Talk-show Tango Jan. 23-27: Walk Off the Earth perform their viral hit Somebody That I Used to Know

Five musicians, one guitar, three microphones, 35(ish) million views and counting. If you haven’t yet seen Walk Off the Earth’s video for Somebody That I Used  to Know, you might be the only one left. But fear not. Ellen is hosting them Monday. Here’s the video. They’ll play their hit live.

LATE NIGHT

Late Show with David Letterman (11:35 p.m. ET on CBS)

Monday: Mark Wahlberg (Contraband), Heather Morris (Glee), Snow Patrol (Fallen Empires) (R)

Tuesday: Tina Fey (30 Rock), Jeremy Irvine (War Horse), Barr Brothers (Barr Brothers) (R)

Wednesday: Scarlett Johansson (We Bought a Zoo), Julie Chen (The Talk), Heisman winner Robert Griffin III (R)

Thursday: Regis Philbin (Live with Regis and Kelly), John Fogerty (R)

Friday: Dolly Parton (Joyful Noise), Alan Zweibel (LUNATICS) (R)

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (12:35 a.m. ET on CBS)

Monday: In Paris at the Eiffel Tower (R)

Tuesday: In Paris with Kristen Bell, Eddie Izzard, Jean Reno (R)

Wednesday: In Paris at the Louvre, with Jean-Michel Cousteau (R)

Thursday: In Paris and at the Palace of Versailles (R)

Friday: In Paris at the Moulin Rouge (R)

The Jay Leno Show (10 p.m. ET on NBC, A Channel)

Monday: Michel Williams (My Week with Marilyn), Josh Lucas (The Firm), Chris Cornell

Tuesday: Janet Jackson, Larry the Cable Guy, Eli Young Band

Wednesday: Robin Williams, Drew Hastings, Vince Gill

Thursday: Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory), Meghan McCain, Tom Morello with Ben Harper

Friday: President B Arack Obama, Yo-Y0 Ma and Friends

Conan (midnight ET on Comedy Network, 1 a.m. on CTV)

Monday: Casey Anderson, Wilco

Tuesday: Sam Worthington (Man on a Ledge), Adam Winrich, Julia Nunes

Wednesday: Timothy Olyphant (Justified), Elizabeth Banks (Man on a Ledge), John Mulaney

Thursday: Cuba Gooding Jr. (Red Tails), Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite), They Might Be Giants

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (12:35 a.m. ET on NBC)

Monday: Tina Fey (30 Rock), Jean Dujardin (The Artist), Handsome Dick Manitoba

Tuesday: David Duchovny (Californication), Judah Friedlander (30 Rock)

Wednesday: Rosie O’Donnell, Donnie Wahlberg

Thursday: Queen Latifah (Joyful Noise), Miranda Cosgrove

Friday: Daniel Radcliffe (The Woman in Black), Elisabeth Hasselbeck (The View)

Jimmy Kimmel Live (12:05 a.m. ET on ABC)

Monday: Kiefer Sutherland (Touch), Bear Grylls (Mud, Sweat and Tears Live Show), Young the Giant

Tuesday: Elizabeth Banks (Man on a Ledge), Ben McKenzie (Southland), The Airborne Toxic Event

Wednesday: Cuba Gooding Jr. (Red Tails), Sarah Hyland (Modern Family), Big Freedia

Thursday: Andre Agassi, J.B. Smoove (Russell Simmons Presents the Ruckus), Seal (Soul 2)

Friday: tba

Chelsea Lately (11-11:30 p.m. ET on E!, formerly Star!, Videotron digital 125, Bell 621, Shaw Direct 168 and 527)

Monday: tba

Tuesday:

Wednesday:

Thursday:

Friday:

Daily Show with Jon Stewart (11 p.m. Comedy Network, midnight ET, CTV)

Monday: Kathleen Sebelius

Tuesday: Elizabeth Warren

Wednesday: Paula Broadwell

Thursday: Tilda Swinton (We Need to Talk About Kevin)

The Colbert Report (11:30 p.m. Comedy Network, 12:30 a.m. ET, CTV)

Monday: Bruce Bueno de Mesquita (The Dictator’s Handbook)

Tuesday: Placido Domingo

Wednesday: NPR’s Terry Gross

Thursday: Drew Barrymore (Big Miracle)

George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight (11 p.m. ET, CBC)

Monday: Peter C. Newman (When the Gods Changed: The Death of Liberal Canada), Saman Arbabi (Parazit)

Tuesday: Wab Kinew (8th Fire), Atom Egoyan and Arsinee Khanjian (Cruel and Tender)

Wednesday: Peter MacKay, Philippe Falardeau (Monsieur Lazhar)

Thursday: Daniel Radcliffe (The Woman in Black), Shawn Atleo, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations

Friday: best of the week and Kathleen Edwards (Voyageur)

Charlie Rose (11:30 p.m. ET, PBS)

Mr. Rose announces his guests only on the day of broadcast, check the show’s Twitter account for guest announcements.

