SATURDAY JUNE 23
The Suite Life of Zack & Cody (Disney Channel, 8 p.m. ET) Season Premiere. Complications abound as the twins graduate from middle school: Cody learns that he is the class valedictorian -- an honor his girlfriend was counting on -- and Zack is told he must attend summer school before graduating. Not wanting to disappoint his parents, scheming Zack comes up with a plan to walk across the stage and receive his diploma on schedule. Cole and Dylan Sprouse star. Ashley Tisdale and Brenda Song co-star.
Stan Lee's Harpies (Sci Fi Channel, 9 p.m. ET) Premiere. A museum security guard is sucked into an ancient chalice and transported to the Middle Ages, where he battles an evil wizard and the monstrous winged creatures under his control. If the wizard has his way, he will transport himself and his flying beasts to the present day. Stephen Baldwin, Kristin Richardson and Scott Valentine star.
SUNDAY, JUNE 24
Crossroads (CMT, 8 p.m. ET) Premiere. Fans of American Idol Season One winner Kelly Clarkson know that Reba McEntire has long been her idol. This edition of CMT's Crossroads brings the two together for a concert at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Clarkson and McEntire will duet on many of their individual hits, including McEntire's Fancy and Why Haven't I Heard From You and Clarkson's Since You've Been Gone, Because of You and Walkaway.
The 4400 (USA Network, 9 p.m. ET) Tom and Diana try to locate the mysterious person who has the ability to make people's phobias come to life; Kyle's new friend Cassie shows him a book that contains a prophecy about Jordan Collier (Billy Campbell), and Danny asks Shawn to help him obtain a shot of that problematic Promicin.
Unplugged (CMT, 9 p.m. ET) Premiere. Ninety minutes. Unplugged moves from MTV to CMT for this expanded edition featuring Bon Jovi. The band will perform their biggest hits including Livin' on a Prayer, You Give Love a Bad Name and the recent Who Says You Can't Go Home, along with (You Want to) Make a Memory and other songs from their new album Lost Highway. Watch for a special guest appearance by LeAnn Rimes. This edition of Crossroads will bring Bon Jovi full circle: The franchise was inspired by Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora's sensational acoustic performance at the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards.
Engineering the Impossible: The Colosseum (National Geographic Channel, 9 p.m. ET) Premiere. The Colosseum was constructed two thousand years ago -- long before the creation of electricity, power tools and earth-moving equipment -- but the architectural prowess and execution rival modern technologies. Its creators pioneered the use of building materials that are still essential today, including concrete, bricks, drainage systems and production lines. Tune in and learn more about it, including the details of its design -- which accommodated more than 50,000 people a day and allowed them all the easily exit the structure in a mere 30 minutes!
Entourage (HBO, 10 p.m. ET) The increasingly neurotic Drama plans a welcome-home party for Vince at his new condo and obsesses over keeping the place tidy during the festivities. Meanwhile, Ari and his wife are dismayed to learn that their son may not get into their daughter's private school -- and Ari's puzzlement turns to fury when he learns why. Also, Billy tries to prevent Vince and Eric from seeing a rough cut of Medellin.
The Dead Zone (USA Network, 10 p.m. ET) Still reeling from the death of his friend Walt, Johnny meets a formidable new adversary: A law enforcement officer named Anna Turner who is unimpressed by his psychic abilities. When he has a vision of Turner shooting a female psychiatrist Johnny looks into the doctor's life and discovers that she has a number of patients who might want her dead. Anthony Michael Hall (who makes an unforgettable guest appearance tonight on Entourage) stars.
Who Cares About Girls: Slave Girls of India (Oxygen, 10 p.m. ET) Premiere. Shot on location in India, the second effort in Oxygen's acclaimed documentary franchise looks at child labor and prostitution in that country. According to Oxygen there are over 60 million children working in India's farms, factories, homes and brothels; in fact, it has the world's largest population of child laborers. And girls are preferred as workers because they are the cheapest source of labor and are more easily exploited, especially as sex slaves. In one sequence of this documentary Ling follows a secret undercover raid to rescue a young girl from a brothel, led by a 19-year-old ex-prostitute and members of the organization S.T.O.P. -- Stop Trafficking, Oppression and Prostitution.
