TV: Five shows worth watching tonight: February 22
A select viewing guide for Friday, February 22
FOOD Food Factory (Food Network, 7 p.m.) How are foodstuffs delivered to the masses? This sharp series is devoid of the usual nattering host and faux cooking-competition drama and takes viewers right down to the production lines of popular snacks, beverages and other consumable goods. The reason to watch stems entirely from the diverse range of products on display. Tonight’s first episode documents the production of cold smoked salmon, yogurt and tiny perfect pouches of ravioli. In the second show, witness the mass production of protein-enriched eggs, apple danishes and pre-cooked tortillas. Now, don’t you feel smarter?
NEWS Marketplace (CBC, 8 p.m.) In theory, daycare centers should be a perfectly safe haven for kids, but not in this country. Host Erica Johnson reveals a patchwork system with few rules and untold looming dangers for the young children of working parents. According to this report, most licensed daycare spaces have long waiting lists and exorbitant fees, which leaves many parents with the limited option of using an unlicensed daycare facility. And it may interest you to know that anybody can start a daycare business in Canada, which is where the troubles usually begin. Marketplace sends an undercover team to an unlicensed daycare to find out what really happens after parents drop off the little ones.
REALITY Shark Tank (ABC, CTV, 9 p.m.) Emmy-nominated last year for Best Reality Series, this American version of Dragon’s Den is always a safe viewing bet on Friday night. As on Den, the no-frills format involves wide-eyed entrepreneurs delivering pumped-up pitches for their great big idea to a panel of haughty rich people. The Sharks: Lori Greiner, Mark Cuban, Daymond John and Dragon’s Den veterans Kevin O’Leary and Robert Herjavec. Tonight’s new episode features pitches from three brothers hawking their one-of-a-kind eyewear made of sustainable wood and from a pair of genuine Southern belles looking for startup money to launch their bedding line for little girls. Also: A man who previously pitched his line of fragrances that smell like money comes back to provide an update.
NEWS 20/20 (ABC, 10 p.m.) In case you’ve noticed the face of Robin Roberts on nearly every U.S. magazine and tabloid this past week, it’s because the veteran news anchor returned to her Good Morning America job last week, five months after undergoing a bone-marrow transplant to treat the rare blood disorder Myelodysplastic Syndrome. Roberts has already received a welcome back message from U.S. president Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle, so this hour informs viewers on the major events in her life over the past year. In a sitdown with Diane Sawyer, Roberts discusses the lasting effects of the medical procedures she’s undergone and gets all misty-eyed during the accolades from her ABC cohorts George Stephanopoulos, Lara Spencer and Josh Elliott.
MOVIE All the King’s Men (TCM, midnight ET; 9 p.m. PT) To prepare for this Sunday’s Oscars broadcast, watch this classic movie that swept the major categories at the 1950 Academy Awards. Based on the Pulitzer-winning novel by Robert Penn Warren, the story earned Best Picture honours and a Best Actor Oscar for gruff Broderick Crawford in the role of backwoods lawyer Willie Stark, who becomes the popular candidate in his southern constituency by standing up to the corrupt local government. Once Willie is elected governor, he becomes even more crooked than the politicians he replaced and even begins cheating on his long-suffering wife Lucy (Anne Seymour) with his campaign manager Sadie (Mercedes McCambridge, who also won an Oscar). Forget the dreadful 2006 remake starring Sean Penn ever happened and watch the original.