SUNDAY, SEPT. 7
MTV VIDEO MUSIC AWARDS
9 P.M. | MTV
An offbeat host this year: wild, woolly British comic Russell Brand (Forgetting Sarah Marshall).
ENTOURAGE
10 P.M. | HBO
Season 5 kicks off with Vince (Adrian Grenier) on the cusp of becoming a Hollywood has-been after his big art movie tanked.
MONDAY, SEPT. 8
TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES
8 P.M. | FOX
Dutiful android Cameron (Summer Glau, right) wigs out. Season premiere.
THURSDAY, SEPT. 11
HOLE IN THE WALL
8 P.M. | FOX
The latest extreme challenge adapted from Japan. Brooke Burns is one of the hosts.
KITCHEN NIGHTMARES
9 P.M. | FOX
The dependably volcanic Chef Ramsay visits a restaurant stuck in the '80s.
FRIDAY, SEPT. 12
THE ALMA AWARDS
8 P.M. | ABC
Eva Longoria Parker (left) hosts the annual awards show saluting Latinos in the arts. Career tribute to Linda Ronstadt.
SATURDAY, SEPT. 13
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE
11:30 P.M. | NBC
Superswimmer Michael Phelps (right) hosts the season opener.
FOX, Sept. 9, 8 p.m. ET
NEW SERIES!
DRAMA
The two-hour pilot of this fantasy-suspense series from executive producer JJ Abrams (Lost) starts with a gruesome punch: All the passengers and crew up in a plane are killed by an unknown pathogen that causes their skin to slide off in a bloody stream. The investigation into this yuckastrophe is handled by an FBI agent, Olivia Dunham, played with a near-perfect mix of hard sense and puzzled sensitivity by an Australian actress named Anna Torv—she's the real discovery here. I'm just worried about her long hair: It could be a magnet for mutant germs. Shower cap!
Dunham's first step is to secure the release of a mentally unstable genius (John Noble), who years ago was tinkering around with just such science in his Harvard lab. He's reunited with his musty old Frankenstein equipment and with his estranged son (Joshua Jackson, who—speaking of weird science—is starting to look like a young clone of Larry Hagman). By the end of the premiere, Dunham learns that the melting passengers are part of a larger, global pattern of bizarre experiments. The show slithers along with nasty potential.
CW, Sept. 9, 9 p.m. ET
NEW SERIES!
COMEDY DRAMA
JoAnna Garcia plays a smart Yale grad hired to tutor twin heiresses (Lucy Kate Hale and Ashley Newbrough) in Palm Beach. Their grandmother (Anne Archer) wants their grades up to get them into Duke. I hope episode 2 brings early-admission letters to an out-of-state, far-away campus.
Garcia is very cute—vulnerable and twerpy—but the premise is both trite and tiring. What viewer, other than perhaps Paris Hilton, would want to watch and wait for fabulously wealthy girls to get motivated?
Nickelodeon, Sept. 12, 8 p.m. ET
COMEDY
In this happily dopey movie, Christopher Meloni is Dave Stewie, gym teacher and failed Olympian. Mr. Stewie dreams of redeeming himself by leading his students to first place in a national fitness challenge. The obstacle to winning is a clumsy pupil whose mom, anxious since her husband died in a potato-sack race, insists he wear a helmet. Meloni, whose brow is ordinarily as stern as Bert the Muppet's, is having a relaxed, silly time here. Amy Sedaris is even better as the school principal, secretly in love with Mr. Stewie and his well-fitted shorts.
FOX, Sept. 10, 9:30 p.m. ET
NEW SERIES!
COMEDY
Jerry O'Connell and Niecy Nash costar in a sitcom set in a sexy boutique hotel. He's the general manager, and something of a lady-killer. She's head of human resources, and something of a mother hen—always after him to behave. Reno 911! alumna Nash is a strong comic actress—when she enters a scene, she owns it—but her style doesn't play all that well against O'Connell's. He marches in on long legs and fires off his lines like a soldier sent into battle with the command to get huge laughs. It doesn't work. The show could just as easily be called Don't Bother.
HBO, Sept. 7, 9 p.m. ET |
NEW SERIES!