Engineering the Impossible: The Great Pyramid (National Geographic Channel, 10 p.m. ET) Premiere. After 4500 years, the Great Pyramid of Giza is the only one of the Seven Wonders of the World that remains with us today. It was constructed with enough stone to build the Empire State Building six times over, carried on the backs of thousands of workers. Who made them do it, and why? All the astonishing details of the pyramid's creation are included in this program.
CMT Diary: Martina McBride (CMT, 10:30 p.m. ET) Premiere. Cameras followed country music superstar Martina McBride during the promotional tour for her newest album, which included hitting the television talk show circuit, appearing in concert and performing her latest hit, Anyway, as the closing act at the 2007 CMT Music Awards. (We were there. She brought the house down at the Curb Event Center at Belmont University.) See it all in this edition of CMT Diary.
MONDAY, JUNE 25
Kyle XY (ABC Family, 8 p.m. ET) Madacorp chief Ballantine has a new mission for Emily and Jessi XX -- bring Kyle back at any cost! Meanwhile, Kyle finds that returning to his old life with the Tragers is virtually impossible with Tom hounding him to work on his newfound skills. Matt Dallas stars. Answer our Kyle XY Trivia Contest and be entered to win a prize package that includes a Kyle XY Soundtrack, Kyle XY Season 1 DVDs, Kyle XY posters, and Kyle XY postcards/tattoos!
Semper Fi: One Marine's Journey (Showtime, 8:30 p.m. ET) Premiere. What does it mean to be a gay American at war? This feature-length documentary re-creates the journey of Jeff Key, a gay man who at age 34 joined the Marines to fulfill a lifelong dream. After 9/11 he was sent to Iraq, even though he could have avoided his deployment by revealing his sexual orientation. When Key returned home he responded to his shattering experiences at war by creating a powerful one-man play, scenes of which are included in this film, along with Key's personal footage from Iraq.
The Closer (TNT, 9 p.m. ET) Last week's riveting season premiere -- about the murder and madness that followed when a young man learned that his father was a bigamist -- attracted almost 9 million viewers, making it the most watched episode of an original series in the history of ad-supported cable television. That's a tough act to follow, but we're certain that Kyra Sedgwick and her co-stars and crew are up to the task. Tonight, Lt. Provenza's business card is found in the pocket of a deceased 16-year-old gang member and a priest who is credited with helping gang members by protecting them from the police is caught in the ensuing investigation. Also, Fritz answers Brenda's home phone -- just as her suspicious father is calling!
Girl, Positive (Lifetime, 9 p.m. ET) Premiere. Andrea Bowen (Julie on Desperate Housewives) plays a carefree high school senior who panics when she learns that the handsome and popular neighbor with whom she once had unprotected sex has died and was HIV-positive. Jennie Garth co-stars as the girl's new substitute teacher who helps her come to terms with the dramatic changes in her life. S. Epatha Merkerson and Eric Von Detton also star.
Big Love (HBO, 9 p.m. ET) Bill and Nikki drive to Juniper Creek for a family reunion, Barb catches Ben in a compromising position with Margene, and Sarah later catches Ben in an even more compromising position with Brynn.
Science of Love: A Modern Dating Experiment (NBC, 10 p.m. ET) Premiere. What is the secret to finding true love? Does it have anything to do with science or does it come down to basic animal instinct and simple chemistry? NBC -- the network that is bringing us the dreadful Battle of the Kittens and the Cougars this summer in Age of Love -- will attempt to answer these questions in this special, in which one man dates two women, one of them his personal preference, the other a so-called perfect match, scientifically speaking. Age of Love star Mark Consuelos is the host.
TUESDAY, JUNE 26
BET Awards (BET, 8 p.m. ET) Live. Three hours. Diana Ross will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award and Don Cheadle the Humanitarian Award (for his efforts in Darfur and fundraising for the African AIDS epidemic) in the seventh annual BET award-fest, telecast live from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. The BET Awards honor achievements by African Americans in entertainment, sports and other areas. Among the celebrities scheduled to appear or perform are Beyonce, Diddy, Kelly Rowland, Alicia Keys, Rihanna, Gladys Knight, Chaka Khan, Erykah Badu, Nelly, Fabolous, Vivica A. Fox, Jordin Sparks, Tyler Perry, Henry Simmons, Reggie Bush, 50 Cent, Queen Latifah, Tyra Banks and Terrence Howard. Mo'Nique is the host.
