TV Dinner Time: big balls and meatballs

Steelers or Cards? I pick the Cards because of the pretty uniforms and that young lad’s fantastic hair. Larry is it?

Oh yeah. And Bruce Springsteen is finally, after years of being begged, playing the halftime show at Sunday’s Super Bowl. You might want to check that out on NBC and CTV.

But if you were invited to my house, and you wish, you would instead be switching over to ABC as the gunshot sounds the end of the first half. And the reason is Wipeout. Call me shallow. Say I’m misled for ignoring the Boss; he will, after all, almost certainly put on show to rival Prince’s great halftime show in 2007. But, in this economy and with the newspaper industry wobbling on its last, rickets-weakened leg, I need the belly laughs. Sorry Bruce.

ABC is cleverly broadcasting reruns of last summer’s ratings hit at 5 p.m. opposite NBC and CTV’s Super Bowl pregame show and then running the brand-new Wipeout Bowl I: Cheerleaders vs. Couch Potatoes at about 8 p.m., opposite the halftime show on NBC and CTV.

For those unfamiliar with Wipeout, it is an obstacle course in which the play-by-play (the best and funniest part) is provided with biting, cruel humour by John Anderson of ESPN’s SportsCenter and John Henson. On the field, the hapless competitors are interviewed by Jill Wagner, who tries not to laugh; she will be joined for Super Ball Sunday by former Dallas Cowboy and NFL Hall of Famer Michael Irvin.

Now what’s all this about balls? Well, most of the obstacles change or are at least tweaked in every episode, but the balls are a constant. And I suspect the entire series exists just to see how many times Anderson and Henson can say “big balls” in an hour. Juvenile? Guilty. Judge me. You won’t be the first or last. Here’s a promo to give you a taste.

And because it’s Super Bowl, there must be food involved. So sticking to the balls theme, I’m letting Swedish furniture giant Ikea do the heavy lifting. Credit for this clever meal plan goes to my real-life Swedish friend Christinne and my 844 friends in the Facebook group “I love Ikea meatballs”.

Some preparation is required. Drive to Ikea. Ignore the beds and clever shelving and go to the food kiosk and buy however many bags you require of frozen meatballs. Buy a corresponding number of packets of the powdered gravy mix. And — this is the most important part — buy more jars of lingonberry sauce than you think you’ll need. It’s kinda like cranberry, but more … Swedish.

On game day, with about 10 minutes to go in the second quarter, throw the frozen meatballs on a cookie sheet in an oven set to 350 C. (Don’t use the microwave. It turns the filler in these babies into cardboard.) Then, over medium heat, empty at least two packets of the gravy powder (doesn’t that sound delicious?) into a medium saucepan, adding 1.5 cups of cold milk per packet. Yes, milk! These Swedes are crazy. Follow the instructions and keep stirring. Shout “What’s happening on the field?” every minute or so to make it sound like you care about how the game is proceeding, but don’t stop stirring. This is cream gravy. It is not to be trifled with. When you hear the gun go off, which is hopefully the gun on the field and not some indication that your party is now a crime scene, your meatballs will be hot and the gravy richly thick. No sense trying to be elegant when serving. Unscrew the top on the lingonberry sauce and put it next to the cookie sheet and the saucepan. Give each person a flat soupbowl and let them serve themselves in the kitchen, which will give you a chance to go into the living room and change the channel to Wipeout on ABC. Oh yeah. Veggies. Ikea serves boiled potatoes, which are a nice way to soak up even more gravy. I’m going to put out an extra bag of chips and call it even.

– Denise Duguay

Lost: new theory under construction

You’ve been here before. No, that is not my commiseration that you and I are once again, contrary to all good sense, spending every Wednesday night pursuing something between an aneurysm and a Slurpee brain freeze. That is to say, watching Lost.
It IS true. Lost fans have been here before, fretting that the series that began as plane crash survivors waiting for rescue on a deserted island might have finally jumped the rails entirely.
But like any good addiction, Lost can pull us back. Granted, fewer get pulled each year, but still. We are the believers and coming up with theories is what makes us tick.
You’ve been here before is my theory.
You’ve been here before and you missed something important. Or someONE important.
In other words — and I have a lot of them as you know — who or what is your “constant”?
When Desmond was hit with the out of control time travelling back at the beginning of last season, he was advised to pick a constant, someone he knew before and who was essential to him. He made the call to Penny and rerooted in time. Now someone from the past has made a call to Desmond, via dream/memory, for the same reason: Desmond is Faraday’s constant, or Faraday’s link to his mother, the white-haired woman returned from her appearance as a jewelry store clerk in Season 3, Episode 8.
Back in Flashes Before Your Eyes, Desmond was told by Mrs. Hawking — aka Faraday’s mother scratching madly on a chalkboard while Ben pours himself a cup of tea — to not avoid fate because it is unchangeable and there will be “course corrections” to redirect to the unchangeable fate.
What did Desmond miss, or did we miss, in his encounter with this woman who, we now see, might be at the apex of the fulcrum of the series, as at the focal point of chalk lines that are being drawn by some medieval-looking affair on the floor as she taps away on a very old-looking computer at the end of Episode 2? Certainly, she is someone to whom scary Ben must answer and who reveals there are only 70 hours to get everyone important back to the island. But is she THE boss? And 70 hours in real time or combined jump-travel time or…?
I admit this is weak and it’s not really a full theory yet but I’m still working on it. Which is the real smack isn’t it? That it is knowable. Ha. One of these days I’m going cold turkey. But for now, I’m mainlining Sawyer with his borrowed shirt (a red shirt, the garb of all marked men on Star Trek); Sun and her revenge; Desmond and Penny and wee Charlie sailing to their new destiny; Hurley and his new cop friends that Ana Lucia warned him away from.
And what of Locke? He knows he must save the island and must die to do it, courtesy of very, very old and ageless Richard. Locke knows how to throw around Jacob’s name to save his skin. But at the end of Episode 3, he’s just met young Widmore. Will he be able to resist trying to change the future? Or is rupturing the timeline his destiny?
Despite Faraday’s insistence — and Hawking’s earlier warning to Desmond — that nothing should be changed during a jump, is some event from the island’s past — young Ben meeting the young hotheaded Charles Widmore on the island? — meant to be interfered with? Is it perhaps the island itself that is jumping people around to get them to interfere?
And isn’t Faraday speaking from both sides of his physicist’s mouth by saying nothing can be changed? After all, didn’t he plant the directive to find his mother into the ear of island Desmond so future Desmond would suddenly have the new “memory”?
Is this exception because Desmond is, as Faraday tells him and us, one of the exceptions? Or is Faraday using everyone’s fear of further catastrophe to keep them in line?
Other questions:
When they jump, what if they run into their past selves? I like Entertainment Weekly writer Jeff Jensen’s theory that the ominous whispers people have heard on the island are past selves, “forbidden by Fate from being seen or interfering”. And is this why Jacob can be seen only fleetingly by Locke?
When will we meet a young Christian Shephard on the island?
Will they jump far enough back in time to know more about the Black Rock ship dumped in the jungle? Far enough to see Jacob as a real person?

What’s that? I’m full of malarkey? Wouldn’t be the first time. But do share your own theory. The lines are now open…
– Denise Duguay

TV on DVD: more Lost

It’s another weak week in new releases of TV on DVD, but know this, thanks to the good people over at tvshowsondvd.com: no matter how baffled you were by the two-hour (whaaaaaatf?) Season 5 opener of Lost, you KNOW you want the DVD. If only in the hopes that you can tie a string to Daniel Faraday and by following him maybe know for a second what the hell is going on. But I digress. Thanks to tvshowsondvd, I know that you can pre-order the Season 5 DVD right now on Amazon.ca. No release date yet (Season 4 came out in December), of course. But then if you’re a Lost fan, you’re used to waiting. Season 5 continues on Wednesday at 9 on ABC (and A Channel if you’re lucky enough to get that infuriating channel denied to Videotron subscribers. Why? Why?).

If that’s not enough DVD news for you, this week marks the release of the full series of M.A.N.T.I.S., the short-lived superhero series starring Carl Lumbly as a scientiest who, after a paralyzing accident, builds himself an exoskeleton that not only gets him to the corner Starbucks and back, but fights crime along the way. Devote geeks only please.

Here is some other stuff new on shelves this week.

Cheers: The Final Season
The Invaders: The Complete Series
The Love Boat: Vol. 1 Season 2
Instant Star: Season 2
Blossom: Season 1 and 2
Make Em Laugh: The Funny Business
My Uncle Silas: Series  1
Meerkat Manor: Season 4
Planet Earth: The Complete Collection Blu-ray
The All-New Superfriends Hour: Season 1, Vol. 2
– Denise Duguay

Talk-show tango: Jan. 26-30

That annoying nattering you hear shortly after 11 a.m. on Monday is the gals on The View having their way, in a catty nasty smiling kinda way, with Rod Blagojevich and his wife. Or is it possible that they’ll play nice?

