Week In Sloth

The Week In Sloth

\ Jul 23, 2009

3 min read

Thursday 23

“Wild Russia” (Animal Planet 6 p.m.) AnPlan’s new series touches down in Kamchatka. … Ah, Kamchatka, the key to winning Risk.

“Samantha Who?” (KOAT-7 7:30 p.m.) This above-average Christina Applegate sitcom probably deserved another season or two. But it fell before the ax of network cost-cutting. At least fans get some sort of season finale tonight.

Friday 24

The Terror of Tiny Town (TCM Midnight) Yup. The all-midget Western. This originally hit theaters in 1939—the same year Hollywood produced Gone With the Wind and The Wizard of Oz . Think about that as you’re watching.

Saturday 25

“Primeval” (BBC America 6 p.m.) The Beeb’s addictively entertaining scientists-battle-dinosaurs series has its Season 3 finale tonight. Word of warning: The BBC refused to fund a fourth season. So don’t get too freaked about tonight’s unresolved cliffhanger. Just think of it as an opportunity for some kick-ass online fanfic. (Most of which will probably involve the characters having sex with dinosaurs—but, hey, closure is closure.)

“Kings” (KOB-4 7 p.m.) NBC’s curious alternate-reality-crossed-with-Biblical-legend soap opera wraps it up tonight.

Malibu Shark Attack (SyFy 7 p.m.) Good to see this whole “SyFy” thing hasn’t gone to the network’s head. The good old Sci-Fi Channel that we knew, loved and frequently ridiculed the original movies of is alive and well.

Sunday 26

“Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead” (BBC America 6 p.m.) The BBC is in full cost-cutting mode, so we don’t get a 2009 “Doctor Who” season so much as a series of holiday specials. Here’s the Easter special. It was shot in Dubai. Go figure.

The Storm (KOB-4 8 p.m.) Look, it’s not like we don’t appreciate a good disaster-based miniseries, NBC. But couldn’t you ramp it up a notch? Give us rabid bees or nuclear volcanos or something.

Monday 27

The Yes Men Fix the World (HBO 7 p.m.) Don’t know The Yes Men? They’re a couple of hardcore media pranksters/gonzo journalists out to expose corporate malfeasance. Here, they pose as executives of Dow Chemical and publicly apologize for the Bhopal Tragedy. That causes a few ripples in the business world.

“Making His Band” (MTV 11 p.m.) MTV continues to believe there’s no good reason to come up with a new show when you can slightly alter the title of a previous show (see also: “Rock of Love” / “Daisy of Love” / “A Shot at Love” / “A Double Shot at Love” / “Strange Love” / “Flavor of Love” / “Real Chance at Love” / “I Love New York” / “I Love Money”). Here, the network goes from making “the” band to making “his” band.

Tuesday 28

“More to Love” (KASA-2 8 p.m.) Go easy on network executives. All their tiny brains are capable of creating these days are dating shows, dancing shows, fat people losing weight shows and any combination thereof. So tonight, we get the fat people dating show.