What to Watch This Week

Not going anywhere on the 4th of July? Not to worry. There are plenty of things to watch while you're stuck at home -- most of all, marathons. Hours and hours of your favorite shows. Here's some of the best marathons running on Monday.

MONK (USA) -- Starts at 6 AM and Ends at 11 PM
Whole lotta "Monk" episodes. One great thing about this show is Tony Shalhoub. He delivers Emmy-calibre performances in every episode. Some of the best episodes to watch on Monday's marathon: At 10 AM USA airs the three best episodes in a row, "Mr. Monk and the Girl Who Cried Wolf," "Mr. Monk and the Employee of the Month," and "Mr. Monk and the Game Show." They are also airing the very first episode at 9 PM, "Mr. Monk and the Candidate."

KING OF THE HILL (FX) -- Starts At 7 AM and Ends at 8 PM
This show is an underrated gem. It's an animated series about Hank Hill and his family and all of their mis-adventures. There's a lot of episodes crammed into those 13 hours. There is no theme to the marathon, just what they think are the best episodes.

THE WEST WING (BRAVO) -- Starts at 11 AM and Ends at 2 AM
What a great way to celebrate a patriotic holiday -- with a patriotic show. Bravo will air episodes from the end of Season 4 with episodes from the middle and end of Season 5. The episodes airing from 1-8 PM are some of the best, including "Life On Mars," "Twenty Five," and "7A WF 83429."

SELENA (@MAX) -- 7 PM
Don't miss this quality movie. Jennifer Lopez, in her career best performance, stars as Tejano superstar Selena. Edward James Olmos and Lupe Ontiveros also give excellent performances. It's a chance to watch Lopez in something decent, not "Maid In Manhattan" or "Anacoda."

THE LADYKILLERS (STARZ) -- 9 PM
This got trashed by critics and bombed at the box office, but this movie gets way too much flack. It's actually an entertaining film focusing on a criminal mastermind (Tom Hanks) who rents a room in a woman's (the hilarious Irma P. Hall) basement and plans, with his crew, to dig a tunnel into a bank's vault.
» Related: Filmfodder Review.

RENO 911! (COMEDY CENTRAL) -- 10 PM
This shows doesn't get the attention it deserves. The ensemble is nothing short of brilliant. This week a disease scare quarantines the police department.

BEAUTY AND THE GEEK (WB) -- 8 PM
This funny and touching show comes to a close with the first-season finale. The final two teams are Richard and Mindi and Chuck and Caitilin. Richard and Mindi deserve to win, but you never know with these reality shows. But this isn't it for the show just yet; next week a reunion special airs.

THE INSIDE (FOX) -- 8 PM & 9 PM
A very underrated series. The characters are a little stale, but the cases are engrossing. FOX is airing two episodes to go against the "Dancing With The Stars finale." The first episode deals with a suicide hot-line counselor who in accused of murder. The second centers on a copycat killer who could turn a past case around.

LOST (ABC) -- 10 PM
I usually hate repeats, but I've found myself rewatching these "Lost" episodes. I'm trying to find a clue to the series that I missed the first time. This episode is Sun-centric, focusing on what happened with Sun and Jin before they got on the plane. The performances from Yunjin Kim and Daniel Dae Kim are nothing short of amazing.
» Related: Filmfodder's Lost Blog.

BIG BROTHER 6 (CBS) -- 8 PM
I always get addicted to this show over the summer. I don't expect this year to be any different. This season is filled with twists and some of them have already been revealed. The big one? All 14 houseguests know one other person in the house, but they think they are the only ones who know someone else. If the pairs can keep it a secret and make it to the final two, the final prize gets bumped up to $1 million. Kinda confusing, but it'll make sense once the show premieres.

THE O.C. (FOX) -- 9 PM
The best episode of the lackluster second season re-airs. There's so many storylines happening in this episode it's hard to explain them all. Just watch and you'll love it. The best moment comes at the end of the episode, when Summer (Rachel Bilson) and Seth (Adam Brody) share the classic upside-down "Spider-Man" kiss. So sweet.

ER (NBC) -- 10 PM
This great episode focuses on Dr. Weaver (Laura Innes) who meets with her estranged mother (Frances Fisher). Sissy Spacek was originally supposed to play her mother, but she backed out at the last minute due to a scheduling conflict. "ER" rarely features Dr. Weaver anymore, so it's always a treat when she has an episode to herself.

HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN (HBO FAMILY) -- 8:30 PM
The third Harry Potter movie is the darkest, and, by extension, the best in the series thus far. This story has Harry dealing with an escaped convict (Gary Oldman) and an escaped ex-con who may be related to Harry.
» Related: Filmfodder Review.

MONK (USA) -- 10 PM
The fourth season of this hit USA series premieres. The opener has Monk (Tony Shalhoub) working with a private eye (Jason Alexander) who has some of the same tendecies as Monk. I'm really missing Sharona (Bitty Schram) -- she was one of the highlights of the show. Now we're stuck with the blank Traylor Howard.

-- Matt Maltese

Note: All times are Eastern.

Useful and Related Stuff:

• TVGuide.com
• IMDb

Posted by Mac at July 4, 2005 2:37 PM | TrackBack