TV: Five shows worth watching tonight: March 16
A select viewing guide for Friday, March 16
REALITY Shark Tank ABC, CTV, 8 p.m. Still pulling in solid ratings for its third season, this search for the next great American entrepreneur is basically the same show as CBC's Dragons' Den and even boasts two of our own "Dragons" -- Kevin O'Leary and Robert Herjavec -- as judges. Products pitched in tonight's new show include a high-tech software program, a solution that promises to remove cellulite and an aerating device that, its owner believes, could revolutionize the wine industry. Messrs O'Leary and Herjavec are joined on the Shark panel by Barbara Corcoran, Daymond John and Mark Cuban.
DRAMA Harry's Law Global, 9 p.m. Although this sophomore legal drama still isn't setting the world on fire in terms of ratings, a recent poll in the U.S. showed it to be one of network television's most PVRed programs. So there. In tonight's show, the no-nonsense lawyer Harriet "Harry" Korn, played by Oscar-winner Kathy Bates, tackles two cases simultaneously. In one courtroom, she's defending a school principal working to expel a student prone to uncontrollable outbursts; at the same time, she's working with a client convinced that his sister was murdered by her husband. Now that's called multi-tasking.
REALITY Four Weddings TLC, 10 p.m. Back tonight for its third season, this series works off a blessedly unadorned format: In each episode, four brides-to-be who have never met agree to attend each other's weddings. They grade each other's big day in the categories of food, dress, venue and originality; the bride whose wedding earns the highest score wins a luxury honeymoon. The fun part is watching other people's nuptials, which invariably run the gamut of style and taste. In tonight's first new show, the teacher Dena solicits the input of her kindergarten students; Shannon fills the reception ballroom with antiques; Ashley arranges a hookah lounge; and Sarah has a swinging BBQ hoedown.
HISTORY The Hangman's Graveyard History, 10 p.m. This Gemini-nominated documentary digs up a piece of dark Toronto history -- literally. The film documents an excursion in September, 2007, when a team of archaeologists headed by Dr. Ron Williamson excavated an old burial site located beneath the city's infamous Don Jail. To their great surprise, the team stumbled upon the skeletal remains of 15 men who perished at the end of a noose at the old jail sometime between 1880 and 1932. Who were these unlucky souls and what were their crimes? The program identifies the victims and the crimes that sent each one to the gallows.
MOVIE The Taking of Pelham 123 Showcase, 12:30 a.m. Turn down the volume for this 2009 thriller. Louder and more violent than the 1974 film it's based on, this remake stars Denzel Washington as the New York train dispatcher Walter, who is doing his job when informed that an armed gang of four has hijacked a subway car and is holding the passengers hostage. The gang's leader, Ryder (John Travolta with a mean Fu Manchu moustache), has threatened to start executing people unless he receives a $10-million ransom. As always happens in these films, the police are completely ineffectual, thereby leaving Walter to devise his own plan to save the hostages. James Gandolfini, formerly Tony Soprano on The Sopranos, exudes gravitas as the New York mayor.