Shaq's Big Challenge (ABC, 9 p.m. ET) Series Premiere. According to the so-called health "experts" who have permeated television talk shows of late, we're in the midst of an epidemic of childhood obesity. I'm not sure where all these obese children are -- I don't see them at the beach, in the mall, at the movies or on the grounds of schools in my town. I do see chubby kids here and there, but chubby kids have been with us for as far back as I can remember -- long before computers and video games came along to threaten the health of young people everywhere, as the "experts" claim. Still, I'll give credit to four-time NBA champion Shaquille O'Neal for seeking to set a positive example by working with six genuinely obese middle school kids to help them lose some weight and get healthy, as chronicled in this well-intentioned new reality series. Let's just hope they don't put too much pressure on the kids (and those watching at home) to excel at demanding physical tasks and look just like everyone else, because not everyone is a born athlete, and media-enforced "vanity sizing" does way more harm than good. Some large people, including kids, are actually very healthy and happy. These simple truths are rarely acknowledged by the so-called health "experts" during their television sound bites. I heard one of them declare recently that the very pretty 17-year-old American Idol winner Jordin Sparks is overweight!
Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List (Bravo, 10 p.m. ET) Kathy is especially busy this week: She has an audition at the Home Shopping Network, where she hopes to one day sell a line of moneymaking products in the manner of her idol Suzanne Somers; she invites her mother to move in with her and tries to figure out how the two can live together for the first time in 25 years; and she returns to her hometown of Chicago for a performance, where she reconnects with her high school boyfriend, whom she believes she turned gay.
Critical Situation: Apollo 13 (National Geographic Channel, 9 p.m. ET) Premiere. If you saw the Tom Hanks thriller Apollo 13 then you already know this harrowing true story about NASA's third scheduled manned lunar-landing mission in April, 1970, which was aborted after an oxygen tank burst on board. Hear all about the life-and-death race against the clock 200,000 miles above the Earth and the daring rescue that followed from Apollo 13 crewmembers, including Commander James Lovell and lunar module pilot Fred Haise.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 27
So You Think You Can Dance (Fox, 8 p.m. ET) The sixteen remaining dancers strive to avoid being eliminated tomorrow night.
Hidden Palms (The CW, 8 p.m. ET) Two episodes. The CW is hurrying this fizzled summer series along by running the remaining four episodes tonight and next Wednesday. It's a shame Palms has plopped, because it's kind of fun in a trashy summer novel kind of way. Tonight, Liza breaks into Cliff's house to find proof that he and Greta killed Eddie and Greta's father returns to town and begins flirting with both Tess and Karen. Taylor Handley, J.D. Pardo, Sharon Lawrence, Gail O'Grady, D.W. Moffett and Kyle Secor star.
Footballers Wive$ (BBC America, 9 p.m. ET) Bruno discovers that the vengeful Amber knows he killed her beloved Conrad, right before crazy Amber takes drastic action; Shannon wants Callum to move in with her; Liberty and Tremaine seek to restore their shattered public image, and Tanya the Terrible returns!
Traveler (ABC, 10 p.m. ET) After increasingly bizarre adventures in Connecticut, Maine and Massachusetts, Tyler and Jay head back to New York to investigate financial ties to the bombing. Meantime, Will seeks to avenge the death of his girlfriend and the FBI discovers that one of its undercover agents is involved with the terrorists responsible for the museum catastrophe. Neal McDonough and Tyler Labine guest star.
Rescue Me (FX, 10 p.m. ET) Jerry faces mounting pressures while preparing to participate in his son's commitment ceremony and the crew helps Tommy put together an ill-advised plan to win back his daughter's affection. Don't miss the last five minutes of this episode!
THURSDAY, JUNE 28
So You Think You Can Dance (Fox, 9 p.m. ET) Two more dancers are sent home as the competition intensifies on summer's best reality series.
