Nova scienceNOW PBS 9:00 pm ET
If you've got a freeloading friend or relative you've dubbed a "leech," you may want to find another insult after watching this new episode. Its segment on real leeches is fascinating and covers their renaissance as medical tools -- to drain off excess blood from reattached appendages. Other segments look at new developments in stem-cell research and the search for life on other planets. There's also a profile of underwater explorer Edith Widder.
South Park COM 10:00 pm ET
One of the better episodes from the show's 11th season, "Fantastic Easter Special" is a hilarious sendup of "The Da Vinci Code." Young Stan can't figure out what eggs and bunnies have to do with Easter. The answer lies with a secret society called -- wait for it -- the Hare Club for Men. The show also gets in a dig at Bill Donohue, the controversial Catholic anti-defamation activist who spoke out against an earlier episode.
Law & Order NBC 10:01 pm ET
Rubirosa (Alana De La Garza) is playing for the other team -- and we don't mean in the Seinfeldian sexual-orientation sense. The legal aid lawyers are on strike, so she's pressed into service as court-appointed counsel for a man (Brad William Henke) accused of murdering one of the strikers. It'll get interesting when she and Cutter (Linus Roache) face each other in court in "Strike."
Casino Royale SHO 6:35 pm ET
Despite the public questioning of cast choices, this 2006 actioner was well-received by audiences. Daniel Craig stars as Agent 007, who gets his first assignment here. This version also explains Bond's cavalier attitude toward women. Judi Dench returns as M, with Eva Green, Mads Mikkelsen, Jeffrey Wright and Jesper Christensen also starring.
Bandidas HBOE 6:45 pm ET
The cast rocks, but not enough to raise this 2006 Western above mediocrity. Salma Hayek and Penelope Cruz play two very different women in late 19th-century Mexico who team up to rob banks. Their motive: Buy out the greedy New Yorker (Dwight Yoakam) whose land grab cost both women's fathers their lives. Sam Shepard and Steve Zahn are among the other actors wasted on this improbable script.
Wife Swap ABC 8:00 pm ET
Culture clashes are nothing unusual on this addictive series, but backwoods Kentucky wife Karen Sutton, who is used to pampering her husband, is in for a jolt when she trades places with Samantha Myers, a corporate Illinois mom who leaves all the domestic chores to her stay-at-home husband, Shane -- and whose kids are obsessed with hunting for ghosts.
Criminal Minds CBS 9:00 pm ET
It helps to be connected. In this episode, though, it's the diplomat who's glad she knows an FBI agent. Kate Jackson guest stars as Prentiss' (Paget Brewster) mom, an ambassador who seeks the Behavioral Analysis Unit's help in catching kidnappers. The victim, a Russian immigrant, is losing parts of his body with every ransom demand. The team soon discovers the Russian mob is involved, so this will be messy.
Supernanny ABC 9:00 pm ET
Even supernanny Jo Frost has her work cut out for her when she tries to bring order to the home of Lisa and Steve Daniels, who have let discipline deteriorate to the point that their six ill-behaved children indulge in spitting, cursing, hitting and other random misbehavior. Things come to a head when mom Lisa refuses to follow through on a "timeout" for one of the kids, precipitating a tense face-off with Jo.
Criss Angel Mindfreak A&E 10:00 pm ET
A couple of years ago, he walked on water without benefit of divine intervention. But that was small potatoes; he traversed a mere pool. In the fourth-season premiere of his series, illusionist Angel ups the ante by attempting to traverse Lake Mead, the largest man-made lake in the United States. Expect more wild stunts as the season continues, including a live episode in which Angel tries to escape from a building that's about to implode.
CSI: NY CBS 10:00 pm ET
Boo! This Halloween episode was directed by Joe Dante of "Gremlins" fame, and it shares that movie's cheeky blend of scary and serious. Danny and Lindsay (Carmine Giovinazzo, Anna Belknap) investigate a family's murder at a house in -- wait for it -- Amityville. Yes, the same house where another family was slaughtered years earlier. Mac, Stella and Flack (Gary Sinise, Melina Kanakaredes, Eddie Cahill) investigate the death of a zombie. No, really.
