February Sweeps 2011 Preview: 44 Episodes, Specials & Guest Stars to Watch

February sweeps kicks off on Feb. 3 and runs through March 2, and as with every sweeps period, the networks are pulling out series debuts, specials, awards shows, movies, major plot happenings, The Biebs (so much Bieber) and, of course, a plethora of very special guest stars -- all to make sure viewers tune in.

Here's a round-up of 44 things not to be missed this year:
1. Sweeps kicks off with a 'Big Bang Theory' episode (Feb. 3, 8PM ET, CBS) in which Sheldon begs Penny to give him acting lessons so his students will stop being bored in his class.

2. The 'Community' gang tries to do something positive only to find out that no good deed goes unpunished when Pierce (Chevy Chase) is involved, in the show's Feb. 3 (8PM, NBC) episode. Jeff and Abed become concerned about fellow student "Fat Neil," whom they see as a big loner. They invite him to join them in a game of Dungeons and Dragons, but when they don't include Pierce in the fun, he plots his own game and havoc ensues.

3. 'The Good Wife' not only welcomes back TV legend Michael J. Fox as attorney Louis Canning, but other celebs popping up in Feb. include 'Ugly Betty' star America Ferrera as Natalie, a grad student whom Eli (Alan Cumming) crushed on; 'King of Queens' and 'Seinfeld' alum Jerry Stiller as a judge who squares off with Christine Baranski's Diane; rapper Method Man as Peter's (Chris Noth) prison pal; and Rita Wilson and F. Murray Abraham as (what else?) attorneys.

4. Producer Lisa Kudrow has gathered another season full of celebs who want to delve into their family histories on 'Who Do You Think You Are?' Season 2 (Feb. 4, 8PM, NBC) includes Gwyneth Paltrow, Steve Buscemi, Tim McGraw, Ashley Judd, Kim Cattrall, Vanessa Williams, Lionel Richie and Rosie O'Donnell.


5. Mama Martha Kent (Annette O'Toole) returns to 'Smallville' on Feb. 4 (8PM, The CW), where she'll get shot at a rally.

6. Isn't that special: 'Saturday Night Live' alum Dana Carvey returns to host the Feb. 5 show (11:30PM, NBC), with musical guest Linkin Park, and he'll almost certainly be part of the action for the Feb. 20 two-hour prime-time special 'Saturday Night Live Backstage' (9PM).

7. Happy Biebuary. Seriously, Justin Bieber is everywhere during February: He co-stars with Ozzy Osbourne in a Best Buy Super Bowl ad; he, Willow Smith and Usher team up for a performance at the Grammys on Feb. 13 (where The Biebs is also nominated for Best New Artist and Best Pop Vocal Album); 'Glee' covers at least one Bieber tune in its Feb. 15 episode (8PM, Fox); and he returns to 'CSI' on Feb. 17 (9PM, CBS) playing troubled teen Jason, whose brother was killed by the CSIs earlier this season.

8. And speaking of Super Bowl XLV (Feb. 6, 6PM ET, Fox): It's the Green Bay Packers vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers, with a halftime performance by the Black Eyed Peas and the usual slew of must-see TV commercials.

9. Puppy Bowl VII (Feb. 6, 3PM, Animal Planet): In what is the cutest two hours of TV of the whole season, it's puppies vs. puppies, with hamsters on the flyover blimp, baby chick cheerleaders and, for the first time, the Puppy Cam, giving us a dog's eye view of the action on the field.


10. And getting the cushy post–Super Bowl spot this year: a special episode of 'Glee,' in which the New Directions gang performs Michal Jackson's 'Thriller.'

11. Katy Perry guest stars as the cousin of Zoey (Jennifer Morrison) on 'How I Met Your Mother''s Feb. 7 (8PM, CBS) episode.

12. More on the 53rd annual Grammy Awards (Feb. 13, 8PM, CBS): Eminem leads with 10 nominations, and he'll also perform on the show, along with Lady Gaga (six nods), Katy Perry and Cee Lo Green.

13. 'The L Word''s Jennifer Beals and 'Brotherhood''s Jason Clarke star in the new Fox drama 'The Chicago Code' (Feb. 7, 9PM), with Beals as the first female police superintendant of Chicago and Clarke as her former police partner. The duo team up again to try to clean up the city and, specifically, the police department's corruption.

14. 'Why We Fight' documentarian Eugene Jarecki's 'Reagan,' a doc on 40th POTUS Ronald Reagan, includes interviews with friends and foes of the former president, as well as archival footage and fresh interviews with the Reagan family. The film coincides with Reagan's 100th birthday on Feb. 6 and premieres on Feb. 7 (9PM, HBO).