LATE NIGHT

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

Monday: Brian Williams (NBC news anchor), Ben Kweller (Changing Horses)

Tuesday: Evangeline Lilly (Lost), Seth Meyers (SNL), Andrew Bird (Noble Beat)

Wednesday: Guy Fieri (Diners, Drive-ins and Dives: An All American Road Trip… with Recipes)

Thursday: Renee Zellweger (New in Town), Tony Dungy (Uncommon: Finding Your Path to Significance), Graham Nash (Reflection and sitting in with the band)

Friday: Mary Hicks, The Gaslight Anthem (The 59 Sound)

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

Monday: Chris Matthews, comic Paul Morrissey

Tuesday: RZA, Jared Harris (Fringe)

Wednesday: Cuba Gooding Jr., Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire)

Thursday: Dominic Monaghan, Rosemarie DeWitt (United States of Tara)

Friday: Michael Sheen (Frost/Nixon), comic Russell Peters, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings

Tonight Show with Jay Leno (11:35 p.m. ET on NBC)

Monday: Josh Brolin, The Bird and the Bees (The Bird and the Bee)

Tuesday: Rainn Wilson, Paula Abdul (American Idol), Hoobastank (For(N)ever)

Wednesday: Dakota Fanning, Bradley Cooper, The Neville Brothers (The Best of)

Thursday: Justin Long, Franz Ferdinand (Tonight)

Friday: Elizabeth Banks, Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire), James Morrison (Songs for You Truths for Me)

Late Night with Conan O’Brien (12:35 a.m. ET on NBC)

Monday: John C. Reilly, NASCAR’s Jimmie Johnson, The Walkmen (You and Me)

Tuesday: Matt Lauer (The Today Show), Steve Harvey (Chocolate News), M83 (Saturdays Youth)

Wednesday: Evangeline Lilly (Lost), Kevin Connolly (Entourage), Cold War Kids (Robbers and Cowards)

Thursday: Jon Stewart (Daily Show), Mary Lyn  Rajskub (24), Mike Birbiglia

Friday: Greg Kinnear, J.J. Abrams (Lost), Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!)

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

Monday: Kiefer Sutherland (24), Malcolm  Gladwell (Outliers), David Cook (David Cook)

Tuesday: Miranda Cosgrove (iCarly), Boz Scaggs (Speak Low), comic Dov Davidoff

Wednesday: Kristen Bell (Fanboys), Brody Jenner (Bromance), Disturbed (Indestructible)

Thursday: Andy Garcia (The Pink Panther 2), macaroni and cheese box collector Ian Golder, Kraak and Smaak (Plastic People)

Friday: Carlos Bernard (24), Benji Hughes (A Love Extreme)

Daily Show with Jon Stewart (midnight ET, CTV)

Monday: former U.S. president Jimmy Carter (We CanHave Peace in theHoly Land: A Plan that Will Work)

Tuesday: Gwen Ifill, editor Washington Week (The Breakthrough)

Wednesday: Neil DeGrasse Tyson (The Pluto Files)

Thursday: P.W. Singer (Wire for War)

The Colbert Report (12:30 a.m. ET, CTV)

Monday: Chris Mooney (The Republican War on Science), Past Ed Young

Tuesday: Philippe Petit (Man on Wire)

Wednesday: Denis Dutton (The Art Instinct)

Thursday: John Pedesta (Centre for American Progress)

The Hour (11 p.m. ET, CBC)

Monday: Dana White, Robert Munsch

Tuesday: Garth Turner, Paul Gross

Wednesday: tba

Thursday: tba

Friday: tba

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

Mr. Rose announces his guests only on the day of broadcast, so please click on the show-name link above for the most recent guest announcement.

Real Time with Bill Maher (11 p.m. ET, Fridays only, on HBO Canada)

Friday: repeating until Season 7 episodes start Feb. 20.

DAYTIME

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

Monday: Miss America 2009, Joshua Jackson (Fringe)

Tuesday: Harry Connick Jr. (New in Town)

Wednesday: tba

Thursday: Renee Zellweger (New in Town), Demi Lovato

Friday: co-host Ted McGinley

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

Monday: Rod Blagojevich and wife Patricia Blagojevich

Tuesday: Liza Minnelli, Padma Lakshmi

Wednesday: Liam Neeson (Taken), Jason O’Mara (Life on Mars)

Thursday: Condoleeza Rice, former secretary of state

Friday: Julianne Moore (Save the Children), Whitney Port (The City), Peter Cincotti (Peter Cincotti)

The Bonnie Hunt Show (2 p.m. ET on Citytv and NBC)

Monday: Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer), Micky Dolenz, Nick Malis (CuteThingsFallingAsleep.org)

Tuesday: Donnie and Marie Osmond, David Tutera

Wednesday: Fran Drescher (Cancer Schmancer), Joel Ward (Master of Illusion),

Thursday: Seth Green (Robot Chicken), Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica), animal expert Gary Faucher

Friday: Chris Matthews

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

Monday: Amy Poehler, James Morrison, Ellen’s birthday

Tuesday: Joey Faatone, O.A.R.

Wednesday: Ted Danson (Damages), Ernie Bjorkman

Thursday: Kevin Nealon (Weeds)

Friday: Alyson Hannigan (How I Met Your Mother)

Oprah 4 p.m. (NBC and CTV)

Monday: Obese Families in Crisis: The Intervention

Tuesday: Dr. Oz on Why America’s Kids Are Fat

Wednesday: evangelist Ted Haggard, his wife and the gay sex scandal

Thursday: Suzanne Somers: The Bioidentical Hormone Follow-up

Friday: tba

– Denise Duguay

DVR alert: Cranky start to Lost season

Okay, even if CTV had begged me, BEGGED ME, to preview tonight’s (Jan. 21) two-hour Season 5 debut of Lost, I would not have crumbled. Okay they didn’t beg me. But still, I have no desire to know what’s coming tonight. I have steadfastly averted my eyes. I have a bucket of sour cream dip curing in the fridge and I want to be amazed by two hours of the latest adventures of the Oceanic 6 and the now missing or time-lost island and whatever cruel time-travelling, island-moving fate has in store for them. Remember when it was just about surviving a plane crash?

I am also a little cranky and I am not alone. On Monday, P.L. wrote in an email:

Is there any reason why Lost will not air here in Quebec on CTV? I've never
heard of this "A" channel that the CTV website states is the new broadcaster
here in Canada. This is highly disappointing since the CFCF affiliate
carried the show all this time and now we're cut off.

Thanks for your letter, P.L. It’s not the first time that CTV has taken a very popular and decently enough rated show and moved it to A Channel, which is kind of its B team in that it is not shown everywhere in Canada: specifically it is not offered to subscribers of Videotron.

Remember Mad Men? It was moved from CTV to A Channel when it made its Canadian debut last spring and then, as with Lost, offered to Montrealers in repeats on Bravo and on CTV’s online video player. The latter are fine options if you are keen, I know many people who just lost track of Mad Men. My wee merry band of TV fans can’t be the only ones who dropped the show. Why is CTV doing this? I have a call in. No answer yet. I’ll keep you posted. In the case of Lost, we have ABC to fall back on, but still.

However, it is still Lost night. Crankiness be gone. For those of you who would like a little preparation, here is the very capable Aaron Barnhart of TV Barn blog and Kansas City Star fame, with a nice little setup for tonight’s season opener. And then there’s the series recap that starts at 8 p.m. called Lost: Destiny Calls. And that’s on ABC, right? Do not set your DVR or VCR (seriously?) for CTV. You will be sad. Two back to back new episodes of Lost begin at 9 p.m.

See you on the island. Wherever it is.

– Denise Duguay

Lie to Me: series debut

If this is Wednesday, and Lost has returned, what kinda balls does it take for another network to launch a new series directly opposite? And what chance does that new show hold against the greatest show of all time? Except even I, an islander to the end, realize that not everyone watches the J.J. Abrams series that began as a bunch of plane-crash survivors cast away on an island and has now become a maze of plots that fewer and fewer viewers are still loving.
And so — Mother, are you reading? — for those of you who find Lost too much, Fox has come to your rescue with a bandy little fighter of a show called Lie to Me, which debuts Wednesday at 9 p.m. on Fox and Global.

I was a bit put off by the gimmick of it all. Tim Roth (If I weren’t hovering near 49, I would girlishly write OMG here, but I won’t because I know it would be unbecoming) stars as Dr. Cal Lightman, a “deception expert” who, judging by the sleek offices of The Lightman Group, makes a tidy profit hiring out himself and his colleagues to police agencies and the like to expose liars. Pardon me; I stand corrected by Lightman’s Gal Friday, Dr. Gillian Foster (Kelli Williams): “It’s never whether someone’s lying. It’s why.”
Ah, well then. Entirely different cup of … No. Still a gimmick, one that the Mentalist employs on a weekly basis and of which I tire (as well as Mentalist star Simon Baker’s trying-too-hard smile).
But then a funny thing happened on the way to reaching for the DVD-player god-stick to hit eject/reject of the preview disc: some real character emerged and not just from one character.
Fox might have ordered this series because of its gimmick, which I’m sure Fox hopes will rival the gimmick of The Mentalist’s I-used-to-pretend-to-be-a-psychic-but-I’m-still-observant-enough-that-I-know-when-you’re-lying, but what Fox ended up with is a character that is more in the ballpark of the prickly but brilliant loner House. Lightman is brilliant and divorced and is hovered over by a daughter, briefly introduced, and Lightman’s colleague Foster. The prickliness is not rammed down our throats. He’s playing it close to the chest, but he gets in a good few clever bastard scenes, one of which will especially appeal to those poor Montrealers who engage daily in downtown parking wars.
Now, that’s not to say the gimmickry is not too much. Yeah, I don’t think I need to hear every little bit of deception philosophy. But if I can stomach the abundant unnecessary exposition from other crime shows (Hello? CSI series one and all? Are you listening?), I can tolerate this. And it’s worth the effort.
Also worth sticking around for: the standard goofy colleague is, in this series, a deception expert who always states the truth and so greets the Lightman Group’s new expert highly inappropriately, but it’s kinda fun.
Kelli Williams as the Gal Friday has potential as well. She is Lightman’s interpreter to those who would be put off by his bastardliness, though he frequently circumvents her efforts. There are early, clunky efforts to establish her as quirky (pudding? really?), but that burns off like so much carbon from the… whatever burns off the carbon in your car after it’s been idle for too long.
Now if they can just stop with the repeated diving closeups of the clenching fists and the “micro expressions” of contempt and all that crap and stick to the basics of story and character.
But I’ll still be watching Lost and DVRing this.
– Denise Duguay

