The Hills
The Hills
10/9c MTV
Lauren Conrad may have left The Hills last May, but the drama has certainly stuck around — especially with Lauren's pre-Spencer nemesis, Kristin Cavallari, poised to take her place as series star. The Laguna Beach vixen is sure to stir up some trouble when she sets her sights on Audrina's ex, Justin, when the second half of Season 5 kicks off this evening.
Read on for previews of Dancing with the Stars, Melrose Place, Sons of Anarchy and The Joy Behar Show.
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Trauma
Trauma
9/8c NBC
If you're into high-octane medical dramas, NBC has a new entry that spotlights paramedics. Perhaps in an homage to ER, which did not shy away from this sort of thing, Trauma blasts onto the screen with a helicopter crash that has a long-lasting personal effect on the show's main cast, which includes Cliff Curtis and Derek Luke. Earnest performances and a glossy look should draw viewers to this pedigreed production, but the accident-of-the-week story lines might get old fast — even with all the pyrotechnics.
Read on for previews of The Big Bang Theory, Lie to Me, Heroes and Hoarders.
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The Amazing Race
Amazing Race 15
8/7c CBS
The Emmy-winning series, which last Sunday nabbed its seventh consecutive reality-competition trophy, launches its 15th season with 12 teams in Los Angeles. While that's one pair more than usual, only 11 duos will fly to Tokyo on the race's first leg. Why? One team is eliminated before leaving the starting line. Participants include two members of the Harlem Globetrotters, a man with Asperger's syndrome, a pair of professional poker players, gay brothers, and Miss America 2004, Erika Dunlap, who is half of the show's first interracial married couple.
Read on for previews of The National Parks: America's Best Idea, Desperate Housewives, Cleveland Show and Dexter.
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Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
11:29/10:29c NBC
Here's some Fox news: The laugher opens its 35th season with actress Megan Fox, hot off her man-eating performance in Jennifer's Body, as a first-time host. It's been an off-season of high drama. Divisive politics, rude public behavior and stormy debates over health-care reform ruled the day — so we can expect the SNL players to tap into all that with their usual keen observation and comedic zeal. Speaking of zeal, passionate Irish überband U2 rally the evening with performances. Bono and the boys are in the midst of their sprawling 360° Tour (and just recently played two sold-out shows at Giants Stadium), so they should be in tight form.
Read on for previews of Unlikely Animal Friends, Children of the Corn, My Neighbor's Secret and iCarly.
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Medium
Medium
9/8c CBS
The paranormal drama about creepy spirits, dark unknowns and a psychic soccer mom who sees dead people does some strange channeling: Canceled by NBC, the show now rematerializes on CBS, completing a ghostly night on the Eye network. (Ghost Whisperer precedes the show.) In the Season 6 opener, Allison struggles through the aftermath of her brain surgery and its potential lasting impact on her life. This also being a crime drama, there's some bad-guy intrigue: A TV-station owner enlists Devalos and Scanlon to probe the purported stalking of his station's sportscaster — who also happens to be his wife. Natalie Zea and Pruitt Taylor Vince guest star.
Read on for previews of Brothers, Dollhouse, The Prisoner, Law & Order, Ghost Whisperer.
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Grey's Anatomy
Grey's Anatomy
9/8c ABC
Grey's fans have had all summer to deal with George's sudden death, but it just happened at Seattle Grace so things are in a state of shock as Season 6 begins. That's hardly a surprise, but staffers work through their grief in ways you might not immediately suspect. (TV fans with long memories might get a chuckle out of it.) But life goes on, and for Izzie, at least, that's good news. Mitch Pileggi returns as board chairman Larry Jennings. For the chief, this is not good news.
Read on for previews of FlashForward, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, The Mentalist, Fringe and The Office.
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Cougar Town
Cougar Town
9:30/8:30c ABC
Lest ye think this new comedy is all about older women chasing younger men — though there is that — the producers, including Scrubs' Bill Lawrence, conveniently dodge that cliché by tying it to a high-school football team's nickname. As for that first premise, it could also describe fortysomething divorcée Jules Cobb (Courteney Cox) being figuratively chewed up and spit out by a big cat called life. Should she get back out there and date? Well, she's just not sure, and, in tonight's premiere, neither is her mortified teenage son.
Read on for previews of Modern Family, Mercy, New Adventures of Old Christine and Law & Order: SVU.
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NCIS: LA
NCIS: Los Angeles
9/8c CBS
This drama has the distinction of being a spin-off from a spin-off (NCIS, which had its start in JAG), but that's not the only intriguing thing about it. Topping the list would be the pairing of LL Cool J and Chris O'Donnell, who team up as undercover agents with the NCIS Office of Special Projects in Los Angeles. In the two-part NCIS episode that introduced the characters, agent G. Callen (O'Donnell) was shot at the end. In the series opener, he returns to work four months later and joins the team on a kidnapping case.
Read on for previews of The Good Wife, Warehouse 13, The Forgotten and Hell's Kitchen.
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Dancing With The Stars
Dancing with the Stars
8/7c ABC
The show enters its ninth season with its largest cast ever: 16 celebrities! This season will feature some new dances and several double eliminations. Some pros who haven't competed on the show recently are back, including Louis van Amstel and Anna Trebunskaya. As for the dancing novices, this year's big crop of diverse stars includes Donny Osmond, Kelly Osbourne, Melissa Joan Hart, Michael Irvin, Chuck Liddell and Macy Gray. On this first night of competition, the male celebrities perform.
Read on for previews of Heroes, House, Accidentally on Purpose and CSI: Miami.
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The 61st Annual Emmy Awards
61st Primetime Emmy Awards
8/7c CBS
Tina Fey, who received an Emmy last weekend at the Creative Arts Emmy ceremony for her Sarah Palin impersonation on Saturday Night Live, could walk away from the Nokia Theatre tonight with even more hardware. She's up for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for 30 Rock, which received an astounding 22 nominations. Another big winner will likely be Mad Men, which hauled in six trophies in 2008. Neil Patrick Harris, an Emmy producer and nominated for his supporting role in How I Met Your Mother, looks to replicate his recent Tony-hosting success with another stellar performance. The big loser this evening could be CBS if Emmy ratings, which reached an all-time low last year, continue to tank.
Read on for previews of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Drop Dead Diva, Mad Men and Bored to Death.
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