TV: Five shows worth watching tonight: May 16
A select viewing guide for Wednesday, May 16
GAME SHOW Deal With It W, 7:30 p.m. ET/PT First popularized on Candid Camera back in the fifties, the old hidden-camera concept just keeps resurfacing in new forms. Debuting tonight, this Canadian series is based on a successful Israeli TV format already franchised in a dozen countries. How it works: Hosts Sandy Jobin-Bevans and Martin Roach approach an unsuspecting person and present them with a list of increasingly bizarre challenges such as: donning a bunny suit or breaking a wine glass over their head in a restaurant without letting their dinner companion catch on to the highjinks. If the contestant is found out or quits before the exit point, the game is over. If they hang in, they collect a cash prize – up to $2,000! As we said, it's a Canadian show.
REALITY Sister Wives TLC, 8 p.m. ET; 6 p.m. PT Yes, it's still on. When launched in 2010, this unscripted series focusing on real-life polygamist Kody Brown and his extended clan – wives Meri, Janell, Robyn, Christine and their collective 16 kids – was an instant ratings hit. Most people watched because the police in Kody's hometown of Lehi, Utah, announced they were investigating him on bigamy charges. The show's second season documented the legal wranglings to keep Kody out of jail and the entire family relocating to Las Vegas. In tonight's third-season opener, it's the Brown clan's first Christmas in Vegas and everyone is residing in four separate rental homes. Kody, meanwhile, has a job chopping down Christmas trees. Rarely does reality-TV attain this level of pathos.
DRAMA Criminal Minds CBS, CTV Two, 9 p.m. ET/PT Prime time's edgiest crime drama brings its seventh season to a close tonight with a gritty two-hour episode. The storyline finds Behavioural Analysis Unit head David Rossi (Joe Mantegna) and his team in Washington, on the trail of bank robbers that specialize in leaving no living witnesses. The good guys respond to the scene when the murderous gang take over a bank, but the stakes change dramatically when one of the BAU squad is taken hostage. Canada's own Tricia Helfer, better known as Battlestar Galactica's Number Six, guests as one of the robbers.
REALITY Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files Space, 10 p.m. ET; 7 p.m. PT The spirit of The X-Files lives on in this popular series from the U.S. SyFy cable channel. The no-frills format follows ex-FBI agent Ben Hansen as he travels all over the U.S. to look into reports of paranormal activity. As per Ghost Hunters and several other similar shows, Hansen deploys a full squad of scientific investigators to prove or debunk the claims. In tonight's first episode, Hansen and his team are in Jefferson, Tex., to examine evidence of poltergeist sightings at Pride House, reportedly the most haunted location in the Lone Star State. Next stop: Kentucky, where the citizens of a small town claim to have spotted the legendary Bigfoot stomping in the woods.
MOVIE An Ideal Husband Vision, midnight ET; 9 p.m. PT Based on the play by Oscar Wilde, this frothy drama was the closing film at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival, after which it went into limited theatrical release. Set in turn-of-the-century London, it stars Jeremy Northam as Sir Robert Chiltern, a respected member of Parliament with a loving and supportive wife (Cate Blanchett) and a spotless reputation. Enter the devious Mrs. Chevely (Julianne Moore), who threatens to reveal a dark secret from Sir Robert's past that could derail his privileged existence. Mrs. Chevely will destroy the evidence of his misdeed, but only if he supports a controversial government bill. With his political career and marriage at stake, Sir Robert calls in his wily friend Lord Goring (Rupert Everett).