Winter TV has been topsy-turvy this year because of the Winter Games in Vancouver. Instead of a strong schedule for February sweeps, most networks went with reruns against the Olympics and have been saving new episodes â€" and new shows â€" for March.
And NBC has been using the high-profile games as a platform to promote its slate of new shows and new ideas (for late night).
First off, though, it's time to send off the world's athletes in style tonight with a Winter Olympics Closing Ceremony (NBC, 8 p.m.), plans for which are hush-hush, except that producer David Atkins says it will be a Canadian "celeb-fest" and a "celebration of Canadian humor, talent and innovation" that will "be a very contrasting night to the opening ceremony."
NBC uses that platform to go immediately into a sneak preview of "The Marriage Ref" (10:30 p.m.), a show that will normally be on Thursdays at 10. Executive producer Jerry Seinfeld may not be on-screen as often as the promos indicate; he got his comic friend Tom Papa to be host (and judge) of the show, which takes real-life problems that couples may have and lets a panel of comics discuss them. No, they didn't send out a review copy in advance.
But they did send two different review copies of "Parenthood" (NBC, Tuesday, 10 p.m.) because it has changed so much in its delay from being a fall show. First, the show had to recast the part played by Maura Tierney, who left for breast cancer treatment. And it had to survive another tragedy in the death of NBC executive Nora O'Brien, the 44-year-old West Hartford native who died suddenly on the set last April.
Tierney, who is recovering from her treatment, according to recent reports, was replaced by Lauren Graham, who has had a lot of experience playing a single mother through seven seasons on "Gilmore Girls" and does well in the pilot. Peter Krause, who has a history of keeping a moral center in shows ranging from "Six Feet Under" to " Dirty Sexy Money," has much of the same role here, playing opposite overbearing father Craig T. Nelson. Like the movie that inspired it (and a short-lived 1990 series), Ron Howard is also involved, presumably in name only, so far.
But a well-acted family ensemble series is always welcome on network TV, and this one looks as good or better than "Brothers & Sisters" ( ABC, today, 10 p.m.), if only because it's a fresh new set of interrelated characters.
Later this week, two days after the final episode of "Faces of America with Henry Louis Gates, Jr." (WGBY, Channel 57, 8 p.m.), which looks into the genealogy of famous people, Lisa Kudrow essentially does the same thing with her "Who Do You Think You Are?" (NBC, Friday, 8 p.m.), which looks each week at a different celebrity's story (including Kudrow's).
There's no host, but the treacly music has been pumped up as the celebrities are seen uncovering their own stories through expert producers likely lined up for them. It helps if the celebs have a big reaction, and that's surely the case with the first one, Sarah Jessica Parker, who traces her forebears to the Salem witch trials.
The big news on NBC is the unveiling of "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" (NBC, Monday, 11:35 p.m.), the result of the failure of Leno's nightly 10 p.m. show and former "Tonight" show host Conan O'Brien's unwillingness to be bumped to after midnight to make way for an 11:30 Leno. Can Leno possibly win back an audience alienated by all the switches?
Returning from under the radar for a fourth-season start this week is "Rules of Engagement" ( CBS, Monday, 8:30 p.m.), the sturdy and most successful series from the former Hartford insurance employee Tom Hertz. By now, there's a fine interplay between David Spade and Patrick Warburton and the recently added Adhir Kalyan, from " Aliens in America."
A new comedy on cable, "Players" (Spike TV, Tuesday, 10:30 p.m.) is from Matt Walsh, recognizable from any number of past comedies associated with the Upright Citizens Brigade. Here, he concocts a series based on a sports bar run by a couple of brothers, one (Ian Roberts) considerably more uptight than the other. It fits a slot somewhere between "Cheers" and "It's Always Sunny in California."
Documentaries
With the madness nearly upon us, HBO Sports unleashes another strong documentary charting the natural rivalry and eventual friendship of Larry Bird and Earvin "Magic" Johnson, from the 1979 NCAA championship game to their later NBA championship battles. "Magic & Bird: A Courtship of Rivals" (HBO, Saturday, 8 p.m.) is a very satisfying overview.The lives of four students at the Texas School for the Blind in Austin, Texas, are chronicled in Keith Maitland's film "The Eyes of Me," premiering on "Independent Lens" (WGBY, Channel 57, Tuesday, 10 p.m.; CPTV, Tuesday, ). Filmed over a year, we see distinct personalities appear.
Interest in the issue of assisted suicide can't override the dour inevitability in the film this week on " Frontline" (WGBY, Tuesday, 9 p.m.; CPTV, Tuesday, 10 p.m.). In "The Suicide Tourist," filmmaker John Zaritsky follows Craig Ewert, 59, who travels to Switzerland for an assisted suicide after he learns he has ALS ( Lou Gehrig's disease). He's very philosophical about it, and so lucid it makes you think he's not ready to take his own life. Yet he does.
You can sort of feel the disdain the former anchor carries in " Tom Brokaw Reports: Boomer$!" (CNBC, Thursday, 9 p.m.). After spending so much time reporting on "The Greatest Generation," he seems to have little patience with the revelers at Woodstock or campus protesters of that time, now all grown up. When someone puts the question to him directly, he says the boomer generation has been "unrealized." You could say that about this documentary, too.
Also This Week
Long associated with Alfred Hitchcock's film, John Buchan's World War I spy thriller "The 39 Steps" has been remade for "Masterpiece Classic" (CPTV, today, 9 p.m.), starring Rupert Penry-Jones (previously seen in "Persuasion") as the man with the wrong identity. It's an exciting chase that includes parts of what would seem to be from another Hitchcock classic, "North by Northwest." But the man being pursued in the plane scene was originally in Buchan's book.Astrophysicist, planetarium director and frequent PBS science host Neil deGrasse Tyson had his highest-profile moment when he decided to reclassify the former ninth planet Pluto to that of an icy comet. A firestorm of controversy ensued, and in this week's "Nova" (CPTV, Tuesday, 8 p.m.), titled, like his new book, "The Pluto Files," he presents a an engaging guide to the rise and fall of the faraway planet.
A potential bride is chosen in the finale of "The Bachelor: On the Wings of Love" (ABC, Monday, 8 p.m.), during which the seeds are sewn for an upcoming reality series as the cast for the upcoming season of "Dancing with the Stars" is announced.
The influential presidential wife (who was never a baker) is profiled on "Dolley Madison, America's First Lady," on a new "American Experience" (CPTV, Monday, 9 p.m.).
Next Sunday's Oscars is heralded by two events. In "The Oprah Winfrey Oscar Special" (ABC, Wednesday, 10 p.m.), the daytime star interview James Cameron with the cast of his "Avatar," Ben Affleck with "Hurt Locker" nominee Jeremy Renner, and Michael Douglas with his "Fatal Attraction" co-star Glenn Close.
Then there's the freewheeling 25th Independent Spirit Awards (IFC, Friday, 8 p.m.), saluting independent films. Eddie Izzard hosts the event this year, from L.A. Live's event deck in downtown Los Angeles.
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