TV

I have no idea what this scene is about, but I bet it's set in Portland!

I haven't written a weekend edition of What To Watch in so long that I'm not even sure what kind of wooly hinterland I'm wandering into over here. There's TV on the weekend? They still have that? ...on checking the listings, it turns out that yes, indeed, there is still television on the weekend days. Turns out there's quite a lot of it. Come, friends, and see what I've discovered!

In addition to the stuff below, I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that there's quite a bit of NFL football on this weekend, as the wild card games play out in all their glory. Saturday sees Cincinnati at Houston in the early game and Detroit at New Orleans in the late game. Sunday is Atlanta at New York Giants early and Pittsburgh at Denver late, where I have the feeling the Pittsburgh defense is quite ready to munch on some Tebow.

Also, if you're in the mood for some alternative entertainment, there's yet another Republican Presidential candidate debate in New Hampshire, televised on ABC at 9 PM on Saturday.

	Chuck Friday NBC 8 PM: "Chuck and Sarah think about the next move for Carmichael Industries; Gertrude approaches Casey with a mission; Jeff and Lester suspect something strange is going on at the Buy More."
	Football Friday FOX 8/5 PM: AT&T Cotton Bowl: Arkansas vs. Kansas State
	Portlandia Friday IFC 10 PM: "Fred and Carrie learn about the art of love as they venture outside of Portland." Season premiere!
	The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret Friday IFC 10:30 PM: "Todd makes things worse when he tries talking his way out of trouble." Season premiere! I actually have no idea if this is a season premiere or a series premiere. All I know is that I saw a version of the pilot on the internet like...two years ago? So I'm hoping it's not just now coming out.
	Merlin Friday SyFy 10 PM: "Arthur and his loyal knights, including Lancelot, are forced to protect the kingdom when Morgana summons the mighty Callieach." Season premiere!
	The Firm Sunday NBC 9 PM: Series premiere! "Ten years after Mitchell McDeere exposed his law firm as a mob front and landed his family in witness protection, the McDeeres begin the difficult task of rebuilding their lives." It takes them 10 years to begin rebuilding? That's some delayed reaction.
	Downton Abbey Sunday PBS 9 PM: Season Premiere! "Matthew and others go off to war, while some try to avoid it."
	Shameless Sunday Showtime 9 PM: Season Premiere! Followed by House Of Lies at 10:00 and Californication at 10:30. All season/series premieres.

Portlandia! #FTW

this is the 2nd season premiere for Todd Margaret. I'm looking forward to it, even if the first season wasn't perfect. Cross now has a role as a producer as well so maybe the show will get better. Also the season ended with a good cliffhanger. Also fuck yeah Portlandia.

Good for Shameless keeping William H Macy in business, but much like Skins (actually, Skins is an awful show no matter the region) I'd rather watch the UK version.

I'll be watching playoff football and Portlandia, which may be two of the most divergent things on the television spectrum.

Eh...I'll probably continue to play through Uncharted 3.

Though it's Friday, so WWE Smackdown is something I will probably watch.

You completely forgot about Supernatural and the first episode after Bobby's death!

I saw the premieres of Shameless and House of Lies a few weeks back and while Shameless was great, House of Lies was kind of lackluster for the cast they have. I love Kristen Bell and Don Cheadle, but it was only kind of funny. Hopefully it will get better. Other than that, it's just Chuck for me and The Firm looks interesting.

P.S. The premiere of House of Lies is available in its entirety on Showtime's YouTube channel. It's region restricted to only the US though.

Shameless was pretty good last season (better than the UK version, which isn't hard but yeah...), I'll try and keep up again this year.

MERLIN!

Portlandia and Shameless YAY!

Fuck yeah, Californication is back already? Brilliant.

Anyone know if IFC does any day-after online streaming kinda stuff? I'd like to watch Todd Margaret but my university's cable doesn't get IFC.

Once Upon a Time comes back this weekend too, folks. Hell on Wheels coming back last week took me by surprise, so I gotta pvr the encore and this week's ep.

Put a bird on it!

It makes it better.

I'm going to give "The Firm" a try- mostly to see how the hell it's supposed to work. Sounds like the audience is supposed to be familiar with the action of the book or movie- which came out in 1991/1993 respectively. I read the book and saw the movie at that time, but haven't revisited it in the last 20 years- will I be able to follow anything in the TV show?