harpers island

• FOX has the Sprint Cup: Southern 500 race all night.
• TV Land has an Andy Griffith Show marathon.
• At 8, ABC has the Hawks/Cavaliers game.
• Nickelodeon has a new iCarly at 8.
• Disney has a new Jonas at 8.
• Also at 8: CSPAN has the White House Correspondents Association Dinner.
• At 9, CBS has a new Harper's Island, followed by a new 48 Hours Mystery.
• Food Network has a new Ace of Cakes at 9.
• CNBC has a new Suze Orman Show at 9.
• At 10, BBC America has a new Graham Norton Show.
• At 11:30, NBC has a new Saturday Night Live, with Justin Timberlake.
• At 12:30am, Cartoon Network has two new episodes of Bleach, then a new Code Geass.

Check your local TV listings for more.

• TV Land has an Andy Griffith Show marathon all night.
• FOX has the Sprint Cup: Russell Friedman 400 race all night.
• At 8, TNT has the Celtics/Bulls game.
• Disney has the series premiere of Jonas at 8, then a new Wizards of Waverly Place.
• Nickelodeon has a new Fairly OddParents at 8.
• CNN repeats The World's Most Influential People at 8.
• At 9, CBS has a new Harper's Island, followed by a new 48 Hours Mystery.
• CNBC has a new Suze Orman Show at 9.
• Hallmark has the movie Living Out Loud at 9.
• At 10, BBC America has a new Graham Norton Show.

Check your local TV listings for more.

J.D. and Turk's "guy love" may live on for at least one more year.

ABC is in talks to renew 'Scrubs' for a ninth season, and some or all of the original cast may be back -- yes, that includes Zach Braff.

In other news, 'Chuck' fans are encouraged to eat $5 Subway footlongs in order to save the show from cancellation, Lisa Rinna decides that she actually doesn't want a role on the new 'Melrose Place,' and 'Harper's Island' gets relocated to the graveyard known as Saturday night.

See more of today's TV headlines, casting scoops and premiere dates after the jump.

Oh, fans of this show are going to be ticked.

CBS is moving their new murder-mystery series Harper's Island to Saturday nights. Guess the ratings just weren't what the network wanted, so starting next week the show will air on the night of reruns and movies. But don't worry that this is a sign that the show will vanish from the schedule altogether. This was created as a limited-run series and CBS says they'll show all of the episodes, just on another night (though I wouldn't bet on a second season).

I know what these networks are doing. It's all part of their master plan to make Saturday nights a "must-see" night of television again, an attempt to recapture of the glory years of shows like The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Carol Burnett Show, and The Bob Newhart Show. Someday all of the best show will be on Saturday nights and we'll be home in our Slankets watching them.

Sure, sometimes recaps can be unnecessary, but sometimes they're actually welcome, especially if you missed just an episode or two and you want to get caught up. Below is a summary of what has happened so far on CBS' Harper's Island, which airs tonight at 10. It's actually a good little recap for those of us who missed the first two episodes (of course, the full episodes are available too). Catch up before there are so many episodes you say to yourself, "eh, I don't have time to watch this!."

• Sci-Fi has a Eureka marathon all night.
• At 8, CBS has a new Survivor, followed by new episodes of CSI and Harper's Island.
  
• FOX has a new Bones at 8, then a new Hell's Kitchen.
• NBC has new episodes of My Name Is Earl, Parks and Recreation, The Office, 30 Rock, and Southland.
• The CW has a new Smallville at 8, followed by a new Supernatural.
• TNT has the Celtics/Bulls game at 8, then the Lakers/Jazz game.
• At 9, ABC has a new Grey's Anatomy, followed by a new Private Practice.
• TLC has a new American Chopper at 9.
• Hallmark has the movie Expecting A Miracle at 9.
• Also at 9: Spike has TNA Wrestling.
• At 10, Comedy Central has a new Krod Mandoon.
• At midnight, TCM has the Lucille Ball/Desi Arnaz movie The Long, Long Trailer.

Check your local TV listings for more.

After the jump, the late night talk shows.

When Ugly Betty moved production to NYC, not everyone made the jump to the east coast. Most notably, Christopher Gorham, who played Betty's geeky-hot boyfriend, Henry, left the show. However, Michael Ausiello is reporting that Gorham, who has been seen recently on Harper's Island, is reprising his UB role this season.

As Betty fans know, our titular heroine has moved on to her Yeti classmate Matt (Daniel Eric Gold). Since Betty can't seem to focus on one guy at a time, Henry of course has to come back to New York. What confuses me about this entire storyline is that it seems very... familiar.

