'Howie Do It': ewwww

January 9, 2009

Tonight, Howie Mandel, the eccentric host of Deal or No Deal, leaves the babes and briefcases behind (for a little while at least) to take the helm of a new hidden camera show, Howie Do It. But those looking for impromptu hilarity should look elsewhere. Howie Do It is nothing but a Candid Camera knock-off with lame jokes.

Recent columns

• 'Damages' back; real world of pests

  January 7, 2009

  Showing no signs of a sophomore slump, Damages returns tonight as the creators of the legal drama intensify their intricate thriller.

• Escape to 'India' on MPT

  January 5, 2009

  The documentary India begins tonight on MPT. And the six-hour miniseries will tell you more about India than you probably wanted to know.

• New 'Tess' for PBS

  January 2, 2009

  Unwed motherhood, alcoholism, lack of education, a hypocritical church - the themes that swirl around Tess of the D'Urbervilles just keep going around and around and coming back at us.

• A look at 'Cinema's Exiles'

  January 1, 2009

  Casablanca, the classic movie about love, sacrifice and the Nazis, is at the very heart of a new documentary that is about, well, love, sacrifice and the Nazis.

• Happy New Year's Eve

  December 31, 2008

  Chalk up yet another holiday that has become defined and dominated by television. There is a New Year's Eve TV show for just about every demographic and taste, including one featuring Miley Cyrus on MTV and the eternal Dick Clark on ABC. Given the economy, I suspect more Americans than ever will be ringing in the new year in front of their television sets.

• Kennedy hosts 'Honors'

  December 30, 2008

  It is only fitting in a year when politics so dominated television that the networks' new fall season was largely ignored in favor of presidential coverage that the last big prime-time entertainment special of the season is steeped in politics.

• A classy dish on HBO

  December 29, 2008

  Give HBO four stars for its classy, spicy and very satisfying documentary about the once legendary New York eatery, Le Cirque: A Table in Heaven.

• Romance on Hallmark

  December 26, 2008

  A Kiss at Midnight, a holiday movie on the Hallmark Channel, points the way to New Year's Eve, with romance befitting Valentine's Day.

• A slam-dunk Christmas

  December 25, 2008

  On Christmas, the NBA gives the gift of basketball - five games broadcast nationally on ESPN, ABC and TNT, the first of which is a yuletide plum, pitting Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic against the Chris Paul-led New Orleans Hornets. The Magic battled an injury bug in the early going, but that hasn't stopped them from winning 13 of their first 17 games. After a breakthrough 2007-2008 season, a relatively slow 9-6 start has everyone in New Orleans asking why. (Noon, ESPN)

• Nestled all snug in their beds

  December 24, 2008

  Here's a useful helpmate for parents of youngsters likely to have trouble settling down on Christmas Eve for Santa's delivery.

• Faith Hill goes 'Home for the Holidays'

  December 23, 2008

  Tonight, Faith Hill headlines The 10th Annual "A Home for the Holidays" Special, the latest edition of this program aimed at raising awareness of adoption.

• 'Today' show heads for night in holiday special

  December 22, 2008

  Apparently airing in the morning isn't enough. NBC's Today show is going prime-time, for tonight only at least.

• 'Womb' looks at identical twins

  December 19, 2008

  In the latest edition of In the Womb, viewers are taken this weekend for a prenatal sneak peek at identical twins. Born from the same single fertilized egg, identical twins not surprisingly retain a similar physical appearance as they grow up.

• 'Futurama' gets new life as film

  December 18, 2008

  The Simpsons spin-off Futurama may still be canceled, but the cult favorite has found a new life as a series of direct-to-DVD movies. Tonight, Comedy Central returns the gang to TV as it re-airs the first Futurama feature, Bender's Big Score.

• Molly Shattuck's 'Secret' life

  December 17, 2008

  Baltimore's Molly Shattuck says she "despises" the title of the Fox reality series in which she is featured tonight - Secret Millionaire - but "loves" the show.

