LATE NIGHT

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

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

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.

LATE NIGHT

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

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

Biggest stylistic flourish in this series, which is also exec-produced by Cheadle: the main character pauses the action to be  his own Greek chorus and provide occasional footnotes and explain consultancy jargon. I tolerated it for the first episode. Might get tired.

One thing beyond reproach was the choice of music to wrap up the episode: Gary Clark Jr.’s Bright Lights. Gorgeous. Buy the EP. He’s great.

Did you miss the premiere of House of Lies? Click here for the schedule, then click on the + sign beside episode 1 to find repeat times. Or watch it via VOD if you TV provider coughs up such delights.

The Firm: Molly Parker, Natasha Calis, Josh Lucas, Juliette Lewis, Callum Keith Rennie. courtesy of Shaw Media

Name: The Firm

Debuts: Sunday, Jan. 8, 2012 from 9-11 p.m. ET on NBC and Global before moving to regular slot of Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET on NBC and Global

Cast:
Josh Lucas (J. Edgar, The Lincoln Lawyer, Life As We Know It) is Mitch McDeere, occasionally sounding a lot like he watch the Tom Cruise film a few too many times. But otherwise, easy on the eyes and dashing in all the right ways.
Molly Parker (Dexter, The Road, Deadwood) is Abby McDeere, but she is no mere teacher, wife and mother. She is a near-full partner in the legal cases. Feels a little forced to me. I’d like to see Parker resisting her husband instead of being his cheerleader. Anybody can play supportive wife. Wife with a backbone? Parker could do that and I hope she gets a chance at the more complicated and interesting character.
Juliette Lewis (Whip It, Home Fires, The Switch) is Tammy Hemphill, his chain-smoking gal Friday and fixer. Nice gams, too, which are scissored about quite a lot in the pilot, but to no good purpose. Sigh. Hoping for more depth in this character, also.
Callum Keith Rennie (Californication, Shattered, The Killing) is Ray McDeere, the ex-con brother who is now his investigator. I love t his actor. This is a perfect role, but hope for a bit longer leash here as well. Especially here.
Shaun Majumder (This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Detroit 1-8-7) is Andrew Palmer, lawyer. Evil? Not sure. Nicely done.
Tricia Helfer (Battle Galactica, Human Target) is Alex Clark, Palmer’s boss. Evil? Damn well better be.

Plot: 10 years after Mitch McDeere brought down a prestigious Chicago law firm via a deal with the local mafia, in the story covered by John Grisham’s novel and the Tom Cruise movie that followed, this new TV Mitch McDeere emerges from protective custody and a life on the run with hopes of settling down in his own small legal practice. Complications ensue. As the title implies, another firm is on the McDeere horizon.

Review in six words*: Pilot tries too hard, cast redeems.

Review in a few more than six words: The worst part of watching the first episode of any series? It (or the original version of it) was created as a calling card on which to sell the full series, so it’s often pumped full of expensive effects or lavish turns of plot or overacting or unnecessary and obvious exposition or … well generally it just has too much of something. Or everything. It’s a little like a first date. Everybody’s trying way too hard and even if there’s chemistry, you have no idea if it’s all adrenalin and best behaviour or the real McCoy. Nor whether it has the cojones to keep showing up every week with a kind heart, a nasty-good bit of humour and/or something interesting to say. (Did I just write my profile for lavalife.com? Where was I? Oh yeah.)

Despite a lot of overly complicated explanation of the back story, leaps of illogic and some not-yet-earned shoehorning of teacher/mom Abby McDeere into the legal cases,  I’m gambling that this series will be worth watching. In part because the cast is great and in part because I think the story has credible potential (and none of the following is a spoiler; if you are aware of the title and are not aware that McDeere will hook up with another firm, you should turn off your TV right now): With the knowledge of how evil a firm can be, has McDeere chosen wisely and chosen a firm that is not at all evil? (Where’d be the fun in that?) More to the point, dramatically, will McDeere be able to anticipate evil in this firm or use it to his advantage? My only substantial fear is a bad case of narrative whiplash: The writers/producers know viewers will expect the new firm to be evil, so they’ll make the firm look evil only to be revealed (by McDeere, of course), to actually be good, but only apparently because, in another scene, viewers wil be shown evidence of another deeper layer of true evil and … I have definitely watched way too much bad TV.

