Tonight's TV Hot List: Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2011

Modern Family
9/8c ABC
Living with a Colombian wife and her son, Jay's horizons broaden every day, but tonight it's apparent that the phrase "like riding a bike" means nothing to them — because they don't know how. So while Jay teaches them what to him feels like an American birthright, Claire is driven to distraction by a person speeding through the Dunphys' neighborhood; and Mitchell and Cameron are just plain distracted by the New Agey, hot-tubbing and frequently shirtless guy (James Marsden) who moved in upstairs. — Joe Friedrich

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People's Choice Awards9/8c CBS Hollywood's annual awards season officially begins with tonight's 37th gala at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. Queen Latifah returns for the fifth consecutive year to preside over the festivities that honor fan favorites in movies, TV, music and Internet sensations. In all, 44 awards will be presented, from Favorite Movie to Favorite Viral Video Star. Diddy-Dirty Money and Kid Rock are among the scheduled performers. — Tim HollandLaw & Order: Special Victims Unit9/8c NBC SVU starts off the year with two hours of new episodes that spotlight the talents of two guest stars. In the first hour, Drea de Matteo plays a character reminiscent of Adriana on The Sopranos: a woman in an abusive relationship. Her troubled spouse is also involved with a gambling ring that led to a young boy's death. In the second hour, Taryn Manning portrays a woman attacked and left unconscious. When detectives investigate her assault, evidence of her traumatic buried past comes to light. — Jennifer Sankowski

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Are We There Yet?
10/9c TBS Co-executive producer Ice Cube heats up and thaws out his blended-family sitcom, which returns to open its second season with two back-to-back episodes tonight. In the first, Nick notches one in the win column when he lands a job as a TV sports anchor. But tension rises in his marriage when Suzanne's ex-husband pushes the idea of paying less child support. Ice Cube guest stars along with Charlie Murphy (Eddie's brother). In the second outing, Nick and Suzanne gear up for a special date night, only to run into various roadblocks. — Dean MaurerTop Chef: All-Stars10/9c Bravo It was game-set-cook in the previous episode when the chefs served up fare at the U.S. Open tennis tournament. (Carla netted the win while Spike was served with the elimination.) Tonight we turn to a top-seed culinarian, head judge Tom Colicchio. For the first time in series history, Colicchio enters the competition, stepping into the kitchen and challenging the chefs to top his time in creating a dish. Later, in the Elimination Challenge, the meal masters try to win with dim sum. Here, they cook up the dish in New York's Chinatown, and previews suggest some local taste-tasters are none too pleased. Forget it, it's Chinatown. — Dean Maurer

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Primetime: Celebrity Weight Loss — What Really Happens10:01/9:01c ABC What with all those New Year's resolutions, the first week of January is as good a time as any for ABC News to tackle the subject of weight loss. And where else but in Hollywood, where it's such an obsession. So what sort of advice do slim celebs have to impart? Ricki Lake lost a lot of weight and has managed to keep it off. She'll tell you how. Playboy's Kendra Wilkinson had a baby in December 2009 and lost her baby fat quickly. She'll tell you how she did that. Trainer-to-the-stars Tracy Anderson has the lowdown on the "baby-food diet." And New Yorker Bethenny Frankel is cooking healthy. — Paul DroeschGhost Hunters International9/8c SyfyShakespeare wrote, "All that lives must die, passing through nature to eternity." That's fine for the Bard, but if we didn't believe that some who die hang around for a while after the funeral, there wouldn't be shows like this one. The team goes to Denmark's Kronborg Castle, which inspired the setting for "Hamlet," to see if paranormal claims linked to the landmark are "to be, or not to be" taken seriously. — Michael Chant