TV on DVD: official fake sick day

I gotta be honest. I’m faking a sick day here on the blog. I got nothin this week other than this feeble list. And judging by how misled, misled! I was last week regarding the release date of Make ‘Em Laugh: The Funny Business of Amerca (now expected Jan. 27), I am feeling entitled to loaf. Plus Lost is back and some other promising new TV (see: United States of Tara) and I got this other real job, see (as copy editor on the arts desk at The Montreal Gazette). Anyway, apologies for extending the misleading to you last week, dear chickens. It will definitely won’t happen again.

Somebody somewhere says these here TV titles are available on DVD this week but they lie, they lie. But it’s TV so you gotta believe, right? And who wouldn’t want to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the phenom called The Powerpuff Girls? If only I weren’t taking an official fake sick day. Oh well.

Mi-5, Vol. 6
Moonlight: The Complete Series
Emergency! Season 5
The Rockford Files: Season 6
Waking the Dead: The Complete Third Season
Criss Angel: Mindfreak, Complete Season 4
Jonathan Creek: Season 3
Paranormal State: The Complete Season 2
My Three Sons Vol. 2, Season 1
Chris Rock: Kill the Messenger
The Last Detective: Complete Collection
The Powerpuff Girls: The Complete Series, 10th Anniversary Collection
Daniel Boone: Season 6
Monsterquest: Season 2
The FBI Files: Season 1
– Denise Duguay

Talk-show tango: Jan. 19-23

There’s only one talk-show pre-emption caused by coverage of Barack Obama’s inauguration, which will dominate TV Tuesday on main networks from 10 a.m. (some starting only at 11 a.m.) until 1 p.m. ET and all day on the news channels. The View is taking Tuesday off. Also of note this week, Jimmy Fallon is making the rounds. He’s promoting his online talk show. Review are mixed. If you’ve checked it out, please vote now.

LATE NIGHT

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

Monday: Jennifer Aniston (Marley & Me), Jim Carrey Top 10, Broken Social Scene (R)

Tuesday: Jerry Seinfeld, Leona Lewis (R)

Wednesday: Tom Cruise (Valkyrie), Fall Out Boy (R)

Thursday: Will Smith (Seven Pounds), Of Montreal (R)

Friday: Dustin Hoffman (Last Chance Harvey), Todd Rundgren (R)

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

Monday: Sarah Chalke (Scrubs), Kevin McKidd (Gray’s Anatomy), Seal

Tuesday: Trace Adkins, Perez Hilton, the Submarines

Wednesday: tba

Thursday: James Earl Jones

Friday: tba

Tonight Show with Jay Leno (11:35 p.m. ET on NBC)

Monday: Jimmy Fallon (Late Night with Jimmy Fallon), Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Lee Ann Womack

Tuesday: Charlie Sheen (Two and a Half Men), “baseball-card granny” Bernice Gallego, Buckcherry

Wednesday: Cuba Gooding Jr., “No Cussing Club Kid” McKay Hatch, Musiq Soulchild

Thursday: tba, Jerome Bettis, Lady Antebellum

Friday: Marisa Tomei (The Wrestler), animal expert Grey Stafford, comic Ty Barnett

Late Night with Conan O’Brien (12:35 a.m. ET on NBC)

Monday: Teri Hatcher (Desperate Housewives), Aries Spears, T-Tip

Tuesday: Steve Nash, Los Straitjackets

Wednesday: Meredith Vieira, Fall Out Boy

Thursday: Ron Howard (Frost/Nixon), Eric McCormack (Trust Me), tba

Friday: Julia Louis-Dreyfus (The New Adventures of Old Christine), Michael Cera, Nate Bargatze

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

Monday: Kathy Griffin, Sally Hawkins (Happy Go Lucky), comic Mike Birbiglia

Tuesday: Sarah Silverman, “U.S. President Barack Obama”, Soulja Boy Tellem

Wednesday: Randy Jackson (American Idol, America’s Best Dance Crew), Diablo Cody (United States of Tara), Thriving Ivory

Thursday: Brendan Fraser (Inkheart), Jonathan Goodwin (One Way Out), Blake Shelton

Friday: Tim Roth (Lie to Me), Joan Rivers (Celebrity Apprentice and Men Are Stupid and They Like Big Boobs)

Daily Show with Jon Stewart (midnight ET, CTV)

Monday: Abderrahim Foukara, Washington bureau chief for Al Jazeera International

Tuesday: Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, bishop of New Hampshire

Wednesday: David Sanger, New York Times correspondent in Washington

Thursday: Liam Neeson (Taken)

The Colbert Report (12:30 a.m. ET, CTV)

Monday: Frank Rich, New York Times columnist

Tuesday: Jabari Asim (What Obama Means)

Wednesday: Elizabeth Alexander, inaugural poet

Thursday: Jon Meacham (American Lion)

The Hour (11 p.m. ET, CBC)

Monday: Bill Ayers, Joshua Jackson (Fringe)

Tuesday: Inauguration special

Wednesday: Barbara Becnel

Thursday: tba

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

Mr. Rose announces his guests only on the day of broadcast, so please click on the show-name link above for the most recent guest announcement.

Real Time with Bill Maher (11 p.m. ET, Fridays only, on HBO Canada)

Friday: repeating through early Feb.

DAYTIME

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

Monday: Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer), Brody Jenner (The Hills, Bromance), Kara DioGuardi (American Idol)

Tuesday: Debra Messing (The Starter Wife), Whoopi Goldberg (The View), Molly Shannon (Kath & Kim), designer Isaac Mizrahi

Wednesday: William H. Macy (The Deal)

Thursday: Mira Sorvino (The Last Templar), Fall Out Boy

Friday: Eric McCormack (Trust Me)

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

Monday: Elisabeth Hasselbeck’s Oval Office encounter with George W. Bush, ABC News’ Jake Tapper tours pre-inauguration hot spots, Barbara Walters’ past presidential interviews

Tuesday: pre-empted by inauguration coverage

Wednesday: Sigourney Weaver (Prayers for Bobby), discussion of previous day’s inauguration

Thursday: Ron Howard (Frost/Nixon)

Friday: Susie Essman (Loving Leah)

The Bonnie Hunt Show (2 p.m. ET on Citytv and NBC)

Monday: Emma Roberts (Hotel for Dogs), Lil Mama, Tyce Ciorio

Tuesday: Nia Vardalos, Glenn Campbell

Wednesday: Julia Ormond (Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Lee Ann Womack, Daniel Seddiqui (Livingthemap.com)

Thursday: Brooke Burke (Tauts)

Friday: Brendan Fraser (Inkheart)

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

Monday: Will Ellen catch George Clooney? Kiefer Sutherland, T.I.

Tuesday: Beyonce

Wednesday: Ellen’s inauguration coverage, Jimmy Fallon, Kelli Williams (Lie to Me), Trace Adkins

Thursday: Brendan Fraser (Inkheart), Emily Deschanel (Bones), James Morrison

Friday: Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer)

Oprah 4 p.m. (NBC and CTV)

Monday: In Washington, Oprah’s inaugural celebration

Tuesday: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Wednesday: InWashington, Oprah’s post-inauguration special

Thursday: Suze Orman: Can You Afford College, a Wedding, a Divorce?

