Glee
How I Met Your Mother (Monday, 8/7c, CBS)
Some of the funniest moments in this sitcom's history involve Robin's shamefully cheesy past as Canadian child star "Robin Sparkles." Who can forget "Let's Got to the Mall" and "Sandcastles in the Sand," to name a magic few videos Robin would just as soon forget. This nagging skeleton once again emerges as Barney finds a copy of Space Teens, and this time we make the acquaintance of her co-star Jessica Glitter (played by Pussycat Doll and Dancing With the Stars champ Nicole Scherzinger). Let the good times roll, eh?
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Tom Hanks, Conan O'Brien
This was a week dominated by the Coco Express (and the launch of Conan took some of my focus off prime time this week, so this will be a more selective roundup). Let's start there.
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LATE NIGHT WITH COCO: If Conan O'Brien keeps creeping earlier and earlier onto the schedule with each step of his career (from 12:30 to 11:30 and now to 11/all times ET), eventually he'll be ready for prime time. But not really. As I noted in my insta-reaction to Conan's opening night, the move to basic cable (feeding nicely into Conan's self-mocking persona) is the equivalent of going from Broadway to off-Broadway. Ergo the hipster beard. Being the underdog suits Conan, and while his explosive opening ratings quickly came down to earth, it's clear that a significant slice of the younger fan base is thrilled to see this funky and deeply silly Irish folk hero of TV comedy get back in the game...
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Michael Raymond-James and Donal Logue
Like a dog returning to a favorite bone, I can't stop singing the praises of FX's Terriers (Wednesdays at 10/9c), which has flown dangerously under the radar since premiering with little fanfare right after Labor Day. It's an easier series to love than it is to pigeonhole, which (along with a vague and misleading title) may explain why it has struggled to find a following beyond a passionate few. In a fall season that has been remarkable for so much unremarkable formula blandness at the network level, Terriers is the rare show whose endearingly messy and flawed characters get under your skin and stay there. ...
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Lea Michele, Conan O'Brien
On his first night back in the late-night saddle, Conan O'Brien killed — and was killed, Sonny Corleone-style, riddled with bullets as he left the NBC gates in his hilarious cold open. Then the guests came on, and he died a little. And then he roared back to life, jamming and clowning with ...
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Sela Ward and Gary Sinise
Send questions to askmatt@tvguidemagazine.com and follow me on Twitter!
Question: What are your thoughts on the new Grey's Anatomy additions of Jackson and April? I know Grey's fans have been very vocal about how useless they are. I however never saw what the big deal was till the episode in which our residents became attendings for a day. I noticed that when Cristina didn't answer questions, I was upset and heartbroken to see her so helpless, and when Alex and Meredith rocked their surgeries I felt proud. But when I was watching April and Jackson struggle, I realized I didn't care, and I think when a show has characters people don't care about, that's a problem.
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Conan O'Brien
House (Monday, 8/7c, Fox)
While Thirteen's away, House's team must play nice with Cuddy, agreeing to add a female doctor to fill the void. Enter Joan of Arcadia's Amber Tamblyn as Martha Masters, a third-year med student who can hold her own against these strong personalities. Even the mercurial boss man. She gets a chance to prove herself in the case of a senator's campaign manager who collapses, mid-campaign, with liver failure and temporary paralysis.
Conan (Premieres Monday, 11/10c, TBS)
Like a red-maned phoenix rising from the ashes of last winter's peacock debacle, Conan O'Brien is finally back plying his wacky mad comedy skills in late night — with Andy Richter in tow and The Basic Cable Band (led by...
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The Walking Dead
Let's dig into a busy sweeps week, starting with the scary before we get to the funny.
MONSTER MASH: Zombies are cool. That's the takeaway from the boffo ratings for the premiere of AMC's riveting zombie epic The Walking Dead. (Episode two this Sunday has a moment that made even this fan of the macabre want to look away.) But zombie horror is also disturbing, in this case emotionally affecting, as the survivors look on at an inexplicably wrecked world populated by the lumbering dead who can strike awfully close to home...
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The Simpsons
Blue Bloods (Friday, 10/9c, CBS)
This week, it's Erin the assistant district attorney who's in the family's crosshairs — and if you've been watching this Friday night hit, you know the dinner-table debates in this multigenerational crime-fighting family are a weekly highlight. What's got the Reagans riled up this time? Erin's methods in taking down a notorious gang leader, which involves...
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Paul Binder
If more reality TV were like Circus, there would probably be a lot fewer reality snobs out there. But Circus isn't a typical reality show. For one thing, this captivating six-hour series (airing over three Wednesdays, starting this week) is on PBS, so the proper way to describe it is probably "docu-reality," as the show goes behind the curtain of the Big Apple Circus to give a fly-on-the-tent look at...
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