Thursday 21
“Rip the Runway” (BET 8 p.m.) “America's Top Model” winner Eva Pigford and self-proclaimed leader of the “gentleman's movement” Fonzworth Bentley host this musical fashion show featuring top urban designers like Sean John, Baby Phat and Def Jam University.
Friday 22
“Pope Fiction” (EWTN 9 p.m.) I gotta give mad props to the wiseguys at Eternal Word TV for the clever title on this short documentary refuting “misconceptions” about the Pope. (For example, the Pope does not have X-ray vision or the power of flight.)
Saturday 23
“NASCAR Racing: The Nextel Cup Subway Fresh 500” (KASA-2 5:30 p.m.) It must be spring, because the rednecks are starting to migrate into primetime.
“Xtreme Martial Arts” (Discovery 7 p.m.) Some things just don't require the superfluous “X.”
Sunday 24
“American Top 40 Live“ (KASA-2 7 p.m.) If only there was some place I could actually hear the songs of the Top 40 repeated ad nauseam week after week. If only there was some place that I could get a fix of Ryan Seacrest-hosted television (aside from “American Idol” and “On Air with Ryan Seacrest,” of course). … If only.
“Desperate Housewives: Sorting the Dirty Laundry” (KOAT-7 8 p.m.) ABC gives us the hard sell by “previewing” its upcoming “Desperate Housewives” season finale with this special covering the highlights of the season.
Locusts! (KRQE-13 8 p.m.) Way to stick it to Sci-Fi Channel, CBS! And you thought only the Sci-Fi gang could hire a former cult TV star (Lucy Lawless, in this case) and stick him/her in a cheesy flick about soldiers/scientists battling irradiated/bioengineered bugs/animals.
Monday 25
“Marriage 911” (KASA-2 7 p.m.) We should be grateful for the overabundance of reality shows on television. They give all us normal people the opportunity to feel just like famous movie stars and pop idols. Now, even a common housewife in Flagstaff can know what it's like to be hounded by a relentless media throughout every waking hour of her life and have her most insignificant moments of privacy blown up into dramatic crises on national television.
Tuesday 26
“Bleep! Censoring Hollywood?” (AMC 8 p.m.) This hot button documentary explores how some self-appointed “film sanitizers,” like CleanFlicks and ClearPlay are buying up Hollywood movies and cleansing them for family consumption. It's censorship vs. artistic freedom in the digital age.
Wednesday 27
“Lost: The Journey” (KOAT-7 7 p.m.) Before barreling into next month's final few episodes, ABC takes a breather with this one-hour recap of this first, mysterious season. A fine time for newbies to jump aboard.
“National Geographic's Strange Days on Planet Earth” (KNME-5 7 p.m.) Is the Biblical apocalypse upon us? Probably not, but National Geographic isn't above letting us think so for a couple hours for the sake of ratings. At least actor Edward Norton (American History X, The Italian Job) is there to calm our fears. … Or is he?