Friday: Oprah Live

– Denise Duguay

Series debut: The United States of Tara

You remember Sybil — Flora Rheta Schreiber’s book and, more so, the 1976 TV movie it inspired starring Sally Field as an adult who survived years of child abuse by fracturing into a cast of 13 personalities.
As in most TV movies and the stories that inspire them, Sybil ends in transformation and a happy ending; in this case, the personalities are integrated with the help of a therapist played by Joanne Woodward, who in 1957 starred in that other famous movie about multiple personality disorder, Three Faces of Eve.
But what if Sybil’s personalities never came together?
Diablo Cody, who won the Oscar last year for the screenplay for teen-pregnancy comedy Juno, and exec producer Steven Spielberg step up with The United States of Tara, which airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET in Montreal, on The Movie Network starting Jan. 18. Starring Toni Collette, the new half-hour comedy/drama series is about the family life of a mother, wife and artist with three additional personalities or alters.
It is decidedly not about Tara’s disease. At first this is laudable. After all, even assuming the theory is true that MPD can be provoked or activated by early childhood trauma, these people have lives and families, right? What must that life be like? In some cases, it would be a life under the influence of medication and its side effects. Tara, however, has chosen to go off her medication. Therefore, the alters are back after what I assume is a while. There is a lot of assuming here because the show tries so hard to NOT be about Tara’s disease that it leaves some voids.
We meet Tara as she speaks to a video camera for, presumably, some type of personal video diary. Her biggest stress? It’s not that she’s gone off her meds. It’s that her teenage daughter’s sex life has begun. In another episode, a question about her health is the stressor, bullying in another.
This is the stuff of most suburban family sitcoms and dramas and here it’s pretty well done. The husband, Max, is played with humour and believable, not saintly, patience by John Corbett. The children are fantastic: Brie Larson is Kate, the teen who ranges from acting-out to co-conspiracy with T, Tara’s out of control teen alter; Keir Gilchrist is Marshall, who embodies the soul of sensitivity and genius intellect and who is rescued from a teacher’s hostility by Tara’s 50s’ housewife alter, Alice. All of them are a little afraid of Tara’s third alter, Buck, a trucker-hat-wearing Vietnam vet bigot and gun nut who, nonetheless, occasionally comes in handy.
So it’s a normal family comic drama in which the mom has issues. And it’s funny and good. And yet.
Is it my undereducated brain’s pathetic familiarity with TV-movie storytelling template that has me wondering when we will get into the meat of it? The Revelation of the Trauma That Caused All This?
I will give it time. I hope the TV-movie template takes a hit. I love when writers craftily rupture storytelling forms. Is this all about paying attention to the small details of family life? To forgetting the urge to see a tidy conclusion, integration, resolution? Is it enough to see just the metaphor of feeling fractured in this stressful life?
Collette is a powerfully good actor and here as good as anything she’s done (Little Miss Sunshine, Sixth Sense, Muriel’s Wedding). She switches from one personality to another with a brief nod of the head. Her challenge is to establish Tara and the alters as fully formed characters without much screen time. So far, so intriguing. There are 12 episodes in all. I’m in for at least the first six and excited by where this could go.
Real-life professional critics are generally charmed by Collette and the series, with an average metacritic rating of 67 out of 100, but that includes a dip to 25, from the New York Post’s Linda Stasi, who says it “smacks of smugness and self-congratulatory cleverness”. Well then.
What do you say?
– Denise Duguay

Damages Season 2 debuts

“People like us have two options: forgiveness or revenge.”
Ellen Parsons hears these words about halfway through Sunday night’s return of the murder and legal drama series Damages (Sundays at 10 p.m. on Showcase).
Parsons (Rose Byrne) is the formerly wide-eyed, ambitious lawyer new to a powerful Manhattan law firm headed by Patty Hewes (Glenn Close), a woman whose own ambition and ego have forged a cold, cold master of manipulation and blackmail who is not above arranging even murder to win. Parsons is only formerly wide-eyed, because in the course of Season One’s action — Hewes’s firms legal pursuit of Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson) — one of the victims is Parsons’s own fiance.
As in Season One, the flashback-heavy story begins at what appears to be the end of a long chain of events: Parsons threatening an unseen person with a weapon unless he or she confesses. Again, as in the first season when it began with Parsons covered in blood and nearly catatonic, it’s terrifying.

“People like us have two options: forgiveness or revenge.”
Parsons hears the words from Wes Krulik (Timothy Olyphant of Deadwood), who belongs to Parson’s therapy group for people who’ve lost loved ones to violent crime.
She asks if he’s chosen, but does not offer her own answer.
For storytelling purposes, forgiveness has its own dramatic potential. But Damages concerns itself with the dark meat, chewier and closer to the bone. Season One was all about ego, ambition and the pursuit of power by Hewes and Frobisher. This time out, it’s revenge.
But who is doing the seeking? As a point of pride, my discussions of TV shows rarely include spoilers, but even if I had no such standard, Damages is outside the law of predictability that governs most TV dramas or any other story format. Even casual Damage watchers will know that what appears obvious must be questioned closely and could end up being something entirely different. In other hands, this could cheapen the viewing experience, but by the use of the Damages’ flashback structure, it is a lesson in how to listen and watch. Season One was electrifying when each flashback revealed a sliver more context, answering some questions in the show’s main Frobisher-case storyline but raising others.
So it’s unwise to draw the conclusion, which viewers could do early on tonight, about which players are seeking revenge.
New faces this season — in addition to Olyphant, who at least appears to be Parsons’s only tether to the real world — include William Hurt as a man in possession of dangerous knowledge. Others to be added later include Marcia Gay Harden.
But one word of concern about the Season Two debut. Although Season One revealed signs of weakness in Close’s character in the first season, they were fleeting signs, like a knife blade catching the light. A preview of tonight’s episode shows a dangerously shaky Hewes. Could it be my blood lust that wants Hewes to be a monster and not human at all? Rather, I hope it’s my desire to see Damages continue to resist more mundane forms of TV drama, where everyone is nearly always redeemed. Don’t let Patty Hewes get soft! No redemption for her please!
And on that cold-hearted note, I wish you happy viewing. Check back Monday for a preview of the new Movie Network series The United States of Tara, which debuts Monday night.

For more on Damages, Showcase still has the last three Season One episodes online if you want to catch up before watching tonight.
And here is the show’s official website on FX in the U.S. but be careful: they are a week ahead of us so you might spoil Sunday night’s surprises.
Also, Montreal Gazette contributer Mark Lepage interviewed many of the actors on the New York set.
Finally, here are reviews by some more thoughtful individuals, courtesy of metacritic, which is a great site to check to see how top U.S. critics are reviewing television and film. But only after you stop here first, of course. I would miss you so.
– Denise Duguay

BSG: The final frontier, but not

Battlestar Galactica returns Friday on Space: The Imagination Station for its final run of 11 new episodes, also known as Season 4.5. If you’re a fan, you already know that. If you’re curious, but think it’s too late to join the game, Space and BSG hope you’ll reconsider by watching a video that gives you all the basics, and then some. Having gone to Space’s excellent website and watched the video of The Top 10 Things You Need to Know, I hope you’ll join the BSG fan nation. And if you’re already a fan — I love this show, but don’t always catch every episode — this video manages to bring you up to speed without the tedious classroom feeling. The Top 10 Things will also be broadcast, old-school-like, at 8:30 p.m. ET tonight on Space (and Saturday at noon and 5 p.m.), right after a day-long marathon of episodes leading up to tonight’s return. (Some episodes are also online if that works better for you cubicle monkeys out there.)

(Olmos and McDonnell in BSG, c/o Space)

Here’s a basic primer that execs Ronald D. Moore and David Eick explain more elaborately in The Top 10 Things: the last human survivors of an attack by the robot Cylons are aboard the BSG, looking first to escape the Cylons, which can take the form of robot Centurions, attack-ship Raiders or humanoids living secretly among the humans. At the same time, BSG’s crews is trying to find the fabled planet Earth. In the final season, the humans have formed an alliance with a Cylon faction. The end of the first half of Season 4 (that would be Season 4.0), Commander Adama (Edward James Olmos), President Roslin (Mary McDonnell) celebrate finding Earth. But what next? And who is the fifth, final humanoid Cylon, the identity of which is being sought by both Cylons and humans?

Again, fans already know this, but you newbies won’t regret the investment — in this video and the final episodes — because the end of BSG is not really the end. After the series wraps up its run, there will be another two-hour prequel called The Plan. It takes place before the Cylon attack that put the series in motion, this time from the perspective of two Cylons. Sci-Fi Channel in the U.S. has commenced production, and estimates a June broadcast, but Space has not yet signed on. Many, many familiar faces from the series. Moore is writing. Olmos is directing.

Wait! There’s more! Caprica is a spin-off series confirmed by the Sci-Fi Channel but not yet by Space. Caprica takes place 50 years before the Cylon attack and focuses on the Adamas and the Graystones as they struggle to keep control of the 12 Colonies and the artificial-intelligence industry. Moore is producer/writer. The cast here includes Esai Morales (NYPD Blue), Eric Stoltz (Gray’s Anatomy), Paula Malcolmson (Deadwood, ER) and Polly Walker (Cane, Rome). Look for this sometime in 2010, assuming Space will deliver. Please Space!
But I’m getting ahead of myself. BSG Season 4.5 is set to launch Friday on Space at 10 p.m. ET. (repeating Sunday at 6 p.m. ET). Here is the link to The Top 10 Things You Need to Know video. Once you’re at Space’s fun site you might not be able to resist clicking around — the last episodes of Season 4.0 on the video player, the Webisodes (Hey? What’s this about a character outing himself?), more interviews with Moore, and other fun stuff.

– Denise Duguay

According to Jim is dead!

U.S. and Canadian TV members of the Television Critics Association are in L.A. for networks to woo them about fab new and returning shows. Inside the Box is unable to finance such a venture at this time above such pandering. But I can poach like a sous chef. My gifts to you:

Good news:
According to Jim is officially dead. Praise the lord and may Jim Belushi rest for a good long time before trying his hand at another sitcom. I want to wonder how this dreck lasted eight seasons, but it makes my head hurt.

John Mayer might have his own variety show? Now all we need is a Canadian debut date for the Elvis Costello variety series that launched in the U.S. before Christmas. Hello?

Rescue Me at least has an approximate return date — late March? early April? on Showcase — and a definite guest star for a string of episodes: Michael J. Fox will star as the new love interest for Janet, estranged and deranged wife of exec/star Denis Leary’s Tommy Gavin. Oft-nominated but untrophied Leary is already peeved at the Emmy that he predicts Fox win.