Real Time with Bill Maher (10 p.m. ET, Fridays only, on HBO Canada)

Friday: tba

DAYTIME

Live with Kelly (9 a.m. ET, NBC and CTV)

Monday: Kim Kardashian, Lucy Lawless (Spartacus: Vengeance), Kevin McHale (Glee), Peter Gros

Tuesday: Mary J. Blige, Cynthia Nixon (Wit), Chris Harrison (The Bachelor)

Wednesday: Kristin Chenoweth, Alan Cumming (The Good Wife), Emmy Rossum (Shameless)

Thursday: Cat Deeley, Nick Jonas

Friday: Carrie Ann Inaba, Chelsea Handler (Are You There, Chelsea?)

The View 11 a.m. ET, ABC and CTV)

Monday: Katherine Heigl (One for the Money), Rosemarie Terenzio (A Fairy Tale Interrupted)

Tuesday: Joan and Melissa Rivers, Dylan Ratigan (Greedy Bastards)

Wednesday: Glenn Close (Albert Nobbs), S. Epatha Merkerson and Chris Cuomo (Crime: Missing Black Americans)

Thursday: Kyle Richards (Real Housewives of Beverly Hills), Andrew Lloyd Webber

Friday: Gloria Steinem, Mike Nichols

The Talk (2 p.m., CBS)

Monday: Rachel Bilson

Tuesday: Kathleen Turner

Wednesday: Michael Clarke Duncan

Thursday: Anne Heche

Friday: Eva La Rue

Anderson (weekdays at 3 p.m. ET on CTV Two and NBC, 5 p.m. ET on CTV)

Monday: Has Your Obsession Gone Too Far? Mother Reveals She Spent Kids’ College Tuition

Tuesday: Man-imony: Should Women Have to Pay Their Ex-Husbands Alimony?

Wednesday: Should You Call the Cops on Your Kids?

Thursday: Your Family’s Secret Life: Sex Addiction and Shocking Teen Trends Uncovered

Friday: What Does Confessed Murderer Joran van der Sloot’s Guardian Angel Say Now? Plus Anderson Is Surprised by His Childhood Idol

The Ellen DeGeneres Show (4 p.m. ET, CBS)

Monday: Shemar Moore (Criminal Minds), Kym Douglas, Walk Off the Earth (Somebody That I Used to Know)

Tuesday: Sam Worthington (Man on a Ledge), Michael Strahan (Fox NFL Sunday), Seal (Soul 2)

Wednesday: tba

Thursday:

Friday:

Denise Duguay

@tweetinthebox

Series debut: Alcatraz Monday Jan. 16 8-10 p.m. ET

Alcatraz

Debuts:
Monday, Jan. 16, 2012 from 8-10 p.m. ET on Citytv and Fox, airing regularly Mondays at 9 p.m. ET

Plot summary:
You are familiar with Alcatraz, the prison in the San Francisco Bay that closed in 1963? Well, in this TV version of the story, the inmates were not transferred to other facilities so much as they were … well that’s the whole thing, right? What  happened to these prisoners? And their minders? It’s 2011, weird stuff is happening and, of course, there is a specialized law-enforcement/voodoo division set up to deal with this ongoing hopefully-multiple-season-long  mystery.

Cast and crew:
Sarah Jones (Lone Star, Sons of Anarchy) as Detective Rebecca Madsen

Jorge Garcia (Mr. Sunshine, Lost) as Dr. Diego “Doc” Soto

Sam Neill (Happy Town, Crusoe) as Emerson Hauser

Parminder Nagra (ER) as Lucy Banerjee

Robert Forster (The Descendants, Heroes) as Ray Archer

J.J. Abrams (Lost) is producer and I see Jack Bender (Lost) in the list of directors, for the second hour Jan. 16 (Ernest Cobb). On both counts, my official verdict is: “yay!”

