BY TOM GLIATTO
DRAMA
Once upon a time, so it is recorded by chroniclers of the era, Henry VIII's body fat was no more than 3.8 percent. This is the Henry played most excellently by Jonathan Rhys Meyers on The Tudors. He's sleek, cool, seductive with a spiky, dangerous temperament—credible as both a 16th-century king and a 21st-century male model. The show is a lusty soap opera that aspires to the pulsating, cutting-edge glamour of Cate Blanchett's Elizabeth. It's a little ham-fisted for that. When Henry has an assignation with Anne Boleyn, we find her against a wall in an obscure corridor, her bosom heaving with anxiety and desire. He meets her, caresses her—then, jealous because he saw her talking to another man, he begins choking her. In moments like this The Tudors feels like a backdated version of that telenovela Ugly Betty's family is hooked on. The women who crowd Henry's court have a clear-skinned sexiness that suggests the California girls on The Hills, although Natalie Dormer has a flinty flirtiness as Ms. Boleyn. And the costumes are to lose your head for.
A&E (April 1, 10 p.m. ET)
REALITY
Something like Entourage without the manic, kick-start fury of Ari Gold, Sons focuses on three privileged Hollywood dudes trying to make a go of it in the entertainment industry. We have actor-producer Randy Spelling, son of the legendary Aaron Spelling (whose long life is ebbing to a close in the opening episodes); rocker Rod Stewart's son Sean, a sometime model and also a musician (and an admitted substance abuser in recovery); and David Weintraub, their friend since boyhood and now their manager. (His father, if you want to know, was a dentist.) The camera tends to pick out Stewart, the most volatile presence in the gorgeous, glass-fronted house the guys share: He has a slacker's sunniness that doesn't disguise a deeper cloud of irritability. And he has his father's distinctive fox nose. You have to wonder if Sons would have been better, sharper if he were the sole scion under consideration. The show feels sort of dazed as the boys party, take calls and meetings and, in a sense, puzzle out when life will finally begin. This isn't necessarily a bad existence, by any means, but it's limbo.
NBC (Fridays, 8 p.m. ET)
GAME SHOW
Of all the genres of programming, none baffles me quite so much as the game show, which has enjoyed a ratings renaissance in recent seasons. (In fact, ABC has just announced something called National Bingo Night for mid-May.) A viewer can feel detached from all that screaming, whooping and sweating over whopping sums of money—you might be watching an anthropological experiment through a many-chambered telescope. It's a help, then, to have someone as unusual as comedian and magician Penn Jillette hosting NBC's Identity. A towering pony-tailed man with a loud, rough voice and a void-filling presence, he looks like an instructor in some dark art at Hogwarts.
At any rate, the concept for this show has a concrete simplicity, which is good, although perhaps too concretely simple to play out across an entire hour: A contestant is confronted with 12 strangers and a roster listing 12 different occupations. Contestant matches job to stranger by recognizing clues that are both obvious (most of us can figure out a George Bush impersonator) and subtler. (Can a hula dancer be spotted by her hips?) And then there's Mr. Jillette—truly undefinable.
Lifetime (Sundays, 10 p.m. ET)
DRAMA
While Showtime is bringing out its lush series about Henry VIII, Lifetime has introduced a scrappy little Goth crime show about a centuries-old vampire who claims to be the monarch's illegitimate son. His name is Henry Fitzroy, and he earns a living these days as a graphic novelist. Teamed with an ex-cop, Vicki Nelson (Christina Cox), he also solves mysteries involving the occult. The show's no Supernatural—that atmosphere of sex-and-shadows isn't quite right yet—but Kyle Schmid is a fine blood-drainer. He has a vampire's brooding self-absorption plus stylishly wild hair in the manner of ex-Idol Ace Young.
The Gosford Park star, 45, plays writer-chancellor-eventual saint Thomas More. "It is kind of impossible to do justice to all the different facets of his character," says Northam, who switched time periods to shoot the upcoming sci-fi thriller The Invasion, with Nicole Kidman. "She has a great sense of humor. She is unruffled by all that pressure and remains nice throughout." Unlike Henry.
