Television Premieres and Notables: September 2-8, 2013

Monday, 9/2

Fast N' Loud; Discovery. 8 pm CST. 2nd Season Premiere.

The Writer's Room (Sundance; 9 pm CST). Season Finale.

Turn & Burn; Discovery. 9:05 pm CST. Series Premiere.

Summer Camp (USA; 10:05 pm CST). Season Finale.


Tuesday, 9/3

My Big Fat Revenge; Oxygen. 8 pm CST. Series Premiere.

Top Gear; History. 8 pm CST. 4th Season Premiere.

Luther; BBC America. 9 pm CST. 3rd Season Premiere.

Cold Justice; TNT. 9 pm CST. Series Premiere.

Brickleberry; Comedy Central. 9:30 pm CST. 2nd Season Premiere.


Wednesday, 9/4

Futurama (Comedy Central; 9 pm CST). (2nd) Series Finale.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia; FXX. 9 pm CST. 9th Season Premiere.
Remember to delete your old DVR "season pass"es and set it to record the show on its new network.

The League; FXX. 9:30 pm CST. 5th Season Premiere.
See above.

Totally Biased With W. Kamau Bell; FXX. 10 pm CST. 3rd Season Premiere.
Ditto-- but this one's airing nightly instead of weekly.


Thursday, 9/5

Wilfred (FX; 9 pm CST). Season Finale.
This show moved into serious WTF territory. I don't mind a break at this point...


Friday, 9/6

Hello Ross; E!  9 pm CST. Series Premiere.
Ross Matthews gets his own talk show. I'll check it out; I find him silly and charming, and his exuberance is infectious.


Saturday, 9/7

Cupcake Wars; Food Network. 7 pm CST. 9th Season Premiere.


Sunday, 9/8

Boardwalk Empire; HBO. 8 pm CST. Season Premiere.

Television Premieres and Notables: August 26-September 1, 2013

Monday, 8/26

Get Out Alive With Bear Grylls (NBC; 8 pm CST). Season Finale.

Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives; Food Network. 8:30 pm CST. 18th Season Premiere.

Longmire (A&E; 9 pm CST). Season Finale.


Tuesday, 8/27

Pretty Little Liars (ABC Family; 7 pm CST). Season Finale.

Storage Wars Texas; A&E. 8 pm CST. 3rd Season Premiere.

Drunk History  (Comedy Central; 9 pm CST). Season Finale.


Wednesday, 8/28

The Unexplained Files; Science. 8 pm CST. Season Premiere.

Wheeler Dealers; Velocity. 8 pm CST. 10th Season Premiere.

Cheer Perfection; TLC. 8:30 pm CST. 2nd Season Premiere.

Patrick Dempsey: Racing Le Mans; Velocity. 9 pm CST. Series Premiere.


Thursday, 8/29

Hollywood Game Night (NBC; 9 pm CST). Season Finale.


Friday, 8/30

Cracked; Reelz. 9 pm CST. Series Premiere.


Saturday, 8/31

Who the (Bleep) Did I Marry? Investigation Discovery. 7 pm CST. Season Premiere.

Television Premieres and Notables: August 19-25, 2013

Monday, 8/19

Teen Wolf (MTV; 9 pm CST). Mid-season Finale.


Wednesday, 8/21

Surviving Evil; Investigation Discovery. 7 pm CST. Series Premiere.

Not My Mama's Meals; Cooking Channel. 8 pm CST. 4th Season Premiere.

Modern Dads; A&E. 9:30 pm CST. Series Premiere.


Friday, 8/23

Ghost Adventures; Travel. 7 pm CST. 8th Season Premiere.


Sunday, 8/25

Deadline: Crime With Tamron Hall; Investigation Discovery. 7 pm CST. Series Premiere.
I think Invest. Disc. just makes up new show names; they all sound the same to me.

Television Premieres and Notables: August 12-18, 2013

Well, it looks like TV Guide finally gave up on trying to get me to renew, as I didn't get an issue last week (my subscription-- which I've had for about twenty years-- ran out in April). So now I have one less resource for these weekly posts. But the TVG sub was just too much to pay for this little project as I've found the magazine next to useless for about three years or so (pretty much after I made the last payment on my four year re-sub).

But I'm gonna keep tryin' to get as much info out as possible.


Monday, 8/11

Mythbusters Breaking Bad Special; Discovery. 9 pm CST. Special.
With special guests: creator Vince Gilligan and star Aaron Paul.


Tuesday, 8/13

Doomsday Preppers; National Geographic. 8 pm CST. Season Premiere.

Face Off; Syfy. 8 pm CST. Season Premiere.


Thursday, 8/14

The Pitch; AMC. 10 pm CST. 2nd Season Premiere.


Friday, 8/15

Say Yes to the Dress; TLC. 8 pm CST. Season Premiere.

