Monday night network television is lackluster, but we have our Monday Night Football on ESPN.  If I hear mention of the “wild cat” I might have to mute the TV.  Or for those of you into eating or drinking games, this might be your perfect opportunity.

House & Heroes look to be your best bets if you’re going to skip the opening kickoff. Also, Food Network has a new episode of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives which you can record and/or catch later.

8-9pm

1. Heroes (NBC) – 04×05 – Hysterical Blindness
2. House (FOX) – 06×05 – Instant Karma

8:30-11:30pm

1. Monday Night Football: New York Jets at Miami Dolphins (ESPN)

10-10:30pm

1. Diners, Drive-ins and Dives (Food Network) – 07×08 – Barbequed, Baked, and Brined

There are also MLB playoffs and NHL hockey on tonight as well.

The usual Friday night lineup is cranking out some new episodes. I’m not sure I’ll be watching any of them live myself, but will catch them at some point in the near future.

8-9

1. Smallville (The CW) – 09×03 – Rabid
2. Ghost Whisperer (CBS) – 05×03 – Till Death Do Us Start

9-10

1. Stargate Universe (SyFy) – 01×03 – Air (3)
2. Dollhouse (FOX) – 02×02 – Belle Chose

10-11

1. Numb3rs (CBS) – 06×03 – 7 Men Out

Sports wise, you have a few MLB playoff games, Louisiana Tech vs. Nevada (college football) & the final game of the WNBA 2009 Finals featuring the hometown Indiana Fever vs. the Phoenix Mercury.  And if you’ve got the tube on earlier, catch the final live Indy Lights race of the year on Versus.

Thursday night, the best night of Network Television, is on it again.  The largest audience will probably be watching The Office hour long wedding episode.

Here are my top picks for the evening:

8-9

1. Bones (FOX) – 05×04 – The Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
2. Flash Forward (ABC) – 01×03 – 137 Sekunden
3. Community (NBC) – 01×04 – Social Psychology (30 minutes)
4. The Vampire Diaries (The CW) – 01×05 – You’re Undead To Me

9-10

1. Fringe (FOX) – 02×04 – Momentum Deferred
2. Supernatural (The CW) – 05×05 – Fallen Idol
3. The Office (NBC) – 06×04 – Niagara (1) (30 minutes)
4. The Office (NBC) – 06×05 – Niagara (2) (30 minutes)

And don’t forget that we have Nebraska vs. Missouri on ESPN from 9:00PM-midnight (Eastern) and the inaugural UFL (United Football League) game on Versus from 9:00PM-12:30AM (Eastern) featuring California Redwoods (coached by Dennis Green) vs. Las Vegas Locomotives (coached by Jim Fassel).

Continuing the trend, my top picks for Wednesday evening are all on Cable:

8-9

1. Hank (ABC) – 01×02 – Yard Sale
2. The Middle (ABC) – 01×02 – The Cheerleader

9-10

1. MythBusters (Discovery Channel) – 07×12 – Knock Your Socks Off
2. Ghost Hunters (Syfy)- 05×16 – Glimmer Men
3. Modern Family (ABC) – 01×03 – Come Fly with Me
4. Nostradamus Effect (History Channel) – 01×05 – The Apocalypse Code
5. The Othersiders (Cartoon) – 01×12 – Glendora House – Some sort of kiddie ghost show, which I haven’t seen myself & won’t be doing so tonight either

10-11

1. Man v. Food (Travel) – 02×10 – Springfield
2. MysteryQuest (History Channel) – 01×04 – Atlantis
3. Destination Truth (Syfy) – 03×05 – Alien Mummies/Van Lake Monster

Also, game 4 of the WNBA finals is on ESPN2 tonight, which I only mention because the hometown Indiana Fever may get their first championship tonight.

Thanks to cable, Tuesday night television is getting a little better and we finally have a few options for the 9-10pm time slot.

Mike Rowe is back with Dirty Jobs and Tracy Morgan is back with a fresh episode of Scare Tactics as well as a Scare Tactics marathon airing all afternoon.

At 10pm we have The Forgotten, Bizarre World & the latest “ghost show”, Ghost Lab.

9-10

1. Dirty Jobs (Discovery Channel) – 08×01 – Mattress Recycler
2. Scare Tactics (SyFy) – 03×14 – Basket Case

10-11

1. The Forgotten (ABC) – 01×03 – Football John
2. Andrew Zimmern’s Bizarre World (Travel) – 01×06 – Sulawesi
3. Ghost Lab (Discovery Channel) – 01×01 – Disturbing the Peace

There’s an abundance of Halloween & Christmas Blu-Ray releases out today.