DRAMA
True Blood imagines an America where vampires have come out of the casket. Synthetic blood allows them to satisfy their cravings without draining humans, so they're now accepted, if not quite welcomed, as citizens (it's hard to retire the stereotypes that come of being undead and into leather). Blood is about how this all shakes out in a Louisiana town, home of waitress Sookie Stackhouse. Sookie is telepathic, cursed to hear everyone's thoughts as she brings them their burgers. She also has a crush on a local vampire (Stephen Moyer) who fought in the Civil War. Anna Paquin plays Sookie with girlish, unwavering sincerity. Her refreshingly direct, simple performance lights up this nutty, boggy production, strewn with murders and moments of kinky vampire lust. Without her, it might seem like the hell spawn of Anne Rice and Dexter.
Bravo, Sept. 9, 11 p.m. ET
NEW SERIES!
REALITY
Rachel Zoe, the stylist who shaped the red-carpet images of Nicole Richie and Lindsay Lohan, doesn't look like a wallflower—not with that Pam Anderson hair, the fab sunglasses and the strikingly purposeful set of her mouth. And yet, apart from a few moments shopping for vintage accessories, the best scenes in the debut of her reality show are tussles between her grim underling, Taylor, and a new hire named Brad. Taylor thinks Brad talks too much. Brad thinks Taylor, instead of training him, lets him screw up and then loses her temper. This is not the way to extend your brand, Ms. Zoe. The Real Housewives of New York City were all over the map as fashionistas, but they never gave pride of place to the help.
The 27-year-old pregnant stay-at-home mom from Sandee, Utah, stuck to her guns—and turned down the banker's $561,000 offer—to become Deal or No Deal's first-ever million-dollar winner.
WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH THE MONEY?
Now we [can] buy a house in Austin. We're moving close enough to family but not in their backyard. I'll buy my kids toys from stores instead of garage sales. To be able to take the burden off of my husband being the breadwinner—that [gives] me peace of mind.
YOU TURNED DOWN THE BANKER—DO YOU ALWAYS TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS?
I want to say I do, but no. I'm never that strong. That was crazy—that was a crazy person that played that game.
HOW DID YOU CELEBRATE?
When we got back to Utah my husband and I went out and ate our weight in food.
• A dream guest for the likes of buddy David Letterman, the 46-year-old veteran of movies and sitcoms tries her own syndicated talk program. The Bonnie Hunt Show debuts Sept. 8.
WHY A TALK SHOW?
It's always been one of my favorite formats. When I was 13, for Father's Day, I taped The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and replaced the guest, who at the time was Joey Bishop, with my voice so it seemed like Johnny was interviewing me. I remember how much joy my dad would get watching The Tonight Show. That was one of my dad's favorite Father's Day gifts.
HAS YOUR PAL DAVID LETTERMAN GIVEN YOU ADVICE?
I think Dave would be the first person to say he's not one to give advice, but he's been extremely supportive and a good friend. He and Johnny both have the quality of being able to interview anybody, from a person with an interesting dog to a politician.
YOU'RE PROBABLY MORE APPROACHABLE THAN CARSON WAS.
This morning I was washing my car and a guy was walking by with his dog. I stopped to pet the dog and he said, "You've got the talk show coming up, don't you, Bonnie?" He just talked to me as if he knew me. Whenever someone says "Bonnie," I assume I went to school with them or I worked with them and think, "Uh-oh, should I know you?" People are personable to me, like I'm their friend.
WILL YOUR SHOW BE AS RELATABLE AS YOU SEEM TO BE?
It's just going to come from my heart, my point of view and my sense of humor. Hopefully there is a place for us in daytime that will be a relief from some of the DNA testing.
• Her character, Sara Tancredi, was presumed dead last season—but the 31-year-old actress and new mom (to Keala, 1) is back in action on the FOX drama.
WHAT DID YOU DO IN YOUR TIME OFF?
I've written my own pilot. I had the baby. I'm reading War and Peace, if you can possibly say that without having to punch me in the face for sounding pretentious. Those are the highlights.
WHAT WAS IT LIKE RETURNING TO THE CHARACTER?
It was a little bit like trying on a pair of jeans that fit you four years ago.
WAS THE CAST WELCOMING?
You mean did anybody show up and say, "I wish you'd stayed dead"? [Laughs] No, everyone was great. Pretty much the first word out of everybody's mouth was, "Hi, nice to see you. Where's the baby?!"
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!
