TV: Five shows worth watching tonight: March 18
A select viewing guide for Monday, March 18
REALITY Dancing with the Stars (ABC, 8 p.m.) Get out the disco ball and roll up the carpet for yet another edition of TV’s gaudiest reality competition. Still hosted by Tom Bergeron, the 16 th season will introduce two dance genres (contemporary and jazz) and a new online pre-show series (available on ABC.com). The cast of celebrities includes figure skater Dorothy Hamill, country singer Kellie Pickler, soap star Ingo Rademacher, boxer Victor Ortiz, comedian Andy Dick and insurance executive Sean Lowe, better known to most viewers as The Bachelor. As for the likely winner, put the smart money on the teen star Zendaya, who plays a professional dancer on the Disney Channel series Shake It Up.
REALITY Vanderpump Rules (Slice, 9 p.m.) Looking to ease into spring with a tawdry TV addiction? Hailing from the U.S. Bravo! reality factory, this new series focuses on Real Housewives of Beverly Hills cast member Lisa Vanderpump, who seems determined to prove that she’s not your typical pampered hausfrau. Between manicures and shopping trips, Ms. Vanderpump also owns and operates the SUR restaurant and bar in trendy West Hollywood. Mostly the format follows her bickering with her staffers, particularly the insufferable Stassi, a server at SUR and also a fashion blogger in the employ of Vanderpump’s daughter, Pandora. In tonight’s series opener, Stassi stirs up a ruckus by labeling a new employee a “homewrecker” because she slept with a married man. Imagine!
COMEDY 2 Broke Girls (CBS, Citytv, 9 p.m.) One of last season’s very few breakout hits, this bawdy sitcom is still riding high in Monday-night ratings, which likely says a great deal about current TV tastes. For those late to the party, the premise stars Kat Dennings as the tough-talking Max, who regards her waitressing gig at a rundown New York diner as a mere stepping stone toward her bigger dream of opening her own cupcake shop. Signed on for Max’s dream is her fellow waitress Caroline (Beth Behrs), a former rich kid fallen upon hard times after her father is imprisoned in a Bernie Madoff-like investment scandal. In tonight’s new episode, the ladies take on second jobs temping in a Wall Street office. Before they enjoy their first coffee break, Caroline is trying to climb the corporate ladder and Max is fending off the advances of her lecherous boss.
DRAMA Hawaii Five-O (CBS, Global, 10 p.m.) Whatever happened to Duane “Dog” Chapman? The real-life bounty hunter was rudely dismissed from his A&E reality series last year (something about low ratings) and then seemingly disappeared from the face of the earth. The big guy and his pneumatic wife Beth play themselves in tonight’s new episode of this sturdy crime drama, which begins with a murder victim falling from the sky and right onto the hood of their SUV! Enter the sulky top cop McGarrett (Alex O’Loughlin), who coerces the young detective Catherine (Michelle Borth) to go undercover as a roller-derby competitor in hopes of catching the killer. TV veteran Christine Lahti returns to her recurring guest role as McGarrett’s mother.
MOVIE The Shipping News (Vision, midnight) Based on the Pulitzer-winning novel, this big-screen adaptation fizzled at the boxoffice in 2001 but is still worth watching if only for the breathtaking Newfoundland scenery. Directed by Swedish filmmaker Lasse Hallstrom, the movie version casts Kevin Spacey as Quoyle, a dyspeptic ex-newspaper man on the far side of a doomed marriage. With teen daughter in tow, Quoyle moves back to his ancestral Newfoundland home, where he reconnects with his feisty Aunt Agnis (Judi Dench) and even finds honest work writing for the town newspaper, The Gammy Bird. Along the way, Quoyle absorbs some valuable life lessons from the lovely local named Wavey, played by Julianne Moore.