Dorm Daze 2: College at Sea SHO 10:00 pm ET
Hey, kids, let's make a sequel to the worst movie ever to bear the once-proud "National Lampoon" label! Eek. If 2003's "Dorm Daze" was a train wreck, this horrid 2006 direct-to-video follow-up is a disaster of Titanic proportions -- literally, as it's got the collegiate characters doing the semester-at-sea thing. And it's got Kato Kaelin. As himself. 'Nuff said.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation CBS 9:00 pm ET
Oh, what a tangled web we weave ... . A prominent politician with a strong anti-drug agenda is murdered, and a major drug supplier is the prime suspect. When the evidence trail grows cold, Keppler (Liev Schreiber), Grissom's replacement, comes up with an unconventional plan to catch him. He lets Catherine (Marg Helgenberger) in on it, but she has to keep the rest of the team in the dark in "Redrum."
Good Will Hunting TNT 10:00 pm ET
Matt Damon stars in this 1997 drama as Will, a young working-class Bostonian with an amazing talent for math. Will is working as a janitor at a prestigious university when his gift is discovered by a professor (Stellan Skarsgard), who tries to persuade him to put it to use. A therapist (Robin Williams) with a few scars of his own takes on the challenge of unlocking Will's potential. Ben Affleck, Casey Affleck and Minnie Driver also star.
Swingtown CBS 10:00 pm ET
Col. Mustard, in the conservatory, with the candlestick ... oops, wrong game. In this new episode, Trina (Lana Parrilla) throws a "Puzzlerama" party, in which the guests team up with one another's spouses to solve a mystery. And the clues are based on the neighborhood's secrets ... so it's educational, too. Josh Hopkins, Molly Parker, Jack Davenport, Grant Show and Miriam Shor also star in "Puzzlerama."
Smallville CW 8:00 pm ET
And you thought gum only freshened your breath. The band One Republic guest stars in this episode, giving a concert that Kara and Jimmy (Laura Vandervoort, Aaron Ashmore) attend. On the crew is Clark and Chloe's (Tom Welling, Allison Mack) friend Pete (Sam Jones III), who comes back into their orbit when he inadvertently chews some kryptonite gum and gets superpowers. Lex (Michael Rosenbaum) soon finds a way to use this development for his own ends.
Ugly Betty ABC 8:00 pm ET
Talk about picking the wrong person to pick on! Wilhelmina's (Vanessa Williams) effort to shake her "mean girl" image suffers a setback when she scuffles with an elderly woman over a cab. Not just any elderly woman -- beloved octogenarian actress Betty White (guest starring as herself). The other Betty (America Ferrera) agrees to an unusual double date in "Bananas for Betty."
Grey's Anatomy ABC 9:00 pm ET
High-school angst hits the Seattle Grace staff when the ER fills up with teenage victims of a school-bus crash. Bailey (Chandra Wilson) is hit the hardest; one of the adult chaperons is a guy she tutored -- and crushed on -- in high school. Madeline Zima has a heartbreaking guest turn as the best friend of a badly injured boy. Meredith and Lexie (Ellen Pompeo, Chyler Leigh) clash over a visit from a drunken Thatcher (Jeff Perry) in "Forever Young."
Supernatural CW 9:00 pm ET
Didn't Sam and Dean (Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles) learn anything from Freddy Krueger? Bobby (Jim Beaver) falls into a coma and does battle with his demons. The brothers discover a poisonous potion is the cause ... and if he doesn't wake up, he's toast. They ingest the potion themselves so they can get into Bobby's dream, but instead, they meet their own worst nightmares in "Dream a Little Dream of Me."
Fear Itself NBC 10:00 pm ET
Home not-so-sweet home. A couple (Brandon Routh, Shiri Appleby) who recently moves thinks they have found the perfect idyllic neighborhood. What they don't realize is just how far the other residents will go to keep up appearances. Written by Kelly Kennemer, the new episode "Community" also stars John Billingsley and Bonita Friedericy.
The Usual Suspects AMC 10:30 pm ET
Hey, Keyser Soze is a chick! No, wait, that was "The Crying Game." This similarly twisty, darkly funny and grippingly suspenseful 1995 crime drama earned a richly deserved Oscar for supporting actor Kevin Spacey, who is brilliant as a criminal underling being grilled about an underworld mastermind's latest violent spree. The gifted ensemble cast (Gabriel Byrne, Benicio Del Toro and others) revels in the snappy dialogue.
