The Week Ahead – SHARK WEEK!

Highlights of the Week

• This had to be a difficult film to put together. HBO’s Boy Interrupted is the story of a young boy’s struggle with bipolar disorder and depression, leading to his suicide at 15. His mother, the filmmaker, hopes to shed light on this difficult disease with painful honesty, to expose a very true reality. (Mon. 9pm)
• The Reege is back, clocking more TV hours with the tenth anniversary return of primetime Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? for a special 11-night, two-week event. Airing Sunday-Thursday, starting August 3 at 8pm, and wrapping Sunday, August 23.
• If you’d rather get your dance on, or watch others do so, the two-night finale of FOX’s So You Think You Can Dance is here. Wednesday at 9pm for the performances, and the two hour extravaganza finale at 8pm, Thursday.
• But don’t worry; dance continues as by Sunday, the new season of Randy Jackson Presents: America’s Best Dance Crew will be under away again. (Sun. 9pm, MTV)
• The team behind Slumdog Millionaire put together Bollywood Hero, a three-part mini-series over three consecutive nights, about a guy who failed to land a lead “heroic” role in the States, so took one in Bollywood. Will America follow? (Thu. 10pm, IFC)
• It’s been gone for a little while now, but TLC has a little show coming back. You may not have heard of it. It’s about this couple who have eight kids, a set of twins and sextuplets. Jon & Kate Plus 8 returns for awhile. (Mon. 9pm)
• It’s “Shark Week” over at the Discovery Channel, with shark-themed specials all week long. What more do you need to know. SHARK WEEK!

Premieres & Specials

• Remember when there used to be live music concerts on television? Kristian Bush and Jennifer Nettles do. And they think there’s still a place for it in the land of iTunes and YouTube. Thus, tonight’s Sugarland: Live on the Inside. (Mon. 8pm, ABC)
• The History Channel is taking us way back to the age of legends, with Clash of the Gods. It promises tons of special effects, make-up, and epic battles. So does that mean it’s a dramatization, or more documentary style? My money’s on it being a hybrid of the two.
• One of the stranger premises I’ve heard, There Goes the Neighborhood, walls off part of a street, and puts the neighbors into a Big Brother surreality. (Sun. 9pm, CBS)
• TV Land gets into the hidden camera reality genre with Make My Day, only it’s a more positive spin. A day of amazing fun and surprises are set up for someone by family and friends, and the whole thing is caught on tape for our feel-good pleasure. (Wed. 10:30pm)
• Also on TV Land, Joan Rivers brings her inimitable style to the new series How’d You Get So Rich? It asks … well, that would seem kind of obvious, wouldn’t it (Wed. 10pm)? And with a face that positively screams to be roasted, I am expecting great things from The Comedy Central Roast of Joan Rivers (Sun. 10pm, Comedy Central).
• Tony Shalhoub is back for his final go-round as Monk, followed by the return of the boys of Psych. See, there’s still time for summer fun! (Fri. 9pm, USA)
• HBO offers up another stand-up comedy special; this time it’s George Lopez: Tall, Dark & Chicano. (Sat. 10pm)
• Shark Tank reminds me of BBC America’s Dragon’s Den. In it, young entrepreneurs try to convince a panel of five business tycoons (so to speak) to invest in their dreams. (Sun. 9pm, ABC)
• The NFL is back with pre-season Sunday Night Football, featuring the “Hall of Fame Game” between the Bills and the Titans. (Sun. 8pm, NBC)
• The History Channel takes a couple of forays back to show us Sex in the Ancient World. I’m not sure why they think this appeals to us, but as it has “Sex” right there in the title, I’m sure people will be tuning in. As long as it doesn’t involve them showing us ancient people– okay, I won’t go there. (Mon. 9pm & Fri. 10pm, History)
• Also marking triumphant returns are Real Chance of Love (Mon. 9pm, VH1), Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives (Mon. 10pm, Food), Big Ideas for a Small Planet (Tue. 8pm, Sundance), and Man v. Food (Wed. 10pm, Travel).
• New on the air, check out the Ultimate Cake Off (Mon. 10pm, TLC), Addicted to Beauty (Tue. 11pm, Oxygen), Guiliana & Bill (Wed. 9pm, Style), and Police Women of Broward County (Thu. 9pm, TLC),

Finales

• Did you enjoy The Superstars? It’s over now. You should be sad. (Tue. 8pm, ABC)
• Okay, maybe not on that last one, but there is a part of me that will miss the Darlings. Tonight marks the end of Dirty Sexy Money for good. (Sat. 10pm, ABC)
• Also dunzo are Street Patrol (Tue. 8:30pm, MyNetwork TV), Paris Hilton’s My New BFF (Tue. 9pm, MTV), Primetime: Family Secrets (Tue. 10pm, ABC), Tori & Dean (Tue. 10pm, Oxygen), I Survived a Japanese Game Show (Wed. 9pm, ABC), Burn Notice (Thu. 9pm, USA), Surviving Suburbia (Fri. 8pm, ABC), The Goode Family (Fri. 9:30pm, ABC), Can You Duet? (Sat. 9pm, CMT), Battle of the Bods (Sat. 10:30pm, Fox Reality Channel), Law & Order: Criminal Intent (Sun. 8pm, USA), Brooke Knows Best (Sun. 10pm, VH1), In Plain Sight (Sun. 10pm, USA), Jesse James Is a Dead Man (Sun. 10pm, Spike TV), and Z Rock (Sun. 11pm, IFC).

Clacked by Jason Hughes
on Aug 03, 2009 @ 18:00 EST5EDT