TV: Five shows worth watching tonight: May 3
A select guide to the best shows on Tuesday, May 3
REALITY Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution ABC, 8 p.m. British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver really, really wants to help Los Angeles school kids eat more healthily in this series, but each week brings another setback. In tonight's new episode, Oliver and his ragtag group of food warriors are banned from serving food at the West Adams Preparatory School in South L.A. Oliver's response is to deliver a plea to the students' parents about the food their kids are consuming. The need for healthy eating is personified in the case study of West Adams senior Sophia, whose entire family suffers from Type II diabetes.
COMEDY Are You Being Served? Vision, 8:30 p.m. Who couldn't use some bawdy British humour on a Tuesday night? Originally broadcast from 1972 to 1985, this workplace comedy was set in the clothing department of Grace Brothers in downtown London. As befits every English comedy, the principal characters are broad stereotypes, such as the imperious floorwalker Captain Peacock (Frank Thornton), the wildly effeminate Mr. Humphries (John Inman) and of course Mrs. Slocombe (Mollie Sugden), whose hair colour seemed to change each week. In tonight's second-season episode, the entire staff is on edge when the store installs closed-circuit cameras to nab a shoplifter. Does the camera also catch the employees doing things they shouldn't? Cheeky stuff.
REALITY Rich Groom, Poor Groom Slice, 9 p.m. Hell hath no fury like a woman disappointed on her wedding day. This program is more or less the same show as Rich Bride, Poor Bride, with a significant twist: The couple getting hitched receives a $5,000 cheque toward their big day - providing she lets him decide every detail, including her dress. The groom receives some assistance from professional wedding planners, but he's on his own in regard to overall theme and budget (a soccer wedding? Hey, why not?). The fun part is watching the grooms-to-be try to remain cool as the wedding bears down upon them. Tonight's episode is a case in point as laidback Andrew insists he's not worried about the little things, like the wedding price tag. Dude is due for a wakeup call.
DRAMA The Good Wife CBS, Global, 10 p.m. Actress Martha Plimpton is a busy lady these days. Most of the time she can be seen on the Fox sitcom Raising Hope playing a grandmother (a role far too young for someone who turned 40 a few months ago). Tonight, Plimpton returns to this sophomore drama in her semi-recurring role of the tough solicitor Patti Nyholm, who has squared off against lawyer Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies) on previous occasions. Tonight the legal eagles lock horns again on a controversial case involving a liver transplant. At the same time, Alicia deals with the emotional fallout of the fling her assistant Kalinda (Archie Panjabi) had with her sleazy husband Peter (Chris Noth).
MOVIE McLintock! AMC, 11 p.m. What happened when the Duke met the Bard? The fact that this 1963 western starring John Wayne was based on Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew still boggles the imagination. In this version, Wayne is cast as wealthy rancher George Washington McLintock, whose estranged wife Katherine (Maureen O'Hara) suddenly reappears for a proper divorce and to obtain custody of their daughter Rebecca (Stefanie Powers). Of course that's not going to happen in a John Wayne movie. After wrangling with corrupt government officials and shooting a few bad cowpokes, McLintock wades right into the battle of the sexes - which culminates with both his wife and his daughter getting a good spanking. Those were different times.