So sad: Prison Break is kaput, Swingtown is confirmed dead.

October Road, left dangling after being cancelled in its second season, will soon reassemble the cast to film a finale that will be included in the Season 2 DVD, the release date of which is not yet known. Remember this show? Bryan Greenberg, a bit lit sensation after he wrote a novel based on his home town, returns home when struck with writers block to discover his old flame, played by Laura (That ’70s Show) Prepon, has a child. Is it his? Maybe the finale will finally say.

A couple of readers asking about repeats of the final season of The Shield, the just wrapped cop drama starring Michael Chiklis. Showcase says no current plans to re-air but I wouldn’t be surprised if it didn’t pop up between or after the current blitz of midseason debuts, then February sweeps and May’s barrage of season and series finales.

– Denise Duguay

TV Dinner Time: It’s not pie I smell

The cancelled series Pushing Daisies has three more new episodes yet ot air (still no dates from ABC), but how will the crust ultimately crumble in the series about the formerly dead girl, the boy who can never kiss her and the other (loveable) flakes in the tart shop called the Pie Hole end?

Exec Bryan Fuller offers just a slice of speculation, although it’s a slice so thin your mother in law’ll never come back or whatever they used to say on that old TV ad.

It’s served up on The Pie Maker (thanks to tvseriesfinales for the link). Not much — only two seconds of video, in fact — but it’s something.

Now, you think that’d leave me craving some Key Lime or Deep-Dish Apple. But if you read the question posed by the news item — and the reader speculation — perhaps it will also make you crave Betty’s Macaconi and Tomatoes and Cheese. So here is an entry from the vault of the on-again off-again TV Dinner Time series, from my Montreal Gazette TV blog, Inside the Box. Betty, better known to me as Mother, says bon appetit.

– Denise Duguay

Grissom, we barely knew you. Thanks for that

Here is what I’ll miss most when Gil Grissom leaves the cool, stainless-steel offices of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation for the final time on Thursday night at 9 p.m. ET on CBS and CTV.
Well, of course, other than the H20, because all that crying — the jaysus promos get me all verklempt, for pity sake — is going to require continuous rehydration through the entire farewell episode.
What I will really miss most is the restraint. Grissom, as played by William Petersen — who is leaving the cast to return to theatre in Chicago, but remains as show producer — was most defined by what we didn’t know about him.
I recall the episode some seasons back in which it is revealed that Grissom has a hearing problem. It was gripping at the time and caused his character to begin the withdrawal (although of course, the genetic condition inherited from his mother was too neatly wrapped up by risky surgery sometime later, which cheapened the whole thing, but even so).
Says little, reveals less.
What exactly is his relationship with dominatrix Lady Heather?
What will happen between Grissom and Sara Sidle (Jorja Fox)? Remember the Season 6 finale shocker, when Grissom and Sidle are talking in bed, AND revealing that this is not a new or fleeting intimacy?
It is a rare thing for a television series to show such dramatic restraint. Especially funny that it comes in a series that, on the surface, is all about excess — the essential weekly scene(s) of violent crime, the blood spatter and CGI bullet-path/ice-pick-arc recreations and cadavers every 10 feet, peeled like onions. But there you go.
Grissom’s character — as beloved as he is by his team, by critics and viewers — is shrouded in mystery, requiring viewers to exercise their imaginations. It makes for a powerful bond. And a lucrative one. CSI is the highest-rated scripted drama in the U.S. and has often been so in its nine-year run. The arrival of Grissom’s replacement, former pathologist and academic Dr. Raymond Langston (Laurence Fishburne), gave the already vigorous series a good ratings bump.
Can we hope that Langston, as different from Grissom as he is, will be as rewarding a character to follow?
Stay tuned. In the meantime, check out Entertainment Weekly, which is just too proud of what it claims as the notoriously publicity-averse Petersen’s only interview.
And here, just to prime your tear ducts, is a clip from Episode 9, 19 Down from Dec. 11, in which Grissom reveals his plans to leave.

– Denise Duguay

TV on DVD: Make ‘Em Laugh

Make ‘Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America is a new television miniseries on PBS that looks at the evolution of humour in the U.S. I, having been raised in front of the tube in the 1960s by Clem Kadiddlehopper and Carole Burnett, am keen to see it: it starts Wednesday night at 8 p.m. ET on most PBS stations and continues for a few Wednesdays.
But what does this have to do with DVDs you ask? Well, bizarrely, the series is being released on DVD today (Jan. 13), a day before its broadcast premiere. It contains all episodes, listed below, and I might just spend the money and buy it. Part of the reason I am so enthused, other than the promise of interviews with the great George Carlin and Burnett, is that I’ve been able to preview the series on the show’s excellent website, which also provides a half-hour episode called Teh Internets*. The episode is hosted by Amy Sedaris, who I must admit I don’t always get, but this mini-doc is a great and edifying look at how the Internet has influenced comedy, culminating in the phenom of viral videos (regarding 2 Girls, 1 Cup, I am inept and depraved enough to say I’ve looked and can’t find the real vid, but the viral reaction videos featured in this doc are absolutely great).
Watch the episode online. And then check out the rest of the excellent website’s interviews with many but not all of comedy’s greats.
And then turn to the good old fashioned TV to watch the series, Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on most PBS stations, starting Jan. 14 with the episode Would Ya Hit a Guy with Glasses? Nerds, Jerks & Oddballs. Here are the Montreal listings.

*(Wondering about the spelling? Oh, it’s correct all right, and it’s also some of that wierd Internet lingo that I don’t even bother investigating anymore. pwns? I mean really. But I digress.)

Here are some other TV-on-DVD releases new this week, starting with an online video hit in its own right. Enjoy.

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog
Reba: Season 5
Dallas: The Complete 10th Season
Little Britain USA
Matlock: Season 2
Walker Texas Ranger: Season 6
Lovejoy: The Complete Season 4
Man vs. Wild: Season 2
Black Lagoon: Season 1 Box Set
House of Payne: Vol. 3
Til Death: The Complete Second Season
Made in Spain (with Jose Andres): Season 2
Meerkat Manor: The Story Begins
The Best of Benny Hill
The Best of Benny Hill: The Early years
The Lucy Show Collection, Vol. 1
The Beverly Hillbillies: Vol. 2
The Best of TV Comedy: Vol. 1
The Best of TV Detectives: Vol. 1
The Best of TV Westerns: Vol. 1
The Bonanza Collection: Vol. 2
– Denise Duguay

Talk-show tango: Jan. 12-16

Oprah offers something predictable this week (not that there’s anything wrong with that) in her Monday episode of Falling Off the Wagon Follow-up. Which presumably will have her following up on fessing up to what everyone who watches the show and passes by a magazine rack knows: Oprah has not gotten her weight under control, which probably wouldn’t have been as tantalizing a bit of observation had she not made herself and then declared herself thin every 10 months or so. But I digress. This will be interesting. Sure. But on Friday, Oprah will host… the most bad boy of bad boy comics and foul-mouthed actors Denis Leary. Oy. Who knows what will happen? But I’ll be watching (or recording, unless I have a “sick” day which of course would never happen).

LATE NIGHT

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

Monday: Billy Crystal (PBS’s Make ‘Em Laugh), Kara DioGuardi (American Idol)

Tuesday: Salma Hayek (30 Rock)

Wednesday: Clint Eastwood (Gran Torino), Randy Rogers Band

Thursday: Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer), Gwen Ifill (The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama)

Friday: Zach Braff (Scrubs), comic Ari Barker, The Airborne Toxic Event

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

Monday: John Corbett (The United States of Tara)

Tuesday: Kristin Scott Thomas, Tracie Thoms (Cold Case), The Submarines

Wednesday: John Waters, news anchor Norah O’Donnell

Thursday: Wanda Sykes (The New Adventures of Old Christine), Glasvegas

Friday: Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire)

Tonight Show with Jay Leno (11:35 p.m. ET on NBC)

Monday: David Duchovny (Californication), film critic Richard Roeper, The All American Rejects

Tuesday: Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler), Toni Collette (The United States of Tara), John Legend

Wednesday: Cherie Blair, Brett Dennen

Thursday: Kevin James (Paul Blart: Mall Cop), Emma Roberts (Hotel for Dogs), Mutemath

Friday: Hugh Laurie (House), White House correspondent Chuck Todd, Band from TV

Late Night with Conan O’Brien (12:35 a.m. ET on NBC)

Monday: Daniel Radcliffe, Dr. Drew Pinsky, Eric Hutchinson

Tuesday: Rosario Dawson (The Spirit), Donald Faison (Scrubs), Susan Tedeschi

Wednesday: Salma Hayek (30 Rock), Paul Bettany, Patty Loveless

Thursday: Fred Armisen (SNL), Robert Schimmel

Friday:  Brooke Shields, Robert Reich, Amos Lee

Last Call with Carson Daly (1:35 a.m. ET on NBC)

Monday: tba

Tuesday:

Wednesday:

Thursday:

Friday:

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

Monday: Keri Russell (Bedtime Stories), Steve Martorano, The Fray

Tuesday: Kiefer Sutherland (24), Malcolm Gladwell (Outliers), David Cook

Wednesday: Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler), sportscaster Michael Strahan, comic Morgna Murphy

Thursday: Dustin Hoffman (Last Chance Harvey), pilot Eric Scott, Crooked X

Friday: Kevin James (Paul Blart: Mall Cop), Evan Rachel Wood (The Wrestler), Delta Spirit

Daily Show with Jon Stewart (midnight ET, CTV)

Monday: tba

Tuesday:

Wednesday:

Thursday:

The Colbert Report (12:30 a.m. ET, CTV)

Monday: tba

Tuesday:

Wednesday:

Thursday:

The Hour (11 p.m. ET, CBC)

Monday: Adrian Brody, Parag Khanna

Tuesday:The Smashing Pumpkins, Geoff Green

Wednesday:Dave Salmoni

Thursday: tba

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

Mr. Rose announces his guests only on the day of broadcast, so please click on the show-name link above for the most recent guest announcement.

