TV: Five shows worth watching tonight: Nov. 9
A select viewing guide for Friday, Nov. 9
DOCUMENTARY Engraved on a Nation: The Photograph (TSN, 7:30 p.m.) The game of football held powerful resonance for Canadians during the Second World War. Directed by Manfred Becker, this moving documentary rewinds time to the victory by the Toronto Royal Canadian Air Force Hurricanes at the 1942 Grey Cup. Soon after the game, many of the Hurricanes were shipped overseas to fight but their team mentality remained intact. Among those who stayed behind was Hurricane player Jake Gaudaur, a pilot and flight instructor who was heartbroken when several of his teammates were killed in battle. In memory of his teammates, Gaudaur dedicated his life to Canadian football and eventually became the CFL’s longest-serving commissioner. The film follows the quest by Gaudaur’s daughter’s, Jackie and Diane, to discover why a tattered photograph of the Hurricanes team was their late father’s most prized possession.
DRAMA CSI: NY (CTV, 8 p.m.; CBS, 9 p.m.) Still drawing respectable Friday-night ratings, TV’s sturdiest crime-procedural series takes a slightly different storytelling approach in tonight’s new episode. CSI boss Mac Taylor (Gary Sinise) and his team are summoned to investigate the systematic murders of several people who were all patients of the same psychiatrist. The tricky part begins when the CSIs are forced to participate in a creepy version of the classic board game Clue in order to catch the killer. And no, it wasn’t Colonel Mustard in the library.
REALITY Shark Tank (ABC, CTV Two, 9 p.m.) Bank on ABC being in the Shark Tank business for years to come. The fourth season of the reality-entrepreneur search series is pulling in record ratings and has a growing presence on social media sites. More Canadian viewers are watching because it’s faster and funnier than our own Dragon’s Den (even though Dragon’s Den regular Kevin O’Leary holds forth as one of the Sharks, as does former DD regular Robert Herjavec). In tonight’s new outing, two grandmothers try to sell the Sharks on their sugar-free candy chips, a man demonstrates his motorized vehicle suit and Emmy-winning comedy writer Bruce Vilanch shows up to help a man pitch his new concept of a virtual classroom.
HISTORY Dig WW2 (History, 10 p.m.) In commemoration of Remembrance Day, which falls this Sunday, this two-part British documentary is required viewing. Host Dan Snow, known in the U.K. as the “History Hunter,” unfurls the key events of the Second World War through his participation in archeological digs and excavations of famous military sites throughout Europe. In tonight’s first hour, he explores the wreckage of a downed fighter plane in Northern Ireland and takes a ride on a vintage RAF seaplane. In the second hour, he checks out the remains of a B-17 that crashed off the coast of Ireland and discovers the engine of a prototype Canadian Spitfire plane in Normandy, France. Lest we forget.
MOVIE The Sweetest Thing (W, 9 p.m.) The term “chick flick” is dated and sexist, but sometimes it fits. Case in point: This 2002 romantic comedy about three young women looking for love in all the wrong places. Christina (Cameron Diaz) is a club-hopping party girl close to giving up on finding Mr. Right. Her best friend Courtney (Christina Applegate) is even more cynical, possibly because she’s also a divorce attorney. And their friend Jane (Selma Blair) is a wounded duck mourning a breakup with her boyfriend. Everything changes when Christina meets a perfectly wonderful guy named Peter (Thomas Jane) who unfortunately has to leave town for his brother’s wedding. All that Christina knows is that the nuptials will take place in Peter’s small hometown. Road trip!