Homer run

“Cougar Town” Wednesday 9:30pm, ABC You can sneer at the title, but I actually kind of like “Cougar Town.” It’s totally unsubtle, but I think there’s something fascinating—and very real—about a sexy, unattached older woman trying to navigate the landmine-riddled modern dating scene. Plus, I like Courteney Cox in just about anything. (I even sat […]

Season's beatings

“Crazy Christmas Lights” Friday 8am, TLC One of my favorite holiday activities is driving around, looking for ostentatious light displays. I’ve never understood how vomiting candy-colored bulbs all over your lawn shows off your love of Santa or Baby Jesus, but the more your home looks like a cathouse, the happier I’ll be. Charlottesville is […]

Doctor's orders

“Doctor Who: The Waters of Mars” Saturday 9pm, BBC America In roughly two weeks the Brits will get to meet the new Dr. Who. We’ll get him in America eventually, a few months after the Christmas/New Year’s two-parter bids adieu to current series star David Tennant and replaces him with Matt Smith, who will play […]

Going Gaga

“Barbara Walters: 10 Most Fascinating People of 2009” Wednesday 10pm, ABC News maven Barbara Walters unveils her annual list of people she deems “fascinating.” This year’s selections range from the obvious tabloid/pop culture fixations (Kate Gosselin, Adam Lambert) to the curiously still-relevant (Brett Favre, Tyler Perry), to people who don’t know when to shut the […]

Down the rabbit hole

“Alice” Sunday 9pm, Syfy Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is super-hot right now, between the anticipated Tim Burton/Johnny Depp flick coming out next year and this mini-series premiering this week on Syfy. Much like last year’s “Tin Man” extrapolated from L. Frank Baum’s Wonderful Wizard of Oz, “Alice” uses many of the themes and […]

Guns, pumpkins and rock 'n' roll

“Lock N Load” Wednesday 8pm, Showtime The hidden-camera series wraps its first season tonight with an episode about a Christian couple that loves its guns as much as the Lord, and a feisty senior citizen who owns a small arsenal of vintage firearms. The series follows charming gun store owner Josh T. Ryan, who is […]

The bitch is back

“Melrose Place” Tuesday 9pm, CW History has a way of repeating itself, and the execs at the CW are sure hoping that’s the case this week as Heather Locklear once again joins the cast of a ratings-deficient show called “Melrose Place.” La Locklear saved “Melrose” once, driving ratings through the roof when she came on […]

Puppet masters

“So You Think You Can Dance” Tuesday-Wednesday 8pm, Fox This season is cursed. Between dancer injuries, a huge drop in ratings and a constantly shifting schedule, the first fall season of the venerable summer talent show has been disastrous. This week—more than two months into the show—America finally gets to vote for the first time, […]

Hide your hamsters

“V” Tuesday 8pm, ABC One of my earliest TV memories is watching that lady alien devour a hamster whole on the original version of “V” from the 1980s. (My parents also let me watch the original Alien movie when I was 6, and A Nightmare on Elm Street not long after that. Hello, sleep terrors!) […]

Nothing to fear

AMC Fear Fest Tuesday-Saturday, AMC The folks at AMC are taking the term “fear” a little broadly for this year’s installment of the annual horror-movie marathon. Now through Halloween you can catch supernaturally themed flicks on the channel non-stop. But many of the selections this year are more comedic than scary: Buffy the Vampire Slayer […]