Additional reviews:
My old friends at metacritic.com  have rounded up a load of reviews, reporting an average of 54 out of 100, with the L.A. Times and the N.Y. Times both giving it a weak 30 out of 100. Not so firm after all?

* 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.

The Firm: Mitch (Josh Lucas) and Abby (Molly Parker) meet the new firm. courtesy of Shaw Media

The bashing, bald and/or violent numbers at the end of some eps of True Blood have made me laugh out loud in their boldness or humour.

House has brought my house down with some of the achey musical choices.

And Shameless is my current fave, set to return to The  Movie Network Monday, Jan. 9 at 9 p.m. ET.

But I digress. This post is to link to a not-bad interview with the music supervisor for AMC’s The Killing, Thomas Golubic (there’s a link at the end for another of AMC’s in-house promotional Q&As with Golubic. Among the interesting answers are this one, though I wish he’d also talked about the impact you can have with a single song played at the perfect moment:

Q: How do you think music helps trigger an emotional response from viewers?

A: The score is really doing the heavy lifting as far as building a sense of anticipation. One of the great things about [score composer] Frans Bak’s music is that he has a myriad of different approaches to creating tension and suspense. Some of the magic of his score is its ability to find lots of different ways to bring you to the edge of your seat while at the same time not wearing out its welcome. If you think about horror films, a lot of times they’ll throw scares at you all the time and you can get really worn out. I think the sophistication and the beauty of Frans’ music really lets you feel the different nuances of fear and intrigue in compelling ways that are then personalized by the different characters which are introduced.

The Killing returns this spring. Do you have a fave show when it comes to good use of music? I have a playlist over on mixpod that has some of my faves, which i will update with Shameless stuff soon, some of which i tweeted, like so…

https://twitter.com/#!/tweetinthebox/status/146438823289692161

https://twitter.com/#!/tweetinthebox/status/144116344827297792

Leave a comment of send me a jaysus email with your fave show and its use of music.

Steven Van Zandt in a reindeer sweater? Yeah, I guess I’m there.

With thanks to my horror-novelist-fellow-Winnipegger-by-way-of-NYC friend Susie Moloney (have you read The Thirteen? And why not?), here is this bit of news from Netflix:

Netflix is launching a new original series next month called Lilyhammer, which will kick off the company’s foray into original programming for 2012. The series will star The Sopranos actor and E Street Band guitarist Steven Van Zandt in a “fish out of water” story that takes place in Norway.

The story follows New York mobster Frank “The Fixer” Tagliano as he enters the federal witness protection program. He moves to Lillehammer – the Norwegian town that hosted the 1994 Winter Olympics. He calls it “Lilyhammer,” however, which is how the show gets its name.

The series will include eight episodes in its first season, beginning February 6th in the U.S., Canada and Latin America. All episodes will be available for streaming on connected TVs, tablets, game consoles, computers and mobile phones – but not on DVDs by mail.

We reported in March 2011 that Netflix would be soon bankrolling original content. The company successfully outbid HBO and AMC for the rights to House Of Cards, an adaptation of the successful 1990 British miniseries. The show stars Academy Award winning actor Kevin Spacey, and is being produced David Fincher (Fight Club, The Social Network). Netflix confirmed that show will arrive in the U.S. and Canada by “late 2012.”

In November, the company announced it would resurrect critics’ and fan fave Arrested Development, with episodes starting in 2013.

Netflix had previously said that Lilyhammer would arrive in early 2012 and that at least two seasons have been planned.

Enjoy.

“You’re the worst [fallen Mennonite expletive deleted] TV blogger ever.”

Fortunately, this harsh statement came from a dear friend. He has a point (and was emboldened by a pint or two, thus doubly accounting for the fallen Mennonite classification). I’ve been a little absent from this TV blog, but I have my reasons. Maybe I’ll tell you about it some time. Like when the show Awake premieres (on NBC, date TBA), at which time I will also get around to blogging about the tooclosetothetruth A Gifted Man. But until then, let’s just keep it  moving shall we?

