What to Watch Sept. 14-20

This week on TV: Jay moves to primetime, models live a 'Beautiful Life' and television honors its best and brightest ....


MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14
'The Jay Leno Show' (10PM, NBC) series premiere
Is it a refreshing new entry on the primetime scene, or the ruination of scripted TV? That probably depends on whether you're an NBC exec or a TV critic. But even those who may worry that cheaply-produced talk shows will replace scripted fare have to be curious about tonight's premiere, which includes Jerry Seinfeld and a performance by Jay-Z with Rihanna and Kanye West.

'Gossip Girl' – 3rd season premiere (9PM, The CW)
'Oprah Winfrey' – The Big O chats with Whitney Houston (Check local listings) 24th season premiere
'Inside the Actors Studio' – Lipton chats with the cast of 'Family Guy' (8PM, Bravo)
'Lincoln Heights' – 4th season premiere (8PM, ABC Family)
'Eddie Griffin: Going for Broke' – Reality series following the comedian's financial woes (10PM, VH1) series premiere
'One Tree Hill' – 7th season premiere (8PM, The CW)This week on TV: Jay moves to primetime, models live a 'Beautiful Life' and television honors its best and brightest ....


MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14
'The Jay Leno Show' (10PM, NBC) series premiere
Is it a refreshing new entry on the primetime scene, or the ruination of scripted TV? That probably depends on whether you're an NBC exec or a TV critic. But even those who may worry that cheaply-produced talk shows will replace scripted fare have to be curious about tonight's premiere, which includes Jerry Seinfeld and a performance by Jay-Z with Rihanna and Kanye West.

'Gossip Girl' – 3rd season premiere (9PM, The CW)
'Oprah Winfrey' – The Big O chats with Whitney Houston (Check local listings) 24th season premiere
'Inside the Actors Studio' – Lipton chats with the cast of 'Family Guy' (8PM, Bravo)
'Lincoln Heights' – 4th season premiere (8PM, ABC Family)
'Eddie Griffin: Going for Broke' – Reality series following the comedian's financial woes (10PM, VH1) series premiere
'One Tree Hill' – 7th season premiere (8PM, The CW)

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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15
'Big Brother 11' (9PM, CBS) 11th season finale
Don't be sad that this marks the end of the road for this particular bunch of reality TV hamsters – CBS has already given the show the thumbs up for a 12th season to air during summer 2010. In the meantime, this season's ejected housemate jurors pick the $500,000 winner tonight, and dishes about their time in the house.

'The Biggest Loser' – 8th season premiere (8PM, NBC)
'More to Love' – 1st season finale (8PM, Fox)
'Shaq Vs.' – 1st season finale pits Shaq vs. Michael Phelps (9PM, ABC)
'The Cleaner' – 2nd season finale (10PM, A&E)
'Sons of Anarchy' – Gemma turns to two unlikely acquaintances in the aftermath of the vicious attack on her (10PM, FX)

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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16
'The Beautiful Life: TBL' (9PM, The CW) series premiere
Ashton Kutcher is producing and gossip magnet Mischa Barton is attempting her TV comeback in this new drama about the allegedly glamorous life of New York City models. It's really an excuse for a soapy drama with pretty people like Barton and 'High School Musical's' Corbin Bleu ... not that there's anything wrong with that.

'America's Got Talent' – 4th season finale (8PM, NBC)
'Real World: Cancun' Reunion Special – Think any of them are still speaking to each other? (10PM, MTV)
'Wipeout' – Contestants may be hungry after the Banana Split, Onion Ring Hurtles and Hot Dog Swing (8PM, ABC)
'Dark Blue' – 1st season finale (10PM, TNT)
'Glee' – Josh Groban guest stars as ... Josh Groban (9PM, Fox)
'Man vs. Food' – Adam heads to Sarasota for a mystery challenge (10PM, Travel)

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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17
'Community' (9:30PM, NBC) series premiere
It is, quite simply, one of the best, funniest new shows of the season. 'The Soup' star Joel McHale is Jeff Winger, an attorney who heads back to school – community college – when the state bar determines his Columbia (the country, not the school) law degree is invalid. Once there, he hooks up with a motley study crew, including an oft-married older student played by Chevy Chase.

'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia' – 5th season premiere (10PM, FX)
'Divas Live' – Paula Abdul hosts, Miley Cyrus and Kelly Clarkson perform (9PM, VH1)
'The Office' – 6th season premiere (9PM, NBC)
'Fringe' – 2nd season premiere (9PM, Fox)
'Bones' – 5th season premiere (8PM, Fox)
'Survivor: Samoa' – 19th season premiere (8PM, CBS)

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FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18
'Guiding Light' (Check local listings, CBS) series finale
Fifty seven years of Bauer barbecues, Reva declaring herself the 'Slut of Springfield' and coming back from the dead, the evil Roger, the evil Alan, the romance of Beth and Phillip and 'before they were stars' gigs by the likes of Kevin Bacon, Taye Diggs and Hayden Panettiere comes to a close today, with, thankfully, more than a few happy endings.

'Crash' – 2nd season premiere (10PM, Starz)
'Psych' – 'Heroes' star Sendhil Ramamurthy guests (10PM, USA)
'Monk' – Has a theater critic committed murder? (9PM, USA)
'Eureka' – 3rd season finale (9PM, SyFy)
'2009 ALMA Awards' – Honoring Hispanic achievement in TV, movies, music and sports (8PM, ABC)

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SATURDAY AND SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 19-20
'The 61st Primetime Emmy Awards' (Sun., 8PM, CBS)
It's the 61st annual Emmy Awards, live from the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles, and with 22 and 16 nominations, respectively, '30 Rock' and 'Mad Men' seem poised to sweep the Comedy and Drama series categories. But what we're most excited about: First-time Emmy host Neil Patrick Harris, whose presence promises to make this the least dull Emmys in ... ever?

'Curb Your Enthusiasm' – 7th season premiere (Sun., 9PM, HBO)
'Bored to Death' – Jason Schwartzman, Zach Galifianakis and Ted Danson star in the new comedy (Sun., 9:30PM, HBO) series premiere
'Georgia O'Keeffe' – Joan Allen plays the famed artist (Sat., 9PM, Lifetime)
'Entourage' – Ari and Lloyd fight about Drama (Sun., 10:30PM, HBO)
'Mad Men' – Joan gets some surprising news (Sun., 10PM, AMC)
'Wedding Cake Wars' – It's a wedding cake-off! (Sun., 10PM, WE) series premiere