TV: Five shows worth watching tonight: Dec. 14
A select viewing guide for Wednesday, Dec. 14
REALITY Secretly Pregnant TLC, 7 p.m. Real and oddly touching, this series profiles young women who have decided to keep their pregnancies secret for a myriad of reasons. In most instances, those reasons have to do with basic life economics. Tonight’s show introduces viewers to Carmen, a destitute single mom unexpectedly pregnant with her second child. Also, meet Jerline and her husband, who are both unemployed and living with her mother when they receive the news that she’s expecting her first child.
REALITY Dragons’ Den CBC, 8 p.m. Will the festive season stir up feelings of generosity among the dragons? The business pitches come fast and furious in tonight’s edition of this popular series. First up: A novice filmmaker tries to sell his concept for a movie blockbuster. Next, a budding entrepreneur tries to hawk his idea for a new board game. And then someone delivers their concept for bold new light storage solution. Guess who gets to play the Grinch?
NEWS Barbara Walters Presents the 10 Most Fascinating People of 2011 ABC, Global, 9:30 p.m. Airing for the 19th straight year, this annual special features veteran newswoman Barbara Walters profiling, and talking to, the biggest newsmakers from the past 12 months. The list includes TV impresario Simon Cowell, pop star Katy Perry, Modern Family’s Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Eric Stonestreet, New York Yankee Derek Jeter, helmet-haired tycoon Donald Trump, English socialite Pippa Middleton and the Kardashian clan (who count as one person, rightly enough). The number-one spot will not be revealed until the show is aired, but if it isn’t Justin Bieber, I’ll eat my hat.
DRAMA CSI CBS, CTV, 10 p.m. Once a season, this sturdy crime-procedural turns the spotlight on the fine character actor Robert David Hall, who has played Dr. Albert Robbins since the show’s inception in 2000. That episode airs tonight when the crusty coroner’s wife, Judy, played by Canadian actress Wendy Crewson, finds a naked dead man in their bedroom! The discovery prompts the arrival of the CSI team and Judy’s got some ’splaining to do.
MOVIE One Christmas Vision, 11 p.m. Very rarely shown on television, this 1994 TV-movie features the final performance of acting legend Katharine Hepburn. Loosely adapted from a short story by Truman Capote, the film takes place in 1930 and finds the young lad Buddy (T.K. Lowther) plucked from country life in Alabama and forced to spend the holidays in New Orleans with his scam-artist father, played by Henry Winkler. The divine Ms. Hepburn makes a brief, if memorable, appearance as the haughty New Orleans socialite Cornelia Beaumont, who shows Buddy the true meaning of Christmas.