15. Yes, 'The Unpoppables' (Feb. 7, 8PM, TLC) actually is a reality series about people who twist balloons into shapes for a living. But these aren't the lame designs you've seen at kiddie birthday parties; the team at New Balloon Art actually makes art, using tens of thousands of balloons to create incredible shapes, structures you can actually sit on and, well, other art.


16. 'The Office''s David Denman is back in prime time in his own series, the new Fox comedy 'Traffic Light' (Feb. 8, 9:30PM), about three guy BFFs who are in different stages of relationships, including Denman's Mike, a man who's married and has a son.

17. Liz (Elizabeth Lee), as in 'My Life As Liz,' is back for a second season (Feb. 8, 11PM, MTV), as she packs up and heads off to New York City for art school. She's still with Bryon in a long-distance relationship, but she's missing everyone back in Texas, and her closest friend in NYC is the cute dude she's sorta kinda crushing on.

18. The fifth and -- sniffle -- final season of 'Friday Night Lights,' a series that, despite all the accolades it has received, still deserves more, ends on Feb. 9 on DirecTV (and will begin airing later this year on NBC).

19. Paula Abdul crowns her first winner on the season finale of 'Live to Dance' (Feb. 9, 8PM, CBS).

20. Joey, Monica and Phoebe all have shows in prime time, and another 'Friends' alum, Matthew "Chandler" Perry, returns on Feb. 9 (9:30PM, ABC) with the premiere of 'Mr. Sunshine,' in which Perry plays the manager of a large Los Angeles sports complex. Bonus: Beloved 'Lost' star Jorge Garcia pops in for three episodes as a stadium employee.

21. Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) is back for a second season of 'Justified' (Feb. 9, 10PM, FX), and this time he's going to be taking on a family of moonshiners, led by crafty mama Mags Bennett ('Dexter's' Margo Martindale). And we also meet up with a dejected Boyd Crowder (scene stealer Walton Goggins), while Raylan tries to maneuver his new relationship with ex-wife Winona (Natalie Zea).


22. Thatcher Grey (Jeff Perry) returns with stomach pains that may mean he's rejecting the liver daughter Meredith gave him in the Feb. 10 (9PM, ABC) episode of 'Grey's Anatomy.'

23. She's baaack: Megan Mullally returns to 'Parks and Recreation' on Feb. 10 (9:30PM, NBC), where she'll once again play Tammy, ex-wife of Ron (Nick Offerman, Mullally's real-life hubby). In 'Ron & Tammy: Part Two,' Tom tries to get revenge on Ron for dating Tom's ex-wife by going on his own date with Tammy.

24. 'Degrassi' returns for the rest of its 10th season, beginning with a school dance in the hour-long episode 'When Love Takes Over' on Feb. 11 (9PM, TeenNick).

25. Go ahead and put this on the Emmy ballot for next year: Samuel L. Jackson and Tommy Lee Jones star in 'The Sunset Limited' (Feb. 12, 9PM, HBO), an adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's two-character play about a religious ex-con (Jackson) and a suicidal professor (Jones) who bond and argue about their differing life views after Jackson's character stops Jones' character from killing himself.


26. CBS has mad love for 'Mad Love,' the new New York relationship sitcom the network has moved up to a -- when else? -- Feb. 14 premiere date (8:30PM). After much tinkering and several recasts, the show stars 'American Pie's' Jason Biggs as Ben, who falls in love with Kate ('Scrubs' star Sarah Chalke), much to the chagrin of Ben's BFF Larry ('Reaper' star Tyler Labine), who has a hate/is-so-gonna-fall-for-her relationship with Kate's BFF Connie (Judy Greer).

27. There's no Bethenny this season, but the remaining women will certainly keep the drama at a respectable level for the fourth season of 'The Real Housewives of New York City' (Feb. 15, 10PM, Bravo), as we follow LuAnn's new relationship, Alex and Sonja apparently get into a big brawl and the women take a trip to Morocco together.

28. The 22nd season of 'Survivor' -- 'Survivor: Redemption Island' -- premieres on Feb. 16 (8PM, CBS) and features the return of four-time 'Survivor' contestant Rob Mariano and his 'Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains' foe Russell Hantz, along with 16 new players who will try to outlast each other for the $1 million prize, as the competition remains in Nicaragua for another season.

29. It's Lily's second birthday on 'Modern Family' (Feb. 16, 9PM, ABC), which brings Claire and Mitchell's mama DeDe (guest star Shelley Long) to town. But it's Claire who gets the biggest surprise, when she meets DeDe's new boyfriend (guest star Matt Dillon), who also happens to be Claire's high school fling!

