What’s new and/or interesting in TV this week. Ocean of Fear: Worst Shark Attack Ever (Tue, 8PM-9PM, Discovery) It’s Shark Week on Discovery Channel, meaning that you can expect a lot of shows based upon people getting killed or nearly killed by Great White sharks. If this is your sort of thing, and you can only catch one show, this would have to be it. Remember in Jaws where the old sea captain tells the......

What's new and/or interesting on TV this week. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Mon, 8PM-10PM, Fox) Terminator is finishing up its first season already (boo!) with a special two-hour episode, featuring John and Derek disagreeing over whether they can trust Cameron; Cromartie still tracking John; and Ellison finding out he has an enemy inside the FBI. Thou Shalt Not: Sex, Sin and Censorship in Pre-Code Hollywood (Mon, 9:30PM-10:45PM, TCM) This brand new documentary explores the......

What's new and/or interesting on TV this week. American Experience (Mon, 10PM-11PM, WHYY) A profile of legendary frontiersman Buffalo Bill Cody (1846-1917), whose Wild West Show introduced millions in the eastern US and Europe to the American West. The bio includes many archival photos and film footage, as well as comments from various authors and historians, and from Gary Dull Knife, whose grandfather worked for Cody. Nova (Tue, 8PM-9PM, WHYY & WLVT) This episode takes......

What's new and/or interesting on TV this week. Antiques Roadshow (Mon, 8PM-9PM, WHYY & WLVT) First part of a three part series set in San Antonio, Texas. One of the items examined is a World Series program for the 1905 series between the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Athletics. Good Eats (Mon, 8PM-8:30PM, Food Network) Our favorite cooking show takes a look at our favorite vegetable: broccoli! History of the Joke (Mon, 9PM-11PM, History......

What's new and/or interesting on TV this week. Ancient Discoveries (Mon, 10PM-11PM, History Channel) This week's episode of Ancient Discoveries is entitled "Ancient Super Ballistics," and if that doesn't sound awesome to you, then we don't want to know you. It's about the history of ballistics, and features firearms experts testing ancient weapons for speed, accuracy, and power. Nova (Tue, 8PM-9PM, WHYY & WLVT) The venerable PBS science show takes a look at the Cold......

What's new and/or interesting on TV this week. TCM 31 Days of Oscar (All week) TCM is celebrating the Oscars by playing Oscar-winning films pretty much all day, every day this month. It's a great way to catch up on some classic films you've never gotten around to watching. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Mon, 9PM-10PM, Fox) John becomes separated from his mother and Cameron, and discovers the future may be even more bleak than......

What's new and/or interesting on TV this week. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Mon, 9PM-10PM, Fox) - The second part of this new show's much-anticipated two-night premiere. You can bet this Phillyist will be watching, because part one was pretty freaking cool. Martin Scorsese Presents Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows (Mon, 8PM-9:30PM, TCM) - Great filmmaker Martin Scorsese narrates a profile of great filmmaker Val Lewton. Lewton was known for making extremely artful,......

What's new and/or interesting on TV this week. 100 Greatest Songs of the 90s (Mon, 10PM-11PM, VH1) - Time for the debut of another new VH1 countdown/clip show! This one will come in five parts; this first episode takes a look at songs 100 through 81. The next episode airs in the same timeslot on Tuesday, episode three on Wednesday, and so on. Independent Lens (Tue, 9PM-11PM, WHYY & WLVT) - This time the PBS......

UPDATE: Oops! I forgot links! I've added them now, and made a few other tweaks. What's new and/or interesting on TV this week. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer &c. (Tue, 8PM-9PM, CBS) - The extremely odd, but quite lovable, 1964 classic about the reindeer with the glowing red nose, the elf who really wants to be a dentist, a bunch of misfit toys, and the Abominable Snow Monster. CBS is also airing Frosty the Snowman and......

What's new and/or interesting on TV this week. Nova (Tue, 8PM-9PM, WHYY & WLVT) - This episode apparently consists mainly of footage of a war between termites and fierce, dragon-shaped army ants. The ants are used by a Cameroon tribe known as the Mofu to protect their huts and granaries from the termites. Good times! Wired Science (Wed, 8PM-9PM, WHYY & WLVT) - As always, a great big hodge podge of crazy applications of science......

