Program Planner: Sept. 21-27
Sunday’s Oklahoman, which includes TV Week, hits the newsstands in the Oklahoma City area on Saturday afternoon. And it arrives at the doorstep (or hopefully nearby) early Sunday morning.
But for those who can’t wait to begin planning the upcoming week around the best TV has to offer, here is a sneak peek at programs worth watching the week of Sept. 21:
SUNDAY, SEPT. 21
◊“The 60th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards” (7 p.m. on ABC): Kristin Chenoweth, who grew up in Broken Arrow and graduated from Oklahoma City University, is a nominee (for “Pushing Daisies”) and a presenter (with nominee Neil Patrick Harris). Other nominees with Oklahoma ties are Alfre Woodard (born and raised in Tulsa, nominated for “Pictures of Hollis Woods”) and Lee Pace (born in Chicasha, nominated for “Pushing Daisies”).
◊“Cold Case” (8 p.m. on CBS): Emmy winner Bobby Cannavale (“Will & Grace”) guest stars as a narcotics cop in a rebroadcast of the fifth-season finale. The show begins its sixth season Sept. 28.
◊“Countdown to the Emmys” (2 p.m. on TV Guide Channel, 4 on Cox Cable, 117 in Dish Network, 237 on Direct TV): Chris Harrison, a former News 9 sportscaster and host of “The Bachelor,” will team with Maria Sansone (“Gladiators 2000”) for three hours of live coverage from the Red Carpet to catch all the pre-show hoopla before the celebrity arrivals begin.
◊“Jimmy Kimmel’s Big Night of Stars” (6 p.m. on ABC): The late-night talk show host interviews the Emmy nominees for the new reality/competition host category, who will also co-host the event. They are Tom Bergeron (“Dancing with the Stars”), Heidi Klum (“Project Runway”), Howie Mandel (“Deal or No Deal”), Jeff Probst (“Survivor”) and Ryan Seacrest (“American Idol”) — all pictured above in ABC Photo.
◊“Live at the Emmy Awards” (5 p.m. on TV Guide Channel): Lisa Rinna (“Days of Our Lives) and Joey Fatone (“Dancing With the Stars”) will interview TV’s biggest stars as they make their way down the Red Carpet during this two-hour pre-show. Rinna will return at 7 p.m. Monday with “Emmy Awards Fashion Wrap.”
◊“Play It Back: ’90s Game Shows” (6 p.m. on GSN): Host Carolina Rhea (“Sordid Lives: The Series”) spotlights 1990s favorite game shows, including “Wheel of Fortune,” “Hollywood Squares,” “Family Feud” and Who Wants to be a Millionaire?”
MONDAY, SEPT 22
◊“The Big Bang Theory” (7 p.m. on CBS): In the second-season premiere, Penny’s first date with leonard goes awry, and she shares her frustration with Sheldon. Sara Gilbert (“Roseanne”) joins the cast as Leonard’s on-again-off-again love interest, Leslie Winkle.
◊“Boston Legal” (9 p.m. on ABC): Alan Shore tackles a big tobacco company and discovers that the defense attorney is an old flame (Ally Walker, “Profiler”) on the fifth-season premiere.
◊“CSI: Miami” (9 p.m. on CBS): Last season ended with head CSI Horatio Caine being gunned down on an airstrip. In the seventh-season premiere, the CSI team will stop at nothing to find who shot him. Megalyn Echikunwoke joins the cast as the new medical examiner, Dr. Tara Price.
◊“Dancing With the Stars” (7 p.m. on ABC): Season 7 welcomes 13 new stars to the ballroom floor. Among them are Cloris Leachman (“The Facts of Life,” the oldest competitor to date) and Cody Linley (“Hannah Montana,” the youngest contestant ever).
◊“Heroes” (7 p.m. on NBC): It’s all about “Heroes” today, beginning with an hourlong clip show that recaps all the action to date. At 8 p.m., Season 3 opens with a two-hour episode. Sylar is back in action and badder than ever.
◊“How I Met Your Mother” (7:30 p.m. on CBS): Stella responds to Ted’s proposal and Barney realizes that he’s in love with Robin on the fourth-season premiere.
◊“Judge Jeanine Pirro” (3 p.m. on CW): The former New York district attorney brings her no-nonsense attitude and compassionate approach to this new courtroom show. She will also take viewers into her chambers to show how the court works behind the scenes.
◊“Ralph Rucci: A Designer and His House” (6 p.m. on Sundance): Martha Stewart (“Martha”) narrates this documentary that captures the American designer as he created his Spring 2008 ready-to-wear and Fall 2008 couture collections.
◊“Two and a Half Men” (8 p.m. on CBS): In the sixth-season premiere, Charlie (Charlie Sheen) encounters an ex-girlfriend (Rena Sofer, “Coupling”) whose son looks an awful lot like him.
