TV: Five shows worth watching tonight: March 22
A select viewing guide for Friday, March 22
FAMILY The Wizards Return: Alex vs. Alex (Family Channel, 6 p.m.) Welcome back, Selena Gomez. Seemingly fully recovered from her breakup with Justin Bieber, the gamin actress reprises her Wizards of Waverly Place persona of bratty Alex Russo in this reunion TV movie that drew nearly six-million viewers when broadcast on the Disney Channel in the U.S. last week. The story ships Alex and the entire Russo clan (minus series regular David Henrie, aka Justin Russo) off to scenic Tuscany to meet long-lost relatives. Before they can even unpack, Alex inadvertently whips up a spell splitting her into Good Alex and Evil Alex! The inevitable showdown between good and evil atop the Tower of Pisa is pretty spectacular.
DRAMA The Next Step (Family Channel, 7 p.m.) What does it say about the current state of Canadian television when the best new homegrown drama this season is aimed at teen viewers? Launched a few weeks back, this smart series from Toronto’s Temple Street Productions uses a reality-TV format to tell the serialized story of an elite group of young hoofers scrambling for a spot in the “A-Troupe” of dancers at The Next Step Dance Studio. Principal players include Emily (Alexandra Beaton), the group’s dance captain and requisite bad girl; wide-eyed new arrival Michelle (Victoria Baldesarra); and Giselle (Jordan Clark), a former A-lister now demoted to the B-team. Beyond the terrific dance sequences (all the kids are real dancers), the premise consistently drops the characters into realistic scenarios. Tonight, Emily convinces naïve Michelle to spy on another dance squad in advance of a competition, and danged if she doesn’t get caught red-handed.
REALITY Fashion Star (NBC, 8 p.m.) Talk about going from rags to riches. Recently returned for a second season, this show allows amateur designers to flaunt their fabulous creations before a judging panel comprised of designer John Varvatos, former Paris Hilton BFF Nicole Richie and Jessica Simpson. One fashionista is sent home each week and the last one standing receives a lucrative deal with a major fashion retailer. And naturally the contestants are put through the standard battery of challenges. In tonight’s new outing, the designers are tasked to create a garment that will flatter every body type imaginable. The muumuu is back, baby!
COMEDY Malibu Country (ABC, Citytv, 8:30 p.m.) Launched to surprisingly strong ratings last fall, this old-school sitcom starring country diva Reba McEntire is a sure bet for second-season renewal. The premise casts the sassy redhead as a country-music star named Reba–what a stretch!–who dumps her no-good husband, loads up the truck with her two kids and relocates the entire dang clan to Malibu. Support characters include the airhead neighbor Kim (Sara Rue) and Reba’s free-spirited, pot-smoking mama, Lillie Mae (Lily Tomlin). In tonight’s first-season closer, Reba is shy about diving back into the dating game, so her family secretly lists her with an online dating service. Y’all come back now, hear?
MOVIE Just My Luck (W, 9 p.m.) Despite what you may have heard, there was a time when Lindsay Lohan was a movie star and she’s the main attraction in this frothy romantic comedy that came and went from theatres in the blink of an eye back in 2006. Lilo plays the precocious Ashley, who has lead a charmed existence with a great clothes, classy friends and a promising career. While attending a masquerade ball she warms to the handsome loser Jake (Chris Pine) recently fired from his minimum-wage job at a bowling alley. As shooting stars streak across the sky, the opposites smooch and presto-chango, their fortunes are interchanged. Suddenly Jake lands a great job and scads of cash, while Ashley becomes chronically unemployable and is even arrested by the cops. Who says art doesn’t imitate life?