Rome (HBO, March 25, 9 p.m. ET) Ave atque vale—hail and farewell. The series ends as Marc Antony (James Purefoy) loses out big-time.
The Great American Dream Vote (ABC, March 27, 10 p.m. ET) Reality show for contestants hoping to have their grand wishes made true. That includes one man's concept of a theme park that celebrates the chicken.
Kids' Choice Awards (Nickelodeon, March 31, 8 p.m. ET) The 20th annual, hosted by Justin Timberlake. Gwen Stefani and Akon perform.
Battlestar Galactica (Sci Fi, March 25, 10 p.m. ET) The third season ends with a verdict in the trial of Gaius Baltar (James Callis).
1,000 Places to See Before You Die (Travel Channel, March 29, 9 p.m. ET) Two newlyweds hit 13 countries in this documentary series. Some honeymoon!
The 33-year-old actress portrays a classic tabloid target—an actress hooked on drugs—on Courteney Cox Arquette's FX drama Dirt, which has its first-season finale March 27.
ON PAPARAZZI I know Courteney has to deal with that on a personal level. I haven't witnessed it myself.
ON JENNIFER ANISTON'S GUEST ROLE It was very cool working with her. She's very physical. When she's preparing for a scene, she moves around the set, talking to herself.
ON HOME VS. WORK I got married two days before I started the role. My husband [Bruce Weyman, a model] is so supportive, but I come home and I've been in this darker, crankier place. Poor guy!
Jeffrey Carlson
The actor, 31, is making soap opera history playing Zoe, a transgender rock star on ABC's All My Children.
ON PLAYING TRANSGENDER We're not doing this for shock value. The goal is to cause a conversation—and that's happening. Members of the transgender community are talking with the regular posters on the All My Children chat rooms. I got a letter from an 11-year-old girl. It said, "It's cool you're going to become a girl. Then we will have stuff in common."
ON RESEARCHING THE ROLE I met several people in the transgender community, and one became someone I can talk to on a regular basis. Talking to her started to enlighten me. She was so open about telling her story.
ON HIS CHILDREN BOND I was named after Dr. Jeff Martin—one of Erica Kane's [Susan Lucci] husbands. My mom really liked the show and him. The name stuck.
She played bad girl Jenny Piccolo on Happy Days, but these days Cathy Silvers, 45, is all about clean living: She's filming a pilot for a talk show about healthy lifestyles. She spoke with Champ Clark.
SO ARE THESE HAPPY DAYS FOR YOU? Absolutely! I have a great husband, four lovely children and a wonderful stepson. After Happy Days and Foley Square, I quit and went east. Ten years later I was ready to come home to L.A. I shot sitcoms and then had two babies and quit again. My father [comedian Phil Silvers] taught me, "Television will always be there."
TELL US ABOUT YOUR TV PILOT, THE HEALTHY LIVING SHOW. I just finished the editing. I look at it this way: We have the fantastic Rachael Ray. We have Emeril. We have Ellen. We have all these great talk shows, but who is teaching America's moms how to be healthy and to take care of their family in every way? I want to share what works for me. I'm 45 years old. I weigh 115 lbs., and I'm a rock climber.
WHAT'S YOUR DIET? I'm a raw vegan—nothing is cooked. My daughter came home two years ago and said, "Mom, I'm going to be a vegan." I said, "Honey, I don't know what that is. It makes me nervous." I had never heard that word. I was busy eating garbage. She said, "Yeah, I'm just going to eat fruits and vegetables." Then I read every book on the shelf about it.
DO YOU KEEP IN TOUCH WITH THE HAPPY DAYS GANG? I talk to Marion Ross as often as I can and see her as often as I can. We shot the Happy Days reunion show two years ago and that was really fun. And we have a softball team, so we get together and play now and then. It's just a matter of picking up the phone.
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
