CBS, 8:00 p.m. ET
I’ve partial to this type of TV special, even if it does go for a bit too much surface gloss. It’s a celebration of teachers, with celebrities talking about the teachers who inspired them, while other performers, including Garth Brooks and Carrie Underwood, entertain by singing and playing in salute. What celebrities, you ask? (Well, maybe you ask. Maybe you’re just reading silently, while I’m writing aloud.) Meryl Streep, Jennifer Garner, Adam Levine and others. One of the others is Matthew Morrison of Glee, who isn’t a teacher – but he plays one on TV.
Starz!, 9:00 p.m. ET
SEASON PREMIERE: The Boss is back. And this year, Chicago Mayor Tom Kane (played by Kelsey Grammer) is, simultaneously, even more forceful and more fragile. For a full review, see Ed Bark’s
Uncle Barky’s Bytes.
Cinemax, 10:00 p.m. ET
SEASON PREMIERE: This series has turned out to be the biggest original Cinemax hit in years – not that it has that much prime-time competition, but still. And this year, this high-action drama about special forces working abroad on secret missions has a new operative: Rhona Mitra, who was wasted in ABC’s The Gates but unforgettably good in ABC’s The Practice and Boston Legal.
HBO, 10:00 p.m. ET
SERIES RETURN: Bill Maher is back from his summer hiatus, and it’s too bad he picked such a slow news week on which to make his return, and to welcome such guests as Chelsea Handler. Aside from, say, Mitt Romney announcing the vice presidential spot on his Republican ticket, not much has happened…
IFC, 10:00 p.m. ET
MINISERIES FINALE: This Alan Spencer cop and action-movie spoof presented its first three episodes last night, and presents the final three tonight. This is the night when guest villains Eddie Izzard and Eric Roberts get most of their good scenes, and when Max Williams as Gunter Vogler, a bad guy given a good guy’s face, gets to share screen time with them. But keep your eye on Kate Kelton as the femme fatale brunette – and the femme fatale redhead as well. She has, and generates, the most fun of all here.