TV is the New Reading

There’s lots

to look forward to this week

I like Tyler Labine. A lot. He’s a big ball of good-natured scruffy. If the CW’s “Reaper” had continued he as WorkBench slacker Bert “Sock” Wysocki might even have become a werewolf, but it didn’t and he did not. Instead, starting Sunday in "Sons of Tucson," at 10:30/9:30c on FOX, he’s a down-on-his-luck schlub living in his car when three kids decide to pull a Kurt Russell-free “Overboard” -- and how dated is that reference?

After their father goes to prison, Brandon, Gary and Robby Gunderson hire Labine as parking lot denizen Ron Snuffkin to stand in as their dad. If the previews can be believed, within moments he’s using words like “bruschetta” and essentially standing in as sometimes father, sometimes fourth brother in this nutty romp. I’ll know more about what I think about it after it airs, but offhand it reminds me a little of “Malcolm in the Middle” and I’m not sure I’m up for another one of those. If anyone could make it work it’s the Sock man.

NBC is also premiering “Minute to Win It” this weekend because as Leno is banished from primetime NBC needs programming and what better than an impossibly random game show? I dunno, a creepy old cat lady in a house making predictions, a banker tracking down ne’er-do-wells in the world of high finance, an adaptation of Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Milhone private investigator series, I mean you could air an edited version of the security footage from a convenience store in New Jersey and at least get “Clerks.”

The real excitement comes next Sunday anyway. Leading into a harrowing third-season premiere of Bryan Cranston’s “Breaking Bad,” AMC starting Friday night is airing the pilot episode onward, do viewers can relive the transformation of Walter White, family man and high-school chemistry teacher into Mr. Heisenberg, the cooker responsible for a glut of glass-grade crystal meth through the southland. You can pick up the third-season premiere at 10/9c Sunday March 21 on AMC.

Other things to look forward to you know, I’ve wondered about my assertion for awhile now that TV is the new reading. I still think it is but there are lots of situations in which television programs move the storylines forward dramatically but not especially interestingly. Oh, here’s another art thief for them to track down on “White Collar” while trying to figure out who’s the mole in the department and there’s Neal Caffey being all coy and clever, or on “Desperate Housewives,” oh, now she’s with him, and now he’s cheating on both of them, or oh dear, Jack Bauer’s returned from the dead again, now they’re gonna get it. He’s technically a zombie at this point, right? And some shows everyone’s got a miscarriage and everyone’s got autism and everyone’s got breast cancer while running for the Senate and isn’t that just always the way?

But some shows really bring it. I’m looking forward to the series premiere of “Justified” Tuesday at 10/9c on FX, if only to pick on Walton Goggins for once again ending up as second fiddle to a much more interesting and charismatic actor. Often called the redneck in his last project “The Shield,” also on FX, the small-town backwoods setting seems to give him an edge over badass Timothy Olyphant, but I suppose we’ll see how that plays out.

More to the point, “Damages,” Mondays at 10/9c on FX, has just been turning in some amazing storytelling, tracking down ill-gotten gains to Caribbean banking outfits and if anyone can find it, it’s Glenn Close as Patty Hewes. Although I think the D.A. is drawn a shade too darkly. Sure he wants to get the Tobins, but any real D.A. would be interested in recovering the money for the injured parties. The fact that Ellen’s boss has stated he doesn’t give a rip about the defrauded victims simply gives her a dramatic out for helping Patty, who is easily the darkest and most Machiavellian public defender in the history of television. Last week added a wrinkle with the appearance of Tobin lawyer Leo Winestone’s evil father. I can’t wait to find out what he’s bringing to the mix.

“FlashForward” returns following “LOST,” which I for one think is a good pairing Tuesday night on ABC. There’s also a two-hour event slated for the show’s regular night Thursday as well beginning at 8/7c. “Fringe” is a repeat that night at 9/8c but I’m not sure I saw it first time around – I don’t pay that close attention to Observer-centric episodes, I guess, so there’s a lot of good sci-fi coming up.

Speaking of “LOST,” the karma watchers perked up a little bit as the dark side of the force and the light side made a few practical determinations both in the LA X world and the Island. The Jacob/Smoky dichotomy has been such that it’s hard to ignore the karma-driven personal histories where the island seems to be making judgments about good people and bad people and where exactly did Ben fit along that spectrum.

If his father had never taken him to the island it appears they’d have gotten along better and Ben would be a better person, helping Alex Rousseau, his adopted daughter on the island, get into Harvard, whereas the island version of himself got to watch as Alex was killed in front of him and Jacob was nowhere to be found, and now there’s some ambiguity to forgive when Ben lashes out at Jacob. Because that’s fair, put a guy in an impossible situation and blame him for however he reacts, right? They’re promising some answers, though, and I can’t wait to see if we get any. A new episode of “LOST” airs at 9/8c Tuesday on ABC.

Also coming up, Wednesday the new season of “South Park” starts on Comedy Central. They’re up to Season 14 by now with about 200 episodes and I imagine something funny will happen but the nihilistic cynicism has been grating for years and they swing so friggin’ wide I wouldn’t fall over backwards in surprise and alarm to discover even unflattering reviews from random podcasters could land up in their crosshairs. Following the Season 14 premiere is the series premiere of what looks to be a deeply depressing animated series called “Ugly Americans,” which I imagine could be hysterically funny if you were very, very high. Funny or scary. You can find out for yourself as “South Park” opens its new season Wednesday at 10/9c on Comedy Central, followed by “Ugly Americans.” Enjoy.

That and America’s obsession with both geneology and celebrity continues as “Who Do You Think You Are?” airs a new episode at 10/9c Friday on NBC featuring Lisa Kudrow. I’m always impressed by how celebrities have brilliantly documented and often illustrated past lives – er, in this case, forebears. I suppose it’s more interesting than spending time with your own family, but if it inspires anyone to do any reading or research or to think at all about our connections to a larger world I suppose it’s worth at least that much attention.

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