SATURDAY, JUNE 11
Into the West (TNT, 8 p.m. ET) First of Six Parts. If you missed the opening episode of this ambitious TNT miniseries on Friday you can catch it tonight or tomorrow at 8 p.m. ET. Those who remember the glory days of the television miniseries, which brought us such legendary long-form productions as Roots, Rich Man, Poor Man, The Thorn Birds, War & Remembrance and Winds of War, will no doubt welcome this expansive, twelve-hour co-production from TNT and DreamWorks Television that chronicles the exploration and settling of the American West. The cast includes Sean Astin, Tom Berenger, Beau Bridges, Josh Brolin, Gary Busey, Jessica Capshaw, Keith Carradine, Tyler Christopher, Balthazar Getty, Christian Kane, Matthew Modine, Keri Russell, Craig Shaffer, Matthew Settle, Wes Studi and Skeet Ulrich. Steven Spielberg is among the executive producers of this massive production.
Popularity Contest (CMT, 10 p.m. ET) Season Finale. The competition between 10 city folks who have tried to win over residents of the small town of Vega, Texas (pop. 936) is down to the final two: baseball scout Alex and restaurateur Rory. One of them will win $100,000 tonight. Actually, the winner will only pocket $50,000 (before taxes), because the twist in this reality series is that the winner must select one citizen of Vega to receive one-half of the prize money.
SUNDAY, JUNE 12
Jane Goodall's When Animals Talk (Animal Planet, 8 p.m. ET) Premiere. Noted primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall's third production in partnership with Animal Planet chronicles stories about people who have dramatically communicated and connected with animals. Among them: A man in Patagonia who has bonded with killer whales and can call them to shore and pet them. Other segments focus on rats that sniff out deadly land mines in Africa and dogs that help kids learn to read. It has always been Goodall's belief that humans and animals can share unique bonds and communicate in special ways. The frequently life-affirming material in this special certainly supports her theory.
Strong Medicine (Lifetime, 9 p.m. ET) Season Premiere. NYPD Blue alumnus Rick Schroder, a recent CMT Music Award winner for his direction of the video for the Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss duet Whiskey Lullaby, joins the cast of Lifetime's medical drama, now beginning its sixth season.
The Comeback (HBO, 9:30 p.m. ET) Lisa Kudrow's awkward new comedy series about a 40 year old actress who has agreed to be filmed for a reality series while making a career comeback in a new situation comedy moves into territory very familiar to readers of The Jack Myers Report, as the cast members of her character's new sitcom head to New York City for their network's Upfront presentation.
The Dead Zone (USA Network, 10 p.m. ET) Season Premiere. Anthony Michael Hall returns for a fourth season as Johnny Smith, a man injured in a car accident who awakens from a six-year coma with psychic powers triggered by touch. Smith's powers allow him to see visions of the past and the future. They prove helpful in solving crimes, but they also torment Smith with visions of a future Armageddon he is increasingly desperate to prevent. Based on characters from the Stephen King novel of the same name. Nicole deBoer, Chris Bruno and David Ogden Stiers co-star.
MONDAY, JUNE 13
The Closer (TNT, 9 p.m. ET) Series Premiere. Kyra Sedgwick plays Deputy Police Chief Brenda Johnson, a CIA-trained Atlanta detective brought to Los Angeles as head of that city's Priority Murder Squad, a law-enforcement division that handles high-profile murder cases. Her first case involves a murder at the home of a multi-millionaire computer company executive. J.K. Simmons (Spiderman, Oz) co-stars as her boss. Corey Reynolds, Jon Tenney and G.W. Bailey also star. This episode will be telecast without commercial interruption.
Inside the Mafia (National Geographic Channel, 9 p.m. ET) Premiere. The history and internal mechanics of one of the world's most powerful criminal organizations are revealed through extensive interviews with FBI and DEA agents and members of crime families, including Henry Hill, the mobster played by Ray Liotta in the 1990 Martin Scorsese drama Goodfellas, and mob infiltrator Joe Pistone, more commonly known as Donnie Brasco. Parts 1 and 2 of this four-hour series will be telecast tonight from 9-11 p.m. ET. Parts 3 and 4 will be telecast tomorrow from 9-11 p.m. ET.
TUESDAY, JUNE 14
The Shield (FX, 10 p.m. ET) Season Finale. According to the actress herself, Glenn Close will exit her acclaimed role as Capt. Monica Rawling after tonight's season finale. She has said in interviews that she would love to continue with this Los Angeles-based production but has chosen to spend more time at home with her family on the East Coast. From the tone of her comments it sounds as if the door will be left open for Rawling to return, but details are unclear. Here's hoping she isn't gunned down or blown to bits in grand "Shield" style, because Close's work on this series has been some of the best by any actress on television this season. The deeply internal, always simmering Rawling is simply too unique and riveting a character to fully write off without the possibility of even a brief return.
