TV: Five shows worth watching tonight: February 8
A select viewing guide for Friday, February 8
NEWS Marketplace (CBC, 8 p.m.) It’s the question that infuriates countless Canucks: Why are some products so much cheaper in the U.S.? While the price differential may be less an issue for people living close to the border, many Canadians are sick and tired of paying more for milk, gas, clothing and other basic life necessities. A child’s playpen, for example, costs nearly twice as much! Host Tom Harrington investigates.
REALITY The Job (CBS, 8 p.m.) Looking for a new career will never be the same. This new series puts a competitive reality spin on the old job-search grind. Hosted by The View’s Lisa Ling, the format puts five candidates through a series of “elimination challenges” in pursuit of a job vacancy while their potential employers look on. The requisite reality-TV twist: At any given time in the process, reps from three guest companies can make an on-the-spot job offer to a candidate, who must then decide whether to accept the offer or stay in the running for the original job. In tonight’s opener, the five candidates chase after an assistant manager position at the international Palm steakhouse chain (tips not included).
DRAMA Touch (Fox, Global, 8 p.m.) Welcome back, Kiefer Sutherland. The former 24 mainstay attempts a more nuanced TV portrayal in this supernatural-themed series, back tonight for its second season. The premise casts Sutherland as the sensitive widower Martin Bohm, whose wife died in the 9/11 attacks leaving him to raise their mute son Jake (David Mazouz), who appears to have astounding skills in regard to numbers and cell phones. The sophomore season picks up exactly where season one left off: With Martin trying to protect Jake from nefarious types trying to exploit his son’s unique abilities. Jake, meanwhile, is desperate to find a young girl named Amelia (Saxon Sharbino). Film fixture Maria Bello begins fulltime duty on the series as Amelia’s mother, Lucy.
REALITY Something Borrowed, Something New (TLC, 10 p.m.) Friday night is now officially wedding-show night on TLC. In the same vein as Say Yes to the Dress and Brides of Beverly Hills, this new unscripted series features bridal experts bending over backwards to assist brides-to-be who just can’t seem to find the perfect dress for their big day. In this instance, the experts are stylist Sam Saboura and designer Kelly Nishimoto, who collectively bring a world of patience and experience to each new client. The series opens with the pair trying to accomodate the bride-to-be Maricela, who wants a wedding frock that will accentuate her ample curves and not offend her traditional Latina family. Buena suerte, senora!
MOVIE The Grapes of Wrath (TCM, 11 p.m. ET; 8 p.m. PT) Required viewing by any serious film fan, this 1940 classic provides a faithful adaptation of John Steinbeck’s Pulitzer-Prize winning novel. Set during the lowest ebb of the Great Depression, the story casts Henry Fonda as the dogged everyman Tom Joad, newly released from prison and en route back to the family farm in Oklahoma. Along with their friends and neighbours, Tom’s clan have been forced from the property by landholders, so they pack up the family truck and head out to the promised land of California. Along the way, the Joads encounter starving people, dismal campgrounds and work farms taking advantage of labourers trying to feed their families. And when ol’ Tom tries to make a difference, he’s branded an “agitator”! The great John Carradine make a memorable support turn as the defrocked preacher Casy.