Does anybody watch the boys of summer any more? According to a recent report, attendance is down in major league baseball, especially for the Toronto Blue Jays, who so far this season are averaging 17,830 fans a game, fourth worst in all of baseball.
In the U.S., meanwhile, more people are watching World Cup soccer than baseball, which is a little weird. Expect more of the same this weekend with World Cup quarterfinal play (Saturday, CBC and TLN at 2:15 p.m.). Closer to home, Her Highness Queen Elizabeth will be in attendance at the annual running of the Queen's Plate (Sunday, CBC at 4:30 p.m.), so break out the tea and scones.
In non-sporting events, this weekend brings the last call for a faded crime-drama, another rescue mission by TV's favourite handyman and the real story of a true-life survival tale. There's still four more months of baseball anyway.
the forgotten
Saturday, ABC, 9 p.m.
Remember the forgotten? Launched with no small fanfare last September, the show was supposed to be ABC's version of a gritty crime drama (which presumably explained the lower-case letters in the title). Abysmal ratings brought quick cancellation, but ABC is now burning off the final two unaired episodes. The premise cast one-time film star Christian Slater as Alex Donovan, a former cop whose young daughter was kidnapped and never found. Presumably to assuage his angst, Donovan forms an ad hoc group of amateur detectives known as the Forgotten Network, dedicated to helping find the identity of unidentified dead people. In the first show, ex- Friends regular Aisha Tyler plays a woman trying to unravel the life of a Jane Doe killed by gunfire at a charity event. In the second, a young man who recently came out of a coma with no memory seeks help in reassembling his past. Both episodes are stylishly filmed and well-written, but the show still feels slight compared to current crime dramas like Criminal Minds or any of the entries in the CSI franchise.
Holmes Inspection
Sunday, HGTV at 9 p.m.
It's little wonder Mike Holmes usually looks angry in this home-reno show. The burly TV contractor is no fan of the unregulated home-inspection industry and each episode in the series presents a brand-new case study of some luckless homeowner who was misled by an incompetent inspector. Sometimes the owner's problems are minor, but more often the second look by Holmes reveals a potential health threat or pricey renovation. And some of these stories will break your heart. Tonight's new episode pays a call to a pleasant lady named Virginia, who was thrilled when she first saw a quaint one-and-a-half storey home with a huge backyard. The place looked so cute, in fact, that Virginia bought the place without a home inspection. Big mistake. Soon after moving in with her son, Luca, she realized the toilets didn't flush and the shower took days to drain. There was also some odd wiring in the basement and no heat whatsoever in the allegedly "updated" kitchen. As he does, Big Mike goes through Virginia's house with a fine-tooth comb and then makes the place right. Or at least inhabitable.
Stranded: Andes Air Crash Survivors
Sunday, CBC News Network, 10 p.m.
The incredible tale of the Uruguay rugby team who survived a 1972 plane crash in the Andes has been turned into a book ( Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors) and a movie ( Alive), but this is the real story. Assembled by Uruguayan filmmaker Gonzalo Arijon, the film profiles each member of the rugby squad that was en route to a game in Santiago, Chile. Weather forced their plane to crash in the mountains, killing 21 of the 45 on board; in the final tally, 16 lived. Featuring interviews with several of the players, the program provides specific details on how they lasted 72 days in the bitter cold with minimal supplies before they became the agents of their own rescue. Yes, the documentary touches on the fact that the survivors resorted to cannibalism, but the account is decidedly less graphic than the feature film and without judgment. In the end, the average viewer is left to ponder: What would I do in the same situation?