TV: Five shows worth watching tonight: Jan. 9
Your select viewing guide for Monday, Jan. 9
FOOD Pitchin’ In Food Network, 7 p.m. Where have you been hiding, Lynn Crawford? Canada’s most beloved celebrity chef made a big impression in the foodie universe with appearances on Restaurant Makeover and Iron Chef America – where she barely lost out to Bobby Flay. Ms. Crawford popped up briefly last year with a guest-judge spot on Top Chef Canada and is finally back in regular TV rotation in this series that takes her around the globe in search of fresh ingredients and new food experiences. Tonight she’s in her home and native land to explore the many-splendoured Canadian tradition that is maple syrup. Incredibly, Lynn has never seen the sticky sweet sap harvested, but once she does, maple syrup isn’t just for breakfast anymore.
COMEDY Little Mosque on the Prairie CBC, 8:30 p.m. It’s never too late to pick up the storyline of this great Canadian comedy. Back tonight for its sixth and final season, Little Mosque almost seems like old-school television now, but hoo-boy, did it kick up a fuss when launched by the CBC this very day in 2007. The notion of a sitcom about Muslims in the middle of the Canadian prairies earned articles in The New York Times and Washington Times and prompted coverage on CNN, Fox News and pretty much every other American news channel. Canadian ratings were huge in the beginning, but successively tapered off to point where Little Mosque is just another great Canadian show that nobody watches, which is a compliment, I hope. Tonight, there’s divorce or some other heresy about and Sarah (Sheila McCarthy) is counselling Rayyan (Sitara Hewitt). Catch it while you can.The New York Times
REALITY Redemption Inc. CBC, 9 p.m. Can Kevin O’Leary really be only one guy? The brash venture capitalist is currently holding down double duty on CBC’s Dragon’s Den and The Lang-O’Leary Exchange. He’s also the meanest member of the tycoon panel on the Dragons’-like knockoff Shark Tank, back on ABC for its third season next week. And now this new reality series, wherein O’Leary gives a group of 10 ex-convicts a Rocky-like long shot at redemption via an eight-episode reality-TV challenge. The prize is $100,000 out of O’Leary’s pocket, but of course the participants must first take part in weekly challenges, the first being line duty in a luxury car detailing shop. The ex-cons are fighting by lunch, but luckily no shivs appear.
DRAMA Castle ABC, CTV, 10 p.m. Finally back tonight with new episodes, this derivative crime drama still ranks among Monday night’s most-watched shows, while the potboiler novels based on the Castle character continue to top bestseller lists. Go figure. In any event, it’s a sure sign a network program is settling in for the long run when it begins devoting storylines to support characters. The first two seasons focused near-exclusively on square-jawed mystery novel Rick Castle, played by Canadian Nathan Fillion, and sexy real cop counterpart Kate (Stana Katic—another Canuck!). Not tonight, though, in an episode that follows the personal life of pretty-boy NYPD cop Kevin Ryan (Seamus Dever) and his involvement in the murder of a Big Apple lothario. Anyone else smell a spinoff?
MOVIE The Last Man on Earth TCM, 9:45 p.m. ET; 6:45 p.m. PT How did Vincent Price evolve into Will Smith? The ominous Mr. Price took the main antagonist role in this 1964 thriller based on the novel I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. The story was remade as The Omega Man in 1971, starring Charlton Heston, and in 2007, with Will Smith. Price is particularly effective as Dr. Robert Morgan, the only man on earth immune to a virus that has already transformed the entire planet’s population into vampire-like creatures. But just when Dr. Morgan settles into a routine – looting stores and staking sleeping vampires during the day, that sort of thing – along comes an attractive female survivor. Don’t get your hopes up, doc.