Real Time with Bill Maher (11 p.m. ET, Fridays only, on HBO Canada)

Friday:repeating through early Feb when new season starts.

DAYTIME

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

Monday: Kelly Rutherford (Gossip Girl)

Tuesday: Zach Braff (Scrubs)

Wednesday: Daniel Craig (Defiance)

Thursday: Kate Winslet (Revolutionary Road)

Friday: Brendan Fraser (Inkheart)

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

Monday: Hot Topics

Tuesday: Ed Westwick and Chase Crawford (Gossip Girl)

Wednesday: Richard Belzer and Richard Lewis (An Evening with Richard Belzer and Richard Lewis), James Earl Jones (SAG lifetime achievement award)

Thursday: George Stephanopoulous (This Week)

Friday: Toni Collette and Diablo Cody (The United States of Tara)

The Bonnie Hunt Show (2 p.m. ET on Citytv and NBC)

Monday: Chad Michael Murray (One Tree Hill), Jason Mesnick

Tuesday: Carnie Wilson, Derek Luke (Notorious)

Wednesday: Gary Sinise (CSI: New York), Jaime King (My Bloody Valentine 3D), Whitney Casey (The Man Plan)

Thursday: Camryn Manheim (Ghost Whisperer)

Friday: Jennifer Beals, Kyle Bornheimer (Worst Week), Charles Mattocks (The Poor Chef)

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

Monday:  Wolf Blitzer

Tuesday: Randy Jackson (American Idol), winner of Biggest Loser

Wednesday: Dustin Hoffman (Last Chance Harvey), Dev Patel and Frieda Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire)

Thursday: tba

Friday: Nicollette Sheridan (Desperate Housewives), Howie Mandel (Howie Do It), the All-American Rejects

Oprah 4 p.m. (NBC and CTV)

Monday: Falling Off the Wagon Follow-up

Tuesday: Kate Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio and Movies Oprah Loves

Wednesday: When Life Breaks You Open

Thursday: Biodentical Hormones, Part 1

Friday: Oprah Fridays Live with Denis Leary

– Denise Duguay

Jack Bauer in a tie? Messenger bag, stat!

Tonight’s seventh-season opener — a two-episode stand Jan. 11, another two hours Jan. 12, both nights at 8 p.m. — begins with signs that things are not quite right. Jack in a shirt and tie? With no messenger bag full of spy tricks and guns? This is like seeing Batman wearing only a short velour bathrobe and dark ankle socks.
I was willing to concede that the rules of realism would require that even Jack Bauer observe standard business dress code when brought before a government body, in this case  a committee’s investigation of the now-disbanded CTU’s use of torture. But then what place has realism every held in 24, the real-time adventures of the one man who can always save the world, even if, as in the last and sadly tedious season, it costs him his family and his soul?
Soon enough there are signs of hope. Unwrinkled shirt notwithstanding, Jack makes it clear to his inquisitor (Worst Week’s Kurtwood Smith) that he is not apologizing for anything. And indeed before we can attempt a body count, Jack is soon enough turning a completely ordinary desk object into a deadly weapon.
Still, it takes until the third hour/episode for Season 7 to hit its stride. Between the hours of 8 and 10 a.m. of Day 7, there is not enough of the thing that has kept me coming back to 24 over the years: humour. Happily, the humour returns, appearing sometime in the third hour, on Jan. 12. Humour and pouting. I’ve said too much already.
Speaking of returns, you might already have heard plenty of rumblings about the return of a certain former and thought-to-be-dead regular cast member. I am trying to stick to a New Year’s resolution to avoid spoilers unless they are really, really hilarious. So far, I am being strong. Except for the previous paragraph.
But back to that shirt and tie. I takes a while (and at least one utterance of “I’ll need complete access!”) but our hero eventually gets back into his official costume. In one scene, perhaps the one involving the desk item, a messenger bag suddenly materializes — well, more of a satchel, a gorgeous toffee-coloured leather with two straps — and Jack straps it on and he is BACK!
It’s only a few more real-time moments before he finds himself in a situation where there just happens to be a dark, long-sleeve T-shirt and comfortable but durable dark pants … in exactly his diminutive size! It’s a miracle.
Apparently, I am not the only one who has cultivated a keen interest in Jack’s signature gear and clothes.
Which brings me back to the humour. You can read lots of very serious reviews, some of which, as the Globe and Mail’s John Doyle did on Saturday, will link their thoughts on 24 to the current changing political leadership in the U.S. and wonder if there is still room in this pop culture world for Jack Bauer.
Well of course there is. And if you doubt me, check out this brilliant whack job’s edgy Jack fan page. But first promise you are not easily offended and have your mother’s permission to read this blog.

Favourite line from this site:

“There were plans for a street in LA to be named Jack Bauer Way, but these plans had to be scrapped, due to the high level of pedestrian fatalities predicted by experts. In the words of one LA civil engineer (who spoke under condition of anonymity, and swallowed a cyanide tablet immediately after): ‘No one crosses Jack Bauer and lives.’ “

Enjoy. Oh and if you missed the opening-night two-hour stand because you were watching the Golden Globes? No problem. Global will have the episodes online. 24 airs on Fox and Global, debuting Jan. 11 and Jan. 12 from 8-10 p.m. ET and then settling into a Monday-night timeslot of 9 p.m. ET.

– Denise Duguay

mmmmmmmm. golden globes

TV Dinner Time: Dip into the Golden Globes

Damn. It’s late Saturday afternoon and once again I have forgotten to invite people over to watch tomorrow’s Golden Globe Awards, film and television’s annual tip of the trophy to actors/shows/writers/etc.deemed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association to be the best/most popular/most-likely-to-give-a-colourfully-drunken acceptance speech.
Famously, the Globes is the annual party at which the nominees and guests are served alcohol in the hopes it will make winners witty in their acceptance speeches, although sometimes the imbibing produces other results (Christine Lahti had to be dragged from the bathroom to receive her award in 1998 for best actress in TV’s Chicago Hope).
But back to my nonparty plans. I guess it’s me and The Boyfriend once again. If the People’s Choice Awards on Wednesday were any indication of what fun we’ll have, it’ll be a night of the BF shaking his fist at the TV and threatening that if Grey’s Anatomy wins any of the TV awards, “I will beat myself with the TV remote until I can’t see”. Perhaps it’s a good thing we’ll be alone.
In the latest installment of my internationally acclaimed series TV Dinner Time, celebrating the marriage of eating and watching television, I’d like to share the news that the BF and I will be feasting on chips and dip, the chips being ripple and the dip being the only one that is worth making. Don’t waste your money on those prepared dips. Just buy a box of Lipton Onion Soup mix. (The remaining envelopes will get you through the Screen Actors Guild Awards on Jan. 25, Oscars on Feb. 22).
You’ll also need a 500 mL tub of sour cream. Dump the soup mix into the tub and stir with a fork. Do this a couple of hours or a day ahead of time and refridgerate. If you forget to pre-prepare, just whip it together and embrace the crunchy texture of the dehydrated onions.
If you insist on a healthy alternative, here is bellaonline’s Onion Soup Dip Homemade Recipe
(with a link to Terra Sweet Potato Chips). But seriously, if you’re eating chips and dip, go old school, for pity sake. You live only once my friends.
If it’s just you and the BF, place the sour cream tub of dip on the coffee table next to the ripped-open bag of ripple chips. If you are lucky enough to have friends remembered to send out invitations, put the dip in your fanciest cereal bowl and the chips into the large salad bowl your parents gave you years ago that you never use because you never actually make salad.
For yourself and/or your guests, here are ballots for the top categories for film and TV categories, with a big thanks for these to party411, which has other helpful party suggestions.
Now then. Remember to vigorously and mercilessly mock the red-carpet fashion crimes (earliest Canadian coverage starts at 4 p.m. ET on E! and goes live at 6 p.m. ET on the same channel with hosts Ryan Seacrest and Giuliana Rancic; NBC steps up at 7 p.m. ET) and to yell at the TV throughout the evening of awards coverage, which begins at 8 p.m. ET on CTV and NBC.
Let the revelry begin.
– Denise Duguay

You pick TV’s Golden Globes

The People’s Choice Awards are on tonight (Wednesday, Jan. 7, 9 p.m. ET on CBS and E!), but the awards season doesn’t really get started until Sunday when the Golden Globes are broadcast live from L.A., with the big show starting at 8 p.m. on NBC and CTV (and the countdown “What the hell is she wearing?” starting at 4 p.m. ET, yes that’s correct, on E! up here in Canada). As usual, the media focus most of the pre-awards press on the movies, with the Oscar nominations coming less than two weeks after, at the crack of East Coast dawn on Jan. 22 (followed by the awards on Sunday, Feb. 22). But TV is also on the block and who should win is probably more important than who will win. Who do you pick?

