TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET
SERIES PREMIERE: Actually, technically, this new TCM offering is a miniseries – in the truest sense of the word. Each element in this “series” is less than a half hour long, so the term mini truly applies. But these are classic Johnny Carson Tonight Show interviews with various celebrities, boiled down to just the conversations themselves – followed, in most cases, by a movie or two featuring that star. All that, and Conan O’Brien hosts these shorts, too – the best payoff of his Turner networks connection since moving from Tonight to TBS. Tonight’s mini-Carson shows are all from the last half of his career, and start off with Drew Barrymore (current co-host of TCM’s The Essentials) in an E.T.-promoting interview from 1982. After that, in order: Kirk Douglas (pre-stroke) from 1988, Mary Tyler Moore from 1978 (the year after the end of The Mary Tyler Moore Show), Neil Simon from 1980, and George Burns in 1989. Then come the movies, starting at 9 p.m. ET with Simon’s The Sunshine Boys, starring Burns and Walter Matthau, from 1975, followed by two other Simon movie comedies: 1977’s The Goodbye Girl at 11 p.m. ET, and 1978’s California Suite at 1 a.m. ET. Great new addition to TCM. Keep them coming!
HBO, 9:00 p.m. ET
This new HBO documentary begins with a captivating fact: That an accused prisoner’s right to counsel, to being represented by a public defender if if he or she cannot afford an attorney, came about only relatively recently, as the result of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling after a man represented himself in court for allegedly robbing $5 and some sodas from a pool hall in 1961. That defendant was named Clarence Earl Gideon, but this documentary isn’t about him. After that Gideon factoid is established, it’s about Gideon’s “Army” – today’s pubic defenders, examined by hanging with a few of them in court, and in their offices.
CBS, 10:00 p.m. ET
Last week’s premiere episode took off like a shot, becoming an instant summer hit – at least for one week. If the interest, and the ratings, hold, for tonight’s Episode 2, then the rules for future summer seasons may be rewritten yet again. So for all those who prefer scripted shows over reality series, root for Under the Dome. And watch, this week, as the characters under glass continue to respond in increasingly extreme ways. Dean Norris stars.
NBC, 10:00 p.m. ET
SERIES PREMIERE: This isn’t a recommendation, just an observation. CBS and NBC both want to enliven their summers a little, and offer some original scripted programming to go along with their reruns and reality shows. CBS presents Stephen King’s Under the Dome, which looks like an instant hit. NBC, by contrast, tonight launches Siberia, a scripted series about contestants on a reality show. Sigh. It’s also virtually indistinguishable, in concept, from a “real” reality show NBC launches next Monday, as a lead-in to Siberia. It's about contestants challenged to survive in a remote location: Get Out Alive with Bear Grylls. Double sigh.
Syfy, 10:00 p.m. ET
Here’s another series that’s working its way towards a finite conclusion. Last week, Claudia (Allison Scagliotti) was turned into a bronze statue, a reversal of which is the top priority of this new episode. (Being turned bronze, in Star Wars fashion, is the third-worst living-statue fate a hero can endure, after being turned gold or silver.) And after we finally get to the Season 4 finale, Warehouse 13 will go dormant for a bit, then return with a final, six-episode mini-season. And yes, it all involves this series’ current Big Bad: Paracelsus, played by Anthony Head – who, like the term “Big Bad” to describe a season-long antagonist, came from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.