TV: Five shows worth watching tonight: Jan. 2
DESIGN Home by Novogratz HGTV, 8 p.m. EST 5 p.m PST Nothing kicks off the new year like a frilly makeover series. Launching tonight, this show follows the work routine of husband-and-wife design team Robert and Cortney Novogratz, who specialize in one-of-a-kind renovation projects. Tonight they’re retained by the hip New York couple Pat and Rika, who just bought their first apartment together and want the space to combine an industrial tone with a cozy feel. The solution: wall stencils for a personalized art feel, vintage lighting and a focal wall in the bedroom. It’s just that easy!
DRAMA The Haunting Hour Teletoon, 8:30 p.m. Launching tonight, this new anthology series picks up where R.L. Stine's Goosebumps left off. Filmed in Vancouver, the series is adapted directly from Stine's novels and while it's nowhere near as frightening as the new series American Horror Story, it's still pretty scary stuff. In the opener, a young girl named Lilly (Bailee Madison) is overjoyed when her parents give her a “Really You” doll that looks just like her. She's less thrilled when the little glass-eyed doppelganger begins pulling nasty pranks and Lilly gets the blame.
TRAVEL Billy Connolly: Journey to the Edge of the World PBS, 10 p.m. He's a brave soul, this Billy Connolly. The Scottish comedian and actor attempts to cross the treacherous Northwest Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific in this offbeat series first shown on British television. The epic trek begins with Connolly landing in Nova Scotia and immediately heading north to Newfoundland. While there, he makes stops in towns where European immigrants settled centuries ago and visits the graveyard where victims of the Titanic are buried. He also meets several hospital Newfoundlanders who took in airline passengers stranded by the 9/11 tragedy.
MOVIE Cocoon Vision, midnight EST, 9 p.m. PST Following the unexpected success of the low-budget comedy Splash, this 1985 sci-fi fantasy film launched the directorial career of Oscar-winner Ron Howard into the stratosphere. Based on a novel by David Saperstein, the story follows a trio of Florida seniors, played by Don Ameche, Wilford Brimley and Hume Cronyn, who stumble upon a swimming pool in an abandoned home. Unbeknownst to them, the pool is the storage facility for alien cocoons, which suddenly bestows the creaky three with heel-kicking energy. And even the aliens, played by Brian Dennehy and Tahnee Welch, turn out to be nicer than nice. The film earned a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for film veteran Ameche.