TV: Five shows worth watching tonight: March 22
Your select viewing guide for Thursday, March 22.
FOOD Nadia G's Bitchin' Kitchen Food Network, 7 p.m. ET; 4 p.m. PT Who says food preparation has to be dull? Currently in its second season, this offbeat cooking series showcases the unique talents of Canadian comedienne and chef Nadia Giosia. In each outing she merges bizarre recipes and cheeky lifestyle advice, with occasional input from such recurring characters as Hans the Scantily-Clad Food Correspondent and The Spice Agent. In tonight's show, Ms. G puts her personal spin on three favourite dishes: burgers, chicken wings and pie. Her version of a hamburger becomes a “Sloppy Gino.” The chicken entree is transformed into crispy wings smothered in Tsaketa hot sauce. And for dessert, she whips up blueberry pie eggrolls served with burnt honey ice cream.
FINANCE The Pattie Lovett-Reid Show CTV News Channel, 8 p.m. ET; 5 p.m. PT Debuting tonight, this series provides a new broadcast platform for financial guru Patricia Lovett-Reid, best known for hosting the BNN program MoneyTalk. Her goal is teach Canadians how to save money and stretch their income. Viewers are invited to call into the live broadcast to obtain personal advice from Ms. Lovett-Reid. Regular segments include Lessons Learned, which provides tips from experts, and Financial Focus, which delivers big-picture money planning. And in each episode, the host takes to the street to offer people a chance to “Ask Pattie” their own money questions. Hey, is anybody else offering you free financial advice these days?
COMEDY 30 Rock NBC, CITY-TV, 9 p.m. Still the funniest show on Thursday night, 30 Rock’s sixth season is taking the characters into uncharted TV territory. In tonight’s new episode, the harried show-runner Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) writes a TV-movie script recounting the bizarre story of conservative talk-show host Avery Jessup-Donaghy (Elizabeth Banks), who at last check was trapped in Korea and forcibly married to Kim Jong-un. However, the movie idea doesn't sit well with Avery’s ex and Liz’s boss Jack (Alec Baldwin), who is trying to advance his romance with Diana (Mary Steenburgen). In other news, Jenna (Jane Krakowski) and Tracy (Tracy Morgan) get into a war of wits with Weird Al Yankovic (playing himself) and the earnest page Kenneth (Jack McBrayer) receives an unexpected job promotion.
DRAMA Awake NBC, Global, 10 p.m. Launched two weeks ago, this series stars the capable British actor Jason Isaacs as the big-city cop Michael Britten, newly returned to duty following a horrific car accident. Michael discovers his wife Hannah (Laura Allen) survived the crash but their teen son Rex (Dylan Minnette) died. But when Michael goes to sleep, he enters an alternate reality world where his wife died and the kid survived. Fortuitously, there are crimes for him to solve in either world. In tonight's episode, he's investigating an alleged suicide at an upscale yacht when he's surprised to bump into his son's former babysitter. In the other world, the same babysitter is a suspect in a murder case. Not nearly as confusing as it sounds, honest.
MOVIE Along Came Polly Vision, midnight ET; 9 p.m. PT Comedy veterans Ben Stiller and Jennifer Aniston make an amusingly odd couple in this 2004 romantic comedy. Stiller plays his usual nebbishy self as Reuben, a risk assessment expert whose new wife Lisa (Debra Messing) cheats on him the first day of their Caribbean honeymoon. Once back in New York, Reuben mopes around until he meets the free-spirited Polly, played by Aniston, who convinces him to try exciting new things, like Moroccan food and dance classes. The unlikely couple learn from their differences and slowly start falling in love – and then Lisa shows up looking to reconcile with Reuben. Oscar-winner Philip Seymour Hoffman is highly amusing as Stiller's artiste best friend.