On air tonight, Thursday 3.15.07 (Prime Time):

ABC:
8:00pm Ugly Betty
9:00pm Grey's Anatomy
10:01pm October Road (DEBUT)

CBS:
8:00pm NCAA Basketball Tournament
9:00pm Check you local Listings for Local Programings....

NBC:
8:00pm The Office (R)
9:00pm Scrubs
9:31pm Andy Barker, P.I. (SERIES PREMIERE)
10:01pm Raines (SERIES PREMIERE)

Fox:
8:00pm Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?
9:00pm Family Guy (R)
9:30pm Family Guy (R)

The CW:
8:00pm Smallville
9:00pm Supernatural

MNT:
8:00pm Movie: Fled (R)

Hot shows tonight:

COMEDY:

Ugly Betty (ABC at 8:00)
Oh, brother. Or is it sister? whatever the case, Daniel and Alexis' family tie is about to start unraveling when Wilhelmina pits the Meade siblings against each other their father's court case. Meanwhile, Amanda's unique stle catches the eye of an even more distinctive designer.

The Office(NBC at 8:00)
An hourlong rerun from January finds Michael pairing up his underlings for sales calls, which leads to some curious moments in the field. Dwight, meanwhile, gallantly tries to cover for his secret flame-Angela-when she misses a critical deadline; Jim, Karen and Pam plan a gag on someone other than Dwight; and Oscar returns from vacation mulling his future at Dunder-Mifflin.

Scrubs(NBC at 9:00)
Sacred Heart's new scrubs go in the "fashion don't" column: They're brown...dirt brown. And they're the brainchild of Dr. Kelso, who's trying to stop a clothing thief, we guess, by using the power of ugly.

DRAMA:

Smallville(The CW at 8:00)
Lex and Lana's wedding is finally here but veiled threat from the groom's side, the bride's cold feet and Clark's refusal to hold his peace could turn the big day into a marital nightmare fast than you can say "I do."

GAME SHOW:

Are You smarter...NEW TIME! (Fox at 8:00) The game show moves up an hour, perhaps so fith graders won't have to stay up past their bedtimes to watch it. After all, it is a school night!

SCI-FI:

Supernatural(The CW at 9:00)
The boys tangle with the sexiest Cylon ever when Battlestar Galactica's Tricia Helfer guests as a woman claiming to be on the run from a ghostly killer. Turns out the spirited slayer only strikes once a year, and he has his sights set on the blonde bombshell. Can you really blame him?

SPORTS:

NCAA Basketball Tournament(CBS at 12:00PM and again at 7:00pm)
Settle into your sofas, hoops fans. College sports' ultimate reality show gets under way in Winston-Salem, N.C.; Buffalo; Lexington, Ky; and Sacramento. Members of the 64 competing teams don't have to worry about anyone voting them out, and there are no judges critiquing their performances, all they have to do is win six straight games to net a national title.

LATE NIGHT *A night of CBS sitcom Promos!*:
Jimmy Kimmel (ABC at 12:05am)
Mark Wahlber and Amber Valletta...

Conan O'Brien(NBC at 12:35am)
Julia Lous-Dreyfus promotes Christine's return on CBS! Harland Williams and Neil deGrasse Tyson also visit.

Carson Daly(NBC at 1:35am)
Rules of Engagement's Oliver Hudson promotes his new sitcom and the rock ban Grizzly Bear perform!

Here is my take on the new shows:

The Scoop on the New Shows:

-Andy Barker, P.I. (NBC)
Former Conan O’Brien sidekick Andy Richter heads back into the sitcom waters (remember Andy Richter Controls the Universe and Quintuplets?) as a hard-working CPA who lives a double-life as a private detective. Clea Lewis (Ellen) co-stars. With NBC already pushing up the return of current occupant 30 Rock (and flipping it with Scrubs), is there really much of a future for Andy Barker, P.I.?

-October Road (ABC)
A young and troubled author (Bryan Greenberg) at a crossroads in his life returns to his hometown to mend fences with family and friends, and begin a new career as a teacher at the local university. If recent occupant Men In Trees – a better show – could not even hold half of the Grey’s Anatomy lead-in, does the inferior October Road really have a chance?

-Raines (NBC)
Jeff Goldblum plays an eccentric but brilliant cop who solves murders by turning the victims – a figment of his imagination – into his partners, who help him find the killers. Considering NBC slashed the original episode order from 13 to 7, can Raines really be that good?

Tonight's Winners

8pm - 5th Grader
9pm & 10pm - NCAA Tournament

I'll Be watching
5th Grader
The Office
A little basketball
Might check out Andy Barker
I will sample Raines

Is really October Road that bad?

I'm watching Supernatural and DVRing Grey's Anatomy.

quote:

Originally posted by Justin:

NCAA Basketball Tournament(CBS at 12:00PM and again at 7:00pm)

Somehting new this year: there's also going to be a game at 5:00 EST (Vanderbilt-George Washington) on CBS's sister station, CSTV.

It's dull, Robert. But if you like What About Brian you'll probably be okay with this.

quote:

Originally posted by robert:
Is really October Road that bad?

I will be watching Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?, Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy, Andy Barker, PI (we need some more funny sitcoms on the air), and Raines.

I like the concent of Raines - sort of Medium-ish (one of my favorite shows). I also think Andy Richter is a very funny guy. I hope both shows get a good sampling, though I am not holding my breath!

