Host injects herself into ‘Town Haul’
Hosted by “Trading Spaces” vet Genevieve Gorder, “Town Haul” (10 p.m. tonight, TLC) sets out to transform the town of Jeffersonville, N.Y., over the course of six weekly episodes.
It’s not giving away too much to reveal that “Haul” fails to renovate the entire town of 700 souls located 100 miles from New York City. The show focuses on the tasteful restoration of a once-dowdy variety store, a renovated ice cream parlor, a youth center in the village hall and a new apartment for “Cowboy Bob,” a resident in a wheelchair who turns out to be one of many colorful characters discovered by “Town Haul.”
During its six-week stint, “Haul” explores local politics and the strange dynamic that inevitably ensues when a television crew arrives in a small community. While “Haul” avoids the hateful condescension of “The Simple Life,” it’s an oddly self-absorbed and self-referential production.
In scene after scene of “Haul,” Jeffersonville residents gather in throngs to cheer on Gorder and her crew. She’s seen riding in a truck with the Bulldogs, the local high school football team; attending town council meetings; and, once, during an emotional “reveal,” even positions her face smack dab in the center of the tears and gratitude.
Already queasy about our meat supply? Then don’t watch “Larva” (9 p.m. tonight Sci Fi). This thoroughly icky creature feature stars Vince Ventresca as the new veterinarian in a small farm town beset by a startling new bovine parasite.
Rachel Hunter (“The Real Gilligan’s Island”) stars as a fetching corporate lawyer for the sneaky corporation selling the revolutionary feed that might be the reason for the creepy mutations.
“I think, therefore I am.” The French philosopher and mathematician Rene Descartes said that.
But, to the best of my knowledge, Descartes never had his own television show. The process of thinking is one of the hardest things to dramatize.
So how do you make a show like “Numb3rs” (7 p.m. Sunday, CBS) work?
“Numb3rs” stars David Krumholtz as Charlie Eppes, an acclaimed mathematician who helps his brother Don (Rob Morrow), an FBI agent, figure out unsolvable crimes by applying the laws of probability and other highfalutin concepts. While this premise is smart, it necessitates too many scenes showing Charlie furiously working out theories on a blackboard, or scribbling in a notebook, or staring into space presumably lost in calculations.
The five-part drama “Island at War” on “Masterpiece Theatre” (8 p.m. Sunday, KSPS) revisits the German occupation of the Channel Islands, tiny spots of land under British sovereignty located just off the French coast. James Wilby (“Gosford Park”) heads the impressive cast of this well-produced if slow-moving series.
It’s been at least a week since the debut of any new show set in Las Vegas. All of that changes with the reality drama “The Entertainer” (10 p.m. Sunday, E!), chronicling the day-to-day affairs of Wayne Newton.
Are you tired of the fact that every guest on every talk show has a book, movie or TV show to plug? The talk special “Off Topic with Carlos Williams” (7 p.m. Sunday, CNN) invites guests California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, actress Eva Longoria and evangelist Creflo Dollar to stray from the usual script.
Tonight’s highlights
The voice of Robin Williams animates the 1992 cartoon musical “Aladdin” (8 p.m., ABC).
Paige Davis and crew embark for Scotland and some medieval makeovers on “Trading Spaces: Trading Castles” (9 p.m., TLC).
A widow (Betty White) and her granddaughter (Amy Davidson) take a poignant road trip in the 2004 TV film “Annie’s Point” (9 p.m., Hallmark).
Scheduled on “48 Hours Mystery” (10 p.m., CBS): footage of a hostage crisis at a Russian grammar school.
High noon at the PTA on “Desperate Housewives” (10 p.m., ABC).
Sunday’s highlights
The New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers clash in the American Football Conference Championship game (4 p.m., CBS).
A plea from Vietnam upsets JJ as he prepares for his wedding on “American Dreams” (8 p.m., NBC).
The Three Musketeers get an update in the new series “Young Blades” (8:30 p.m., Pax).
Lynette’s father-in-law (Ryan O’Neal) arrives, secrets in tow, on “Desperate Housewives” (9 p.m., ABC).
Renee Zellweger, Hugh Grant and Colin Firth star in “Bridget Jones’s Diary” (9 p.m., NBC), the 2001 update of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice.”
A client fakes a lifestyle for financial gain on “Boston Legal” (10 p.m., ABC).
A boy’s new friends are out of this world in the new computer-animated comedy “Pet Alien” (10 p.m., Cartoon Network).