Blu-Ray Movie Highlights

• A Charlie Brown Christmas – A classic everyone should own. I hope they cleaned it up a bit from the DVD version though.
• Horton Hears a Who! – The cartoon version.
• How the Grinch Stole Christmas – The cartoon version and another must own. Ditto on the cleaning up from the DVD.
• Home Alone 2: Lost in New York – Good movie & soundtrack, though I like the first one better.
• Miracle on 34th Street (1947) – Classic Christmas movie!
• Miracle on 34th Street (1994) – A remake that is just as good as the original. I still remember seeing this on in the theater.
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs – And yet another classic. This is one you must buy before it goes back into the Disney Vault.
• Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory – Though not as good as Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, it’s a good movie that always creeped me out as a kid.
• Wolf
• Year One

Blu-Ray Television

• Bones: Season 4
  
• The Absolute Best of Ghost Hunters

Other Blu-Ray Releases

• Audition
• Celestial Railroad
• China Circus on Ice
• Contact
• Dinosaurs Alive!
• Ghost Ship
• Imagine That
• Kenny G: An Evening of Rhythm & Romance
• Kurt Cobain: About A Son
• Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
• My Life in Ruins
• Not Forgotten
• Offspring
• Paradox of the Andes
• Red Dwarf: Back to Earth
• Rob Thomas: Something to Be Tour- Live at Red Rocks
• Seventh Moon
• The Children
• The National Parks: America’s Best Idea
• The Number 23 – Creepy Jim Carrey movie. Not for the kids!
• The Thaw
• Trick ‘r Treat
• Wolf / Dracula / Frankenstein Trilogy

Monday night network television is lackluster, but we have our Monday Night Football on ESPN.

House & Heroes look to be your best bets if you’re going to skip the opening kickoff. Also, Food Network has a new episode of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives which you can record and/or catch later.

8-9pm

1. Heroes (NBC) – 04×04 – Acceptance
2. House (FOX) – 06×04 – The Tyrant

8:30-11:30pm

1. Monday Night Football: Green Bay at Minnesota (ESPN)

10-10:30pm

1. Diners, Drive-ins and Dives (Food Network) – 07×07 – You Can Say That Again

Stargate Universe starts tonight, replayed at 11PM.

8-9

1. Smallville (The CW) – 09×02 – Metallo
2. Ghost Whisperer (CBS) – 05×02 – See No Evil

9-10

1. Stargate Universe (SyFy) – 01×01 – Air (1)
2. Dollhouse (FOX) – 02×02 – Instinct

10-11

1. Stargate Universe (SyFy) – 01×02 – Air (2)
2. Numb3rs (CBS) – 06×02 – Friendly Fire

NHL hockey was on live in the middle of the day, so you missed that.  The only football game on the list is Pittsburgh vs. Louisville on ESPN2.  The Tigers and White Sox are on ESPN if you want to catch some late season baseball.

I almost spaced that NHL season kicks off tonight on Versus with a double header featuring the Washington Capitals vs. the Boston Bruins followed by the San Jose Sharks vs. the Colorado Avalanche. Ever since the strike and ESPN ditching hockey coverage (for bowling & poker, both of which are activities, not sports) it’s just been hard to catch games, especially my Avs. It looks like they’re actually showing games twice a week now, which is an improvement. I only wish they still streamed games every night of the week like they did when they picked up the NHL.

Thursday night, the best night of Network Television, is on it again.

Here are my top picks for the evening:

8-9

1. Bones (FOX) – 05×03 – The Plain in the Prodigy
2. Flash Forward (ABC) – 01×02 – White to Play
3. The Vampire Diaries (The CW) – 01×04 – Family Ties

9-10

1. Fringe (FOX) – 02×03 – Fracture
2. Supernatural (The CW) – 05×04 – The End
3. The Office (NBC) – 06×03 – The Promotion (30 minutes)
4. Community (NBC) – 01×03 – Introduction To Film (30 minutes)

And don’t forget that we have Colorado vs. West Virginia on ESPN from 7:30-10:30PM (Eastern) and the NHL season kicks off on Versus with a double header featuring Washington vs. Boston followed by San Jose vs. Colorado.