FRIDAY
NOV. 6
COMEDY
How to be Indie
YTV, 6:30 p.m.
This series tops the list for many teen and tween viewers and parents can actually watch without rolling their eyes. Launched earlier this year, the show stars ex- Degrassi regular Melinda Shankar as Indira (Indie) Mehta, your typical 13-year-old trying to merge her family's traditional South Asian background with the Canadian lifestyle. Most episodes are refreshingly simple: Tonight, Indie and best pal Abi compete to win the approval of their respective mothers. Better the kids watch this than L.A. Inked.
DRAMA
Law & Order
NBC, 8 p.m.
First appearances are deceiving in tonight's new episode. Detectives Lupo (Jeremy Sisto) and Bernard (Anthony Anderson) are called to a high-rent New York apartment where a young woman has been found murdered. Although the murder appears to have been the result of a botched robbery, the police later find suitcases full of cash linking the victim to a drug cartel.
DOCUMENTARY
Berlin: 20 Years After
CBC Network News, 10 p.m.
Marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, this documentary recalls one of the most joyous news stories of the eighties. For nearly three decades the Berlin Wall stood as a dominant symbol of Communist repression. The program profiles a family whose lives were changed once the wall came tumbling down and includes the recollections of Canadian reporter Jerry Thompson, who covered the story for CBC.
REALITY
King of the Crown
TLC, 10 p.m.
Is there no limit to the number of superficial TLC reality shows? Apparently not. Launched recently, King of the Crown follows the busy life of professional beauty contest coach Cyrus Frakes, who runs a company called Gowns and Crowns (eek!) that prepares pageant contestants for their walk down the runway. Tonight, Cyrus personally coaches a new client, while his head instructor Amanda mulls over her decision to return to active competition.
SATURDAY
NOV. 7
RENO
Holmes on Holmes
HGTV, 6 p.m.
The original series starring handyman Mike Holmes remains his best TV effort. Tonight's show finds Holmes checking in with a couple named Al and Jennifer, who lost all faith in good workmanship. The couple won a $15,000 bathroom renovation at a church auction. Soon after they learned that the contractor behind the prize had in fact spent another $15,000, which took the total up to $30,000. Worst of all: The same bathroom is a total mess. Mike makes it right.
DRAMA
NCIS: Los Angeles
CBS, 8 p.m.
How confident is CBS of this Tuesday-night rookie hit? They've already started running rebroadcast episodes to fill slow timeslots on different nights. Tonight's show originally aired in late September. Special agent Sam Hanna (LL Cool J) runs into a conflict of personal interest while investigating the murder of a drug dealer: All evidence points to Sam's former Navy Seal comrades as the killing crew.
SCIENCE
Time Warp
Discovery, 10 p.m.
Filmed in Toronto, this series involves a brilliantly simple premise: MIT scientist and visual artist Jeff Lieberman films everyday activities and occurrences and replays them in super-slow motion to show viewers details they may have missed. Tonight, the Time Warp team watches rockets achieve liftoff and points out the subtle ballet that is ancient stick fighting. And then, Lieberman wheels out the medieval catapult.
MOVIE
The Spy Who Came in From the Cold
TVO, 10:30
Saturated in Cold War atmosphere, this 1965 spy thriller stars Richard Burton as Alec Leamas, a British intelligence officer sent to East Germany to sow disinformation and to bring down the head of a major spy organization. While working under an assumed identity, Leamas becomes involved with a Communist librarian (Claire Bloom) and runs afoul of fellow British agents with their own undercover agendas. Based on the novel by John Le Carre.
SUNDAY
NOV. 8
DRAMA
Desperate Housewives
ABC, CTV, 9 p.m.
Lost in the shuffle opposite more highbrow Sunday-night fare - read: Battle of the Blades - this glossy soap remains fixed on fabulous hausfraus leading fantastically complicated lives. Consider the plotlines on tonight's new episode: Susan (Teri Hatcher) and Lynette (Felicity Huffman) present opposing theories on who might have attacked Julie (Andrea Bowden); Gaby (Eva Longoria) struggles to home-school a fussy Juanita (Madison de la Garza); and Angie (Drea de Matteo) confronts her husband about withheld secrets. Whatever happened to peaceful suburban bliss?
HISTORY
Nostradamus Decoded
Discovery, 8 p.m.
If not history's greatest seer, Nostradamus at least possesses an enviable accuracy record. This two-hour special paints a glowing portrait of the famed figure and strives to uncover hidden secrets in his often cryptic future forecasts. The program includes interviews with several historians and modern-day psychics, including James Randi, who suggests Nostradamus's grandest predictions may still come true.
