost' is electric
Last night, season five of "Lost" ended in a vacuum-packed rush of electromagnetic something-or-other, a loophole of whatnot and wherefore, and the possible destruction of a multilingual guy named Jacob who was in all the right places - until, alas, it seems he wasn't. Indeed, it may take us months, perhaps even until the show's return in early 2010, before ...
Critic's corner
Grey's Anatomy 9 p.m., Channel 5 Will Izzie, newly married to Alex, beat cancer? Will George be leaving the hospital and the show? Will Meredith and Derek finally tie the knot? Will tonight's two-hour season finale answer any of these questions or will we need to wait until next season? Will the cast learn to behave themselves over the summer? ...
Critic's corner
Lie to Me 8 p.m., Channel 25 Last week, the show seemed to be getting closer to its goal, which is to be something like "House" - a tonally over-the-top workplace drama, led by a brilliant maniac, with colleagues constantly double guessing one another. The episode, in which Daniel Sunjata played an imprisoned rapist, also took a step forward by ...