Tonight's TV Hot List: Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2011

American Idol
8/7c Fox
The gold rush continues. Gold tickets and the hope for golden vocals were the name of the game when Season 10 kicked off last week with preliminary auditions in the New York-New Jersey area and then New Orleans. A new crop of fresh-faced hopefuls tried to secure that elusive gold ticket — their coveted pass to Hollywood and the next round. Meanwhile, the new-look judges are gradually forging their series identities and dynamic, and the early going suggests this post-Cowell world will likely be warmer and fuzzier and perhaps more nurturing. Tonight, it's two hours of resumed off-beat open auditions in the season's third episode. — Dean Maurer

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Silencing the Song: An Afghan Fallen Star8/7c HBO2 In the 2009 documentary Afghan Star, director Havana Marking explored the cultural risks of an American Idol-style show in war-torn Afghanistan. In this 2011 follow-up, Marking profiles a woman named Setara, a contestant from that competition who made headlines not for winning but for behavior that outraged her country's religious fundamentalists. Although still in great danger, she does her best to get on with her life, putting her music career on hold while preparing to be a wife and mother. — Joe FriedrichCriminal Minds9/8c CBS Adrienne Palicki and Jonathan Tucker play young lovers on a killing spree in a case that has shades of the 1973 film Badlands, which was based on the Starkweather-Fugate murders of the 1950s. Elsewhere, Prentiss hears shocking news from her former boss at Interpol. — Bill EcklundHot in Cleveland10/9c TV Land If you've been waiting for the reunion between One Day at a Time costars Valerie Bertinelli and Bonnie Franklin, well — like that show's theme song — this is it. Franklin's Ann Romano raised Bertinelli's Barbara on that sitcom (1975-84), but tonight she's the strict mother of police officer Pete, who's been dating Melanie (Bertinelli), and she doesn't exactly embrace Melanie as a potential daughter-in-law. And if that's not awkward enough, Pete's brother (John Schneider) is one of Melanie's former flings. — Joe Friedrich

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Live to Dance8/7c CBS Tonight's performances are the last ones of the semifinal round, and two teams — one determined by the judges and the other by fans — get a chance to move on. The stakes are definitely high because the winning acts will complete the final six acts that will face each other for the $500,000 grand prize. — Bill EcklundThe Traveler's Guide to Life10/9c Travel Man v. Food star Adam Richman hosts this fun, fast-paced series, which features a diverse group of travel enthusiasts sharing their favorite anecdotes from the road. In the premiere, astronaut Buzz Aldrin recalls the first moon landing; shark advocate Rob Stewart discusses an eye-opening trip to the Galápagos Islands; teen mountaineer Jordan Romero reflects on being the youngest person to climb Mount Everest; and comedy writer Joe Wengert remembers childhood vacations at the Jersey Shore. — Karen KeltyBeing Erica11/10c SoapNet Many changes are in store for Erica Strange in the third-season opener of this Canadian comedy-drama. As the second season closed, Erica walked through a door. Now that she's on the other side, she finds that all aspects of her life — including her career, romances and therapy — have been altered. She must now cope with starting a new business with Julianne, moving on from Ethan and adjusting to Dr. Tom's latest form of therapy. — Jennifer Sankowski