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So What TV is Worth Watching in 2009? Try These, for Starters...
We're six days into the New Year, and finally have our first quality new show of 2009. Of course, it's only new to ABC, because it used to be on NBC, but "Scrubs" is back tonight with a fresh pair of episodes (9 p.m. ET), and that's excellent news about an excellent sitcom. And if you're making a list, and checking it twice, of upcoming new and returning shows to anticipate, also consider these... (more)
Monday, January 5, 2009
THE SECRET LIFE OF THE AMERICAN TEENAGER ABC Family, 8 p.m. ET This surprise ABC Family success, about a teen girl who gets pregnant and decides to keep her baby, was presented before the Palin family made such decisions politically fashionable. Season two begins tonight, with Amy deciding to marry Ben in order to be able to keep her baby. Meanwhile, her mom, played by Molly Ringwald, is thinking not of marriage, but of divorce. |
HOOK AMC, 8 p.m. ET This live-action variation on Peter Pan isn’t that good a movie, but it isn’t that good a night for TV, either. And two performances in this 1991 Steven Spielberg flop are fun in retrospect: Julia Roberts’ off-kilter approach to Tinker Bell, which doesn’t work but is compellingly freewheeling, and Dustin Hoffman’s approach to Captain Hook, which works almost TOO well. |
THE PUPPET MASTERS Cinemax, 8 p.m. ET This 1994 version of the 1951 Robert A. Heinlein novel is, obviously, another addition to the Invasion of the Body Snatchers canon. What’s especially wry about this one: Its nods to earlier films, also inspired by Heinlein’s story. This one, though, has the best creatures – all parasitic and slimy. |
SPACEBALLS Encore, 8 p.m. ET This Mel Brooks spoof of Star Wars didn’t show up until 1987, a decade after the George Lucas movie was made. You’d think he was waiting too long to be inspired for a comic remake – but considering how long it took him to mount a stage version of The Producers, this spoof was done in record speed. John Candy, Rick Moranis, Bill Pullman, Daphne Zuniga and Brooks star. |
THE STORY OF INDIA PBS, 9 p.m. ET (Check local listings) For this new century, we can’t learn enough about India and China, as well as a handful of cultures and countries in the Middle East. Tonight PBS provides a primer to India – the first two hours of a six-hour series. |
SEVEN SIGNS OF THE APOCALYPSE History Channel, 9 p.m. ET I haven’t seen this new History Channel documentary, but I’ve been keeping track. So far, since the New Year began, I count two: Momma’s Boys and Game Show in My Head. But this documentary, I think, is talking about comets aimed at Earth and stuff. Happy trails… |
HAPPY NEW YEAR TV: Countdowns and marathons
YULE TUBE: Liza Minnelli and Tammy Faye!
YULE TUBE: 'Honeymooners,' 'Bewitched' added More late additions to our Christmas listings include holiday episodes of "The Honeymooners," "Bewitched" and more on WGN America, plus a Yule Log update . . . (more) |
FOR BETTER OR WERTS
Celebrate Wednesday night's arrival of 2009 the new/old-fashioned way with the broadcast networks' countdowns. Or check out cable's alternatives, most of which have nothing to do with New Year's Eve. And then there's the let-it-all-hang-out festivity of Univision's time-zone-hopping Feliz 2009! Can't go wrong with Don Francisco, buxom babes and flowing alcohol. Even if you don't habla Espanol. Here's the rundown . . . 
Yes, Christmas kiddies -- we've hit the jackpot. Our friends at TV4U.com have posted full-length streaming video of 1965's original TV musical "The Dangerous Christmas of Red Riding Hood" -- starring 19-year-old Liza Minnelli, Cyril Ritchard, Vic Damone, and Eric Burdon and The Animals -- plus two '80s Christmas hours of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker's PTL show "You Can Make It!" (Aren't they cute in that sleigh?) . . . 
CHRISTMAS SHOWS ON TV 
NATIONAL LAMPOON'S CHRISTMAS VACATION Monday at 8 a.m. ET, HBO OTHER AIRINGS: Monday, Jan. 5 at 11 a.m. ET, HBO Plus
CLICK LINKS BELOW TO FIND HUNDREDS MORE - CHRISTMAS EPISODES! |
NEW and RECOMMENDED 
What a glorious golden oldie this '60s detective romp turns out to be! It's like a weekly TV version of the sparkling Hollywood formula flicks made at the height of the studio age. The effervescent episodes are crammed with big star names, colorful characters, predictable tricks, sassy wit and happily-ever-after endings. All good.
CLASSICS TO CONSIDER
The unmarked car cruising city streets comes to a tire-screeching halt. The stern-faced occupant bails out. He pulls a gun, he crouches, and shots burst forth. It's the title sequence of . . . Police Squad!? M Squad? Right. Both. The new full-series DVD release of M Squad lets us compare Lee Marvin's hardnosed '50s copfest with Leslie Nielsen's dead-on '80s parody. If the latter takes nothing seriously -- deliriously un-seriously -- M Squad is its fruitfully grave-faced source material. . . . |