• 'Momma's Boys': so bad

  December 16, 2008

  The fourth-place network, NBC, shows its unerring instinct for cheapening the prime-time landscape with Momma's Boys, a new reality series debuting at 10 tonight.

• Real 'High School Musical'

  December 15, 2008

  How many times can the high-school-musical narrative be retold and replayed? The ABC newsmagazine 20/20 takes a whack at this evergreen tonight with "Drama High: The Making of a High School Musical," which offers a backstage look at the making of a production of The Wiz at a high school in Virginia.

• Inside the White House

  December 12, 2008

  There is no lush adaptation of Charles Dickens, no first- or even second-rate thrillers this weekend. But there is a holiday treat for the family, and the unlikely TV Santa is C-SPAN.

• Goodbye, Gil Grissom

  December 11, 2008

  He works in what must be the darkest office on the planet. On a weekly basis, he is knee-deep in body parts. And those are the good parts of the job. Why on earth would a guy want to leave?

• No Molly on 'Millionaire'

  December 10, 2008

  First of all, let me tell what is not on tonight, so you can plan your viewing accordingly.

• A tribute-worthy tribute

  December 9, 2008

  Tribute shows can be engaging and illuminating when the person being honored matters and the people doing the honoring are a little deeper than the usual celebrity suspects. That's the case on the AMC cable channel with The American Cinematheque Honors Samuel L. Jackson. The annual award goes to an artist who has made a significant contribution to the motion picture industry.

• Bye, bye 'Boston Legal'

  December 8, 2008

  The ABC lawyer drama Boston Legal ends its run tonight with a two-hour finale focused on the characters of Alan Shore ( James Spader) and Denny Crane ( William Shatner) - and that's as it should be. I am not sure this series had soul, but they certainly formed the heart of it. In so doing, they became one of the more intelligent, engaging, off-beat and enduring professional couples on TV.

• TNT to debut 'Leverage'

  December 5, 2008

  Corporations have all the power, all the money, Nathan Ford (Timothy Hutton) tells a weeping mother at the end of the pilot for a series premiering Sunday night on TNT. "We provide [pause] leverage."

• 'Fascinating People'

  December 4, 2008

  I am feeling better about Barbara Walters since her interview last week with President-elect Barack Obama and future first lady Michelle Obama. She asked solid, informed questions during the session and waited until the very end to inject a moment of fun in the conversation by holding up a picture of her dog and doing some lobbying for the breed as the next White House canine.

• Shatner's 'Raw Nerve'

  December 2, 2008

  Maybe the world doesn't need another TV interview show - particularly one that features guests almost no one would think of as "A" listers.

• 'Cooking' with Mom

  December 1, 2008

  Food might be the last thing you want to see on your TV screen after Thanksgiving. But Lifetime debuts a new daily TV series, Mom's Cooking, that is a lot of fun.

• Weekend TV: not so bad

  November 28, 2008

  Holiday weekend TV is supposed to be awful unless you are a serious sports fan. According to conventional wisdom, reruns and lame specials dominate. Once again, conventional wisdom is wrong; there is a fairly strong lineup this weekend.

• Heroic efforts on CNN

  November 27, 2008

  It would be hard to find a better lineup of celebrity performers or a bigger TV event tonight than the second annual CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute that honors ordinary people who have achieved extraordinary accomplishments in their communities and beyond.

• Rosie's back with variety

  November 26, 2008

  This might well date me, but one of the few prime-time entertainment shows I have been waiting for with a real sense of anticipation is the NBC variety show premiering tonight at 8, Rosie Live, with Rosie O'Donnell.

• Raw-edged 'Shield' ends

  November 25, 2008

  After seven seasons, The Shield comes to an end tonight on FX. And I am surprised at how little emotion I feel about the finale.

• 'Dancing' warm-up

  November 24, 2008

  It's finals week on Dancing with the Stars, and that means you get a finals pre-show as well as the show itself tonight. (8 p.m., WMAR-Channel 2)

• '20/20' loses its focus with Ashley Dupre interview

  November 21, 2008

  As one newsmagazine takes the high road, another goes low. Or, for every action, there is a reaction.