Regarding Andy Barker, the show got an excellent review from the Chicago Sun Times, but warns that the pilot is not so great and to check out subsequent 4 star episodes. Personally, I love that Clea Lewis plays his wife and hope she brings as much of personality to this show as she did to Ellen.... and there is also Buster from Arrested Development! Based on that as well as the previews I saw, I am looking forward to this one. Stop being such a downer Marc...-

Other shows to watch will be Ugly Betty and The Office - Expanded Addition. I liked 5th Grader but I will have to remember to put it on my other DVR if I want to watch it.

Raines looks very bad and we don't need any more people talking to entities (real or imagined). Don't we already have enough of that!? And those shows are not huge hits.

I'm going to DVR October Road despite the almost record low overall critical ratings from metacritic.com (which averages all of the major critics across the US) - besides, I like Tom Berenger.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: xwiseguyx,

Oh and by the way, Andy Barker scored generally favorable reviews on metacritic. Metacritic

Marc, you are already dumping on another NBC comedy before it even debuts! Have you seen any of the episodes of Andy Barker? I have not seen them, but I have read several reviews and all have been positive. Why would the fact that NBC flip flopped 30 Rock and Scrubs have anything to do with how Andy Barker does? I bet you already have Barker hardcoded into tomorrows column as a LOSER.

quote:

Originally posted by Marc Berman:
Here is my take on the new shows:

The Scoop on the New Shows:

-Andy Barker, P.I. (NBC)
Former Conan O’Brien sidekick Andy Richter heads back into the sitcom waters (remember Andy Richter Controls the Universe and Quintuplets?) as a hard-working CPA who lives a double-life as a private detective. Clea Lewis (Ellen) co-stars. With NBC already pushing up the return of current occupant 30 Rock (and flipping it with Scrubs), is there really much of a future for Andy Barker, P.I.?

-October Road (ABC)
A young and troubled author (Bryan Greenberg) at a crossroads in his life returns to his hometown to mend fences with family and friends, and begin a new career as a teacher at the local university. If recent occupant Men In Trees – a better show – could not even hold half of the Grey’s Anatomy lead-in, does the inferior October Road really have a chance?

-Raines (NBC)
Jeff Goldblum plays an eccentric but brilliant cop who solves murders by turning the victims – a figment of his imagination – into his partners, who help him find the killers. Considering NBC slashed the original episode order from 13 to 7, can Raines really be that good?

wiseguy, are you really going to waste your time on October Road? I know we should generally judge things for ourselves, but I have read at least a dozen reviews for this show and every one has just made the show sound awful. Maybe you should spend your time instead planning your group party for the American Heiress next week. I hear next weeks episode is gonna be da bomb baby!

quote:

Originally posted by xwiseguyx:
Regarding Andy Barker, the show got an excellent review from the Chicago Sun Times, but warns that the pilot is not so great and to check out subsequent 4 star episodes. Personally, I love that Clea Lewis plays his wife and hope she brings as much of personality to this show as she did to Ellen.... and there is also Buster from Arrested Development! Based on that as well as the previews I saw, I am looking forward to this one. Stop being such a downer Marc...-

Other shows to watch will be Ugly Betty and The Office - Expanded Addition. I liked 5th Grader but I will have to remember to put it on my other DVR if I want to watch it.

Raines looks very bad and we don't need any more people talking to entities (real or imagined). Don't we already have enough of that!? And those shows are not huge hits.

I'm going to DVR October Road despite the almost record low overall critical ratings from metacritic.com (which averages all of the major critics across the US) - besides, I like Tom Berenger.

I'll be watching Supernatural, of course. Its been a month since the last new episode, so I'm pumped.

I probably will DVR it and then never get myself in the mood to watch it. Then it will be canceled and I will delete it from my DVR. (This seems to be the case so far with that Wedding Bells show as I just don't feel like wasting my time with it.) I think the Metacritic score was almost the lowest I've seen for a show in quite some time. They probably will move some kind of Dancing With The Stars recap special in it's place next week.

As for American Heiress, I'm a bit upset that Marc has not put a folder out for this show yet. There are so many discussion points that should be elaborated on.

quote:

Originally posted by AL:
wiseguy, are you really going to waste your time on October Road? I know we should generally judge things for ourselves, but I have read at least a dozen reviews for this show and every one has just made the show sound awful. Maybe you should spend your time instead planning your group party for the American Heiress next week. I hear next weeks episode is gonna be da bomb baby!

quote:

Originally posted by xwiseguyx:
Regarding Andy Barker, the show got an excellent review from the Chicago Sun Times, but warns that the pilot is not so great and to check out subsequent 4 star episodes. Personally, I love that Clea Lewis plays his wife and hope she brings as much of personality to this show as she did to Ellen.... and there is also Buster from Arrested Development! Based on that as well as the previews I saw, I am looking forward to this one. Stop being such a downer Marc...-

Other shows to watch will be Ugly Betty and The Office - Expanded Addition. I liked 5th Grader but I will have to remember to put it on my other DVR if I want to watch it.

Raines looks very bad and we don't need any more people talking to entities (real or imagined). Don't we already have enough of that!? And those shows are not huge hits.

I'm going to DVR October Road despite the almost record low overall critical ratings from metacritic.com (which averages all of the major critics across the US) - besides, I like Tom Berenger.

I watched a couple of the Andy Barker episodes at NBC.com and found it to be quite charming. The pilot was not quite as good as the web-exclusive episode with Ed Asner and Amy Sedaris, but the pilot had the burden of setting up the premise. Clea Lewis is a bit more subdued than usual, but she is playing an accountant's wife. Tony Hale and Harve Presnell are a hoot. If you enjoy the other NBC sitcoms, you'll probably enjoy this.