TV: Five shows worth watching tonight: April 3
A select viewing guide for Tuesday, April 3.
DRAMA Missing CTV, 8 p.m. ET/PT It seems people just love watching Ashley Judd kick butt. Since launching three weeks ago, this action-drama starring Judd as a former CIA operative knocking heads and taking names in search of her missing son has been a ratings magnet on both sides of the border. In the U.S., the debut attracted nearly nine-million viewers; the show has steadily been drawing more than two-million viewers for CTV here each week. The formula involves scenes of breakneck action wedged in-between scenery of beautiful European locales. Tonight's episode takes place in Dubrovnik, Croatia, and finds Judd's character of Becca reunited with her CIA mentor, Martin Newman (Keith Carradine), who helps revise the search plans for the missing teen. And then, it's fight club!
COMEDY Cougar Town ABC, CITY-TV, 8:30 p.m. ET/PT Why do couples on sitcoms never elope? Because that would negate all the hilarious scenarios that come with TV weddings! In tonight's new episode, the harried Jules (Courteney Cox) is preparing for her nuptials to Grayson (Josh Hopkins), when her son Travis (Dan Byrd) announces that he wants to be the official wedding photographer. At the same time, Jules's ex Bobby (Brian Van Holt) tells everyone that things are getting serious between him and his new lady Angie (Sarah Chalke). The lady, however, doesn't quite see it that way.
COMEDY I, Martin Short, Goes Home CBC, 9 p.m. ET/PT Martin Short has tried on many hats these past few years. Beyond his stints on Broadway, the Canadian comedy performer has demonstrated his dramatic mettle on the series Damages, taken a recurring role on How I Met Your Mother and, most recently, is serving as a judge on Canada's Got Talent. But he's far more in his element in this offbeat comedy special in which he returns to his hometown of Hamilton. The loose storyline involves the star's fictional childhood hero, played by Fred Willard, fallen upon hard times, prompting Short to return home to stage a benefit concert. Along the way, Short works in scenes at such famous Hamilton landmarks as Ivor Wynne Stadium and the Westdale Theatre. Watch for cameo character turns from Short's former SCTV pals Eugene Levy and Andrea Martin.
DOCUMENTARY American Experience PBS, 9:30 p.m. ET/PT A man, a plan, a canal – Panama! Tonight's episode of this compelling documentary series documents the construction of the Panama Canal. The program details the exhaustive pre-planning by engineers that went into the mammoth project, which took more than a decade to complete and cost the U.S. government more than $350-million – which was a heck of a lot of money in 1914. In human costs, the project claimed more than 5,000 lives and disrupted the local ecosystem. When the Panama Canal was finally opened, it connected the world's two largest oceans and made America a legitimate world power.
MOVIE Backdraft AMC, 8 p.m. ET; 5 p.m. PT One of the biggest box-office earners of 1981, this epic action-drama directed by Ron Howard boasts a solid cast and eyebrow-singeing special effects. The story revolves around two Chicago firefighting brothers: Stephen (Kurt Russell) is the brash veteran prone to taking risks while younger Brian (William Baldwin) is newly graduated from the firefighter academy. When it appears Brian doesn't have the right stuff to work the hook and ladder, he's assigned to a desk job with the moody arson investigator named “Shadow” (Robert De Niro), who is on the trail of someone setting fires all over the windy city. Our own Donald Sutherland delivers a memorable guest turn as a creepy firebug.