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What’s new this week
01:00 AM EDT on Sunday, October 8, 2006
John Lithgow and Jeffrey Tambor star as John Mason and Jeffrey Pyne in NBC’s new comedy Twenty Good Years, on Wednesday nights at 8:30 on Channels 7 and 10.
NBC / Mitchell Haaseth
Campbell Scott and Daryl Hannah play former astronauts in Final Days of Planet Earth, a very un-Hallmark- like original movie that premieres at 8 p.m. Saturday on the Hallmark Channel.
Hallmark Channel
It started as a midseason replacement but What About Brian returns to ABC for a full season starting Monday at 10 p.m. on Channels 5 and 6.
ABC / BOB D’AMICO
In Masterpiece Theatre’s Casanova, David Tennant plays the legendary seducer as a young man. Nina Sosanya, left, plays Bellino, with Laura Fraser, right, as Henriette, the love of his life.
PBS
Baseball: If the Division Series are still in progress, ESPN will telecast the afternoon games and FOX (25, 64) the primetime game at 8 p.m. The fifth game, if necessary, of the NLDS is scheduled for Monday at 8 p.m. on FOX.
Masterpiece Theatre: PBS’s most honored series begins its 36th season with a drama about the legendary 18th-century lover, Casanova. Peter O’Toole portrays Giacomo Casanova in his nostalgic old age with David Tennant as Casanova in his action-packed youth. The two-part production was written by Russell T. Davies. Laura Frazer co-stars as Henriette, the love of Casanova’s life, with Rupert Penry-Jones as his archrival for that affection, and Nina Sosanya as a castrato impersonator who makes a big impression on Casanova. The conclusion airs next Sunday, same time and channel. (2) Also Monday, 8 p.m. (44)
P.O.V.: Bronx-born filmmaker Thomas Allen Harris pays homage to his stepfather, Benjamin Pule Leinaeng, in Twelve Disciples of Nelson Mandela, a look at the foot soldiers of the anti-apartheid movement who left South Africa clandestinely to build the African National Congress and spread its message of freedom in places as diverse as Dar Es Salaam, New York, London and Belgrade. (44)
Nova: Tag along as four scientists set off on a global search for clues to a massive volcanic eruption that appears to have devastated Earth 75,000 years ago. Mystery of the Megavolcano documents the search for a “supervolcano” that erupted with unimaginable force and precipitated a prolonged global “volcanic winter.” (36)
Off the Leash: No, you haven’t accidentally tuned in to Animal Planet. Lifetime goes to the dogs in this new half-hour “reality” series looking behind the scenes of a real-life Hollywood pet talent agency. Michelle Zahn and Stuart Kinsey, owners of Le Paws, are looking to put themselves on the map by finding the next Lassie. Two back-to-back episodes air tonight, then the series moves to its regular time, Mondays at 6:30 p.m., next week. LIF
Engineering an Empire: Peter Weller is the host as The History Channel expands into a series the idea (begun last season with Rome) of examining great civilizations of the past through their engineering achievements. It leads off with a look at the glory of ancient Egypt and the magnificent temples, pyramids and tombs that remain engineering marvels to this day. HIST
What About Brian: This series, which was a mid-year addition to ABC’s line-up, returns for a full season tonight, picking up six months after Brian left Los Angeles in the aftermath of a blowout with his former love. Barry Watson is Brian, the lone bachelor, among a group of close-knit friends. Matthew Davis co-stars as Brian’s best friend, Adam, with Sarah Lancaster as Marjorie, his fiancée (and Brian’s former love). Rosanna Arquette plays Brian’s sister Nicole, with Raoul Bova as her Italian actor/husband, Angelo. Rick Gomez and Amanda Detmer are Dave and Deena, friends whose experiment with an open marriage has had disastrous results. Jason George joins the cast as Jimmy, a fun-loving lawyer in Adam’s office, with Amanda Foreman as his wife, Ivy. (5) (6)
Baseball: The American League Championship Series begins tonight with Joe Buck and Tim McCarver calling the action. The National League series gets under way Tuesday night with game two of the ACLS also scheduled. Cable channel FX joins FOX (25) (64) in providing coverage. Check the listings in Sports This Week for the rest of the week’s schedule. For last minute updates, see Sports on the Air in the daily Journal sports pages.
