Emeril Lagasse reigned during the nascent days of The Food Network, but in 2007, after 11 years, the network cancelled "Emeril Live."
Now, he's back on ION with "The Emeril Lagasse Show," (8 tonight) with a show that has cooking but is more like a variety show, with taped segments, celebrity guests, and folks for Emeril to interview.
Each episode has a theme; the first show is a housewarming, welcoming Emeril back. And his big guest is Martha Stewart, whose company owns the show.
The Simpsons (8pm, Fox) - Mitch Albom guest stars in this "Thursdays with Abie" episode, in which Grandpa becomes famous after he's featured in a human interest newspaper column.
Durham County (9pm, ION) - Tonight marks the premiere of the second season of this critically-acclaimed Canadian crime series, which has added Michelle Forbes ("Homicide: Life on the Streets," "In Treatment," "True Blood") to its cast. And the show is just as dark and twisted as ever. Tonight's premiere is two hours, but starting next Sunday the show will air in one-hour episodes at 10pm.
Desperate Housewives (9pm, ABC) - The show returns tonight in the aftermath of that ridiculous plane crash, and the women on Wisteria Lane are all imagining "what if..." Right now I'm imaginging, "What if this crazy show just ended..."
Brothers & Sisters (10pm, ABC) - In the last episode, Kitty collapsed at Justin's wedding, and tonight we see that her cancer has progressed significantly, and that she requires an immediate bone marrow transplant.
Durham County (5pm, ION) - In advance of tomorrow night's second season premiere, ION has a marathon of the entire first season of this super dark but critically-acclaimed crime series out of Canada starring Hugh Dillon and Romano Orzari (left). The whole season is only 6 episodes long, and this is very deserving of some DVR space. ION is channel 21 on Time Warner Cable.
Liberty Bowl: Arkansas vs. East Carolina (5:30pm, ESPN) - Pirate football.
Pet Psychic Encounters (10pm, Animal Planet) - The pilot of a new series on Animal Planet in which world-famous pet psychic Sonya Fitzpatrick speaks to animals and their owners.
Relax, I'm not hating on my neighbors to the West.
This "Durham County" is a 6-episode series on the ION network, an acclaimed Canadian import that's won a boatload of Gemini awards (Emmys in America.)
It airs tonight at 10.
It stars Hugh Dillon, who you would recognize if you watch CBS' "Flashpoint." And it's an eerie show, creepy and disturbing like 'Twin Peaks,' a stylish comment on suburbia.
NCIS (6am, USA) - It's not part of USA's Awards Marathon series, but it's a great marathon nonetheless. It'll get you psyched for the premiere of "NCIS: Los Angeles" with LL Cool J starting later this month. And it should go without saying: 15 hours of Mark Harmon (runs till 9pm).
Band of Brothers (10am, Spike) - Spike is showing the entire 10-episode mini-series today, starting at 10am. Spike is channel 40 on local Time Warner Cable.
Golden Girls Marathon (1pm, We) - And yet another Labor Day marathon. This one runs till midnight.
Manson (9pm, History Channel) - It's the 40th anniversary of the Manson murders, so that explains all the Manson programming I've been seeing lately. This is a two-hour docudrama on the Tate-LaBianca murders that includes archival footage and an interview with former "Manson Family" member Linda Kasabian.
Hoarders (10pm, A&E) - This is the episode of "Hoarders" that I will not be watching: a woman has 75 living and dead cats in her feces-covered, urine-soaked home. I'm no expert, but I say put the lady and the living cats in a no-kill shelter and burn that place down.
Durham County (10pm, ION) - Must-Watch: an award-winning mystery-suspense series from Canada with a particularly appealing title. It has murder, secrets, lies... Did I mention it's called "Durham County?" It stars Hugh Dillon and Justin Louis and runs for 6 episodes. NOTE: ION channel shows up as WRPX (or channel 21) on Time Warner Cable.
That's Channel 21 on TWC. It usually shows reruns and old movies, but tomorrow at 7pm it has something original: a four-hour miniseries.
"The Diplomat" is a spy thriller about a British diplomat (Dougray Scott) undercover trying to take down a Russian mob boss who is involved with drugs and probably access to a nuclear weapon. He's so undercover that when Scotland Yard picks him up for being associated with the mob boss, his handlers can't reveal his secret. So now he has to complete his secret mission while being watched by the police.
There's a back story too: He's divorced from his wife (Claire Forlani) after the death of their child. He's tortured by the death, as is she. And they are still in love.
It's a British production, so the pace is slower, the mood is grayer (even under sunny Austrailian skies) and the humor is drier than American thrillers. It also has adult content.
I watched the first hour of the 4 (Sorry but "Burn Notice" was on!) and it was a quality production and seemed like it could get interesting.
