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A select viewing guide to the next seven days of television

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MONDAY JANUARY 19 NCIS: Los Angeles (CBS, Global, 10 p.m.) It’s good to be Julie Chen these days. Besides hosting CBS’s Big Brother and conducting daily gab duty on The Talk, she’s now been handed a plum guest role in tonight’s new episode of CBS’s highest-rated drama series. In any event, Chen is not terrible in the role of U.S. ambassador Nancy Kelly, who narrowly escapes getting blown up by terrorists at the U.S. consulate in Tunisia. Enter burly agents Callen (Chris O’Donnell) and Sam (LL Cool J), who show up hats in hands to seek Kelly’s assistance in locating the bad guys. Come to think of it, Chen appears to be the big hero of the entire episode! Oh, did we mention that Julie Chen is married to CBS CEO Les Moonves?

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TUESDAY JANUARY 20 The Nine Lives of Chloe King (YTV, 10 p.m.) Since there are only so many old episodes of Wipeout and America’s Funniest Home Videos out there, YTV tries out something new with this supernatural series. Or at least sort of new. Originally broadcast on ABC Family during the summer of 2011, this series around the central figure of Chloe King (Skyler Samuels), a seemingly normal 16-year-old who abruptly discovers that she’s a descendant of an ancient race called the Mai, which comes with cat-like super powers (super-speed, super-strength, night vision and retractable cat claws, among other handy tricks). And on her 16th birthday, no less! Owing to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the opening episode hammers home the point that having super-powers comes with great responsibility, and so forth. It’s no Buffy, but it’s not bad.

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WEDNESDAY JANUARY 21 Young Drunk Punk (Citytv, 8:30 p.m.) Remember Bruce McCulloch? The former Kids in the Hall fixture based this new sitcom on his longrunning stage show of the same title and it just might be the best new show of the current TV season. Borrowing literally from McCulloch’s childhood years in Calgary, the premise takes place in the early eighties and casts smart newcomer Tim Carlson as Ian – a spiky-haired wannabe punk rocker whose only real pal is the witless Shinky (Atticus Mitchell). Both teens stand out among their fellow high-schools in their bland Albertan suburb, which naturally leads to weekly hijinks. Maybe the best part of all: Ian’s dad Lloyd is played by…Bruce McCulloch! If you do one smart thing this week, watch this show.

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THURSDAY JANUARY 22 Backstrom (Fox, Citytv, 9 p.m.) Meet primetime’s newest grouch. Best known for his longrunning role as the infuriating Dwight Schrute on The Office, Rainn Wilson puts those same irritating skills to work in this offbeat drama. Much like House before him, Wilson’s fictional persona of Portland detective Everett Backstrom introduces viewers to a true misanthrope whose brilliance at solving crime somehow prevents everyone in his presence from punching him in the face. In the opener, Backstrom delves into the murder of a college student whose death was originally deemed a suicide. The weird part is how effectively Wilson sells the despicable character.

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FRIDAY JANUARY 23 Love, Lust or Run (TLC, 9 p.m.) Stacy London! Where have you been, girlfriend? Following a successful seven season-run on TLC’s What Not to Wear, and a brief TV hiatus, the dishy style diva finally comes back to television in this new series seemingly tailored specifically for her no-nonsense manner. In each show, she profiles a woman whose outrageous fashion choices have friends and family aghast (think tube tops, hot pants, booty shorts, et al) and takes them out on the streets to get total strangers to confirm that outrageousness. Next comes the standard Stacy-style makeover, followed by another trip back to the streets, where people put the women in the category of love, lust or run. And you thought Mr. Blackwell was harsh?

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SATURDAY JANUARY 24 The O.J. Trial: Drama of the Century (CNN, 9 p.m.) In every way, the O.J. trial was TV’s first reality show. For most of 1995, the whole world was riveted to watching former football great O.J. Simpson on trial for the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ronald Goldman. Two decades later, the entire O.J. trial is wrapped up tidily in this CNN special that focuses primarily on six key moments. Among them: The tearful testimony of Nicole’s sister, Denise Brown; prosecuting attorney Marcia Clark asking Judge Ito to declare O.J. houseguest Kato Kaelin a “hostile witness”; the sullen testimony of L.A. detective Mark Fuhrman; and, most notably, the shrewd courtroom strategy of Simpson attorney Johnnie Cochran, who had his client try on the bloody glove found near the crime scene and told jurors, “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit!” He was right.

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SUNDAY JANUARY 25 Sweet Smell of Success (TCM, 10 p.m.) What a gem of a movie. One of the first Hollywood films to cast a truly jaundiced eye on the entertainment industry, this 1957 noir drama is required viewing for any serious cinephile and rides on the strength of two bona fide movie star performances. Burt Lancaster is quietly cold-blooded as the New York gossip columnist and career maker or breaker J.J. Hunsecker (a character obviously based on Walter Winchell). Tony Curtis is oleaginous and desperate as Sid Falco, the ambitious press agent who enters into a Faustian deal with the columnist to ruin the career of a pot-smoking jazz musician daring to date Hunsecker's sister. Nearly 60 years later, it's still a startling indictment of showbiz shallowness.

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