It was dang stupid (in last week’s record-breaking episode of “The Walking Dead”) for Rick and Glenn to join Hershel for a drink when Hershel’s daughter was lying in a coma. Rick and Glenn proved themselves smart guys last year; why have their IQs diminished so suddenly?
I also thought it super-stupid for pregnant Lori to head out by herself to tell Rick and Glen to hurry up -- as if Rick and Glen should need to be told to hurry up.
My impatience with “Walking Dead” continues with tonight’s episode, titled “Triggerfinger.” AMC says:
Trapped, Rick, Hershel and Glenn fight to survive against new foes, both dead and alive. Shane finds Lori in danger on the road and makes it his mission to bring her back to the farm.
As with last week’s installment, there are several exciting minutes at Hershel’s bar and with Lori on the road – and, back at the farm, a lot of yapping. Daryl, Carol, Shane, Andrea, Carl, Maggie – lots of chit-chat. (Lauren Cohan continues to bone me up but I’m growing especially annoyed with the continued hand-wringing of farmgirl Maggie. Somebody needs to put her back on a horse or something.)
Nothing wrong with dialogue, of course, but the dialogue we get tonight doesn’t seem to tell us a lot we don’t already know. “Talking Dead” host Chris Hardwick was told things get awesome, so I trust this will happen soon.
Watch Downton Abbey Season 2 Episode 7 Preview on PBS. See more from Masterpiece.
“Downton Abbey” is the opposite of “Walking Dead” in terms of getting it done.
* Downton heir Matthew Crawley learned he could walk and breed before he admitted his love for Mary and watched his fiancée die of Spanish flu. In one episode!
* Sybil Crawley finally ran off with her Socialist chauffer only to be disowned and renowned again.
* Cora Crawley started bleeding from the nose and nearly perished.
* Robert Crawley started frenching the hottest member of Butler Carson’s staff.
John Bates agreed to marry Anna, married Anna and got hauled to jail.
* Evil homosexual Thomas Barrow started and ended a career as a black marketer.
* Ex-maid Ethel went through all sorts of things with the grandparents of her bastard baby.
And probably loads of other stuff happened I’ve already forgotten.
That’s how you make TV.
The second-season finale airs tonight. A third season, with Shirley MacLaine joining the cast as Cora’s American mother, is already in the works.
HBO says of tonight’s episode of the increasingly compelling “Luck”:
As Chan (Dennis Dun) challenges Jerry to his limits in a private poker game, Jerry’s pals look to pry him away from his gambling nemesis. Ace takes a meeting with Claire LeChea (Joan Allen), an activist who hopes to rehabilitate prisoners through their work with broken-down racehorses. He then visits his one-time partner Michael Smythe (Michael Gambon) to discuss his participation in Ace’s racetrack venture. With Ronnie out of commission and surrendering to old vices, Walter settles on Rosie as his jockey, but her euphoria is tempered by Leon’s (Tom Payne) not making weight. Written by Jay Hovdey; directed by Phillip Noyce.
Tonight’s installment features more great poker scenes with Leo and Jerry, and “Rome’s” adorable Kerry Condon makes her long-awaited return to nakedness.
And we learn Ace has been confused by his own behavior for some time now.
Returning tonight:
The Amazing Race (8pm CBS)
“Big Brother” showmance Brendon and Rachel are not only still together, they’re competing on “Amazing Race.” The new season also includes married clowns, two guys who look like they’re auditioning for “Jersey Shore 2,” a combat pilot and at least four federal agents.
One of the poorer contestants is prone to motion sickness, so we’re treated to onscreen puking early on. One of the girls claims before a harrowing roadblock assignment that “my uterus is in my throat.”
The episode’s ending is incredibly suspenseful, and unlike any we’ve ever seen on the series.
Celebrity Apprentice (9pm NBC)
On tonight’s celebrity apprentice Adam Carolla demonstrates he’s roughly 7,000 times funnier than Arsenio Hall. There’s not nearly enough of Carolla in tonight’s season opener, but I liked his take on teammate George Takei: “We have to pretend we like Star Trek? I had neighbors who were Trekkies. They were alcoholics.”