30. The 'Criminal Minds' spin-off 'Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior,' starring Oscar winner Forest Whitaker, premieres on CBS on Feb. 16 (10PM). The show, which also stars Janeane Garofalo, finds Whitaker's Sam Cooper as a Behavioral Analysis Unit team leader who uses "unorthodox" methods to help track the most dangerous criminals. Also starring: 'The West Wing's' Richard Schiff as FBI Director Jack Fickler and original series star Kristen Vangsness as BAU squad member Penelope Garcia.


31. Remember Michael Scott's movie -- 'Threat Level Midnight' -- that his Dunder Mifflin co-workers made fun of when they found his script in season two of 'The Office'? Well, turns out Michael has been filming his flick, and the Feb. 17 (9PM, NBC) episode will include snippets of the final project, plus the return of Karen (Rashida Jones), Roy (David Denman), David Wallace (Andy Buckley) and Jan (Melora Hardin), who may or may not have roles in the movie.

32. 'The Amazing Race' kicks off its 18th season on Feb. 20 (8PM, CBS) as 'The Amazing Race: Unfinished Business,' with 11 teams of contestants who've previously competed for the $1 million prize returning for another shot. The season, the first of the show to be shown in HD, will include the return of season 12 goth couple Kynt and Vyxsin, season 12 father-and-daughter runners-up Ronald and Christina, season 14's NFL cheerleaders Jaime and Cara, season 15's Harlem Globetrotters Nate ("Big Easy") and Herb ("Flight Time"), cowboy brothers Jet and Cord from season 16 and father and daughter Gary and Mallory from last season.

33. Showtime's 'Episodes,' 'Friends' star Matt LeBlanc's comeback series, airs its season one finale on Feb. 20 (9:30PM), and wraps with a juicy cliffhanger after a surprising hook-up puts TV Matt's show-within-the-show in jeopardy.

34. Dane-o? Sorta: Comedian Dane Cook gets a free trip to Hawaii when he guest stars as Danno's (Scott Caan) brother on a Feb. episode of 'Hawaii Five-O.'

35. 'Heroes' star Hayden Panettiere stars as Amanda Knox in the Lifetime original movie 'Amanda Knox: Murder on Trial in Italy' (Feb. 21, 9PM).

36. Bethenny Frankel will be back on Bravo, too, with the second season of her spin-off show, now retitled 'Bethenny Ever After' (Feb. 28, 10PM). This time around, we see Bethenny and adorable hubby Jason raise baby Bryn while Bethenny competes on 'Skating With the Stars' and freaks out about turning 40.

37. Golden Globe winner and Best Actor Oscar nominee Colin Firth ('The King's Speech') sits down for a chat with James Lipton on the Feb. 7 (7PM, Bravo) installment of 'Inside the Actors Studio.'

38. James Franco returns to 'General Hospital' as freaky serial killer artist Franco on Feb. 24 and 28 (3PM, ABC).

39. And in between, Franco (the actor, not the character ... we think) and Anne Hathaway co-host the 83rd Academy Awards on Feb. 27 (8:30PM, ABC), during which Franco ('127 Hours') will compete with Colin Firth, Jeff Bridges ('True Grit'), Jesse Eisenberg ('The Social Network') and Javier Bardem ('Biutiful') for the Best Actor Oscar.

40. And on Oscar eve, 'Community' and 'The Soup' funny guy Joel McHale hosts the Independent Spirit Awards (Feb. 26, 10PM, IFC), in which Franco again competes for the Lead Actor statue, this time against Ronald Bronstein ('Daddy Longlegs,' Aaron Eckhart ('Rabbit Hole'), John C. Reilly ('Cyrus') and Ben Stiller ('Greenberg').

41. 'Popular' star Sara Rue, who completed her own impressive weight loss last year, hosts 'Shedding for the Wedding,' in which nine overweight couples compete with each other to lose the most pounds and win their dream wedding (Feb. 23, 9PM, The CW).

42. In honor of Black History Month, HBO taped a performance of Laurence Fishburne's one-man show 'Thurgood,' about first African-American Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall, and will air it on Feb. 24 (9PM). Fishburne earned a Tony nomination when the show ran on Broadway, though the performance that will air on HBO was filmed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

43. Tony Hawk hosts the first-ever Cartoon Network 'Hall of Game Awards' on Feb. 25 (7PM). The sports award show for kids will feature categories like Most Awesome Mascot, He's Got Game and She's Got Game for the top athletes, That's How I Roll for the most stylish athlete and Dance Machine for the best celebratory dance.

44. We pick up after Thomas and Isabel launched that communications satellite into space when 'The Event' returns to NBC on Feb. 28 (8PM) with the ominously-titled episode 'And Then There Were More.'