Vote for your Favorite Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
SATURDAY, AUGUST 13
A Father … a Son … Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (HBO, 8 p.m. ET)
Premiere. Academy Award winning actress and director Lee Grant produced and directed this documentary about two true
Hollywood heavyweights with a history of outsize professional success and intense personal rifts — Kirk Douglas and his son Michael Douglas. A Father … a Son consists primarily of edited conversations between Kirk and Michael that are unusually candid and revealing. It also
includes clips from their classic films and comments from Kirk's wife Anne Douglas, Michael's wife Catherine Zeta-Jones and others.
SUNDAY, AUGUST 14
My Kind of Town (ABC, 9 p.m. ET)
Series Premiere. Small town residents compete in kooky contests in this comedy-variety-game show hybrid.
Six Feet Under (HBO, 9 p.m. ET)
How to boldly generate interest in a fading franchise as it nears its series finale: Kill off the main character three weeks before
the series ends and focus on the many ways in which his death impacts his devastated loved ones. There are only two episodes of Six Feet Under left and from where we sit they are Must-See TV. Still, this
isn't the most riveting emotional drama on summer television (see Tuesday, August 16).
Comedy Central Roast of Pamela Anderson (Comedy Central, 10 p.m. ET)
Premiere. Likely the rudest,
crudest celebrity roast ever produced. Jimmy Kimmel hosts.
Barbershop (Showtime, 10 p.m. ET)
Series Premiere. Showtime's latest scripted series is a continuation of the Barbershop feature film f
ranchise featuring several of the characters from those successful movies. It's about the staff and customers at a barbershop on the south side of Chicago who regularly gather to express their opinions on a variety of subjects and solve the problems of the world. Omar Gooding plays Calvin, owner of the
title business that he inherited from his father. In the series opener, Calvin hires an ex-con and distant relative of his wife to work as a barber.
MONDAY, AUGUST 15
K9 Karma (Animal Planet, 11 a.m. ET)
Series Premiere. Animal Planet launches a new Monday-Friday daytime programming block today consisting of two
new reality series. The first, K9 Karma, stars New York City dog trainer and yoga instructor Kari Harendorf and her dog Charlie, a husky mix. Kari and Charlie teach yoga to people and their dogs together. K9 Karma also highlights other interesting activities for dog owners and their
beloved pets. (Animal Planet will telecast a primetime special about this show tonight at 8 p.m. ET. Beginning next week, one episode of K9 Karma will be telecast every Monday at 8 p.m. ET.)
Backyard Habitat (Animal Planet, 11:30 a.m. ET)
Series Premiere. The second series in Animal Planet's new Monday-Friday daytime programming block is Backyard Habitat, in which viewers learn how to attract wildlife to their property. Created
in partnership with the National Wildlife Federation, each installment details the transformation of outdoor spaces (including city terraces and suburban backyards) into NWF-certified havens for regional flowers, birds, reptiles and animals. David Mizejewski, author of the book Attracting Birds, Butterflies and Other Backyard Wildlife and manager of the NWF's Backyard
Wildlife Habitat program, hosts with actress and television personality Molly Pesce. (Animal Planet will telecast one episode of Backyard Habitat every Monday night at 8:30 p.m. ET beginning next week.)
Karol: A Man Who Became Pope (Hallmark Channel, 8 p.m. ET)
Premiere. Four Hours. CBS and ABC are busily developing high-profile made-for-television movies about the life of Pope John Paul II. (Last month at the Television Critics Association tour CBS Entertainment president Nina Tassler famously referred to the script for her network's movie
as "a papal page turner.") Hallmark Channel, meanwhile, has quietly acquired this four-hour European production that received the highest possible critical acclaim, an endorsement from the late Pontiff himself, who viewed the film shortly before his death. Pope Benedict XVI has also watched and praised this production and in May screened it for cardinals, bishops, priests and
other Catholic authorities. The movie depicts the events — in particular the Nazi invasion of his native Poland in 1939 — that led 18-year-old Karol Wojtyla to leave behind his dreams of life as an actor and writer and instead follow God's calling.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 16
Tommy Lee Goes to College (NBC, 9 p.m. ET)
Series Premiere. Two Episodes. Aging Motley Crue rocker Tommy Lee, also famously known as the ex-husband of
Pamela Anderson, attends the University of Nebraska at Lincoln in NBC's latest mindless summer reality series.
Real World: Austin (MTV, 10 p.m. ET)
Danny's emotional devastation following the sudden death of his ailing mother and his subsequent feelings of guilt for opting to participate in this Texas-based production rather than remain in Boston by her
side has been almost too painful to watch. But it has made Real World the most dramatic and compelling original program of the summer. (Danny was just getting over an earlier trauma: In the season premiere, he drank too much during a night out with his housemates and was so severely beaten by an angry bar patron that one of his eye sockets was shattered, requiring major surgery.)
