News & Notes

Tonight, ABC has the third season premiere of Wipeout and the series premieres of Downfall and Primetime: Mind Games.

Over on cable, Animal Planet has a Michael Jackson & Bubbles: The Untold Story special, BET has the second season finale of Tiny & Toya, Discovery Channel has a Who Really Discovered America? special, and TNT has the second season premiere of Hawthorne and the series premiere of Memphis Beat.

Enter our USA Network Burn Notice prize pack and Royal Pains prize pack giveaways.

Prime Picks

Pretty Little Liars (ABC Family): New. We find out more about the girls’ relationships as they do something to pay tribute to the memory of Allison. Plays again next Tuesday before the next new episode. Last week’s episode, “The Jenna Thing,” replays right before tonight’s episode.

Life Unexpected (The CW): Repeat. The fourth episode, “Bong Intercepted,” replays, where Cate tries to get involved after Lux gets suspended from school and Baze tries to get an event that Cate and Ryan are hosting moved to his bar.

Law & Order: Criminal Intent (USA): New. A government official is blackmailing two doctors that have been overcharging their patients and the detectives investigate when the official is found dead. Plays again later.

Other Options

• HawthoRNe (TNT): Season Premiere. Richmond Trinity is closing, but many of the doctors and nurses are moving over to James River, which is another hospital on the verge of closing down. Plays again later. This show just didn’t work for me in its first season. I watched the first two episodes and that was more than enough. So, when the screener for the season two premiere arrived, I popped it in to see if it had gotten any better. For me the answer is no. Giving everyone basically the same mission they just failed at over at a new hospital did nothing for me. I like a lot of the cast, but not the show. I’ve said it before, but when watching this show, I feel like I’m being manipulated. Yes, I know that inherently every scripted show on TV is attempting to manipulate you. To get you to laugh here, cry there, etc. But, if you are engrossed in the story and the characters that are telling it, you don’t notice or care that it is happening. This show seems to show its hand and I don’t want to see it.
• Memphis Beat (TNT): Series Premiere. Det. Dwight Hendricks, played by Jason Lee (My Name Is Earl), has a laid-back style and own way of doing things that doesn’t mesh well with his new boss, played by Alfre Woodard (Desperate Housewives). In the series opener, Hendricks is tasked with investigating what looks to be elderly abuse, which is usually the type of case that is assigned elsewhere. Plays again later. This is not a great show, but I enjoyed it. I have a tendency to like the offbeat cop that goes his own way type of show, plus I really liked the setting of Memphis, even though it is filmed in New Orleans. Other than the setting there isn’t much new here, but I think it could provide some different stories than we see on most detective/cop dramas. I’ll be checking out another episode.

Sports Notes

• ESPN a couple 2010 FIFA World Cup games.
• ESPN2 has early round play from Wimbledon starting super early and later a couple of College World Series games.

TV Marathons

Bravo has seven episodes of Top Chef.
Oxygen has 12 episodes of America’s Next Top Model.
Spike TV has 11 hours of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation episodes.
Syfy has eight episodes of Level 9 early.
USA has 16 episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

Tagged as: hawthorne, memphis beat

Tonight on the Tube: Pretty Little Liars, HawthoRNe S.2 Premiere …