What's new and/or interesting on TV this week. Atlantis SquarePantis (Mon, 8PM-9PM, Nickelodeon) - A special 45-minute-long episode of SpongeBob SquarePants wherein he and his friends take a trip to the lost city of Atlantis, but a flash from Patrick's camera causes trouble. The episode is followed by a fifteen-minute making-of special, which rounds out the hour. The important part: David Bowie guest stars as the voice of Lord Royal Highness, the king of Atlantis.......

What's new and/or interesting on TV this week. Fat March (Mon, 9PM-10PM, ABC) - Here's a lovely show where they make fat people walk long distances, and force them to complete challenges of various sorts. This episode brings them to our area, as they leave Millstone, NJ bound for Philadelphia, to be reached via Lancaster County. Their "Amish challenge" will see them harvesting cabbages under a hot sun, and in another challenge they will have......

What's new and/or interesting on TV this week. Colbert Report (Mon, 11:30PM-12AM, Comedy Central) - We rarely mention this show in this column, because it's understood to always be worth watching, but we wanted to point it out in particular this week, because tonight, Stephen's guest is a LEGO sculptor named Nathan Sawaya, and LEGO sculptors are cool. On the Lot (Tue, 8PM-9PM, Fox) - This week sees the end of the season for this......

What's new and/or interesting on TV this week. Monday Night Football Exhibition: Eagles at Ravens (Mon, 7PM-11PM, 6ABC); NFL Football Exhibition: Panthers at Eagles (Fri, 7PM-11PM, 6ABC) - The Eagles are back! Sure, it's only preseason, but it's still Eagles football. And anyway, it'll be interesting to see some of the new guys in action, and to see the veterans get back into the swing of things by playing a series or two. Dog the......

Discovery Channel is making an example out of us. Philadelphia has been chosen as the best location for a demonstration and documentary on "urban heat islands" as part of DC's new series of eco-programming, "10 Ways to Save the Planet." An urban heat island is a metro area where the temperatures are significantly higher than those of surrounding areas. We always felt baked onto the sidewalks in the summer, and there's a good reason......

What's new and/or interesting on TV this week. Simon Schama's Power of Art (Mon, 10PM-11PM, PBS [WHYY]) - This time good old Simon is taking a look at Mark Rothko's abstract murals "Four Seasons." We've come to rather love Rothko and his big blocks of solid color, so this sounds interesting to us - especially since Rothko did these particular works for the Four Seasons restaurant, but then had them removed after having a meal......

What's new and/or interesting on TV this week. Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives (Mon, 10PM-10:30PM, Food Network) - This week, amongst other restaurants, this show visits the Bay Way Diner in Linden, NJ and tries their Philly cheesesteaks. Saving Grace (Mon, 10PM-11PM, TNT) - TNT has a new cop drama, and this one stars Holly Hunter as a hard-living Oklahoma City detective who, in this first episode alone, gets involved in a deadly drunken-driving accident, becomes......

What's new and/or interesting on TV this week. Creature Comforts (Mon, 8PM-8:30PM, CBS) - A new US version of the popular UK show created by Wallace & Gromit's Nick Park. It involves clay, stop-motion animated animals sharing their opinions on life. If it's anything like the original, the dialogue will consist of actual interviews with real people that end up being quite amusing when coming out of the mouths of gorillas and panthers. Unwrapped (Mon,......

What's new and/or interesting on TV this week. Cities of the Underworld (Mon, 9PM-10PM, History Channel) - Ooh, secret underground cities! Well, sort of. This new show takes a look at the history buried beneath famous cities of the world. In this first episode they find dungeons and illegal distilleries under Edinburgh. Here's hoping a Philadelphia episode is coming up soon... Real Wedding Crashers (Mon, 10PM-11PM, NBC) - A new six-part hidden-camera comedy series from......

What's new and/or interesting on TV this week. 'Til Death Do Us Part (Mon, 10PM-12AM, CourtTV) - Normally we ignore CourtTV altogether, but we saw a great ad for this new show and knew it had to go on the list for this week. It's not another reality show, thank god, but a drama based on true stories about married couples, one of whom always ends up killing the other (or they both kill each......

