TV: Five shows worth watching tonight: Oct. 11
A select viewing guide for Tuesday, Oct. 11
REALITY William Shatner's Weird or What? History, 7 p.m. William Shatner just keeps on boldly going. At 80, the former Star Trek captain is the logical choice to host this series that attempts to attach scientific fact to seemingly inexplicable real-life mysteries. And tonight's outing is right up his alley as Shatner explores unusual events suggesting that aliens are indeed among us. The evidence presented includes an interview with a Colorado farmer who found one of his cows mangled and an Ohio astronomer whose telescope seems to have intercepted a message from intelligent life in another galaxy. The truth is out there.
COMEDY Last Man Standing ABC, 8 p.m. Will viewers remember Tim Allen? The former Home Improvement star returns to television in this new sitcom. Allen revisits similar TV territory as the alpha male Mike Baxter, who is surrounded by similar manly types in his job at a sporting-goods store. When Mike gets downsized and his wife Vanessa (Nancy Travis) takes a job, the macho man is left to provide parental advice to their daughters Eve (Kaitlyn Dever), Mandy (Molly Ephraim) and Kristin (Alexandra Krosney), who's also a single mom! A few laughs in tonight's pilot, but there must be a reason why no Canadian network picked up this show.
DRAMA The Protector CTV Two, 9 p.m. Hailing from the U.S. Lifetime cable channel, this gritty crime drama stars TV veteran Ally Walker (Profiler, Sons of Anarchy) as Gloria, an LAPD detective assigned to the robbery and homicide division. Since it's a Lifetime series, Gloria is also a recent divorcee and mother to adorable twin boys. In the spirit of The Closer, King and a half-dozen other dramas about tough lady cops, the focus alternates between the main character solving crime and life on the home front. As in tonight's show, wherein Gloria investigates the murder of a prominent plastic surgeon while simultaneously dealing with the unexpected return of her ex-husband.The Associated Press
MOVIE Flying Leathernecks TCM, midnight One of the better entries in the John Wayne film canon, this 1951 actioner was filmed in glorious Technicolor and has been caringly remastered for TV broadcast. Set during the Second World War, the film casts the Duke as Major Dan Kirby, the new commander of a squadron of Marine fighter pilots. Kirby's no-nonsense approach puts him in immediate conflict with the unit's affable captain, played by Robert Ryan, and both men learn valuable lessons as the battle in the Pacific reaches fever pitch. If the war footage looks real, that's because it is.