TV: Five shows worth watching tonight: Dec. 3
A select viewing guide for Monday, December 3
REALITY Intervention Canada (Slice, 8 p.m.) ‘Tis the season for over-imbibing. Cautionary viewing in advance of the upcoming festive season, this homemade edition of the popular A&E series introduces viewers to average people trapped in the throes of alcohol and drug addiction. Filmed in several Canadian cities, the format gets up close and personal with a troubled addict and his or her wretched daily routine, followed by the requisite confrontation session with professional interventionists. Tonight, meet David, 32, a former Taekwondo champion now hopelessly addicted to heroin and crystal meth. David’s family stages an intervention that may be his last chance at survival.
COMEDY 2 Broke Girls (CBS, Citytv, 9 p.m.) And you thought Two And a Half Men was a raunchy show? Now in its second season, this workplace sitcom packs more boob and procreation jokes into each half hour than any show currently on TV. In tonight’s new episode, the feisty waitresses Max (Kat Dennings) and Caroline (Beth Behrs) are working around the clock to prepare for the opening of their cupcake shop. To manage the workload, Max brings in an intern–played by Saturday Night Live regular Abby Elliott–but soon discovers that it’s much easier to frost a cupcake than to delegate responsibility.
REALITY Mystery Diners (Food Network, 9:30 p.m.) The owners of struggling restaurants have a new method to keep employees in line. This series from the U.S. Food Network involves fitting eateries with hidden cameras to capture evidence of bad staff behavior, which in previous episodes has includes stealing food, insulting customers and doing things in the pantry you don’t even want to know about. In tonight’s new episode, the proprietor of Big Earl’s Greasy Eats in Cave Creek, Arizona, wants to learn why he keeps losing thousands of dollars in unaccounted alcohol. After hearing rumours of late-night staff parties, the Mystery Diners enlist undercover agents Shellene and Chris in hopes of procuring an invitation to the late-night soiree.
DRAMA Castle (ABC, CTV, 10 p.m.) Still pulling in huge ratings in its fifth season, this easy-viewing crime drama has become a new show since the principal characters of author-sleuth Castle (Nathan Fillion) and NYPD cop Beckett (Stania Katic) have become a couple. Expect much billing and cooing in tonight’s show as the lovebirds spend their first Christmas together. On the downside, the pair have to find out who killed the chubby bearded man in a red suit whose body was found in Central Park. Watch for Canadian actress Leslie Hope, seen most recently on The River, as a witness to Saint Nick’s murder.
MOVIE Big Trouble in Little China (AMC, 11 p.m.) Now here’s one you probably missed on its original theatrical run. Directed by John Carpenter, the 1986 feature is in equal parts comedy, drama, romance and martial-arts thriller. The film stars Kurt Russell as Jack Burton, a blue-collar trucker who tries to help his pal Wang Chi (Dennis Dun) rescue his mail-order girlfriend from thugs in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Instead, Jack falls for a breathy newspaper reporter named Gracie (Kim Cattrall) and runs afoul of evil Chinese sorcerer Lo Pan (James Hong). Don’t let the fact that none of it makes sense detract from your enjoyment of the slambang action sequences.