DOCUMENTARY
Guides and Gurus
Vision, 9:30 p.m.
If you missed this marvellous documentary series the first time around, don't make the same mistake twice. Created for Vision by Ralph Benmergui and Allan Novak, the 13-part series tours North America in search of genuinely unique spiritual leaders and healers. This evening's show is filmed at a remote healing retreat in White Bear, Sask., where Lewis Mehl-Madrona explains why he left behind the world of mainstream medicine and his physician career to become an expert in the field of traditional aboriginal healing.
HISTORY
Busting the Berlin Wall
CBC News Network, 10 p.m.
Produced for German television, this documentary looks back at the creative efforts by people to escape from East Germany into the West. One man tried to smuggle out his fiancée under the hood of a Volkswagen Beetle. Others attempted to sail quietly over the border in homemade hot air balloons. And taking the more direct approach, a man named Wolfgang borrowed an army tank and tried to smash right through the Berlin Wall.
MONDAY
NOV. 9
COMEDY
Just for Laughs
CBC, 9 p.m.
Recently returned to CBC's schedule, this series compiles the best standup performances filmed at Montreal's annual Just for Laughs festival. Tonight's show includes stage turns from Alonzo Bodden and Jimmy Carr, but watch for Mike MacDonald's turn in the spotlight. The standup veteran remains a crowd favourite, and somehow his wry perspectives on life, love and family are made funnier by MacDonald's busy, beetling eyebrows. For the record, MacDonald holds the distinction of being the only comic to perform at every Just for Laughs gala since the comedy festival began. So there.
COMEDY
The Big Bang Theory
CBS, 9:30 p.m.
The revenge of the nerds is ongoing in this still well-rated CBS sitcom. In case you've forgotten, the format casts Jim Parsons and Johnny Galecki (Roseanne) as Sheldon and Leonard, two physicist-prodigy roommates who mature, just a little, once the stunning Penny (Kaley Cuoco) moves in next door. The show usually delivers some laughs, but often the story seems only half-written. On tonight's show, Sheldon is grandly irked when Leonard and Penny have a huge argument. Does that even make sense?
HISTORY
Last Day of World War One
TVO, 10 p.m.
Former Monty Python member Michael Palin turns deadly serious in this British documentary. Focusing strictly on the day of Nov. 11, 1918, the sombre history lesson is particularly poignant for Palin, whose grandfather lost his life in the global conflict that took more than nine million lives. The film reveals that, tragically, thousands of soldiers were killed in the hours after the Armistice was signed.
REALITY
Hoarders
A&E, 10 p.m.
Although some critics have decried the unfeeling aspect of this show - each episode follows the struggles and treatment of two poor souls afflicted with OCD and obsessive hoarding - you can't argue with ratings: Hoarders signed on last season as the most-watched premiere in A&E history. Tonight's show introduces Kerrylea, whose two homes are packed to the rafters with unnecessary junk, and Lauren, a young woman whose hoarding has forced her boyfriend to sleep on a mattress in the living room. Help is on the way.
TUESDAY
NOV. 10
SCI-FI
V
ABC, CTV, 8 p.m.
Have you recovered from last week's premiere? Based on the first episode, this series is much scarier than the eighties series on which it's based. To recap briefly, the Earth population was entranced by the newly landed aliens known as Vs, with the exception of FBI agent Erica Evans (Elizabeth Mitchell) who discovered their benign human guise hides a scaly exterior and darker purpose. Tonight, Erica and the equally skeptical Father Jack (Joel Gretsch) find themselves being tracked by an ominous "Tracker" sent by the Vs.
DOCUMENTARY
Frontline
PBS, 9 p.m.
Adding fuel to the debate on U.S. health care, this special edition of the series travels to five countries - Japan, Germany, Taiwan, Switzerland and Britain - to present contrasting snapshots of their own health-care plans. Correspondent T.R. Reid's first stop is to the U.K., where the tax-funded National Health Service parallels our own Canadian system. One of the most revealing stopovers is in Switzerland, where health care was as flawed as the U.S. system until 1994, when it passed a law prohibiting insurance companies from making a profit on basic medical care. Imagine that.
REALITY
Parking Wars
A&E, 10 p.m.
I'm hooked. Currently into its second season, Parking Wars is my own guilty viewing pleasure. Now splitting time between Philadelphia and Detroit, the show follows the men and women who hand out parking tickets for a living, and believe me, you wouldn't want the job. Two episodes tonight: In the first, a pair of tourists frantically try to extricate their rental car from the Philly impound lot before they miss their flight home. In the second, a young man tries to recover his vehicle, which was impounded when his father was caught speeding without a licence. Real TV, real drama.