Friday, July 25, 2008
NUMB3RS CBS 9:00 pm ET
Sounds like an episode of "Cold Case." Don (Rob Morrow) and his team are trying to track down the sender of multiple letter bombs. It may be the same bomber who slipped through the cracks years ago ... or it may not, and that's a big point of disagreement for Don and Charlie (David Krumholtz). Let's hope one of them is proven right soon so they can catch the guy! Alimi Ballard and Diane Farr also star in "Burn Rate."
300 MAX 10:00 pm ET
If it seems an entire world was devised for this unique, violent visualization of the graphic novel by Frank Miller ("Sin City") and Lynn Varley, it was -- mostly digitally, since ancient Greece was re-created on a soundstage with computer-generated backdrops. Gerard Butler plays King Leonidas, who leads the legendary 300 Spartans in defense against Persia's ruler (Rodrigo Santoro, "Lost") and his own army.
Cape Fear MAX 5:30 pm ET
A movie setting never had a more apt name. Martin Scorsese directed this 1991 remake of the 1962 thriller about an ex-con seeking revenge on the attorney who compromised his defense. Unlike the earlier work, this one blurs the lines between good and evil, evoking sympathy for the ex-con (Robert De Niro) and questioning the lawyer's (Nick Nolte) integrity. Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum, stars of the 1962 version, have small roles.
The Seventh Sign OXYGEN 7:00 pm ET
Mia Farrow called. She wants her signature role back. Demi Moore stars in this overwrought 1988 chiller as a pregnant woman who, with her unborn child, holds the fate of the world in her hands on the eve of Armageddon. What could have been an intelligent interpretation of apocalyptic prophecy falls victim to a convoluted and confusing story line that is all explained in the end but leaves the viewer scratching his head in the meantime. Keep an eye on that weird dude (Jurgen Prochnow) renting a flat from Moore's character.
Dr. Dolittle 3 DISN 8:00 pm ET
The title of this direct-to-video follow-up to 1998's "Dr. Dolittle" and its 2001 sequel is misleading; the doctor isn't in it. Instead, it's about Dolittle daughter Maya (Kyla Pratt), who inherited her dad's ability to converse with critters. Sent to a dude ranch for the summer, she helps save the place from a hostile takeover. Kids may like it, but if you're over 10, it's not worth watching without Eddie Murphy. Norm Macdonald and Gary Busey provide animal voices.
Ghost Whisperer CBS 8:00 pm ET
What's a high-school reunion without a zombie? In "The Walk-In," a body disappears from the morgue, and Melinda (Jennifer Love Hewitt) discovers it's been taken over by another ghost, who had physical issues in life and wants to borrow an able body for his high-school reunion. And how handy that a jock classmate just got done with his. Melinda agrees to take him to the reunion if the body's original owner provides guidance, but things don't end well.
Most Outrageous Moments NBC 8:00 pm ET
Game shows always have their share of outrageous moments, and the most outrageous often don't make it to air ... until now. This episode has a selection of funny clips, including outtakes, from the hit game show "Deal or No Deal," along with a weather report from "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" regular Triumph the Insult Comic Dog and an unusual top-10 countdown.
Duel ABC 9:00 pm ET
Another game show winds down its summer run, so if you need a trivia fix, catch tonight's season finale. Contestants vie for a big cash prize in a series of one-on-one trivia challenges. When a contestant wins a duel, he gets to choose his next opponent from a field of three, but without much information about them to go on. Mike Greenberg hosts.
Lassie Come Home TCM 10:00 pm ET
Loved but unable to be kept, Lassie reluctantly is sold to the Duke of Rudling (Nigel Bruce) in this 1943 adventure. Not about to take this lying down, the courageous collie battles swift rivers, miles of terrain and vicious animals to find her way home to her beloved boy, Joe (Roddy McDowall). Elizabeth Taylor, Donald Crisp and Elsa Lanchester co-star.
Christine AMC 10:30 pm ET
Not the best film treatment of a Stephen King novel, this 1983 chiller still delivers its share of scares. And you gotta love the tunes. Keith Gordon plays nerdy teen Arnie, who comes into possession of a vintage Plymouth ... and we mean possession in the "Exorcist" sense. Christine has a mind of her own, amazing powers of regeneration, and a zero-tolerance policy toward anyone who comes between her and Arnie. Bullies and girlfriends, beware.
