I'm a big fan of private eye TV shows and novels, and I've been thinking lately that they need to make a big comeback (sorry, Monk just isn't the same). Raines comes kinda close, but it's not quite the same thing. Judging from the script for the pilot of Marlowe, ABC's modern take on the classic Raymond Chandler character, it looks like it could be a return to the great private eye genre that TV fans have been waiting for.

The first thing I noticed is that, yes, the show is going to have voiceovers! Some people hate voiceovers, some people love them. I remember that Robert Parker hated the voiceover on Spenser: For Hire, when it was actually one of the cool things about the show. There's a lot of voiceover in this pilot script, and while I don't mind it, I wonder if it's too much.

• At 8, FOX has a new American Idol, followed by a new House.
• NBC has a new Dateline at 8.
• The CW has a new Gilmore Girls at 8, then the premiere of Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search For The Next Doll.
• AMC has Dead Calm at 8, with Nicole Kidman and Sam Neill.
• TCM has The Maltese Falcon, followed by The Big Sleep.
• HGTV has a new Decorating Cents at 9.
• At 10, FX has a new episode of Dirt.
• Discovery has a new Survive This at 10.
• TLC has a new Miami Ink at 10.
• Also at 10: Sci-Fi has a new ECW.
• At 10:30, Rachael Ray eats Italian food on a new Tasty Travels.

Check your local TV listings for more.

There's a scene in Woody Allen's Manhattan in which he makes a list of all the things worth living for -- the Jupiter Symphony, Groucho Marx, his ex-girlfriend's face, etc. Whenever I make my list of reasons not to end it all, hard-boiled detective fiction always makes the list - books by Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett and Patricia Highsmith; films like The Crack-Up, Detour and The Big Sleep. So, I reacted with a mixture of excitement and trepidation when I read that ABC will be reviving Chandler's most famous creation - Philip Marlowe - for TV.