TV on DVD: Dexter deluxe

I think what you really want with your favourite serial killer is to see the gore in HD and to really hear the knife plunging.

Well then, thank god that Dexter: Season 1 has finally been released on Blu-ray. On shelves Tuesday, Jan. 6, the new release comes a year and a half after the regular DVD release of the first installment of the story, which chronicles the efforts of serial killer, Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall), to channel his bloody urges into a productive direction. Blu-ray or not, it would be worth re-watching Season 1 of Dexter, knowing what we regular watchers now know about Dexter, his traumatic origins and, especially, his father. Harry Morgan (James Remar) begins as a pillar of kindness and caring and a firm hand where Dexter — veering dangerously in flashback toward blood frenzy — needed it. Using Harry’s “code”, Dex learned to satisfy his need to kill, his father’s need for him to not get caught and society’s need for a human trash disposal engineer. But over the course of Seasons 2 and 3 we, and Dexter, learn a bit more. If this were audio, I’d do a really scary “Mooah-ah-ah!”

As for the Blu-ray release, in addition to crisper image, it will of course deliver the format’s best feature — super intense sound. I (ghoullishly) want to hear how much chillier the action sounds with that heightened audio and (geekishly) want to listen even to the scraping of the razor on Dexter’s throat in what is the best opening title sequence of any television series, ever.

Extras: The Academy of Blood – A Killer Course; Witnessed In Blood – A True Murder Investigation; Michael C. Hall podcast; First Episode of Dexter, Season 3 and — super bonus — the first two episodes of United States of Tara, which premieres later this month on The Movie Network.

Enjoy. Here are a few more new releases of TV on DVD.

Battlestar Galactica: Season 4.0
The Waltons: Seasons 1-8
Duckman: Seasons 3 and 4
Frisky Dingo: The Complete Second SEason
Mannix: The Second Season
Secret Diary of a Call Girl: The Complete First Season
Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations Collection 3
Transformers Animated: Season 2
Dexter: Season 1 (Blu-ray)
Tripping the Rift: The Complete Third Season
Red Skelton Christmas
Laredo: Season 2, Part 2
The FBI Files: Season 1
– Denise Duguay

When, where: midseason 2009

Hey there my lovely chickens! If this is January, there must be lots of new TV to watch and this first week of the midseason does not disappoint. Of course, I’m already behind but here is my (selective, of course) list of what new shows are debuting and when, along with websites where available. I’ve also thrown in some award shows and some returning shows, like House, which is moving to Mondays soon, and Lost, by god!  I’ll also be caught up any second now with reviews and, if I really get my affairs in order, PREviews. And now, to the midseason details!

Monday, Jan. 5

True Beauty (10 p.m. ET on ABC) debuts, another reality show from Ashton Kutcher in which contestants who think they’re competing on looks alone are also being judged on true inner beauty.

Being Erica (9 p.m. ET, CBC) debuts on CBC, starring as an  unsettled young woman whose therapist sends her back in time to confront key moments.

Tube Tales (8 p.m. ET on TVTropolis) debuts its second season of looking behind the scenes of your fave TV stars, including Eric McCormack (Will and Grace), Ed Begley Jr. (St. Elsewhere), Lindsay Wagner (Bionic Woman) and Scott Bakula (Quantum Leap).

Tuesday, Jan. 6

Scrubs (9-10 p.m. ET, moving to ABC from NBC), kicks off Season 8 with guest star Courteney Cox (Friends) joing Zach Braff et al on the medical dramedy.

Homeland Security USA (8 p.m. ET on ABC) debuts, a reality show that peeks in on the various agencies that police America’s borders.

Wild Roses (9 p.m. ET on CBC) debuts, a western-set soapy looking affair. It is not, do you hear, not a Calgary version of Dallas.

Wednesday, Jan. 7

People’s Choice Awards (9-11 p.m. ET on CBS)

Big Love (10 p.m ET on Showcase) kicks off Season 2 less than two weeks after Season 3 debuts on The Movie Network on Jan. 18.

Thursday, Jan. 8

Grey’s Anatomy (9 p.m. ET on CTV and ABC) continues with new episodes

ER (10 p.m. ET, CTV and NBC) continues its final season

Friday, Jan. 9

Howie Do It (8 p.m. ET on Global and NBC) debuts with Howie Mandel hosting a hidden-camera show.

Flashpoint (9 p.m. ET on CTV and CBS) returns its second season: What starts out as a routine security watch for the SRU turns into a critical situation when the wife of the man they were hired to protect is kidnapped from underneath their noses.

Raising the Bar (10 p.m. ET on CTV) debuts, a new-to-Canadians series that launched last year on U.S. only cable channel: Mark-Paul Gosselaar (NYPD Blue) stars in a new Steven Bochco legal drama.

Saturday, Jan. 10

Blush: The Search for the Next Great Makeup Artist (9 p.m. ET on Star!) debuts, with a competition hosted by Las Vegas’s Vanessa Marcil hosting.

Sunday, Jan. 11

Golden Globes Awards (8 p.m. ET on CTV)

24 (8 p.m. ET on Fox and Global) returns to kick off Season 7 in a two-night stand that wraps up Jan. 12 at the same time.

Tuesday, Jan. 13

American Idol (8 p.m. ET on Fox and CTV) returns for an eighth season with new judge Kara. You might recall that it will be a while before CTV returns with Canadian Idol, the network having pared down in these tough economic times and voted for So You Think You Can Dance Canada as its only big outting for 2009. So focus people. This is the only Idol.

Thursday, Jan. 15

CSI (9 p.m. ET on CBS and CTV) bids farewell to Gil Grissom (William Peterson) is leaving. Kleenex svp.

The Beast (10 p.m. ET on A&E) debuts. “An unorthodox but effective FBI veteran, Charles Barker (Patrick Swayze), who takes on a rookie partner, Ellis Dove (Travis Fimmel).”

The Gong Show with Dave Attell (10:30 p.m. ET on The Comedy Network) debuts, reviving the ’70s cult fave talent show before American Idol and the like.

Friday, Jan. 16

Friday Night Lights (9 p.m. ET on Global and NBC) launches Season 3, which has already aired on U.S.-only pay cable.

Battlestar Galactica (10 p.m. ET on Space the Imagination Station) returns for the last half of the sci-fi series’ final season, setting the stage for another BSG movie a la Razor and spinoff Caprica, both of which U.S. broadcaster Sci-Fi Channel has confirmed but no word yet about either project from Space.

Saturday, Jan. 17

Talk Show with Spike Feresten (11 p.m. ET on Fox) expands from 30 minutes to a half hour for six weeks.

Sunday, Jan. 18

Big Love ( 9 p.m. ET on Movie Network) returns for a third season. “Practicing polygamist Bill Henrickson continues to face myriad challenges as he tries to balance the emotional, romantic and financial needs of his three wives – Barb, Nicki and Margene – while meeting the challenges of raising seven children, living between three adjoining houses and running his hardware business. Starring Bill Paxton, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Chloë Sevigny and Ginnifer Goodwin.” Note that Season 2 is playing over on Showcase, starting Jan. 7.

Flight of the Conchords (10 p.m. ET on Movie Network) returns for a second season. “Starring the cutting-edge New Zealand music-comedy duo of Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie, the second season of Flight of the Conchords continues to revolve around the adventures of the transplanted twosome, who live on New York City. Still hoping to forge a successful music career, the only headway they’ve made in America is securing a manager who also works at the New Zealand Consulate, making one friend who owns a local pawn shop and delighting their one and only obsessive fan.”

Damages (10 p.m. ET on Showcase) returns for a second season. Some averting of the eyes will be required by devoted TV watchers. This Canadian debut comes two weeks after the second season launches on parent broadcaster FX in the U.S., with Glenn Close and Ted Danson doing promo thereof this first week of January. But at least we’re able to watch the show in the ballpark of the premiere episodes in the U.S. You might recall that Canada got the first season only after it was available on DVD.

Monday, Jan. 19

ZOS (Zone of Separation) (10 p.m. ET on The Movie Network) debuts. “Co-executive produced by Paul Gross, ZOS: Zone of Separation is a series which chronicles the life-and-death struggle of peacekeepers who must enforce a United Nations-brokered ceasefire in Jadac, a fictional, Sarajevo-like town. Each episode follows the Zone’s protagonists in their tortured and tenuous jockeying for influence and advantage as unarmed United Nations Military Observers (UNMOs). Starring Colm Meaney, Lolita Davidovich, Michelle Nolden, Rick Roberts, Enrico Colantoni and Allan Hawco.”

United States of Tara (9 p.m. ET on The Movie Network) debuts. Toni Collette plays a woman with dissociative identity disorder (aka multiple personality disorder) and John Corbett (Sex and the City) plays her husband.

House (8 p.m. ET on Globa and Fox) moves to Mondays.

Secret Diary of a Call Girl (9:30 p.m. ET on The Movie Network) returns for a second season.

Wednesday, Jan. 21

Lie to Me (9 p.m. ET on Global) debuts with Tim Roth (Reservoir Dogs) playing an investigator who can tell when people are lying. Kelli Williams (Private Practice) also stars.