• Foster care film top-notch

  November 20, 2008

  Foster care in Maryland is brought into sharp focus tonight on MPT through a documentary produced by Academy Award-winning filmmaker William A. Whiteford. Foster Care Stories: A Place to Be will air in conjunction with a live phone bank that viewers can call (800-222-1292) to get more information about the state's foster care resources.

• A true 'Friendship'

  November 19, 2008

  Parts of the story of Pip Moyers and Zastrow Simms, a saga about two who dared to defy racial segregation, have been told in TheBaltimore Sun and other papers from time to time.

• Discover Bible's secrets

  November 18, 2008

  The ratings success of the venerable CBS newsmagazine 60 Minutes in recent weeks brings to mind another storied TV franchise, Nova, the science series now in its 35th season on PBS and still going strong.

• Go back to the classics

  November 17, 2008

  My marching orders here are to tell readers what I think is best on this night's TV, and that is not always the shows that are new.

• Gervais out of character

  November 14, 2008

  For comedy fans, there is not much debate about what the big TV event of the weekend is. It's Ricky Gervais: Out of England on HBO.

• Familiar faces show up on 'ER,' '30 Rock'

  November 13, 2008

  With viewers rejecting most of the new network shows and stars this fall, NBC is going with the old tonight. Two of the network's biggest former stars return tonight, and they'll probably mean big ratings.

• Back to 'Chef' reality

  November 12, 2008

  After all the drama and importance of watching the presidential campaign play out on TV in recent months, I felt like it might be a long, long time before I could ever get hooked on a reality TV series again.

• 'Boogie Man': still scary

  November 11, 2008

  Now that the election is over, you might think you've had enough of political TV. But, please, don't turn the page on TV and politics until you have seen Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story tonight on PBS. This finely crafted political biography dissects and explains the nastiness of U.S. politics during the past three decades like nothing I have read or viewed.

• Inside Lipton's 'Studio'

  November 10, 2008

  Inside the Actors Studio, one of TV's smartest and most engaging productions, celebrates its 200th episode tonight by putting host James Lipton in the guest's seat with comedian Dave Chappelle doing the interviewing.

• Return to New Orleans

  November 7, 2008

  Author and spoken-word artist Henry Rollins is not for everyone. But for those who get the former lead singer of Black Flag, he's a breath of fresh air - particularly for television.

• Winfrey may rock ratings for Fey's comedy

  November 6, 2008

  Tina Fey and Oprah Winfrey. Are there two bigger female stars in pop culture today?

• Hailing war heroes

  November 5, 2008

  With the election over, the TV schedule returns to some semblance of normal. But expect the networks to break into news programming as events dictate - we do, after all, have a president-elect.

• All election, all night

  November 4, 2008

  Election night finally arrives, and virtually all of the major networks and cable channels are blowing out all other programming to bring viewers the historic election results live.

• Gear up for the election

  November 3, 2008

  It's the eve of the election of a lifetime and TV has been at the center of events, so don't come here looking for me to tell you what steps they'll be doing on Dancing with the Stars tonight. Besides, I had enough of that for anybody's lifetime last spring, when Baltimore's Mario was on the show and I was interviewing him every week about what steps he'd be doing.

• Dive in to politics on TV

  October 31, 2008

  Don't fight it. On the last weekend before one of the most important elections in American history, go with the political flow when it comes to TV viewing.

• '30 Rock' finally returns

  October 30, 2008

  There have not been many nights worth getting excited about when it comes to the new TV season. But with Tina Fey's sitcom, 30 Rock, returning on NBC, this is one of them. The series cleaned up at the Emmys, winning seven of the trophies, including best comedy writing, best comedy show and best lead actress and actor in a comedy series. Fey, who created the series, was responsible for the first three, while Alec Baldwin earned the fourth.