What's new and/or interesting on TV this week. Barbarians II (Mon, 8PM-9PM, History Channel) - It's Barbarians Week on the History Channel, and that means lots of shows about barbarians! This particular one is the first part of a four-part history of the Barbarians who swarmed all over the corpse of the dying Roman Empire (how's that for a metaphor?). This episode covers the Vandals and their invasion of northern Gaul, Spain, and North Africa.......

What's new and/or interesting on TV this week. Nature (Mon, 8PM-9PM, PBS [WNJS]) - In this episode of the venerable PBS nature show, narrated by F. Murray Abraham, reptile expert Ron Whitaker actually goes looking for giant crocodiles - those are crocodiles that are over 20 feet in length! That's one of those things we'd never do, but are more than happy to watch someone else do. The episode description mentions that he succeeds in......

What's new and/or interesting on TV this week. Antiques Roadshow (Mon; 8PM-9PM; PBS [WHYY]) - The final part of this show's three episode visit to Philly. This time they look at some paintings by John F. Kensett, a diamond ring, and some autographed baseballs. They also take a side trip to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Digging for the Truth (Mon; 9PM-10PM; History Channel) - Appropriately enough, given the fact that the King......

What's new and/or interesting on TV this week. Golden Globe Awards (Mon; 8PM-11PM; NBC) - During the 64th annual occurrence of this TV and movie awards show, Warren Beatty will receive the Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement award. The winners of the other awards are, of course, still a secret. (Check E! at this same time Tuesday night for the inevitable run-down of the clothing and fashions.) (Link) American Idol (Tue; 8PM-10PM; Fox) - Oh,......

We're having a clumsy, clumsy week. Fortunately, our clumsiness doesn't interfere with our typing...much. It is making that "j" key a little less fun to hit. Good thing there's no "j" in "-ist-a-verse." Sampaist: Hospital food that doesn't suck? That's pretty amazing, isn't it? (At least, that's what we're fairly certain this post is about.) Chicagoist: We don't know for sure, but we're guessing this is pretty common in Philly, too. SFist deserves a hearty......

What's new and/or interesting on TV this week. Shark Attack Survivors (Mon; 9PM-10PM; Discovery) - It's Shark Week again on the Discovery Channel, and you know what that means! Lots of shows about sharks, that's what! Here's one about folks who have survived attacks from the beasties, and how you might survive one yourself. (Link) Biography (Mon; 10PM-11PM; A&E) - It's Dave Chappelle! Because they know you're desperate to find out where the hell he......

What's interesting on TV this week. Stanley Cup Playoffs, Flyers vs. Sabres (Mon, Wed, Fri; 7PM-10PM; CSN and Sun; 2PM-5PM; NBC) - Hey, while we weren't paying attention, one of our teams got in the playoffs! You can catch the action all this week. (The Flyers official site) American Chopper (Mon; 8PM-10PM; Discovery Channel) - In this special 2 hour episode of the best reality show about a family of guys who yell at each......

Are you a "Citizen Journalist? More importantly...are you a Philadelphia-based Citizen Journalist with a video camera and a couple of free minutes on your hands? If so, Discovery Channel wants to hear from you. According to this ad on Craigslist, the cable channel is looking for 2-3 minutes of video on the parts of Philadelphia you find most interesting. (Apparently, they're even willing to pay you. Crazy.) Phillyist hopes you videophiles will get out......

Dr. Drew Pinsky is mad. About the Discovery Channel, no less. We're sitting with him - and sex journalists from around the country - in the penthouse of the W Hotel in New York City, where he's hosting a conversation with us about anything and everything, from sex in America to STD's, from his stint on Loveline to his new radio partnership with the toothy Man Show staple, Adam Carolla. And he's pissed. "How many......

People often make outrageous claims like, “You have a better chance of getting killed in a car accident than getting eaten by a shark.” Well, no shit, genius. Since we humans don’t spend hours every day wading in shark infested waters, but rather on car infested highways, that proclamation is true, but quite pointless. The reason we bring this up is because Sunday marks the commencement of Shark Week, one of the most entertaining (and......