Other notes:
* Clay Aiken sounds just like Kenneth on “30 Rock.”
* The nine male contestants are, on average, much more famous than the nine women, who include Aubrey O'Day, Dayana Mendoza, Patricia Velasquez and Teresa Giudice.
* “American Chopper” icon Paul Teutul claims early in tonight’s episode that he can personally raise half a million dollars in charity money during the first episode. As we learn, such a sum would represent a “Celebrity Apprentice” record.
* 35 of the episodes 87 minutes are spent in the boardroom. At one point Donald Trump interrupts Deborah Gibson with “Debbie, who cares?”
* The individual fired this week says he or she didn’t consider himself or herself a good fit for “Celebrity Apprentice” in any case. His or her exit left me feeling a little sad.
Premiering tonight:
Life’s Too Short (10:30pm HBO), a new sitcom from the creators of “Extras,” follows a fictionalized version of 3’6” actor Warwick Davis.
How big will “The Walking Dead” be this week without The Grammys to distract us?
Sundays, Dec. 25, 2011-Feb. 12, 2012
(Adults 18-49; repeats in gray; older weeks in parentheses)
14.1(---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Grammys
4.2 (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Walking Dead
3.0 (---) (3.5) (3.2) (3.3) (3.7) (1.1) (---) Once Upon A Time
2.8 (0.5) (1.5) (1.5) (1.5) (4.8) (2.9) (0.9) 60 Minutes
2.5 (1.1) (3.1) (---) (4.4) (3.1) (1.7) (1.0) Family Guy
--- (0.6) (2.3) (1.2) (1.5) (2.6) (1.2) (0.9) CSI Miami
--- (---) (2.2) (1.1) (2.0) (2.7) (1.1) (0.6) The Good Wife
2.0 (0.7) (1.9) (1.1) (1.2) (1.4) (---) (---) AFH Videos
2.0 (0.8) (2.4) (---) (5.4) (2.3) (1.5) (0.8) The Simpsons
1.8 (1.0) (2.4) (---) (---) (2.2) (1.5) (1.0) American Dad
1.8 (---) (---) (2.6) (2.7) (3.0) (---) (---) Desperate Housewives
1.8 (0.6) (2.1) (3.3) (4.4) (---) (---) (---) Napoleon Dynamite
1.7 (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) E! Red Carpet
1.6 (---) (---) (1.1) (---) (1.2) (---) (---) Dateline
1.5 (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Fear Factor
1.2 (0.8) (1.3) (---) (---) (2.2) (1.3) (0.8) Cleveland Show
1.2 (2.1) (1.5) (1.3) (1.7) (---) (---) (---) Real Housewives Atl
1.1 (---) (1.3) (1.1) (1.4) (1.1) (---) (---) Ax Men
1.1 (---) (0.6) (---) (0.8) (---) (0.8) (---) TBS Movie
1.0 (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Comic Book Men
1.0 (---) (0.6) (---) (---) (---) (---) (2.5) NBA Basketball
0.9 (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Full Metal Jousting
0.8 (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (0.6) American Pickers
0.8 (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) My Strange Addiction
0.8 (0.5) (0.7) (0.7) (0.7) (0.8) (---) (---) Shameless
0.8 (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Swamp People
0.7 (---) (1.1) (0.9) (1.1) (1.1) (---) (---) Mob Wives
0.7 (---) (---) (1.2) (1.2) (1.3) (---) (---) Pan Am
0.6 (---) (0.6) (---) (0.5) (0.5) (0.6) (---) Finding Bigfoot
0.6 (---) (---) (---) (0.7) (---) (0.8) (---) TNT Movie
0.6 (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Worst Cooks
0.5 (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (0.6) Am Restoration
0.5 (0.4) (0.6) (---) (0.4) (0.5) (---) (---) House of Lies
0.4 (---) (0.5) (---) (0.4) (0.5) (0.5) (---) Holmes Inspection
0.2 (0.2) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Luck
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