TV: Five shows worth watching tonight: April 9
A select viewing guide for Monday, April 9
REALITY Campus PD MTV, 7 p.m. ET; 4 p.m. PT Remember when college students would swallow goldfish or cram themselves into a phone booth for fun? Anybody who fondly recalls those days will likely go into shock watching this MTV series documenting the patrols of police and security forces at university and college campuses all over the U.S. Tonight's hour-long block features two episodes filmed in Florida during Spring Break. In the first show, the rent-a-cops roust some underage students for drinking on the beach and investigate a stolen motorcycle. In the second episode, they're called in to break up a violent beach brawl.
COMEDY 2 Broke Girls CBS, CITY-TV, 8:30 p.m. ET/PT Already renewed for next season, this sitcom gets more viewers with each new episode. As the warm-up show for Two and a Half Men, the workplace comedy revolves around two humble waitresses: Streetwise Max (Kat Dennings) is the poor kid with big dreams of opening her own cupcake store; co-worker Caroline (Beth Behrs) is the dense trust-fund princess currently short on funds, thanks to her father running a Ponzi scheme. The pair butted heads in the first several episodes but by now they best friends forever, as evidenced in tonight's new episode in which Max convinces Caroline to take part in a clinical drug trial in an attempt to help Caroline's father.
REALITY Canada's Got Talent CITY-TV, 9 p.m. ET/PT Based on ratings that hover around the million-viewer mark, Canadians have taken to this free-form talent contest. The opening rounds of the cross-country competition have produced the usual entertainment oddities (fire-eaters, beatboxers, dog acts et al.) but also some truly talented individuals. Standout acts to date have included the rock quartet Pulp City Inn (who need to change their name) and the mom-turned-opera-diva Julie Lafontaine. Now we're into the semifinal rounds and tonight's episode is a live performance show, with the results to be announced tomorrow night. Will nice guy CGT judge Martin Short have the heart to send some of the acts packing? Like Jiminy Glick says, that's showbiz, babe.
REALITY Mama's Boys of the Bronx TLC, 10 p.m. ET/PT Debuting tonight, this new program is TLC's version of Jersey Shore, with one significant tweak. Whereas the guidos and guidettes of Shore are footloose and fancy-free, this eight-part series profiles five brash Italian-American friends with one big thing in common: Each one still lives with his mom in the Bronx, N.Y., and is darn proud of it. Tonight's first episode introduces Anthony, Giovanni, Peter, Frankie and Chip, each in his 30s and each completely dependent on their mothers for everything from home-cooked meals to clean underwear. In the second show, Peter prepares a surprise birthday party for his girlfriend, with a little help from mama.
MOVIE The Robe Vision, 11 p.m. ET; 8 p.m. PT The first movie ever released in the big-screen process of CinemaScope, this 1953 biblical epic was billed as “the modern miracle you see without glasses!” (a not-so-sly dig at the 3-D movie craze at the time). Richard Burton plays the cynical Roman tribune Marcellus, who is sent to Jerusalem to assist in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. While gambling with his fellow soldiers Marcellus wins the robe Jesus wore to his death and is immediately stricken with violent hallucinations. Marcellus believes the curse can be halted by destroying the garment, but first he has to find the robe's new owner: the escaped slave Demetrius (Victor Mature).