◊“Trivial Pursuit: America Plays” (11 a.m. on CW): Christopher Knight (“The Brady Bunch”) hosts this new game show that launches in national syndication on the 25th anniversary edition of the popular board game. The show features a unique twist by allowing viewers to drive the action by submitting video questions online.
◊“Worst Week” (8:30 p.m. on CBS): This new comedy follows Sam Briggs, an entertainment magazine editor who will do anything to please his girlfriend’s parents. But he becomes a one-man wrecking crew whenever he’s around them.
◊“Yo Gabba Gabba” (10:30 a.m. on Nickelodeon): In the second-season premiere, guest star Melora Hardin (“The Office”) teaches the Gabba gang a Conga dane. Musical guests The Ting Tings perform Altered Images 1980’s classic “Happy Birthday.”
TUESDAY, SEPT 23
◊“American Masters” (8 p.m. on OETA-13): Clint Eastwood (“Unforgiven”) narrates this new three-part program that celebrates 85 years of the legacy and evolution of Warner Bros. Clips from hundreds of films and archival interviews will be featured. Parts 2 and 3 air Wednesday and Thursday.
◊“The Biggest Loser 6″ (7 p.m. on NBC): Chef Rocco Dispirito (“The Restaurant”) teaches contestants how to shop for and make healthy, tasty and affordable meals.
◊“Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” (9 p.m. on NBC): Sara Gilbert (“The Big Bang Theory”) and Luke Perry (“Jeremiah”) guest star in the 10th-season premiere, in which an abused foster child leads detective Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) to reexamine a cold case involving a rape victim.
◊“The Mentalist” (8 p.m. on CBS): This new drama stars Simon Baker (“The Guardian”) as a former celebrity psychic who uses his observational skills to help the California Bureau of Investigation solve crimes.
◊“NCIS” (7 p.m. on CBS): The surprising secret behind Director Vance’s decision to split of Gibb’s Naval Criminal Investigative Service team is revealed on the sixth-season premiere.
◊“Opportunity Knocks” (7 p.m. on ABC): J.D. Roth serves as executive producer and host for this new game show that tests how well people know their family.
◊TCM Birthday Tribute: Mickey Rooney was born on this day in 1920, and TCM celebrates by airing four of his films — 1952′s “Sound Off” (11:30 a.m.), 1953′s “All Ashore” (1 p.m.), 1938′s “Boys’ Town” (2:30 p.m.) and 1939′s “Babes in Arms” (4:30 p.m.).
◊“Without a Trace” (9 p.m. on CBS): In the seventh-season premiere, the New York Missing Persons Squad seached fo a man who’s missing daughter was never found. Steven Weber (“Brothers & Sisters”) guest stars.
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 24
◊“Criminal Minds” (8 p.m. on CBS): The Behavioral Analysis Unit team must respond to the aftermath of a terrorist bombing in New York City on the fourth-season premiere. Michael Steger (“90210″) guest stars.
◊“CSI: NY” (9 p.m. on CBS): In the aftermath of a bank heist gone bad, Mac is taken hostage and wakes up in a submerged car with no memory of how he got there in the fifth-season premiere.
◊“David Blaine: Dive of Death” (8 p.m. on ABC): David Blaine, known for his headline-making spectacles of physical, emotional and mental endurance, will attempt to hang from a thin wire five stories in the air – with no safety net or airbag to break his fall – in Central Park’s Wollman Rink for three days and nights. Using electro-magnetic boots, Blaine will walk on and under the wire during more than 60 hours of the challenge, with the final hours airing live during this special.
◊“Gary Unmarried” (7:30 p.m. on CBS): Jay Mohr (‘‘Ghost Whisperer”) has the title role in this new sitcom. He plays a newly divorced dad dealing with child custody issues, his ex-wife’s (Paula Marshall) impending wedding and his own love life.
◊“The Hunt for Black Gold” (8 p.m. on CNBC): Business news reporter Maria Bartiromo follows the flow of oil from the moment it comes on line, into the supertankers, into the refineries and finally pumped into the consumer’s gas tank.
◊“Knight Rider” (7 p.m. on NBC): The classic 1980s action series was revived as a TV movie last winter. Now it debuts as a weekly series starring Jason Bruening a former Army Ranger assigned to keep superintelligent car KITT out of the wrong hands. Val Kilmer (“The Saint”) provides the voice of KITT.
◊“Late Show With David Letterman” (10:35 p.m. on CBS): Jamaican runner Usain Bolt, who won three gold medals and broke three world records at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, makes his first U.S. talk show appearance.
◊“Lipstick Jungle” (9 p.m. on NBC): Emmy winner Mary Tyler Moore (“The Mary Tyler Moore Show”) guest stars in a multi-episode arc starting with today’s second-season premiere. She will play a retired high-powered business executive who forces Wendy (Brooke Shields), her studio-head daughter, to re-evaluate the work vs. family dilemna.