• Sci-Fi is showing a Moonlight marathon all night.
• At 8, ABC has a new In The Motherhood, followed by a new Samantha Who?
• CBS has a new Survivor at 8, then new episodes of CSI and Harper's Island.
• NBC has new episodes of My Name Is Earl, Parks and Recreation, The Office, 30 Rock, and Southland.
• FOX has a new Bones at 8, then a new Hell's Kitchen.
• At 9, TLC has a new American Chopper.
• Spike has a new TNA Wrestling at 9.
• At 10, A&E has a new episode of The Beast.
• Food Network has a new Ace of Cakes at 10.
• Also at 10: Comedy Central has a new Krod Mandoon.

Check your local TV listings for more.

After the jump, the late night talk shows.

(S01E01) Look, I'm going to just cut to the chase: You should be watching this show. Well, let me add a caveat to that. If you don't mind watching people get eviscerated, you should be watching this show. I put this on my DVR because it was new, but I didn't know much about it. Just watching the pilot, though, has got me totally hooked.

I love horror movies, and this is basically a thirteen-episode horror movie. It doesn't pull any punches either. Harper's Island isn't like most TV shows, where minor characters get killed off and the main cast always manages to survive: at least one character will be killed off each week. In the pilot episode, we had two deaths. Suffice it to say, they did not go quietly in their sleep.

Warning: Spoilers about who dies in the pilot are ahead.

• Sci-Fi has a Moonlight marathon all night.
• At 8, ABC has a new In The Motherhood, followed by a new Samantha Who?
• CBS has a new Survivor at 8, then a new CSI and the series premiere of Harper's Island.
• NBC has a new Office at 8, then the series premiere of Parks and Recreation, another new Office, a new 30 Rock, and then the series premiere of Southland.
• FOX has new episodes of Bones and Hell's Kitchen.
• At 9, TLC has a new American Chopper.
• Spike has TNA Wrestling at 9.
• At 10, A&E has a new episode of The Beast.
• Comedy Central has the series premiere of Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire at 10.
• At 12:15AM, Cartoon Network has a new Xavier: Renegade Angel.

Check your local TV listings for more.

After the jump, the late night talk shows.

'Parks & Recreation'
(8:30PM, NBC) series premiere
Fans of 'The Office' will recognize the comic sensibilities of this Amy Poehler mockumentary (co-created by U.S. 'Office' producer Greg Daniels).

Poehler stars as Leslie Knope, the Deputy Director of the Parks and Recreation Department in fictional Pawnee, Indiana. The overeager government employee has big plans: She hopes her project to turn an abandoned lot into a town park will eventually lead her to the White House, as the first female President.

Standing in her way: Her crabby boss (Nick Offerman), a public official who hates the public; her equally ambitious assistant (Aziz Ansari); and her office crush, who has a crush of his own ... on a local nurse (Rashida Jones).

Back in January, I mentioned that I am going to give Harper's Island a shot. I've been a little antsy about getting involved in yet another continuing drama (and one that could be canceled at anytime), but this was filmed and is being marketed as a limited-run series. Somewhere between a mini-series and a regular season, and that makes me feel a little better about taking the time to watch it.

Of course, one could argue that shows like Kidnapped and Daybreak were also shows that were designed for a limited run, but NBC and ABC didn't market those shows the way that CBS is marketing this one. The ads for Harper's Island make it very clear that it's only going to be on for a short time. In the TV ads, they're very specific about the dates the show will run (April 9 to July 2), and the people behind the show are calling it "an event." It's a smart way to do it, and the TV ads have actually been clever and well-done.

I'm a big fan of mysteries, but it's hard to watch them on television. I'm talking about the onslaught of serial TV shows that we've seen the past couple of years. For every Lost or Heroes we've had, we've had an infinite number of shows that didn't make it, such as Daybreak and Kidnapped. It's easy to get frustrated and disillusioned when you start to watch a continuing drama and the show doesn't even get past its first 13 episodes. ABC pulled Daybreak after a handful of episodes and then put the rest online. NBC did the same with Kidnapped (it was also on Saturday nights, which didn't work out either).

But I'm going to give Harper's Island a shot.

With the new year comes a whole new batch of shows to watch -- everything from Whitney's big move to 'The City' to Edie Falco's big return to primetime.

Think your DVR can handle it all?

Check out our guide to what's new in midseason and see what everyone will be talking about in 2009.

There are two things that I find disturbing about the news that there's a reality show in the works for married actors Harry Hamlin and Lisa Rinna for TV Land. Number one, do we really need another show biz couple exposing their personal lives for the cameras? Number two, why is TV Land getting away from celebrating TV history by broadcasting great old shows to do banal entertainment like this kind of unscripted drivel?

Are audiences really clamoring for more of this stuff? I know I'm not, and I don't know anyone else who is! Seriously, this is not reality TV. There's nothing real about it except that they're using their real names. (Yes, those are their real names!)