Television Premieres and Notables: February 4-10, 2013

Monday, 2/4

Rules of Engagement; CBS. 7:30 pm CST. Season Premiere.

Monday Mornings; TNT. 9 pm CST. Series Premiere.
Alfred Molina and Jamie Bamber star in David E. Kelly (and Sanjay Gupta)'s new medical drama that follows a weekly Monday morning meeting between surgeons as they discuss mistakes they made the previous week.


Tuesday, 2/5

Betty White's 2nd Annual 90th Birthday Special; NBC. 7 pm CST. Special.

Smash; NBC. 8 pm CST. 2nd Season Premiere.
They're giving this show a pretty heavy second try. A new showrunner steps in, a number of supporting characters are shown the door-- and Jennifer Hudson joins the cast.

Emily Owens, M.D. The CW. 8 pm CST.  Series Finale.

Tosh.0; Comedy Central. 9 pm CST. 5th Season Premiere.


Thursday, 2/7

Community; NBC. 7 pm CST. 4th Season Premiere.
NBC is finally giving this show it's shot-- on a weak night, surrounded by a show that has never been strong, one that's three years past its prime, and another that is unlikely to get a second season.
Enjoy this show while you can. Odds are it's done...
Of course, NBC barely has any other comedy worth a damn, so maybe this one will get saved again.


Friday, 2/8

Touch; Fox. 7 pm CST. 2nd Season Premiere.
The first season had its moments, but it also seemed to go off the rails at times.
But they're bringing in Maria Bello, D.B. Sweeney, and Mykelti Williamson as recurring characters, and that can't be a bad thing.


Sunday, 2/10

Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome; Syfy. 7 pm CST. Special.
The pilot for a potential BSG prequel series (that I believe Syfy passed on-- and why wouldn't they? I mean, BSG pretty much put the network on the map for original programming).
I've heard it's not to bad.

The Walking Dead; AMC. 8 pm CST. Mid-season return.
I'll readily admit: it's not the best show on TV, but it sure is fun and surprising.
Anyone who's seen the fourth episode this season can't say they saw those deaths coming.
And after the insane mid-season finale, you can't miss this episode.

The Talking Dead; AMC. 9 pm CST. Mid-season return.
Now at 60 minutes-- finally.  Should be a little more informative/conversational instead of the previous "scraping at the surface" tone of the show in the past.

Television Premiere and notables: January 28-February 3, 2013

Monday, 1/28

Dallas; TNT. 8 pm CST. 2nd Season Premiere.
Unfortunately, Larry Hagman died during filming of this season, but fortunately, the show has massive respect for the man, so expect it to be addressed-- and for it to launch a storyline around it (one that even Patrick Duffy said Hagman would have loved).

RuPaul's Drag Race; Logo. 8 pm CST. Season Premiere.


Wednesday, 1/30

The Americans; FX. 9 pm CST. Series Premiere.
Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys star as deep undercover Soviet agents living in America during Ronald Reagan's presidency.


Thursday, 1/31

30 Rock (NBC; 7 pm CST). Series Finale.
A couple years too late, but I'm hoping they go out with a bang.

Do No Harm; NBC. 9 pm CST. Series Premiere.
Every evening at 8:20 pm, Dr. Jason Cole's alter ego, Ian Price, causes mayhem for 12 hours.
No, I don't get it, either.


Friday, 2/1

House of Cards; Netflix. Whenever you want.  Series Premiere.
Kevin Spacey plays a wronged congressman who decides to discredit everyone between himself and the president-- and then take how job.
Netflix launches their original programming with this show.  And they're making all 13 episodes available at the same time, so you don't have to wait three months to let it play out.