Ghost Adventures; Travel Channel. Season Premiere.


Sunday, 8/18

Whodunnit? (ABC; 8 pm CST). Season Finale.

True Blood (HBO; 8 pm CST). Season Finale.

The Great Food Truck Race; Food. 8 pm CST. Season Premiere.

Television Premieres and Notables: August 5-11, 2013

Next week sure will have to work hard to beat this week.

I finished The IT Crowd from BBC (via Netflix). GREAT series that has that slightly "off" British sensibility.

I also finished the Netflix-exclusive fourth season of Arrested Development. I liked it, but found binging wasn't as fun as watching 2-3 episodes at a time, so I stretched my watching out over the past few months.

Watched Dogma for the first time since it was in theatres. Liked it back then; respect it now. It's a shame it caught so much flak in the religious community as I think it really was respectful of the belief in religion-- even if it did it via showing the hypocrisy that organized religions suffer from. ...And a lot of dick jokes.

Sammy Hagar released a new single ("Knockdown Dragout") from his upcoming album. Had a little Kid Rock and a lot of Joe Satriani, and that's a good thing. Sounds like The NFL Network will be using it this season, so good for him. Guys his age are retiring, and he's killin' it right now-- celebrating 40 years in the business as well as getting attention he hasn't had since his Van Halen days.

And just a few hours ago, BBC announced that Peter Capaldi will be the next Doctor Who.  I'm not a giant Doctor Who fan, but I do enjoy it, and I think it's awesome that the BBC is making it such a social media/geeky event.  This is a production company/network that knows how to treat its fans right (except for the stupid-expensive DVDs).  Fifty years of Doctor Who is a huge deal-- and it's just getting more and more popular.
And it's hard to imagine that in fifty years and over 700 television episodes, only eleven (soon to be twelve) people have been The Doctor. I don't know Capaldi's work well, but he held himself very well in the short interview today. I am looking forward to seeing what a more mature and dignified actor will bring to the role (not a knock on Smith; but older U.K. actors-- I'd say "British", but I know he's Scottish-- just have a gravitas about them).
And now we have to wait until Christmas to see a glimpse of him in his new role...

Okay... on to the premieres...

Monday, 8/5

The Bachelorette (ABC; 7 pm CST). Season Finale.

The Fosters (ABC Family; 8 pm CST). Season Finale.


Tuesday, 8/6

Hard Knocks; HBO. 9 pm CST. 8th Season Premieres.

The Legend of Shelby the Swampman; History. 9 pm CST. Series Premiere.


Wednesday, 8/7

Broadchurch; BBC America. 9 pm CST. Series Premiere.
Detectives investigate a murder of a young boy in a small town.
And the review I read said this 8-episode season will solve the murder-- and won't use last-second gimmicks to pull the rabbit out of the hat.
It stars David Tennant, who is a heck of an actor. I caught the last half-hour of his run as The Doctor today, and it had me crying like a baby. I didn't even need to see how it all happened again; Tennant had it all in his performance. A guy who knew he was dying saying goodbye-- in a very Tenth Doctor way-- and then declaring "I don't want to go" before his body gives out. Just powerful stuff.
I can't wait to see what he brings to this new role.
And another Who connection: Arthur Darvill has a role as well.


Friday, 8/9

Magic City (Starz; 8 pm CST). Season Finale.

Strike Back; Cinemax. 9 pm CST. 3rd Season Premiere.


Saturday, 8/10

The White Queen; Starz. 7 pm CST. Series Premiere.
This 10-episode series follows the pre-Tudor Plantagenets family, who were crazy-dysfunctional.
And because it's Starz, expect plenty of sex scenes...

Hell on Wheels; AMC. 8 pm CST. 3rd Season Premiere.
Sometimes the show is a little "too much" (too much of a lot of things), but stars Anson Mount and Common are just damn great to watch. And after last season's deaths, it'll be interesting to see what they do with who's left.


Sunday, 8/11

Marvel's Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. Disney XD. 10 am CST. Series Premiere.
Then Hulk, She-Hulk, A-Bomb, Skaar, and Red Hulk all live and fight bad guys together.
If it's anything like the comics, they could end up being more dysfunctional than The White Queen.
...But I wouldn't count on any sex scenes...

Breaking Bad; AMC. 8 pm CST. Mid-season Premiere.
It's been nearly a year, but technically, it's the rest of the final season.

Low Winter Sun; AMC. 9:04 pm CST. Series Premiere.
A cop kills a dirty cop-- and then gets caught in the Detroit underworld while trying to cover it up.
I've heard good things-- and AMC has a pretty good track record for original dramas. You should check it out.

Talking Bad; AMC. 10 pm CST. Series Premiere.
AMC brings this Talking Dead-style show to Breaking Bad's last few episodes.

