This follows the threads for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
N.B. For clarification, Fox’s Sunday schedule is:
Jun-Oct: Oliver Beene, King of the Hill, Simpsons, Arrested Development, Malcolm in the Middle, Quintuplets (presumably a repeat of the weeknight episode).
Oct-Jan: King of the Hill, Malcolm in the Middle, Simpsons, Arrested Development, The Partner
IOW, during the summer, they’re trying to build an audience for “Arrested Development” and “Quintuplets”, then shifting things around for the sake of “The Partner”, which will do for sleazy lawyer types what “The Apprentice” did for greedy business types.
The show that gets the shaft in these machinations is “Oliver Beene”. I don’t really like the show, but it was good to see Grant Shaud back at work.
For all you WB drama fans, you can catch repeats of the week’s “One Tree Hill” and “The Mountain” at 5 and 6, respectively.
7:00-8:00
[ul]
[li]America’s Funniest Home Videos (ABC)[/li][li]60 Minutes (CBS)[/li][li]Oliver Beene (June to October, then replaced by “King of the Hill”)/ King of the Hill (June to October, then replaced by “Malcolm in the Middle”) (Fox)[/li][li]Dateline (NBC)[/li][li]Steve Harvey’s Big Time (WB)[/li][/ul]
My choice: 60 Minutes. Hands down. If it’s a repeat, I actually like Steve Harvey. Except the blurb about the changes being made this season worry me.
8:00-9:00
[ul]
[li]Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (ABC)[/li][li]Cold Case (CBS)[/li][li]The Simpsons / Arrested Development (Fox)[/li][li]American Dreams (NBC)[/li][li]Charmed (WB)[/li][/ul]
My choice: “The Simpsons” just isn’t very funny anymore, but I need to give “Arrested Development” more of a try (I liked the 2 eps I caught this past year, and I love watching David Cross do almost anything), and there’s nothing else on 8-8:30, what with the sitcom being more or less dead now.
If it doesn’t take, I’ve heard good things about “Cold Case”.
9:00-10:00
[ul]
[li]Desperate Housewives (ABC)[/li][li]CBS Movie (CBS; link goes to generic “Movies and Specials” page)[/li][li]Malcolm in the Middle / Quintuplets (Fox, June to October, then both are replaced by The Partner)[/li][li]Law & Order: Criminal Intent (NBC)[/li][li]Jack and Bobby (WB)[/li][/ul]
My choice: Probably L&O:CI, although Vincent D’Onofrio is easily the most overrated actor still working today, and this is my least favorite flavor of L&O (with the wussiest defense lawyers on TV). I watch for Kathryn Erbe, who is good (her pregnancy absence was disastrous during this last season), and who I swear is the daughter of an old work buddy of my dad’s, which means we played together sometimes as children. (Yikes, do I sound like a stalker yet?) If she’s not on that week, I’ll probably flip over to “Malcolm”, which completely fell off my radar last season (tell me it’s still any good).
This is easily the weirdest hour of the network week, with ABC offering a suburban suicide’s posthumous examination of her family and friends, and the WB giving us the story of two modern (circa 2004) boys enduring childhood with a domineering mother, occasionally flashing forward in time to President Jack’s associates’ comments on the effects of said childhood. I can only assume these two nets are trying to lure any leftover “X-Files” fans who still reflexively turn on the TV on Sunday nights.
10:00-11:00
[ul]
[li]The Practice: Fleet Street (ABC)[/li][li]CBS Movie (CBS)[/li][li]Crossing Jordan (NBC)[/li][/ul]
My choice: I didn’t like the initial run of “Crossing Jordan”, as much as I adore Jill Hennessy. Some good stuff, but most of it didn’t click for me. I haven’t caught the re-vamped version this spring, so maybe I’ll try it out this fall.
For you Star Trek fans, William Shatner returns full regular cast member status on a network on “The Practice: Fleet Street”, which, as far as I can tell, is simply a continuation of the last few episodes of this past season of “The Practice”.