Take the Money and Run - Tuesday August 2, 9PM ET/PT, CTV/ABC

Finally, a new idea in reality television, even though the 'nets are calling this a mix of 'The Amazing Race' and 'CSI.' I think that comparison does a disservice to this very cool idea. A pair of competitors -- in the season premiere it is the hilariously named brothers Raul and Paul Bustamante of San Francisco -- are given one hour to hide $100,000 before they are hauled in by real detectives who have a full day to grill them. If the suspects keep their secret, they also keep the money. If the cops break the case, they get the ultimate raise.

Also This Week:

Canada Sings - Wednesday August 3, 9PM ET/PT, Global

It's tempting to blame this on 'Glee' but I'm fairly sure I've been hearing about shows featuring office glee clubs since long before Jane Lynch donned a tracksuit. Anyhow, you know the drill: people who work together and also sing together (which, right there, is really weird) compete for bragging rights under the watchful eyes of Rob Van Winkle (that's Vanilla Ice to those over 30), Jann Arden, and Pierre Bouvier of Simple Plan. The premiere pits Toronto Zoo's Zooper Stars against Junk Notes of 1-800-GOT-JUNK.

Jersey Shore - Thursday August 4, 10PM ET, MTV

The premiere of 'Jersey Shore's Italian adventure season has taken on a momentous quality thanks to all the hype and pre-press. I feel a bit like I did in the days leading up to Y2K -- doubtful that it could possibly live up to the hype, but harboring a secret hope that the apocalypse was imminent -- and while that was clearly bad news, at least it would be interesting. The key words you should note in this write up: 'apocalypse,' 'imminent' and 'Jersey Shore'.

Mantracker - Sunday August 7, 9PM ET/PT, OLN

One of my favorite homegrown Canadian series is back with new episodes starting this Sunday. First, get primed with a marathon of the first batch of season 6 episodes, including a noble run by Shane Doan, captain of the Phoenix Coyotes, starting at 10AM. The new episode airs at 9PM, and features Canadian Olympic bobsledders Jesse Lumsden and Justin Kripps.