Fox, 8:00 p.m. ET
This is the night that the two gaggles of contestants – the boys from Tuesday and the girls from Wednesday – get pared down into the Final 13, along with some last-second “second chances,” courtesy of the judges’ wild-card votes. But this is the night on which we’ll learn how strong, or how weak, the 2012 American Idol field of dreamers turns out to be.
NBC, 8:00 p.m. ET
Jack McBrayer, as Kenneth, gets counseled by Alec Baldwin’s Jack on how to defeat a work rival. But there are other plots thickening tonight, including one that makes room for return guest appearances by two talented ladies: Susan Sarandon, as a woman involved in a secret relationship with Frank (Judah Friedlander), and Patti LuPone as Frank’s meddling mother.
ABC, 9:00 p.m. ET
If you didn’t catch this post-Oscars special late Sunday night (actually, by the time it was televised, it was early Monday morning), ABC is making it easy to catch a rerun – in prime time, yet. And it’s worth it: This otherwise live show contains a nine-minute movie parody that really shouldn’t be missed -- if only for its amazing bedroom scene featuring Kane Beckinsale and Chewbacca. Finally, after all these decades, it’s understandable why Chewbacca howls the way he does...
NBC, 10:00 p.m. ET
SERIES PREMIERE: In this new NBC drama series, Jason Isaacs from
The Brotherhood stars as a man whose consciousness alternates between two realities, each with its own individual surviving loved one, police-department partner and fascinated therapist. Tonight’s opening episode is intriguing and full of possibilities, but the next three episodes muddy the waters somewhat. For a full review, listen to or read my NPR
Fresh Air with Terry Gross preview, after about 5 p.m. ET today, by clicking
HERE.
Showtime, 11:00 p.m. ET
On tonight’s show, host David Steinberg demonstrates he’s equally at ease talking to comics from different generations. His guests, both of whom exhibit an obvious affinity for chatting with Steinberg, are Sarah Silverman and Garry Shandling. And both of them, at one point, end up talking about tacos.