TV: Five shows worth watching tonight: January 24
A select viewing guide for Thursday, January 24
COMEDY 30 Rock (NBC, Citytv, 8 p.m.) Say it ain’t so! Counting tonight, only two more episodes remain of this brilliant Emmy-winning series, which wraps next Thursday with an hourlong finale. As such, tonight’s new show moves the story toward its conclusion as harried TV producer Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) fights to save The Girly Show from inevitable cancellation while TGS stars Tracy (Tracy Morgan) and Jenna (Jane Krakowski) scramble to find gainful employment. Elsewhere, the conniving broadcast executive Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) is tasked to find a new network president, so whose counsel does he seek? The humble network page Kenneth (Jack McBrayer). Enjoy it while you can.
COMEDY Parks & Recreation (NBC, Citytv, 8:30 p.m.) And now the good news: NBC has bestowed a full-season order on this sharp workplace comedy, currently in its fifth campaign, despite the fact that it’s one of the lowest-rated shows on Thursday nights. In tonight’s new outing, the lovably dense bureaucrat Leslie Knope embarks on a campaign to get more women hired by the governing powers in Pawnee, Indiana. And just to make her girl-power point, Leslie cons April (Aubrey Plaza) into helping her haul trash on a local garbage route. In other news, Tom (Aziz Ansari) pleads with Andy (Chris Pratt) and Ben (Adam Scott) to teach him the fine points of basketball, while Ron (Nick Offerman) gallantly agrees to babysit the devil-children of his new paramour Diane (Lucy Lawless). Bad move, pal.
REALITY Mystery Diners (Food Network, 9 p.m.) If you’re a fan of sneaky behavior and bombastic reality-style blowouts, have we got a show for you. Launched a few months back, this new series enables beleaguered restaurant owners to catch employees in aberrant behavior. The no-frills concept hides hidden video cameras in a troubled eatery to catch the staffers behaving badly, which is naturally followed by a highly-charged confrontation session. In tonight’s first show, the owner of a Moroccan-themed restaurant in Los Angeles believes that his manager has a severe gambling problem that’s affecting his ability to do his job. It’s a good bet they catch the guy red-handed.
REALITY What Not to Wear (TLC, 10 p.m.) Some TV formats are simply beyond improvement. Since launching in 2003, this American version of a popular British series has faithfully followed the fashion-rescue missions of style mavens Stacy London and Clinton Kelly, who still begin each episode by diving into the subject’s closet and pitching out such horribly outdated fashion trends as striped rugby shirts and painter pants (painter pants! In 2013!). In tonight’s new episode, Stacy and Clinton provide some much needed advice to a young scientist named Simona, whose entire wardrobe seems comprised of lab coats and sweat pants. Time for a makeover, girlfriend.
MOVIE Thoroughly Modern Mille (TCM, 11:30 p.m. ET; 8:30 p.m. PT) There was more to the movie career of Julie Andrews than The Sound of Music and Mary Poppins. In this sprightly 1967 musical, Andrews plays the adorable Millie, a twenties-era flapper who moves to New York and takes a job in a secretarial pool with the singleminded goal of meeting a single man. Millie becomes best pals with the feisty Dorothy (Mary Tyler Moore), but things take an unpleasant twist when it turns out the old lady running their all-girls boarding house is a white slaver! Nominated for seven Oscars and winner of Best Original Score.