The Starter Wife (USA Network, 9 p.m. ET) Series Finale. USA's lightweight summer treat comes to an end as Molly finally makes her choice. Will she pick Lou or Sam? Debra Messing, Judy Davis and Joe Mantegna star.
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (NBC, 10 p.m. ET) Series Finale. The drama series that was supposed to be the hot new show of the 2006-07 season will quietly conclude tonight. Inspired by a recent column from Jack Myers, fans of Studio 60 have bombarded us with dramatic messages of support on its behalf, many of them calling for NBC bring the show back for a second season. Series creator Aaron Sorkin and his big-name cast and crew have moved on to other things and the sets have been demolished, so it isn't likely that's going to happen. But how about a follow-up movie or miniseries? NBC could certainly do worse.
Burn Notice (USA Network, 10 p.m. ET) Series Premiere. Jeffrey Donovan, who was quite good in the forgotten USA Network series Touching Evil, stars as Michael Weston, a spy who is inexplicably cut loose (or "burned") by the feds in this new action series. Now blacklisted and essentially stranded in Miami, Weston seeks to learn why there is a burn notice attached to his name and funds his ongoing investigation by putting his Special Ops training to use as spy for hire. Gabrielle Anwar (The Tudors) plays Weston's ex-girlfriend, who his also an ex-IRA operative; Sharon Gless plays his mother, Madeline; and Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead, The Adventures of Briscoe County Jr.) co-stars as Sam, a washed up military intelligence contact and Weston's closest buddy.
Hey Paula (Bravo, 10 p.m. ET) Series Premiere. Two episodes. As of this writing, Bravo had not made this new reality series available for preview. But given her bizarre behavior in recent years, the mind boggles at what an observational reality series that follows American Idol judge Paula Abdul through her harried life might actually include. According to Bravo, in the weeks to come we'll see Abdul battling insomnia during her much-talked-about Idol satellite media tour; "bumping heads" with executives at QVC, on which she sells her line of jewelry; and playing practical jokes on her personal assistants, including hairstylist and BFF Daniel, longtime publicist Jeff and full-time wardrobe assistant Kylie. Abdul's four Chihuahuas -- Bessie Moo, Chomps, Tulip and Thumbelina -- are also very much a part of the show. In the first episode, Abdul hurriedly prepares for the Grammys, attends the Awards, and then changes out of her gown in the car as she dashes directly to a red eye flight to Philadelphia for a problematic meeting at QVC -- just a few hours before her live show.
FRIDAY, JUNE 29
ABC Reveals -- SOAPnet's Sizzling Summer Secrets (ABC, 11 a.m. ET, check local listings, and SOAPnet, 12 a.m. ET) Premiere. The stars of ABC Daytime's soap operas present previews of upcoming storylines on All My Children, One Life to Live and General Hospital and offer a look at three summer shows coming to SOAPnet: The scripted drama General Hospital: Night Shift (which premieres July 12 at 11 p.m. ET), the observational documentary series The Fashionista Diaries (August 1 at 9 p.m.) and the fourth season of the reality-competition series I Wanna Be a Soap Star (August 14 at 8 p.m.).
Degrassi: The Next Generation (The N, 8 p.m. ET) Series Return. Paige's college life collapses around her and Alex comes to terms with her family's financial crisis and puts her dignity on the line to make ends meet as The N's teeny-something drama resumes its sixth season.
The Best Years (The N, 8:30 p.m. ET) Series Premiere. Aaron Martin, the head writer and show runner of Degrassi: The Next Generation during its first four seasons, created this new teen soap that centers on an orphan and scholar named Samantha, a freshman navigating her way through all kinds of hardships (including a shocking death in tonight's premiere) during her first year at a prestigious university in New England. Her new acquaintances include a super-rich socialite, a child actor who has left Hollywood for college and a star basketball player -- just your ordinary, everyday college kids. Charity Shea, Jennifer Miller, Athena Karkanis and Brandon Jay McLaren star.
July 4: Exploding the Myths (National Geographic Channel, 10 p.m. ET) Premiere. What is the Fourth of July really about and what misconceptions do people have about this holiday? This timely documentary tells all.
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