Premieres and Notables; October 11-17, 2010

Monday, 10/11

Carlos; Sundance. 8 pm CST, Mini-Series
The career of Carlos the Jackal comes back to life in this three-night mini.


Tuesday, 10/12

Private Chefs of Beverly Hills; Food Network. 8 pm CST. Season Premiere.

Nick Swardson's Pretend Time; Comedy Central.  9 pm CST. Series Premiere.
A new skit-based series from the absurdist comic.


Wednesday, 10/13

Bitchin' Kitchen; Cooking Channel. 9:30 pm CST. Series Premiere.
Nadia G. gets her own show.
No, I don't know what that means...


Thursday, 10/14

Howard's imagination gets the better of him as Katee Sackhoff returns-- and George Takei makes an appearance-- on The Big Bang Theory (CBS; 7 pm CST).

The Vanilla Ice Project; DIY Network.  8 pm CST. Series Premiere.
When Ice took time off from music, he became a home renovator.  In this show, he buys, renovates, and tries to sell a house.
I'm just happy we can call him "Ice" again (he hated that name after a while...)

Food Feuds; Food Network.  9 pm CST. Series Premiere.
All these shows sound the same to me...
In this one, Iron Chef Michael Symon travels the country, pitting two local eateries against each other to see who is "the best".
See? Sounds like every other flippin' show on this channel...

Conspiracy Theory With Jesse Ventura; TruTV. 9 pm CST. Season Premiere.


Friday, 10/15

School Pride; NBC. 7 pm CST. Series Premiere.
Think: Extreme Makeover: School...


Sunday, 10/17

Rubicon (AMC; 8 pm CST). Season Finale.

Paranormal State; A&E. 8 pm CST. Season Premiere.

Mad Men (AMC; 9 pm CST). Season Finale.

Luther; BBC America. 9 pm CST. Series Premiere.
Idris Elba and Indira Varma star in this series about a tortured detective who is trying to solve a murder case.
Like many BBC shows, it takes a little time to get rolling, but it gets there by halfway through the six-episode season. 
Hmmm... Maybe the above didn't sell this one very well.
Firstly, Varma is currently on Human Target and also played key roles on Rome and Torchwood. 
Secondly, Elba has been all over the place of late. But he'll always be The Wire's Stringer Bell to me; one of the best characters on the best show ever.
This show is highly recommended. One of my two most-looked-forwarded-to shows this season (the other one is premiering soon...)