‘Commander’ adds two more to cast
With its smart combination of power politics and emotional intrigue, “Commander in Chief” (9 p.m., ABC) has emerged as one of the new season’s few bona fide hits.
Two new characters are introduced on tonight’s “Commander.”
Mark-Paul Gosselaar joins the cast as Richard McDonald, a savvy media consultant brought aboard to stem the administration’s loss of credibility and to boost sagging poll numbers. Gosselaar co-starred on “NYPD Blue” for four seasons, which is interesting to note given that Steven Bochco, producer of “Blue,” was recently brought in to helm “Commander.”
This is not Gosselaar’s first stint in a political drama. He appeared in “D.C.,” a short-lived soap opera about Washington interns created by Dick Wolf in 2000.
Polly Bergen will also join the cast in the recurring role of the president’s mother, Kate Allen. This bit of casting acknowledges Bergen’s role in the 1964 big-screen comedy “Kisses For My President,” in which she played the first woman U.S. president.
Fred MacMurray played her first gentleman. As a veteran of film and television, including “The Winds of War” and “War and Remembrance,” Bergen played Gregory Peck’s terrified wife in the 1962 thriller “Cape Fear.”
Based on a popular set of dolls, “Felicity: An American Girl Adventure” (8 p.m., WB) follows the title character during the years leading up to the American Revolution. Like the first “American Girl” movie, “Felicity” is oddly fascinating.
The dialogue is scrupulously polite and as wooden as a Popsicle-stick factory.
You feel like you’re eavesdropping on very proper children conducting a tea party, or playing with their expensive, historically correct toys. And that seems to be the point.
Now that we have nearly 11 months of the year under our belt, Barbara Walters can declare “The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2005” (10 p.m., ABC).
Whenever Walters hosts these annual chats, I’m reminded of one of my favorite Bugs Bunny cartoons. In it, a hairy ogre chases Bugs through a haunted castle.
All of a sudden, Bugs transforms himself into a female manicurist, grabs the ogre’s hand and starts filing his fingernails, saying, “You monsters must lead such in-teresting lives and meet such in-teresting people!”
Who knew Bugs was predicting the future of shallow American celebrity journalism.
This year, Walters rounds up the usual suspects, including Tom Cruise, Kanye West, Dakota Fanning, Thomas Mesereau (Michael Jackson’s lawyer), Lance Armstrong, Beth Holloway Twitty (the mother of the teen missing in Aruba), Teri Hatcher, Jamie Foxx and Condoleezza Rice. Walters will reveal the year’s most “fascinating” person at the program’s end.
For those keeping score, this list contains not one doctor, scientist, entrepreneur, inventor, clergyman, author, philosopher or educator.
Other highlights
Caroline Rhea hosts the two-hour finale of “The Biggest Loser” (8 p.m., NBC).
A fight with an old mentor; a corpse in the fridge on “Bones” (8 p.m., Fox).
Furious finger-pointing on “House” (9 p.m., Fox).
“REAL Sports with Bryant Gumbel” (9 p.m., HBO) looks at the legacy of “Monday Night Football.”
A prison move involves risk of wider infection on “Threshold” (10 p.m., CBS).
A molester targets hurricane victims on “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” (10 p.m., NBC).
Cult choice
John Lithgow and Dudley Moore star in the 1985 fantasy “Santa Claus: The Movie” (8 p.m., Family).
Series notes
McGhee kills a man while on duty on “NCIS” (8 p.m., CBS) … Lunch with an old flame (Linda Hamilton) on “According to Jim” (8 p.m., ABC) … Tyra Banks hosts “America’s Next Top Model” (8 p.m., UPN).
A different kind of comedy club on “Rodney” (8:30 p.m., ABC).
Globetrotting on “The Amazing Race Family Edition” (9 p.m., CBS) … Wrestling on “SmackDown Special” (9 p.m., UPN).