Review in six words*:
Lost meets Prison Break, Time  Tunnel.

Real review: 
Watch it! They had me at “Alcatraz” (Birdman of Alcatraz, starring Burt Lancaster? Huge fan.). That doubled with the addition of the name “Jorge Garcia”, one of my favourite characters from Lost. Tripled when I found out Sam Neill and Robert Forster, two excellent film actors, were in the lineup.

Having watched the first of Jan. 16′s two-hour debut, I can say that my fingers are not uncrossed. I wanted to love the first  hour and I mostly do. There are just enough crumbs sprinkled and just enough pathos to get me hooked into being intrigued and caring about the poor time-lost prisoners caught up in whatever the hell complicated story this will turn into.

Bonus: There are numbers. NUMBERS! Just like in Lost. Did you spot them? 6-3-2-3.

Quibbles? I’m not yet caring too much about the lead, Sarah Jones. She does nothing wrong, but she hasn’t charmed me yet. Maybe her sidekick Soto (Garcia) and Uncle Ray (Forster), along with a family link to Alcatraz, will help draw her out. Also, Parminder Nagra has the worst poker face ever. I am not sure I buy her as a professional secret-keeper.

Other reviews:
It gets an average score of 75, which is pretty darn good, on the site metacritic.com.

* The six-word conceit is inspired by Smith Magazine’s six-word memoir series, in which they invite people to submit six-word memoirs, often on a theme such as Father’s Day, and then publish them. Lovely. Wonderful. An excellent exercise in boiling stuff down. Which I don’t do often enough and thought I’d try here.

Talk-show Tango Jan. 16-20: Man on a Ledge, Haywire and Kathleen Edwards

Only hours after the Golden Globes, in which The Descendants and The Artist split the top film honours – and the hard-to-watch-legally-in-Montreal Homeland nabbed best actress and best TV drama – it looks like a big week for the movies Haywire and Man on a Ledge. You’ll see Ewan McGregor and Sam Worthington, respectively, all over the place, with their costars. But let’s highlight Ottawa singer/songwriter Kathleen Edwards, who’s playing on Letterman this week, promoting her new album Voyageur.

LATE NIGHT

Late Show with David Letterman (11:35 p.m. ET on CBS)

Monday:  Simon Baker (The Mentalist), Elizabeth Banks (Man on a Ledge), Seal (Soul 2)

Tuesday: Ricky Gervais (Life’s Too Short), Jessica Chastain (Coriolanus), Kathleen Edwards (Voyageur)

Wednesday: Marg Helgenberger (CSI), Michael Fassbender (Shame), Ellie Goulding (Lights)

Thursday: Kathy Griffin, Joseph Arthur (The Graduation Ceremony)

Friday: Dana Carvey, Jon Fisch, Los Campesinos! (Hello Sadness)

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (12:35 a.m. ET on CBS)

Monday: Lucy Liu, Kevin Sorbo

Tuesday: Colin Firth

Wednesday: David Duchovny (Californication), CNN’s Sanjay Gupta

Thursday: Steven Wright, Sara Paxton

Friday: Larry the Cable Guy, 3 Doors Down

The Jay Leno Show (10 p.m. ET on NBC, A Channel)

Monday: Melissa McCarthy (Mike & Molly), U.S. presidential hopeful Rick Perry, T-Pain

Tuesday: Sam Worthington (Man on a Ledge), Sherri Shepherd, Adam Lambert

Wednesday: Jennifer Garner, Ross Mathews, Parachute

Thursday: Wanda Sykes

Friday: Steven Tyler, Ruan Seacrest, Randy Jackson (American Idol),  Sarah Colonna

Conan (midnight ET on Comedy Network, 1 a.m. on CTV)

Monday: Kate Beckinsale (Underworld: Awakenings), Stephen Merchant (Life’s Too Short), St. Vincent (Strange Mercy)

Tuesday: Antonio Banderas (Haywire), Fred Armisen (Portlandia), Blake Mills (Chimes of Freedom)

Wednesday: Shaun White, Jordan Peele (Key and Peele), Sammy Adams

Thursday: Gina Carano (Haywire), Owen Smith

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (12:35 a.m. ET on NBC)