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17
Brat Camp (ABC, 9 p.m. ET)
Season Finale. ABC's controversial reality series about a group of arrogant, emotionally troubled teens enduring the rigors of
rehabilitation at a wilderness camp concludes tonight, as the kids face their final challenge and are then reunited with their parents for the first time since being sent away.
Battle of the Network Reality Stars (Bravo, 9 p.m. ET)
Series Premiere. Remember those Battle of the Network Stars specials in the '70s and the short-lived series of the same name that featured television stars competing in athletic competitions on the
spectacular Pepperdine University campus in Malibu? Viewers flocked to these shows, mainly to see the hotties of the moment in Speedo bathing suits. Bravo is reviving the franchise and stuffing it full of fast-fading participants from recent reality fare. We're not sure how interested people will be in seeing Speedo-clad reality personalities, but the Pepperdine University campus is as
beautiful as ever and nostalgic clips from the '70s version of this franchise are scattered throughout, making Battle a pleasant diversion on a warm summer night. The premiere is worth watching for the jousting competition between diminutive dynamo Charla Faddoul of The Amazing Race 5 and Rachel Love-Fraser of The Swan alone.
Little Britain (BBC America, 9 p.m. ET)
U.S. Premiere. Supremely talented writer-performers David Williams and Matt Lucas return for a second season of their hit British comedy, a sketch show featuring such recurring characters as
Daffyd, the only gay man in his Welsh village who jealously guards his status; Marjorie, the nasty instructor of a weight-loss class; Vicky the incomprehensible teenager; and Sebastian, the horny young aide desperately in love with his boss, the British Prime Minister (played by Anthony
Stewart Head of Buffy the Vampire Slayer). New characters joining the madness include Bubbles, the pampered, obese wife of a businessman and Florence, a novice transvestite and friend of the unconvincing man-in-drag Emily Howard.
Trailer Fabulous (MTV, 10 p.m. ET)
The summer's best makeover series is also its most inspirational. Who knew trailers were so big and had so much
potential? Maybe there is an affordable housing alternative available to the working class after all.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 18
Soap Star: Guess Who's Coming to Pine Valley (ABC, times vary; SoapNet, 6 p.m. ET)
Premiere. All My Children star and I Wanna Be a Soap Star host Cameron Mathison anchors this one-hour recap of the first eight episodes of SoapNet's reality series I Wanna Be a Soap Star. The
recap show will debut on ABC Daytime today during the time period normally occupied by The View (check local listings) and will later be telecast on SoapNet at 6 p.m. ET. (Need we mention that Disney is the parent company of both ABC and SoapNet?)
I Wanna Be a Soap Star (SoapNet, 11 p.m. ET)
Season Finale. How's this for an example of corporate synergy at its most efficient? In tonight's second-season
finale viewers will learn the identity of the young actor or actress who will win a recurring role on the ABC Daytime drama All My Children. Tomorrow, the winner will be seen on All My Children making his or her first appearance in that recurring role.
Hidden Howie: The Private Life of a Public Nuisance (Bravo, 11 p.m. ET)
Series Premiere. It may be the most confusing premise yet for a reality series. Hidden camera segments featuring
ordinary, unsuspecting people are blended with scenes of comedian Howie Mandel going about his personal and professional life in this show, which Bravo says is a mix of unscripted and improvisational comedy. It's improvisational because there are other actors involved in the Mandel
scenes. Julie Warner, for example, plays Howie's wife. But Howie's real-life son Alex plays himself.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 19
The Proud Family Movie (Disney Channel, 8 p.m. ET)
Premiere. R&B recording artist Omarion and comedian and former talk show host Arsenio Hall provide the guest voices in
this Disney Channel Original Movie with music based on the network's popular animated series The Proud Family. Omarion plays a heartthrob rapper named 15 Cent who takes an interest in young Penny, prompting dad Oscar to get between them and whisk the family away to a vacation on a
remote island. Hall portrays Dr. Carver, the scientist who offers the vacation to the Prouds and secretly covets information from would-be snack-food entrepreneur Oscar that will enhance his plan to unleash evil
peanut-like creatures on an unsuspecting world. You read that right. Is there any doubt that kids are going to love this?
Hopeless Pictures, Greg the Bunny, The Festival (IFC, 10 p.m. ET)
Multiple Series Premieres. IFC is launching three original franchises tonight that will run every Friday from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET. First up is the animated series Hopeless Pictures, about one Mel
Wax, the head of a dysfunctional Hollywood independent movie studio. It's written, directed and produced by Bob Balaban, who also provides one of the voices. Michael McKean, Jennifer Coolidge, Martin Mull and Jonathan Katz also star. Guest voices include Lisa Kudrow, Jerry Stiller,
Paul Reubens, Anne Meara and Rob Reiner. New editions of Greg the Bunny follow. The title character … a puppet … began life in 1997 as a public access fixture in New York City, was then acquired by IFC and later hit the big time with a 13-episode series on Fox. Cancellation
followed, sending Greg and his puppet pals back to IFC. Rounding out the hour is the live-action series The Festival, a satirical ensemble comedy about a young filmmaker's disastrous shot at the big time.
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