◊“The New Adventures of Old Christine” (7 p.m. on CBS): Christine proposes to save her best friend, Barb, from being deported to the Bahamas on the fourth-season premiere.
◊“Project Runway” (8 p.m. on Bravo): LL Cool J serves as a guest judge as the designers tune in to their musical side for a musical genre challenge.
◊“Top Design” (9 p.m. on Bravo): Jeff Lewis (“Flipping Out”) serves as a guest judge as the contestants re-design the bachelor pads of three men on a limited budget.
THURSDAY, SEPT. 25
◊“Dragons’ Den” (8 p.m. on BBC America): Five multimillionaires looking to invest in new ideas hear pitches for an exercise stimulator and a garmant to train breathing muscles.
◊“Grey’s Anatomy” (8 p.m. on ABC): Kevin McKidd (“Rome”) guest stars as a mysterious military doctor in the two-hour fifth-season premiere. Also guest starring are Bernadette Peters (“Pennies From Heaven”), Kathy Baker (“Boston Public”) and Mariette Hartley (“WIOU”).
◊High School Football: Norman vs. Putnam West at 7:30 p.m. on Cox.
◊“My Name Is Earl” (7 p.m. on NBC): Seth Green (“Gour Kings”) guest stars in the fourth-season premiere. He plays Buddy, who asks Earl to produce a low-budget action movie. The premiere episode is followed by another new episode that is titled “Vote for This and I Promise to Do Something Crazy at the Emmys.”
◊“The Office” (8 p.m. on NBC): In the fifth-season premiere, see what happens over eight weeks of the summer, as a Dunder Mifflin weight loss initiative causes the branch to diet and become obsessed with their weight.
◊“Survivor: Gabon — Earth’s Last Eden” (7 p.m. on CBS): Eighteen contestants will embark on an African adventure in the 17th installment, which will be presented in high-definition.
◊“Ugly Betty” (7 p.m. on ABC): Lindsay Lohan (“Mean Girls”) will reprise her role as Betty’s high school nemesis, Kimmie, on the third-season premiere. Regis Philbin and kelly Ripa (“Live With Regis and Kelly”) appear as themselves.
FRIDAY, SEPT. 26
◊“2008 Tour of Gymnastics Superstars” (7 p.m. on My Network TV): Shannon Miller will make a special appearance during this hour-long special featuring 2008 Olymmpic medal winners Jonathan Horton, Nastia Liukin, Shawn Johnson, Alicia Sacramone and Raj Bhavsar.
◊“America’s Toughest Jobs” (7 p.m. on NBC): The eight remaining contestants travel to Saint Angelo, Texas, to become professional bullfighters. They learn the seriousness of the job as they hop into a barrel and allow the bull to knock them around.
◊High School Football: Edmond Memorial vs. Midwest City at 7:30 p.m. on KSBI-52; Broken Arrow vs. Sapulpa at 7:30 p.m. on Cox.
◊“The Suite Life on Deck” (7 p.m. on Disney): This new series, a spin-off of the Emmy-nominated “The Suite Life of Zack & Cody,” finds Zack and Cody aboard the SS Tipton, a luxury passenger cruise liner owned by London’s father. The ship cruises the world with tourists and students who attend classes at Seven Seas High, the one high school that London’s dad thinks will make his daughter a better student.
SATURDAY, SEPT. 27
◊“Chris Rock: Kill the Messenger” (8 p.m. on HBO): This new special showcases the comic’s adults-only take on dozens of social and political issues. It features footage from performances at New York’s Apollo Theatre, the Carling Apollo Hammersmith in London and South Africa’s Carnival City Casino.
◊“CMT Crossroads: 38 Special and Trace Adkins” (9:30 p.m. on CMT): Southern rock and country collide when 38 Special take the stage with country star Trace Adkins. They play together, swap stories and share theic common love of music.
◊“GOGORIKI” (7:30 a.m. on CW): This new animated series follows a circle of bets friends and their zany adventures. The GOGORIKI are animal-like beings, each with a cute round shape and a unique personality.
◊“My Friends Tigger & Pooh” (7:40 a.m. on Disney): The animated series designed to teach and entertain preschoolers returns for a second season. The series features A.A. Milne’s characters Winnie the Pooh and Tigger and introduces a 6-year-old girl named Darby.
◊“Trial by Fire” (8 p.m. on Lifetime): Brooke Burns (“Miss Guided”) stars as a fire fighter who sets out to become the first woman to be accepted into the elite Missoula Smokejumpers. Oklahoma actor Rex Linn (“CSI: Miami”) also stars in the 2008 drama.
◊The University of Oklahoma will take on Texas Christian in college football action airing live at 6 p.m. on FSNSW.
–Penny TV
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