Monday: Liam Neeson (The Grey), Piers Morgan (Piers Morgan Tonight), Chiddy Bang

Tuesday: Kyra Sedgwick, Ndamakong Suh, Outasight

Wednesday: Bill Cosby, Anthony Mackie, Wale

Thursday: Ewan McGregor (Haywire), Ask This Old House, the Avett Brothers

Friday: Joan Rivers, Stacy Keibler, Cults

Jimmy Kimmel Live (12:05 a.m. ET on ABC)

Monday: Don Cheadle (House of Lies), David Cross (The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret), Boys II Men

Tuesday: Katherine Heigl (One for the Money), Ne-Yo (Red Tails), Grouplove

Wednesday: Will Arnett (Up All Night), Dana Gould

Thursday: Tom Arnold (My Big Redneck Vacation), Keke Palmer (Joyful Noise)

Friday: Terrence Howard (Red Tails), Thomas Horn (Extreme Loud & Incredibly Close), Filter

Chelsea Lately (11-11:30 p.m. ET on E!, formerly Star!, Videotron digital 125, Bell 621, Shaw Direct 168 and 527)

Monday: tba

Tuesday:

Wednesday:

Thursday:

Friday:

Daily Show with Jon Stewart (11 p.m. Comedy Network, midnight ET, CTV)

Monday: Jodi Kantor

Tuesday: Liam Neeson (The Grey)

Wednesday:

Thursday: Elizabeth Banks (Man on a Ledge)

The Colbert Report (11:30 p.m. Comedy Network, 12:30 a.m. ET, CTV)

Monday: Scott Douglas (Greater Birmingham Ministries)

Tuesday: Jennifer Granholm (The War Room)

Wednesday: David Frum

Thursday: Carrie Rebora Barratt (Metropolitan Museum of Art)

George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight (11 p.m. ET, CBC)

Monday: Juliette Lewis (The Firm), Auma Obama (The Education of Auma Obama)

Tuesday: Peter MacKay (minister of defense), Raine Maida

Wednesday: Bob Rae

Thursday: Kathleen Robertson (Boss), Wendy Crewson, Frank Sinatra Jr.

Friday: best of the week and Down with Webster

Charlie Rose (11:30 p.m. ET, PBS)

Mr. Rose announces his guests only on the day of broadcast, check the show’s Twitter account for guest announcements.

Real Time with Bill Maher (10 p.m. ET, Fridays only, on HBO Canada)

Friday: tba

DAYTIME

Live with Kelly (9 a.m. ET, NBC and CTV)

Monday: Seth Meyers cohosts, Kevin Hart (Laugh at My Pain), Simon Baker (The Mentalist)

Tuesday: Seth Meyers cohosts, Jessica Alba, Matt Bomer (White Collar)

Wednesday: Mario Lopez cohosts, Marg Helgenberger (CSI), Mark Feuerstein (Royal Pains)

Thursday: Dana Carvey cohosts, Ewan McGregor (Haywire), Elizabeth Banks (Man on a Ledge)

Friday: Dana Carvey cohosts

The View 11 a.m. ET, ABC and CTV)

Monday: Piers Morgan (Piers Morgan Tonight), Tim Gunn (The Revolution)

Tuesday: Liam Neeson (The Grey)

Wednesday: Tom Arnold (My Big Redneck Vacation), Thomas Horn and Max Von Sydow (Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close)

Thursday: Audra McDonald (Porgy & Bess), Michael Symon (The Chew)

Friday: Cuba Gooding Jr. (Red Tails), John Quinones (What Would You Do?), Lindsey Duncan

The Talk (2 p.m., CBS)

Monday: Jennifer Hudson

Tuesday: Suzanne Somers

Wednesday: CNN’s Sanjay Gupta

Thursday: Wayne Brady

Friday: Christina Ricci

Anderson (weekdays at 3 p.m. ET on CTV Two and NBC, 5 p.m. ET on CTV)

Monday: Are Little Girls Growing Up Too Fast?

Tuesday: The One-Man Sperm Bank and The Latest Author Phenom

Wednesday: Winning the Lottery Ruined My Life and Bayou Billionaires

Thursday: Dolly Parton (Joyful Noise), The Human Lie Detector

Friday: Purity Myth and Slut Shaming Online

The Ellen DeGeneres Show (4 p.m. ET, CBS)

Monday: Sofia Vergara (Modern Family), Big Time Rush

Tuesday: Steven Tyler (American Idol), Timothy Olyphant (Justified), Chris Young

Wednesday: Colin Firth (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), Uggie the Dog (The Artist)

Thursday: tba

Friday:

Denise Duguay

@tweetinthebox