TV: Five shows worth watching tonight: December 26
A select viewing guide for Wednesday, December 26
REALITY Holmes Makes It Right (HGTV, 7 p.m.-midnight) Nothing ticks off Mike Holmes like a job done wrong. The burly contractor is still fixing problems, one home at a time, in this series launched two months ago. In the same vein as Holmes on Holmes and Holmes Inspection, the show’s format follows Holmes coming to the aid of luckless homeowners stuck with the mistakes of disreputable contractors. Tonight’s marathon leads off with a two-parter episode in which a nice couple named Peggy and Don reach out to Mike when the contractor they paid to build a second story addition to their house has disappeared. Turns out the contractor has vamoosed to Europe, leaving their upstairs unfinished and exposed to nature’s elements. Once again, Big Mike makes it right.
COMEDY Ben & Kate (Fox, 8-10 p.m.) It’s this season’s sleeper comedy hit. Slowly but surely rising in U.S. ratings, this sitcom boasts a winning performance by journeyman comic actor Nat Faxon–better known for collecting a screenplay Oscar last spring for co-writing The Descendants–as the affable slacker Ben, who returns unannounced to his sleepy hometown to inject some fun into the life of his drab single-mom sister Kate (Dakota Johnson). In the first show of tonight’s mini-marathon, Ben pushes his sister to attend her high-school reunion and exact vengeance upon the she-bully who made her life miserable years before. Because that’s what big brothers do.
DRAMA Law & Order: SVU (NBC, 9 p.m.) Is there a sturdier show in primetime today than this crime drama? Now in its 13 th season, SVU has outlasted all the other L&O series and still ranks among NBC’s highest-rated programs. Tonight, Detective Benson (Mariska Hargitay) investigates a brutal rape case in which the victim was very nearly killed. Benson recognizes the signature signs of a rapist she believed was convicted eight years earlier. Was it a wrongful conviction or is there a copycat rapist roaming the streets of New York? The answer will impact Benson’s burgeoning relationship with new district attorney David Haden (Harry Connick Jr.)
REALITY Collection Intervention (Slice, 10 p.m.) Some people take their collectibles a little too seriously. This series from the U.S. SyFy channel attempts to provide a reality check for obsessive collectors. Hosted by History Detectives mainstay Elyse Luray, tonight’s episode presents two startling profiles. First, meet Consetta, whose tiny home is crammed to the rafters with Star Wars collectibles, from light sabres to Wookie figurines. Next up: Mark, who appears to spend every waking minute tending to his collection of Catwoman memorabilia. He is even hiding it from his wife in the garage! In either instance, Ms. Luray gently eases the collectors toward reality.
MOVIE You’ve Got Mail (Bravo!, 8 p.m.) Directed by the late, great Nora Ephron, who also co-wrote the screenplay with her sister Delia, this 1998 film teamed Meg Ryan with Tom Hanks for an old-school romantic comedy. The story cast Hanks as Joe and Ryan as Kathleen, who both own bookstores on the same street on New York’s Upper West Side. While leading completely separate lives, the odd couple meet in an online chat room (still a fairly new innovation back in 1998) and pretty soon they’re pouring the hearts out to each other in a ceaseless email dialogue. The only hitch: Joe’s big-chain bookstore conglomerate is on the verge of taking over the space occupied by Kathleen’s tiny shop.