Reno 911! (Comedy Central, 10 p.m. ET) Season Premiere. First of Two Parts. The third season premiere picks up months after the second season finale, in which the deputies were kicked off the force and sent to prison. The gang is still behind bars -- and full of stories about their experiences -- but there is hope of an early release. Note to viewers who may want a refresher course on season two before watching season three: The second season of Reno 911! will be released today on DVD.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15
Buggin' with Ruud (Animal Planet, 8 p.m. ET) Series Premiere. We've said it before, and here we go again: Insect specialist Ruud Kleinpaste is out of his mind. But we like the guy anyway. In his 2004 Animal Planet special World's Biggest Baddest Bugs Kleinpaste was shown letting all kinds of creepy critters crawl all over his body, including his face, sometimes biting and stinging him on their way. Despite the discomforts, Kleinpaste claims to love bugs, and his affection for them in his special was oddly engaging. Apparently enough viewers felt likewise, because the network now has given Kleinpaste a series. In tonight's premiere, he's in New Guinea mixing it up with some of the biggest spiders, beetles, butterflies and walking sticks in the world. Where else are you going to learn that jewel beetles can detect forest smoke from 50 miles away, or that all the spiders in England annually capture and eat a quantity of insects equivalent to the total weight of all the humans in that country, or that maggots prevent the human population from being overrun by its own garbage?
Corwin's Quest (Animal Planet, 8:30 p.m. ET) Series Premiere. Jeff Corwin's second series for Animal Planet focuses on distinctive behaviors or physical traits in animal life. Tonight's premiere shows on how certain animals use sound to communicate and/or survive, with Corwin characteristically too close for comfort while observing it all, especially the mating call of male alligators.
30 Days (FX, 10 p.m. ET) Season Premiere. Documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock last year received an Academy Award nomination for Super Size Me, a damning account of his own month-long experience consuming food only at McDonald's and the health problems that ensued. He didn't win the Oscar, but he copped numerous other awards and a gig at FX as creator, executive producer and host of this new reality series, in which people have the opportunity to live life in a manner dramatically different from their own for one month. Each episode chronicles one such experience. In the opener, the subjects are Spurlock and his fiancée Alexandra Jamieson, both residents of New York City, trying to live on minimum wage incomes for thirty days in Columbus, Ohio.
THURSDAY, JUNE 16
Best Ranger (Military Channel, 8 p.m. ET) Premiere. U.S. Army Rangers are required to maintain a physical fitness standard 10 percent above that required of the rest of the Army. This three-hour series (telecast tonight from 8-11 p.m. ET) depicts the grueling Best Ranger Competition, an annual challenge held at Fort Benning, GA, the home of the United States Army Ranger School. In the Competition, several teams of Rangers struggle through sixteen endurance events scheduled back-to-back over sixty hours with little time for rest or meals.
Hit Me Baby One More Time (NBC, 9 p.m. ET) Season Finale. One of the unexpected reality success stories of summer has its premature finale tonight, after only three weeks, as more has-been singers compete for one last brief blast of pop culture stardom. Had NBC an inkling that this show would do so well -- even outperforming some first run NBC programming from the traditional broadcast season -- you can bet the net would have ordered more episodes.
FRIDAY, JUNE 17
Disney's The Buzz on Maggie (Disney Channel, 8 p.m. ET) Series Premiere. Two Episodes. After viewing the first two episodes of this new animated series, 10-year-old aspiring television critic Maya Motavalli concludes, "It's really, really good for a show about flies!" The title character is a tweenage fly prone to expressing her individuality despite the conventional behavior of the other flies in the city of Stickyfeet. Maya reports that Maggie's actions often lead to consequences she hadn't anticipated. For example, in one episode, when she decides that she wants to see a scary movie, and her parents tell her she can't, Maggie sneaks into the theater anyway and finds the movie more terrifying than she had anticipated. (It's about a human exterminator who kills flies.) In another story, all the flies at school choose a popular ladybug to organize their dance, but she makes them dress like ladybugs rather than flies and doesn't let them eat. (Can't blame her for that one -- flies vomit on their food before eating it.) Rebellious Maggie finally tells the other flies to loosen up, because they aren't ladybugs, they're flies, and they should be proud of it. Maya says children who watch this series will learn the importance of being themselves. The title of the series' theme song says it all: "Just the Way I Am."