TV: Five shows worth watching tonight: Feb. 1
A select viewing guide for Wednesday, Feb. 1
SPORTS Super Bowl’s Greatest Commercials CBS, 8 p.m. Everyone is pumped for this weekend’s Super Bowl game, but how about those commercials? As always there’s remarkable hype regarding the advertising spots booked to run during the big game – which this year will cost an astounding $3.5-million (U.S.) for a 30-second spot. This special, hosted by former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason and workout queen Jillian Michaels, replays the 10 most popular Super Bowl commercials from years past. Naturally, CBS won’t release the top-10 list in advance, but expect to see the classic 1979 Coke spot featuring Mean Joe Green tossing his sweaty jersey to a kid and last year’s Snickers commercial with brawny lads tackling Betty White. Good times.
DRAMA The Haunting Hour Teletoon, 8:30 p.m. Viewer discretion is strongly advised for any youngsters watching this show based on the stories of R.L. Stine. Far scarier than the previous Stine series Goosebumps, the filmed-in-Vancouver show features truly unsettling special effects in literally every episode. Tonight, a boy scout named Pete (Uriah Shelton) welcomes home his teen sister Alice (Jodelle Ferland) from boarding school. The bad news is that Alice is now a witch! Don’t watch it alone.
REALITY Mobbed Fox, 9 p.m. Howie Mandel already has his entire year planned. The pride of Willowdale, Ont., is booked to return to his judging duties on America’s Got Talent this summer, but until that show begins taping, he’s keeping busy with this series of specials capitalizing on the “flash-mob” phenomenon. A flash mob, in case you’re over 30, involves a group of people suddenly assembling in a public place to perform a dance, a song or some other act (in most cases they’re directed there via Twitter or Facebook). In tonight’s outing, Mandel orchestrates a very public rapprochement between real-life brothers Nick and Tim, who used to play in a band together but are no longer on speaking terms. And just to make sure people stick around, Howie brings in the nineties band Everclear.
DRAMA Royal Pains Showcase, 10 p.m. Has this show really been around three full seasons? It seems like just yesterday that we were being introduced to the rakish young physician Dr. Hank Lawson (Mark Feuerstein) who relocated from Manhattan to The Hamptons to run a concierge medical service for the extremely rich and very famous. In tonight’s episode, Dr. Hank and his brother Evan (Paulo Costanzo) are in Florida trying to keep their embezzler father (Henry Winkler) out of prison, much to the chagrin of their grandfather (Ed Asner).
MOVIE The Philadelphia Story TCM, 10:15 p.m. ET; 7:15 p.m. PT If only Hollywood still made movies like this 1940 classic. Based on a hit Broadway play, the story stars the inimitable Katharine Hepburn as the Philadelphia socialite Tracy Lord, who is about to marry a boring stiff named George (John Howard). On the eve of her nuptials, Tracy’s ex-husband Dexter (Cary Grant) shows up to turn her head and the situation is complicated further by the presence of dirt-digging reporter Mike (James Stewart) who’s been assigned to write an article about her adulterous father. It all leads into a brilliant comedy of errors filled with breathtakingly clever word play.