Here are the return dates for what I deem to be the most important new and returning series, keeping in  mind all times are ET and all bcast details are from a Montreal POV. If you wanna know a date and you don’t see it here, well then send me a jaysus email, for pity sake (with thanks to Chris from Shaw Media for adding Global bcast details for Touch Jan. 25 and March 19*). Likewise, if you spot an error, pat yourself on the back, leave a saucy comment on the Twitter and then drop me another jaysus email. We good? K. Here goes:

January 2012

Jan. 3

Work It debuts on ABC at 8:30 p.m. ET

Jan. 4

Bomb Girls debuts on Global at 8 p.m. ET

I Get That a Lot debuts on CBS at 8 p.m. ET

Mobbed debuts on Fox at 9 p.m. ET

Jan. 7

The Crimson Petal and the White debuts on HBO Canada at 9 p.m. ET

Jan. 8

The Firm on NBC and on Global at 9 p.m. ET (moving to regular timeslot Jan. 12)

Jan. 9

Shameless returns to The Movie Network at 9 p.m. ET

House of Lies debuts on The Movie Network at 10 p.m. ET

Californication returns to The Movie Network at 10:30 p.m. ET

Jan. 10

Arctic Air debuts on CBC at 9 p.m. ET

Jan. 11

Are You There, Chelsea? debuts on NBC at 8:30 p.m. ET

Jan. 12

30 Rock has its season debut on NBC at 8 p.m. ET

Rob debuts on CBS at 8:30 p.m. ET

The Finder debuts on Fox at 9 p.m. ET

Jan. 13

Fringe returns midseason to Fox at 9 p.m. ET

Real Time with Bill Maher returns to HBO Canada at 10  p.m. ET

Jan. 15

Less Than Kind returns to HBO Canada at 8 p.m. ET

Undercover Boss returns on CBS at 8 p.m.  ET

Napoleon Dynamite debuts on Fox at 8:30 p.m. ET

Jan. 16

Alcatraz debuts on Fox at 8 p.m ET

Betty White’s Off Their Rockers (preview only) on NBC and on CBC at 9:30 p.m. ET

Jan. 18

American Idol returns on Fox at 8 p.m. ET

Jan. 25

Touch previews only on Fox and on Global at 9 p.m. ET *

Jan. 29

Spartacus:  Vengeance debuts on The Movie Network at 10 p.m. ET

Luck premieres on HBO Canada at 9 p.m. ET

Jan. 31

Smash premieres on NBC at 10 p.m. ET and on Feb. 6 on CTV

February 2012

Feb. 3

Who Do You Think You Are? returns for second season on NBC at 8 p.m. ET

Feb. 5

The Voice returns after the Super Bowl on NBC and on CTV

Feb. 6

Smash gets its Canadian broadcast premiere on CTV

Lilyhammer debuts online on Netflix.ca starting

Feb. 7

The River premieres on ABC at 9 p.m. ET

Feb. 12

Celebrity Apprentice has its season debut on NBC at 9 p.m. ET

The Walking Dead continues from it’s Season 2 winter break on AMC and iTunes

March 2012

March 4

GCB debuts on ABC and CTV at 10 p.m. ET

March 6

Breaking In returns on Fox at 8 p.m. ET

March 13

Fashion Star debuts on NBC at 9 p.m. ET

March 15

Missing debuts on ABC at 8 p.m. ET

March 19

Touch debuts on Fox and Global at 9 p.m. ET *

March tba

Mad Men returns to AMC and iTunes

June 2012

True Blood returns to HBO Canada, specific date tba

Other shows with debut dates tba:

Bent on NBC

Best Friends Forever on NBC

Charlie Sheen’s Anger Management on CTV

Don’t Trust the [bad word] in Apt. 23 on ABC

Scandal on ABC

dduguay@montrealgazette.com

@tweetinthebox

Score of the week? Anderson Cooper’s show hosts Angelina Jolie and the cast from her new film In the Land of Blood and Honey about love and other things during the Bosnian War. Here’s the trailer.