Lost (9 p.m. ET on ABC and A Channel) returns for its fifth season: “The remaining survivors start to feel the effects caused by the island being moved and Jack and Ben begin their quest to reunite the Oceanic 6, along with Locke’s body, in order to return to the island.” Repeats on Saturday, Jan. 24 at the same time on ABC.

Tuesday, Jan. 27

The L Word (10 p.m. ET on Showcase) kicks off its sixth and final season.

Wednesday, Jan. 28

Life on Mars (10 p.m. ET on ABC) returns with new episodes.

Thursday, Jan. 29

Hell’s Kitchen (9 p.m. ET on Fox) returns for a fifth season of Gordon Ramsay raging against top chef wannabes.

Sunday, Feb. 1

Super Bowl XLIII (on NBC)

The Office (10:30 p.m. ET on NBC) The special hour-long episode titled “Stress Relief” will premiere immediately following Super Bowl XLIII and will feature guest appearance by Jessica Alba and Jack Black.

Friday, Feb. 13

Dollhouse (9 p.m. ET on Fox) debuts, a new series about operatives who can be activated or have their brains’ wiped clean as the agency requires.

Sunday, Feb. 15

Eastbound and Down (10:30 p.m. ET on HBO Canada) debuts, a new series produced by Will Ferrell and starring Pineapple Express’s Danny McBride as a washed up major-league baseball star turned gym teacher.

Friday, Feb. 20

Real Time with Bill Maher (10 p.m. ET on HBO Canada) returns with new episodes of the topical panel discussion.

Monday, March 9

Castle (10 p.m. ET on ABC) debuts a series starring Nathan Fillion, a mystery novelist who pairs with a reluctant detective once he discovers someone is staging murders right from his novels. Co-stars Stana Katic as his new partner and Susan Sullivan (Dharma and Greg) as his Broadway diva mother.

Tuesday, March 17

Reaper (9 p.m. ET on CW) returns for a second season of the devil and his best boy.

Tuesday, March 24

Cupid (10 p.m. ET on ABC) debuts, “a romantic dramedy about Trevor Pierce (Bobby Cannavale, “Will & Grace”), a larger than life character who may or may not be the Roman god of love, Cupid, sent to earth to bring 100 couples together before he is allowed to return to Mt. Olympus.”

March 2009

No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency (date and time tba on HBO) debuts a 13-part series based on the Alexander McCall Smith’s crime novels and directed by the late Anthony Minghella.

Wednesday, April 8

The Unusuals (10 p.m. ET on ABC) debuts, a black-comic police drama starring Amber Tamblyn (Joan of Arcadia, the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants) and Harold Perrineau (Lost).

Thursday, April 9

Harper’s Island (time tba on CBS) debuts, a mystery series.

April 2009

In Treatment (time and date tba) returns with new  episodes following a therapist and his sessions with a select group of patients

Spring 2009

MADtv (Saturdays at 10 p.m. ET on Fox) ends its 14-year run on the network, with the variety comedy show’s final date tba.
Still waiting for word on Rescue Me’s return on Showcase and some other stuff. Stay tuned.

– Denise Duguay

Talk-show tango: Jan. 5-9

Hello chickens! Happy New Year and you are WELCOME; I knew you’d be grateful that I spared you from my best of the year lists and other tiresome proclamations. Why would I bother when there are so many really smart people out there who’ve already done it better?

But on to business. The roundup of talk-show guest lists is a little lifeless this week. Kiefer Sutherland is stumping for 24, Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway are promoting Bride Wars and Glenn Close is chatting up Season 2 of Damages. I guess everyone else’s trying out new hairdos and gaudy dresses as the days tick down to Sunday Jan. 11’s Golden Globe Awards. But at least there are very few repeats. And yes, we are thankful. Thank god the holidays are over.

Oh, and if you’re wondering who the sam hill I am, may I present Denise Duguay, author of the Montreal Gazette’s TV blog, Inside the Box, located at montrealgazette.com/tv   I’m spreading the word by duplicating posts here at my personal TV blog. So you can catch me here or there.

LATE NIGHT

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

Monday: Kate Hudson (Bride Wars), Glasvegas

Tuesday: Kevin James (Paul Blart, Mall Cop), Becky Quick (CNBC’s Squawk Box), Erin McCarley (Love, Save the Empty)

Wednesday: Ricky Gervais, Rose Byrne (Damages), Okkervil River (The Stand Ins)

Thursday: Kate Winslet (Revolutionary Road), Marv Albert

Friday: Keifer Sutherland (24), comedian Wendy Liebman

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

Monday:  Richard Lewis, Tracie Thoms (Cold Case)

Tuesday:  Ted Danson (Damages 2), Pauley Perrette (NCIS)

Wednesday: William Shatner

Thursday: tba

Friday:  tba

Tonight Show with Jay Leno (11:35 p.m. ET on NBC)

Monday: Terry Bradshaw, 8 year old chef Jack Witherspoon, Iron & Wine

Tuesday: Queen Latifah, Adam Carolla (The Adam Carolla Show), The Pussycat Dolls

Wednesday: Anne Hathaway (Bride Wars), National Geographic’s Brady Barr, comic Jeff Dunham

Thursday: Dustin Hoffman (Last Chance Harvey), Mary Lynn Rajskub (24), Lady Gaga

Friday:  Daniel Craig (Defiance), Raraji P. Henson (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Eagles of Death Metal

Late Night with Conan O’Brien (12:35 a.m. ET on NBC)

Monday: Benecio Del Toro (Che), Sarah Chalke (Scrubs), Doyle and Debbie

Tuesday: Kate Hudson (Bride Wars), Tim Daly (Private Practice), Bang Camaro

Wednesday: tba

Thursday: Howie Mandel (Howie Do It), Lady Antebellum

Friday:  tba

Last Call with Carson Daly (1:35 a.m. ET on NBC)

Monday:  Donald Faison

Tuesday: Quincy Jones, Little Joy

Wednesday: Danny Boyle

Thursday: Asher Roth

Friday: Kevin Nealon, Yelle (R)

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

Monday: Artie Lang, Candace Bushnell (One Fifth Avenue), T-Pain (R)

Tuesday: comic Mike Birbiglia

Wednesday: Ron Howard (Frost/Nixon), Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Grey’s Anatomy), Gabe Dixon Band

Thursday: Anne Hathaway (Bride Wars), Jensen Ackles (My Bloody Valentine 3-D), Lenka

Friday: Michael Imperioli (Life on Mars), Jason Mesnick (The Bachelor), Zac Brown Band

Daily Show with Jon Stewart (midnight ET, CTV)

Monday: David Gregory (Meet the Press)

Tuesday: Michael Wolff (The Man Who Owns the News)

Wednesday: Kate Hudson (Bride Wars)

Thursday:tba

The Colbert Report (12:30 a.m. ET, CTV)

Monday: John King (CNN)

Tuesday: tba

Wednesday: tba

Thursday: tba

The Hour (11 p.m. ET, CBC)

Monday: Tom Cruise (R)

Tuesday: David Foster (R)

Wednesday: Spike Lee, The Kings of Leon

Thursday: tba

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

Mr. Rose announces his guests only on the day of broadcast, so please click on the show-name link above for the most recent guest announcement.

Real Time with Bill Maher (11 p.m. ET, Fridays only, on HBO Canada)

Friday:repeating through Friday, Feb. 20, when the new season begins.

DAYTIME

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

Monday: Anne Hathaway (Bride Wars), Lisa Rinna

Tuesday: Kate Hudson (Bride Wars),

Wednesday: Glenn Close (Damages)

Thursday: Kevin James (Paul Blart, Mall Cop)

Friday: Howie Mandel co-host, Kiefer Sutherland (24)

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

Monday: Perez Hilton

Tuesday: America Ferrera and Ana Ortiz (Ugly Betty)

Wednesday: Tim Daly (Private Practice), Greg Behrendt (Greg Behrendt’s Wake-up Call)

Thursday: Tom Cruise (Valkyrie), financial expert Dylan Ratigan

Friday: Kate Hudson (Bride Wars), Dr. Ian Smith

The Bonnie Hunt Show (2 p.m. ET on Citytv and NBC)

Monday: Kathy Bates, Donald Faison (Scrubs), Bonnie’s resolutions

Tuesday: Brian Williams, Christine Lahti, Rocco DeLuca

Wednesday:  Carrie Fisher, Matt Dallas (Kyle XY), chef Tyler Florence

Thursday: Tony Shalhoub (Monk), Emily Vancamp (Brothers and Sisters)

Friday: Jane Kaczmaraek, Jensen Ackles (Supernatural), posh lifestyle tips

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

Monday: Eva Mendes, Kevin McKidd (Grey’s Anatomy)

Tuesday: Marissa Tomei (The Wrestler), Deepak Chopra, magician Hans Klok, Foreigner

Wednesday: Maria Bartiromo, Akon

Thursday: Anne Hathaway (Bride Wars)

Friday: Clint Eastwood (Gran Torino), Eric Saintonge, Jason Mesnick (The Bachelor)

Oprah 4 p.m. (NBC and CTV)

Monday: Best Life Week — Falling off the Wagon (and how to get back on)

Tuesday: Best Life Week — Dr. Oz and the Ultimate Checklist

Wednesday: Best Life Week — Finding Your Spiritual Path

Thursday: Best Life Week — Your Money Plan 2009

Relatinoships, Intimacy and Sex

– Denise Duguay