SUNDAY, JUNE 29
LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT
9 P.M. | USA
An exiled political leader lands in New York, and assassins take aim.
ARMY WIVES
10 P.M. | LIFETIME
Roxy (Sally Pressman) is shelling shrimp while her husband has a heroic moment off in the war.
MONDAY, JUNE 30
THE 46664 CONCERT
9 P.M. | VH1
Highlights from the AIDS benefit concert honoring Nelson Mandela, now 90. Host: Will Smith (right).
BEN-HUR
8 P.M. | TCM
In honor of SAG's 75th birthday, the epic starring its former president.
INTERVENTION
9 P.M. | A&E
The case of Sandra, addicted to painkillers and antidepressants.
TUESDAY, JULY 1
HELL'S KITCHEN
9 P.M. | FOX
Gordon Ramsay (left) asks—no, tells—the final two to cook for his top chefs.
THURSDAY, JULY 3
SWINGTOWN
10 P.M. | CBS
The formerly square Millers start to get all freaky over liberal causes.
FEAR ITSELF
10 P.M. | NBC
Mad Men's Elisabeth Moss as a cop dealing with a serial killer.
FRIDAY, JULY 4
MACY'S 4TH OF JULY FIREWORKS SPECTACULAR
9 P.M. | NBC
Jordin Sparks (right), Kenny Chesney and Natasha Bedingfield supply the vocal fireworks.
NEW SERIES!
TLC, June 29, 9 P.M. ET |
REALITY
Joey Fatone and Mel B., survivors of the dazzling rigors of pop bands and Dancing with the Stars, bring a breezy charm to hosting this pleasantly modest competition. Each week two teams of would-be singers are recruited from actual offices. Then they're given vocal coaching, taught a little footwork and girded for a performance in front of their colleagues. It's Bring Your Broadway Dreams to Work Day. The teams in the premiere—one from a salon, the other from 1-800-Dentist—aren't very good. While they clomp around the stage, you may think of one of those American Idol ensemble numbers re-created by a local theater troupe. But the amateurishness is part of the appeal, and being a glorified office project keeps showbiz egos to a minimum. No one wants to be known around the watercooler as a reality diva.
NEW SERIES!
ABC Family, July 1, 8 P.M. ET |
DRAMA
Hard to say whether the title's clinical tone is supposed to be ironic: It suggests a panel of cultural anthropologists publishing their speculations on the inner workings of Miley Cyrus. But the show does manage to anchor a standard high-school soap-opera plot with psychological realism and fair-mindedness to all its characters, and that's a fresh note. Grace (Megan Park), a devoutly religious girl who looks like Hayden Panettiere and is saving herself for marriage, isn't reduced to an easy joke about hypocrisy. Ricky (Daren Kagasoff), the cute guy who seduces anyone he can, isn't just a sleaze bagging trophies; he's trying to understand his compulsion in therapy. The teen with the biggest secret is Amy, a thoughtful, mousily pretty girl who's gotten pregnant at band camp. She's played by Shailene Woodley with the right touch of fragility and none of the sardonic slouch of Ellen Page in Juno. (Molly Ringwald, by the way, plays her mom.) If she moved in more elevated circles, Amy could make a sob sister of Gossip Girl's Serena. But she's average—exceptionally so.
NBC, Tuesdays, 8 P.M. ET |
GAME SHOW
Al Roker hosts this retooling of the enduring old game that pits two families against each other as they guess answers to flippant survey questions. Only this time it's the likes of Ice-T going up against Joan Rivers. Wouldn't things have been more fun if the survey questions were hot-button issues and everyone got angry and lost their cool? This show has all the heat of an unplugged waffle iron.
The 39-year-old West Wing alum and mother of two is a no-nonsense witness-protection agent on USA's new drama In Plain Sight. She's on Broadway too, in the hit Boeing-Boeing.
HOW DO YOU LIKE PLAYING TOUGH? It's great to kick some ass. My body's built for the part. I have broad shoulders and I've always been athletic. I'm definitely a tomboy. I sit way more happily in jeans than in a dress.
YOUR CHARACTER IS PRETTY SARCASTIC. ARE YOU? I've been accused of being sarcastic. Laugh-out-loud funny is different; I like to see people trip. That's why I love Boeing-Boeing: It's a full-on physical farce. I love whoopee cushions and I buy them as gifts.
DID YOU VOTE FOR COSTAR CRISTIAN DE LA FUENTE WHEN HE WAS ON DANCING WITH THE STARS? Of course! I watched a little and he was fantastic. I cheered him on—and made fun of him.
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!
