Seven Days of Television: March 3 to March 9
A select viewing guide to the next seven days of television
MONDAY MARCH 3 Those Who Kill (A&E, 10 p.m.) It’s time for Chloe Sevigny to take her turn in the spotlight. Best known for her character turns in films like Boys Don’t Cry and Party Monster, and more recently from the HBO series Big Love, the doleful Ms. Sevigny has the lead role in this American remake of a Danish TV hit. As per Borgen and The Killing, the reboot sticks closely to the original and Sevigny is terribly watchable as one Catherine Jenson, a somber homicide detective working grisly cases for the Pittsburgh Police Department. And is she always the smartest person in the room? Of course she is. In the opener, the great detective is the only cop who realizes that a mummified body discovered at a construction site was actually a ritual killing by a serial killer, who’s still at large!
TUESDAY MARCH 4 Carson on TCM (TCM, 8 p.m. ET) The late, great Johnny Carson was great at kibitzing and making jokes during his three-decade run hosting The Tonight Show, but he was also a pretty fine interviewer. TCM squeezes a half-dozen of Carson’s best celebrity sitdowns into one easy PVR-worthy package. The interview subjects, in order: Jimmy Stewart (1972), Jack Lemmon (1979), Sally Field (1979), Diane Keaton (1972), Angie Dickinson (1980) and Sammy Davis Jr. (1972).
WEDNESDAY MARCH 5 CSI (CBS, CTV, 10 p.m.) Good grief, is this show still on? And when did that guy from Cheers show up? Now in its 15th season, CBS’s sturdy crime procedural franchise has shed two entries (CSI: Miami and CSI: NY), but the original flavor just keeps on ticking. In case you’ve lost track, original CSI Vegas crime lab boss Gil (William Petersen) left seven seasons ago, and was replaced by some dude named Langston (Laurence Fishburne) who in turn departed and was replaced by a new boss named D.B., played by former Cheers fixture Ted Danson. Tonight, D.B. and the lab rats look into the murder of an Elvis impersonator. Mercy.
THURSDAY MARCH 6 Chicagoland (CNN, 10 p.m.) Executive-produced by Robert Redford, no less, this new documentary series isn’t likely to receive the Chicago Tourist Board’s seal of approval. Over eight episodes, the show follows the power brokering and political head games that come with running one of America’s biggest cities. Most of the screen time is devoted to documenting the daily routine of Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel, a good pal of Barack Obama and possible contender for Democratic presidential candidate. In the first hour, Mayor Emanuel tries to bring down the city’s increasing murder rate while closing down dozens of public schools.
FRIDAY MARCH 7 The Next Step (Family Channel, 7:30 p.m.) Suddenly it’s cool for young viewers to stay in Friday nights again. Back tonight for a second season, The Next Step was one of last year’s nicer homegrown TV surprises and is up for honours at this weekend’s Canadian Screen Awards. Created by TV veteran Frank Van Keeken, the blessedly simple concept documents the drama and life-decisions among an elite group of young dancers training at The Next Step dance studio. The fact that all the principal characters are played by real, young Canadian actors – who can really dance – only heightens the show’s charm and realism. In tonight’s hourlong return, the A Troupe is over the moon at having just won the regionals. But then competition rears its ugly head when the best dancers discover they have to re-audition against dancers from other studios in order to make the national squad. Pressure!
SATURDAY MARCH 8 Machete (AMC, 8 p.m.) Based on a trailer for a fictional grindhouse movie, this 2010 action feature suddenly seems a good fit on the U.S. cable channel that airs The Walking Dead. The terrifying Danny Trejo plays the title character of Machete, a grim ex-Federale who gets framed for killing a prominent politician. So what’s a sword-wielding maniac to do? When Machete says heads will roll, you know that.. well, whatever. Watch it for the amazing support cast – Robert De Niro, Jessica Alba, Lindsay Lohan, et al – and to see how much of the blood and guts AMC cuts out for the family-hour timeslot.
SUNDAY MARCH 9 Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey (Fox, Global, 8 p.m.) Wow, is this new series a gamble. Roughly three decades after Carl Sagan’s iconic series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, which taught Americans that the world really wasn’t flat, the concept is revisited in this new version hosted by PBS mainstay and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. Mostly, it’s Tyson calmly explaining the vastness of the universe to viewers – on the Fox Network, and in the Sunday-night timeslot normally occupied by American Dad or The Family Guy. And by the way, Fox is so hot on this series that tonight’s premiere will air simultaneously on no fewer than a dozen Fox-owned channels, including FX, National Geographic Channel and Fox Sports.