Thursday 12 “Music Builds: CMT Disaster Relief Concert” (CMT 10 p.m.) Hank Williams Jr., Alabama, Keith Urban, Lady Antebellum and Tim McGraw show up to sing songs and raise money for victims of the recent Midwest tornado outbreak. Hopefully nobody told Gwyneth Paltrow and her guitar about the concert. Those poor Midwesterners have suffered enough this year. Friday 13 “Smallville” (KWBQ-19 7 p.m.) The WB’s “Superman as teen” series flies off into the sunset off with a two-hour series finale. … Now can he put on the damn costume? Saturday 14 The Specials (KASY-50 7 p.m.) If you liked James Gunn’s recently released black-comedy-cum-superhero-flick Super , check out this unjustly obscure 2000 film. In it, writer/director Gunn speculates on what the world’s seventh-best superhero team does on its day off. “ Doctor Who” (BBC America 7 p.m.) Even non-Whovians might be excited for tonight’s historic episode, guest-written by fantasy god Neil Gaiman (“Sandman,” Coraline, American Gods, Stardust ). Fans of both “Doctor Who” and Neil Gaiman are allowed to start hyperventilating now. “Nick Cannon: Mr. Showbiz” (Showtime 7 p.m.) Or as I call him: “Mr. Former Nickelodeon Kids’ Show Host Who Knocked Up Mariah Carey.” Hoping to add another hyphen to his actor-rapper-“America’s Got Talent” host résumé, Cannon tries his hand at stand-up comedy. Off the Rez (TLC 7 p.m.) In this feature-length documentary, a Native American mom from Oregon leaves the reservation in pursuit of her daughter’s dream—becoming one of the best high school basketball players in the country. Sunday 15 “Killing bin Laden” (Discovery 8 p.m.) Discovery Channel pulls out the first, hastily assembled documentary about Osama bin Laden’s surprise discovery and death in Pakistan. Monday 16 “Off Limits” (Travel 7 p.m.) Explorer and history buff Don Wildman (yes, that’s his real name) searches out the forbidden, hidden and unseen places in America. Like a former Nazi military compound in Los Angeles. Who knew? Tuesday 17 “How the States Got Their Shapes” (History 8 p.m.) In this episode, the quietly, nerdishly compelling new series checks out how forces of nature such as rivers, glaciers and asteroid impacts (!) affected the squiggly lines that form our state borders. Wednesday 18 “Filthy Cities” (Discovery 8 p.m.) Tonight, the patented WABAC Machine lands in Revolutionary-era France. And, man, does it stink. Obviously, the motto “Liberté! Égalité! Fraternité!” never included “ Hygiène! ”
Idiot Box: “Smallville” Flys Away, “Doctor Who” Meets Neil Gaiman, France Is Filthy
The Week In Sloth
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