LATE NIGHT

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

Monday: tba

Tuesday: Charles Barkley

Wednesday: Elizabeth Dowling Taylor

Thursday: tba

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

Monday: tba

Tuesday: Vermont senator Bernie Sanders

Wednesday: John Heilemann (Game Changer)

Thursday: Steve Chase (The Case Foundation)

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

Monday: Meg Tilly (Bomb Girls), Seth Godin, John Vaillant

Tuesday: John Lydon, Steven Pinker, Michelle Thrush

Wednesday: David Cronenberg (A Dangerous Method), Grace Lynn Kung

Thursday: Gerry Dee (Mr. D), Spencer West

Friday: best of the week and Cold Specks

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: new episode Jan. 13

DAYTIME

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

Monday: Mark Consuelos cohosts, Tyra Banks, Ben Flajnik (The Bachelor)

Tuesday: Jim Parsons cohosts, William H. Macy (Shameless), Isaac Mizrahi

Wednesday: David Duchovny cohosts, Terrence Howard (Red Tails)

Thursday: Rob Lowe cohosts, Darren Criss (Glee, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying)

Friday: Rob Lowe cohosts, Kristen Bell (House of Lies), Jennifer Morrison (Once Upon a Time)

The View 11 a.m. ET, ABC and CTV)

Monday: tba

Tuesday: Meryl Streep (Iron Lady), Mario Cantone, Joey McIntyre

Wednesday: Gayle King, Lisa Ling

Thursday: Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer (The View)

Friday: Justin Bieber, J.R. Martinez and Karina Smirnoff (Dancing with the Stars), Rob Kardashian, Cheryl Burke, Ricki Lake, Derek Hough

The Talk (2 p.m., CBS

Monday: Tyra Banks

Tuesday: Drew Carey

Wednesday: Peter Facinelli

Thursday: Taye Diggs (Private Practice)

Friday: Tom Selleck (Blue Bloods)

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

Monday: New Year’s resolutions

Tuesday: Joy Behar

Wednesday: Getting Failure Out of Your Life

Thursday: Angelina Jolie and cast (In the Land of Blood and Honey)

Friday: food intervention

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

Monday: Justin Timberlake, Coldplay

Tuesday: Howie Mandel (Mobbed), Elle Fanning (We Bought a Zoo)

Wednesday: Justin Bieber, Ellie Kemper (The Office)

Thursday: girls of the Jersey Shore

Friday: tba

Denise Duguay

@tweetinthebox

LATE NIGHT

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

Monday: Matt Damon (R)

Tuesday: Anne Burrell (R)

Wednesday: Melody Barnes (R)

Thursday: Lawrence Lessig (R)

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

Monday: Daniel Craig (R)

Tuesday: Raymong T. Odierno (R)

Wednesday: Samuel L. Jackson (R)

Thursday: Mark Whitaker (R)

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

Monday: Rob Lowe, Cory Monteith, Bradley Cooper (R)

Tuesday: Jamie Oliver, Jane Goodall, Stephen Lewis and Michele Landsberg (R)

Wednesday: Jodie Foster, Kim Cattrall, Rita Moreno (R)

Thursday: William Shatner, Regis Philbin, Christopher Plummer (R)

Friday: Kevin O’Leary, Ice Cube, Mary Walsh (R)

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)

Returns Jan. 13, 2012

DAYTIME

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

Monday: Mark Consuelos cohosts, Seth Rogen, Brooke Shields, Kevin James (R)

Tuesday: Neil Patrick Harris cohosts, Heidi Klum, Garrett Hedlund, Jayma Mays (R)

Wednesday: Michael Strahan cohosts, Reese Witherspoon, Chace Crawford (R)

Thursday: Josh Groban cohosts, Zac Efron, Olivia Wilde (R)

Friday: Halloween Headliners Ball (R)

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

Monday: Hugh Jackman, Tim Gunn

Tuesday: Eric Stonestreet, Landau Eugene Murphy, Jr.

Wednesday: Tom Selleck, David Crosby and Graham Nash

Thursday: Regis Philbin, Martin Scorsese

Friday: Susan Boyle, Nick Cannon, Whitney Cummings

The Talk (2 p.m., CBS)

Monday: tba

Tuesday:

Wednesday:

Thursday:

Friday:

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

Monday: New Year’s Eve Show with Kathy Griffin & Gloria Vanderbilt

Tuesday: Gloria Vanderbilt (R)

Wednesday: Hoarders (R)

Thursday: Mark Wahlberg (R)

Friday: Sperm-donor reunion, Hugh Jackman (R)

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

Monday: Kirsten Dunst, YouTube sensations Sophia Grace Brownlee and Rosie McClelland (R)

Tuesday: Rihanna, Drew and Brittany Brees (R)

Wednesday: Michelle Williams, Ariel Winter, Kevin Nealon (R)

Thursday: tba

Friday: tba

Denise Duguay

@tweetinthebox