Seven Days of Television: September 16 to September 22
A select viewing guide to the next seven days of television
MONDAY SEPTEMBER 16 The Amazing Race Canada (CTV, 9 p.m.) The great Canadian scavenger hunt comes to a close tonight’s and it’s going to be a barnburner. The Amazing Race Canada has enjoyed a successful first season with a regular audience in the three-million viewer range and there’s a definite family theme to tonight’s finale: The last three teams standing: Sisters Vanessa Morgan and Celina Mziray, brothers Jody and Cory Mitic and father-and-son duo Tim Hague senior and Tim Hague junior. The final leg of the competition whisks the three teams to Toronto where, among other tests, they’re challenged to hang off one of the city’s tallest skyscrapers.
TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 17 The Mindy Project (Fox, Citytv, 9:30 p.m.) Welcome back, Mindy Kaling. Back tonight for its sophomore season, this low-key sitcom casting the former regular on The Office as a wacky, lovelorn gynecologist has a strong fan following and solid social media presence. The new season-opener finds Mindy and her semi-boyfriend Casey (Anders Holm) enjoying the good life in Haiti, until she gets desperately ill and has to be airlifted back home to New York. Meanwhile, the clinic where Mindy works is rocked by the arrival of a handsome former model turned gyno named Paul Leotard–played by guest star James Franco!
WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 18 Survivor: Blood Vs. Water (CBS, Global, 8 p.m.) Want to feel real old? Tonight is the 27 th season of the original castaway survivalist reality show. The new campaign was filmed at Palaui Island in the Philippines and Jeff Probst still holds forth as host/provocateur, but this time there’s a twist on the format: Instead of the usual assortment of strangers, the contestants are comprised of two-person teams, each with personal relationships. Hence we have the mother-daughter pair of Laura and Ciera, the dating duo of Tyson and Rachel, the married couple Candice and Cody and so forth. Let the Lord of the Flies games begin.
THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 19 Real Potential (HGTV, 9 p.m.) A little Sarah Richardson goes a long way in this clever new series. The setup features the savvy interior designer searching for the hidden potential of not-so-great domiciles by touring three homes with prospective buyers. Naturally there are lavish makeovers to convert the dumps into dream homes, as in tonight’s opening episode that introduces viewers to a nice young couple named Ayesha and Michael.
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 20 Shark Tank (ABC, CTV Two, 9 p.m.) Back tonight for a fifth season, this U.S. version of our own Dragon’s Den is the reason to stay home on a Friday night. As before, the format involves wide-eyed entrepreneurs delivering pitches for their great big idea to a panel of rich people. The returning Sharks: Lori Greiner, Mark Cuban, Barbara Corcoran and Dragon’s Den mainstays Kevin O’Leary and Robert Herjavec. In the opener, two Dallas bakers try to entice the Sharks with their concept of cake balls and two Arizona doctors pitch their business plan for merging social media and the medical profession.
SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 21 Tsunami: Caught on Camera (CBC News Network, 10 p.m.) Narrative-free and comprised almost entirely of amateur footage, this compelling British documentary rewinds the clock to Boxing Day, 2004, when a massive earthquake and tsunami rocked the Indian Ocean, leaving nearly 300,000 dead in 11 countries. The amateur video by survivors began to surface in the days and weeks that followed and much of the footage is truly terrifying. One of the scarier clips comes from an English visitor to Thailand who was the first in his group to spot the massive wave bearing down on a beachside resort. It’s a chilling portrait of Mother Nature gone wrong.
SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 22 The 65 th Primetime Emmy Awards (CBS, CTV, 8 p.m.) Doogie Howser is hosting the Emmys? Former child star Neil Patrick Harris, currently holding forth on How I Met Your Mother, is the host of the annual awards fete broadcast live from the Nokia Theatre in Hollywood. There’s more reason than usual to watch the Emmys, largely due to the fact that the online Netflix has already made TV history by earning multiple nominations in several categories. Does Netflix’s House of Cards have a chance in the Best Drama category against such heavyweight fare as Mad Men, Game of Thrones, Downton Abbey, Breaking Bad and Homeland? The envelope, please.