• A message from Obama

  October 29, 2008

  We are now officially only days away from the election of a lifetime, and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama comes to prime time tonight with a half-hour paid political announcement that is expected to reach such a large audience that Fox was willing to rearrange its World Series schedule to open up some airtime for the candidate. (8 p.m., WBAL-Channel 11, WJZ-Channel 13, WBFF-Channel 45 and cable channel BET)

• Always a treat: 'Peanuts'

  October 28, 2008

  For better or worse, a holiday isn't a holiday until TV says it is. At least, that's the case with Halloween and the Peanuts classic, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Its story line and dialogue are probably as widely known and beloved as the feature film It's a Wonderful Life. So, let's just cut to the chase and give it four well-worn and much-deserved stars. (8 p.m., WMAR-Channel 2) ****

• 'Sesame Street' shares

  October 27, 2008

  I have long loved the way in which Sesame Street plugs kids into pop culture, and there's a fine example of that today when NBC anchorman Brian Williams visits the street. A special "Sesame Street Update" finds Williams investigating why "no one is sharing." What he finds is an epidemic of Mine-itis, a Grouch disease that makes everyone think everything is theirs - and they don't want to share with anyone.

• U.S. debut for 'Archangel'

  October 24, 2008

  Before he was Bond, Daniel Craig was known as Kelso - Fluke Kelso, to be exact, in the BBC miniseries Archangel that has its U.S. TV premiere tonight on the Ion cable channel. And you don't have to be a Craig lover to like this stylish production. The film, which takes place across four days, is set in Moscow and the Siberian town of Archangel during the Communist era. It focuses on a former Oxford University historian (Craig) who stumbles onto one of the deepest and darkest secrets of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. (8 p.m. Ion) ***

• Biography walks the line

  October 23, 2008

  You can go with the usual Thursday night network mainstays, like NBC's The Office or ABC's Grey's Anatomy. Nothing wrong there. But if you are looking for something different, here are a couple of music-based productions.

• Baseball's big show

  October 22, 2008

  The World Series starts tonight on Fox with Game One between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Tampa Bay Rays. The World Series is the World Series no matter who is playing, but since this is my column, I can say as a loyal citizen of Red Sox Nation that, even though I will be watching, my heart won't be in it.

• A night of discovery

  October 21, 2008

  There are some impressive finds off the beaten path of network prime-time TV. If you can't give up House or Dancing with the Stars, consider the DVR.

• Focus on documentaries

  October 20, 2008

  For the past couple of weeks, the Sundance Channel has been dedicating Monday nights to two of my favorite things: politics and documentaries. It has a couple of excellent films tonight.

• 'Crash' series not as good as the film

  October 17, 2008

  The Starz cable channel debuts a drama series tonight inspired by Crash, the feature film that won an Oscar as best picture in 2006.

• 'SNL' takes over weeknight

  October 16, 2008

  Who would have thought a month ago that a half-hour version of Saturday Night Live would be a red-hot TV ticket on Thursday, one the biggest nights for regular series? But that's the case with SNL'sThursday edition, which finished in fifth place among all shows with the key demographic of young adult viewers 18 to 49 last week. And there is another special edition tonight focusing on the presidential election with "Weekend Update" anchors Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers. Poehler is the nearest thing to Tina Fey in comedy these days - and that is saying a lot about her talent. (9:30 p.m., WBAL-Channel 11)

• A 'Chocolate' perspective

  October 15, 2008

  The presidential candidacy of Sen. Barack Obama has already inspired several in-depth explorations of race, ranging from CNN's Black in America documentary in July to Ted Koppel's report The Last Lynching, which aired on Discovery Monday.

• 'Frontline' profiles the candidates

  October 14, 2008

  No one on TV does political biography as skillfully as the producers of Frontline. And every four years since 1988, they have outdone themselves with The Choice, their political life histories of the presidential candidates.

• Sobering look at history

  October 13, 2008

  Ted Koppel retired from ABC News a few years back, but he certainly hasn't stopped delivering thoughtful and serious journalism. And he continues that tonight with a new documentary, Koppel on Discovery: The Last Lynching.

• Nights fall into place

  September 25, 2008

  Finally, a night that feels like a regular fall evening of network TV. It's not that there is anything great and new that makes TV more inviting, but in keeping with a theme of the season, it's the returning series that offer hope.