TV: Five shows worth watching tonight: March 13
A select viewing guide for Wednesday, March 13
FOOD Chef Michael’s Kitchen (Food Network, 7 p.m.) Celebrity chef Michael Smith towers over most personalities in the cooking world – and not just because he’s 6-foot-7. Since graduating from New York’s prestigious Culinary Institute of America, Chef Smith has overseen the operation of fine-dining establishments in Manhattan, London and other locations in addition to hosting a half-dozen cooking series. Now the big guy has settled down in pastoral Prince Edward Island for this series in which he adds his personal twist to classic recipes. Tonight he whips together his speedy tomato pasta and provides three separate methods of making meatloaf.
REALITY Hoarding: Buried Alive (TLC, 2 p.m.-10 p.m.) Not to be confused with A&E’s Hoarders, this series covers pretty much the same territory, but focuses on more extreme cases of people perfectly content to be waist-deep in all manner of junk. TLC rewinds the entire fourth season this afternoon and evening, which should inspire everyone to get a jump on their own spring-cleaning. Tonight’s new episode (9 p.m.) profiles compulsive hoarder Valerie, whose clutter has become so severe that her neighbor has reported her to the local health authorities. In the same show, meet Anne, whose house is so congested with piles of old newspapers and clothing that she’s now living in a tiny space in her living room. In both cases, the redemption begins with wheeling in a giant dumpster.
DRAMA Criminal Minds (CBS, 9 p.m.) Now in its eighth season, this grisly crime procedural has been taking more road trips than usual in recent memory. Tonight, FBI stalwart David Rossi (Joe Mantegna) and his Behavioural Analysis Unit roll on down to rural Oregon to investigate the disappearance of four people. How could four men with no connection whatsoever between them suddenly vanish into thin air? Meanwhile, BAU team member JJ (A.J. Cook) is concerned when her young son announces he doesn’t want to celebrate Halloween this year. Watch for former House regular Anne Dudek as a local farmer pulled into the investigation.
DRAMA CSI (CBS, CTV, 10 p.m.) Was there ever a time when Ted Danson wasn’t on this show? Now in its 13th season, CSI’s producers arilifted in the former Cheers regular two seasons ago to play the affable crime-lab boss D.B. Russell and now nobody even remembers the anal-retentive Gil Grissom (William Petersen) and the haughty Ray Langston (Laurence Fishburne). And unlike those stiffs, D.B. is a devoted father and family man, which factors into tonight’s episode. The CSI team is summoned to investigate the murder of a high-school basketball coach. Imagine D.B.’s surprise when his own son Charlie (Brandon W. Jones) is named as a lead suspect.
MOVIE On the Edge (Vision, midnight) Before Cillian Murphy became famous in Hollywood films like Inception and Batman Begins, he was a capable young actor making his way in lower-budget stories filmed in his native Ireland. In this 2001 drama, Murphy is rock-solid as a young wastrel named Jonathan, who attends his father’s funeral, gets high on cocaine, steals a car and then drives off a cliff in a suicide attempt. The copper give Jonathan the option of going to prison or a psychiatric hospital, so naturally he takes the latter assuming it will be a big lark. Once he realizes nobody is laughing, Jonathan absorbs some valuable life lessons from Dr. Figure (Stephen Rea) and even pursues a romance with a fellow patient (Tricia Vessey).Supplied