TV: Five shows worth watching tonight: Oct. 4
Your select viewing guide for Thursday, Oct. 4
COMEDY: 30 Rock (NBC, CITY-TV, 8 p.m. ET/PT) Finally, a reason to stay home on Thursday nights. Back tonight for its seventh and final season, 30 Rock picks up the lives of its principal characters where they left off last spring. Precocious TV producer Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) is psyched for a new season of The Girly Show, until she sees the dreadful new shows chosen by her boss Jack (Alec Baldwin) for the network’s fall lineup. In other news, self-absorbed Jenna (Jane Krakowski) makes plans for her wedding-of-the-century, which includes a reluctant Liz as her maid of honour. And the budding non-sexual relationship between nerdy page Kenneth (Jack McBrayer) and new friend Hazel (Kristen Schaal) takes a turn for the worse when they invite Tracy (Tracy Morgan) to a dinner party.NBC
COMEDY: Up All Night (NBC, 8:30 p.m. ET/PT) One of last season’s nicer comedy surprises, this sophomore sitcom has made a few tweaks to the premise in the off-season. For starters, first-time parents Reagan (Christina Applegate) and Chris (Will Arnett) are slightly less harried than last season, likely because their adorable daughter Amy is one year older. Also, Reagan’s brother Scott (Luka Jones) has become a regular character, and her domineering boss Ava, played by former Saturday Night Live regular Maya Rudolph, has had her syndicated daytime TV talk show cancelled, which effectively puts two of the principal characters out of work. In tonight’s new episode, Reagan and Chris fret that they are becoming a boring old couple, so they go to outrageous lengths to prove otherwise. Ava, meanwhile, has to contend with her “biggest fan,” played by SNL veteran Rachel Dratch.
REALITY: Million-Dollar Listing: Los Angeles (Slice, 9 p.m. ET/PT) Welcome to Los Angeles, where homes in the better neighbourhoods run deep into seven figures and the bidding wars can sometimes double the price. Now in its fifth season, this series follows the daily routine of well-tanned L.A. real-estate sharks Josh Flagg, Josh Altman and Madison Hildebrand, who primarily sell houses in the much-desired neighbourhoods of Beverly Hills, Malibu and Hollywood. Fittingly, most episodes in the series have more intense drama than your average daytime soap opera. In tonight’s show, for example, Josh A. is thrilled to have NFL player Orlando Scandrick as a client, until his business manager gets involved. At the same time, Josh F. is midway through a deal to sell a sprawling party estate, and then his boyfriend Colton interrupts with some shocking news.
REALITY: Jersey Shore (MTV, 10 p.m. ET/PT) Welcome back, you lovable guidos and guidettes. Returning tonight for a sixth and final season, Jersey Shore is the most-watched show in MTV history, with nearly nine-million U.S. viewers for the show’s third season. Of course, that number was nearly halved last year, but the show still ranks high on the pop-culture barometer. Filming resumed in Seaside Heights, N.J., last month but MTV’s standard iron veil of secrecy prohibits the release of any screeners or advance material about the farewell season. Some reasonable expectations: Snooki will kvetch about her new responsibilities as a mama; JWoww will crow about her recent engagement to long-time beau Roger Matthews; Pauly D will shamelessly promote the upcoming second season of The Pauly D Project; and The Situation will show his abs upon request. Because that’s what The Situation does, baby!
MOVIE: Oh, God! (Vision, 9 p.m. ET; 6 p.m. PT) The owlish folk-singer John Denver and gnomish comedy legend George Burns only made one movie together, but it was a keeper. This 1977 comedy stars Denver as Jerry, a nice-guy supermarket manager tapped by God (Burns, naturally) to be his personal messenger of goodwill in the modern world. Not surprisingly, Jerry is branded a crackpot by the media, religious leaders and even his own wife, Bobbie (Teri Garr). Jerry finally decides to prove God’s existence in a courtroom when he’s sued for slander by the grandstanding evangelist Rev. Willie Williams (Paul Sorvino).