The Journalist and the Jihadi: The Death of Daniel Pearl: Christiane Amanpour narrates a 90-minute documentary that tracks the intersecting lives of murdered Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl and his kidnapper, Omar Sheikh. HBO
Frontline: The Enemy Within looks at the state of the nation’s counterterrorism effort five years after the 9/11 attacks. Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Lowell Bergman investigates ongoing interagency rivalry as well as troubling flaws in what has been the largest reorganization of the government in half a century. (2) Repeats Friday, 10:30 pm
30 Rock: Tina Fey, longtime Saturday Night Live writer/performer, heads to primetime as creator/star of a new NBC comedy set backstage at a TV show not unlike SNL. Alec Baldwin co-stars as the brash new network executive who can’t keep from meddling, including signing up a wild and unpredictable movie star (Tracy Morgan) to join the show’s cast. See Andy Smith’s cover story. (7) (10)
Twenty Good Years: John Lithgow stars as an impulsive, self-absorbed, thrice-divorced surgeon who has been forced into retirement. Jeffrey Tambor is a widower judge who obsesses over every situation. They’re polar opposites, but they share one thing. They both feel they have about 20 good years of life left (hence the show’s title), and are determined to live every day of it to the fullest. Heather Burns co-stars as John’s pregnant daughter, Stella, with Jake Sandvig as Jeffrey’s slacker son. (7) (10)
Moyers on America: Is God Green?, the second program, in this new Bill Moyers series examines the implications surrounding the growing debate among politically powerful conservative evangelical Christians over the environment and the “Biblical imperative of stewardship.” (2)
Ghost Hunters: Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson, those Cranston plumbers turned ghost hunters, are back for a new season of paranormal adventures. Their show is paired with a new partner, SCI FI Investigates, at 10 p.m. Rob Mariano (Survivor’s Boston Rob) is featured in that one, along with archaeologist Bill Doleman, paranormal researcher Richard Dolan and forensic technician Deborah Dobrydney. They use their expertise to reveal fresh perspectives on well-known mysteries. SCI
Great Performances: It’s Carnegie Hall Opening Night 2006 as the venerable concert hall begins its 116th season. The program will feature the series debut of bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff, as he and pianist Leif Ove Andsnes, join Franz Welser-Möst and the Cleveland Orchestra in a program featuring Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn and Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 17. CNN news anchor Paula Zahn is the host. (2)
Live from Lincoln Center: Broadway’s Audra McDonald takes center stage for a 90-minute program featuring songs by pop and contemporary composers such as Elvis Costello, John Mayer and Rufus Wainright, along with songwriter Adam Guettel (The Light in the Piazza). (2)
Mystery!: Inspector Lynley (Nathaniel Parker) and Sergeant Havers (Sharon Small) climb the ladder of political life from the bottom to the lofty corridors of power after a body is found floating in the Thames in The Seed of Cunning. Meanwhile, Havers goes to a singles’ night with the hope of finding a life outside work. (36)
Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film: It’s Friday the 13th, a perfect spot for a look at the movie genre that spawned horror icons Michael Myers, Freddy and Jason. Adam Rockoff’s book served as the basis for this documentary look at the pop culture phenomenon. STARZ
Remaking American Medicine: First Do No Harm, the second program in this series, looks at two hospitals, Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, and New Jersey’s Hackensack University Medical Center, battling to overcome two major health care problems — hospital-acquired infections and medication errors. (2)
Final Days of Planet Earth: This three-hour movie is a little unusual for the Hallmark Channel. It’s a sci-fi thriller starring Gil Bellows as an archaeologist digging beneath a major city who discovers something is seriously wrong underground. He goes to Daryl Hannah, a former astronaut turned city employee, with his concerns, but it is her former astronaut commander Campbell Scott who holds the key to the mystery. HALL
— LYNNE CHAPUT
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