MUSIC
In the Spotlight with Robin Roberts: Bright Lights, Big Stars, All Access Nashville
ABC, 10 p.m.
Get out your Stetsons for this hour-long special hosted by ABC reporter Robin Roberts. A shameless plug for ABC's coverage of tomorrow night's Country Music Awards, the program slaps together profiles of newer stars - enter Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood - and some older country legend-types, including Loretta Lynn and Vince Gill. The big surprise is the involvement of U.S. President Barack Obama, who, along with others, will reveal his choice for the greatest country song of all time.
WEDNESDAY
NOV. 11
MUSIC
The 43rd Annual Country Music Awards
ABC, 8 p.m.
In a repeat of last year's show, tonight's hoedown airs live from Nashville, with Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood back as hosts. Not coincidentally, Paisley leads the finalist list with nominations in six categories, while Underwood has nods in two categories. Country fans will likely tune in for the scheduled performances by Brooks & Dunn, Keith Urban and Reba McEntire. If you're not a country fan, watch for the rare chance to see people wearing tuxedo jackets with cowboy hats.
HISTORY
Secrets of the Dead: Airmen and the Headhunters
PBS, 8 p.m.
Be amazed by this survival story. Tonight's program investigates the true report of a U.S. bomber crew shot down over Japanese-occupied Borneo during the Second World War. According to eyewitnesses, the airmen were found by Dayak tribesmen, famed and feared for their penchant of removing the heads of perceived enemies. In this instance, however, the Dayaks fed and protected the flyboys before escorting them to a nearby British military base. The program includes an interview with the sole surviving airman and even some Dayak tribesmen.
DOCUMENTARY
POV: The Way We Get By
PBS, 9 p.m.
The revered documentary series airs a powerful episode. Scheduled for U.S. Veterans' Day, the program profiles the octogenarian "Troop Greeters" of Bangor, Me., who sit at the local airport to salute U.S. soldiers coming and going from their tours of duty. On call 24 hours a day, the seniors have faithfully greeted more than 800,000 troops over the past five years. The film interviews several of the seniors and not all are fully supportive of American military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. But they fully respect the sacrifices of the young men and women sent to war.
DRAMA
CSI: NY
CBS, CTV, 10 p.m.
In the second chapter of a cross-over series connecting all three shows in the franchise, CSI's Ray Langston (Laurence Fishburne) races to New York when Mac Taylor (Gary Sinise) and his team identify the body of a woman found in a truck. Their breakneck investigation reveals the victim was involved in an interstate trucking ring specializing in transporting human cargo and black-market organ harvesting. The story concludes on tomorrow night's CSI.
THURSDAY
NOV. 12
DRAMA
Bones
Fox, 8 p.m.
The team of forensics expert Brennan (Emily Deschanel) and FBI agent Booth (David Boreanaz) are called to investigate the remains of a little person found in a sinkhole. The victim turns out to be a former pro wrestler known as the Iron Leprechaun, with no shortage of enemies in and out of the ring. At the same time, Booth has to requalify on the FBI shooting range, but finds his aim is not what is used to be. Watch for British actor Stephen Fry in a small but important guest role.
COMEDY
30 Rock
NBC, CITY-TV, 9:30 p.m.
Why do most critics consider 30 Rock the funniest show on television? Watch and find out. Tonight's show finds the cast and crew of The Girly Show welcoming a new cast member, played by Broadway thespian Cheyenne Jackson. The vicious rumours begin once they learn the newcomer is a low-maintenance professional. Elsewhere, broadcast executive Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) shocks Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) by offering her a daily talk show on the NBC network. Stranger things have happened in the real world.
HISTORY
Masterworks
TVO, 10 p.m.
The documentary titled The Rape of Europa looks back at the tragic loss of countless art masterpieces. During the Second World War, scores of priceless Western art treasures were looted and destroyed by Nazi troops. This program profiles the young artists and ordinary working-class people who risked their lives to protect and return thousands of the lost treasures to their rightful owners.
REALITY
Crime 360
A&E, 11 p.m.
The true-crime reality series chronicles a chilling case. The story is told from the viewpoint of rookie homicide investigator Cathy Lucci, who is handed her first murder case hours into her first day on the job. A middle-aged man has been stabbed repeatedly and left to die. Along with new partner David Salvatore, Lucci rounds up suspects, to no avail. Even more frustrating is the notion that the killer seems to be the considerate type: Although the victim was stabbed 46 times, he or she covered him with a blanket. Odd, that.