Television Premieres and Notables: July 29- August 4, 2013

Monday, 7/29

The Writer's Room; Sundance. 9 pm CST. Series Premiere.
Members of various television writing teams discuss their process.
The premiere's subject is Breaking Bad.


Tuesday, 7/30

Nikki & Sara LIVE; MTV. 9 pm CST. Season Premiere.

The Profit; CNBC. 9 pm CST. Series Premiere.


Wednesday, 7/31

Capture; The CW. 8 pm CST. Series Premiere.
A wilderness-survival reality series where teams also need to capture/eliminate their opponents.

Through the Wormhole With Morgan Freeman (Science Channel; 9 pm CST). Season Finale.


Thursday, 8/1

The Awesomes; Hulu. Series Premiere.
An animated series about a young superhero who needs to recreate the team his father quit.

Hatfields and McCoys: White Lightning; History. 9 pm CST. Season Premiere.


Friday, 8/2

Tanked; Animal Planet. 9 pm CST. Season Premiere.


Saturday, 8/3

Zero Hour (ABC; 8 pm CST). Series Finale.

Too Cute! Animal Planet. 8 pm CST. Season Premiere.

Psychic Tia; A&E. 9 pm CST. Series Premiere.


Sunday, 8/4

Secret Millionaire; ABC. 7 pm CST. Season Premiere.

The Killing (AMC; 8 pm CST). Season Finale.

Falling Skies (TNT; 9 pm CST). Season Finale.

Shark After Dark; Discovery. 10 pm CST. Series Premiere.
This Shark Week nightly show discusses sharks of something. I don't know...

This is funnier than the whole 2012 season of HIMYM...

Television Premieres and Notables: July 22-28, 2013

Monday, 7/22

Breaking Pointe; The CW. 8 pm CST. Season Premiere.

Supermarket Superstar; Lifetime. 9 pm CST. Series Premiere.


Tuesday, 7/23

The Vineyard; ABC Family. 9 pm CST. Series Premiere.

Web Therapy; Showtime. 10 pm CST. Season Premiere.


Wednesday, 7/24

Spell-Mageddon; ABC Family. 8 pm CST. Series Premiere.

Top Chef Masters; Bravo. 9 pm CST. Season Premiere.

Joe Rogan Questions Everything; Syfy. 9 pm CST. Series Premiere.


Thursday, 7/25

Childrens Hospital; [adult swim]/Cartoon Network. 11 pm CST. Season Premiere.


Saturday, 7/27

America's Cutest Dog; Animal Planet. 7 pm CST. Season Premiere.


Sunday, 7/28

Unforgettable; CBS. 8 pm CST. Season Premiere.

Television Premieres and Notables: July 15-21, 2013

Tuesday, 7/16

Whose Line is it Anyway? The CW. 7 pm CST. Season Premiere/Series Return.
Wayne Brady, Ryan Stiles, and Colin Mochrie are back-- and Aisha Tyler replaces Drew Carey as host.

Covert Affairs; USA. 8 pm CST. 4th Season Premiere.

Suits; USA. 9 pm CST. Season Premiere.


Thursday, 7/18

Project Runway; Lifetime. 8 pm CST. Season Premiere.

Showville (AMC; 9 pm CST). Series Finale.

The slice we deserve...

Television Premieres andf Notables: July 8-14, 2013

Monday, 7/8

Get Out Alive With Bear Grylis; NBC. 8 pm CST. Series Premiere.

Warehouse 13 (Syfy; 9 pm CST). Season Finale.


Tuesday, 7/9

Betty White's Off Their Rockers (NBC; 7:30 pm CST). Season Finale.

Drunk History; Comedy Central. 9 pm CST. Series Premiere.
Based on the YouTube series where comics act out historical conversations given by drunk people.


Wednesday, 7/10

Moone Boy; Hulu. sometime today. Series Premiere.
A ten-year-old in Ireland manages his days with the help of his imaginary friend (played by co writer Chris O'Dowd).

The Bridge; FX.  9 pm CST. Series Premiere.
Diane Kruger and Demian Bichir star as detectives investigating a dead body found on a bridge between the U.S. and Mexico.

Camp; NBC. 9:01 pm CST. Series Premiere.


Thursday, 7/11

Orange is the New Black; Netflix. today. Series Premiere.


Hollywood Game Night; NBC. 9 pm CST. Series Premiere.


Saturday, 7/13

Being Human; BBC America. 9 pm CST. Season Premiere.

Bounty Hunters; CMT. 9 pm CST. Series Premiere.
Bill Engvall, Jeff Foxworthy, and Larry the Cable Guy voice the title characters in this animated series.


Sunday, 7/14

The Newsroom; HBO. 9 pm CST. 2nd Season Premiere.

Jesus-- I'm stayin' away from Facebook