NBC, 8:00 p.m. ET
After tonight’s double-elimination episode, it’ll be down to the final two contestants. Next week: the finals. Funny thing: some of my college students are taking their finals today. Yet no one is facing elimination. Well, maybe one person. But I digress…
TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET
Akira Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurai was Westernized, quite literally, in this 1960 Western about a group of rogue gunmen hired to protect a town from marauding bad guys. The original Japanese film is better, but this one is loaded with iconic tough guys: Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson and Eli Wallach, and that’s just for starters.
Fox, 9:00 p.m. ET
Jess (Zooey Deschanel) concocts a questionable plan for the holidays: to hit as many parties in one night as possible. The guys don’t want any of it – not, that is, until she volunteers to be the designated driver.
ABC, 9:31 p.m. ET
The big day has arrived: James Van Der Beek faces premiere day on Dancing with the Stars. Yes, I know it’s meta, having the star of one ABC series, playing a playful version of himself, pretending to appear on another ABC series. But that’s part of what makes this sitcom so interesting – its disregard for convention, and its dislike of simplicity.
NBC, 10:00 p.m. ET
MIDSEASON FINALE: I’m going to miss this series while it’s gone, after this emotional holiday episode that finds Kristina back in the ICU. Peter Krause and Monica Potter, as Adam and Kristina, have done stellar work this year – work that tugs at my heart every time, and reminds me, as the closing credits roll, how few TV series are dealing with issues to which we all can relate. Watching Parenthood isn’t easy, but it’s endlessly rewarding. Just like parenthood.