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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Tube Notes

By Mike Hughes
Gannett News Service

TONIGHT'S MUST-SEE

"Bones" season-opener, 7 p.m., Fox. In its first season, "Bones" built a terrific set of characters while solving a crime each week. Temperance Brennan (Emily Deschanel) is a forensic anthropologist. She has no people skills, but she's at ease in the lab with her semi-geeky assistants. The contrast comes from Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz), a forceful FBI agent. Working cases together, they're attractive opposites. Tonight, the contrasts get stirred up more. There's a new boss (beautifully played by Tamara Taylor) who has all those people skills that Brennan lacks. Brennan eyes her warily while tackling a tough case and continuing to probe her own family's dark secrets. It's a terrific episode.

OF NOTE

"Everybody Hates Chris," 4 p.m., UPN (KIKU). Jimmy Walker has a guest spot, albeit a brief one, in this rerun. He plays Chris' grandfather, who ruins a visit by ... well, dying.

"Rock Star: Supernova," 7 p.m., CBS. Two weeks before the finale, another singer is ousted.

"The George Lopez Show," 7 and 7:30 p.m., ABC. More key guest stars show up in these reruns. In the first, Michael Clarke Duncan ("The Green Mile") is a cold-hearted dentist. In the second, Eva LaRue ("All My Children") is the school superintendent who learns that she's George's long-lost sister.

"30 Days," 7 p.m., FX. Wrapping up its six-week season this show has its creator (Morgan Spurlock) spend a month in jail. Don't expect "Oz" here; he's in a Virginia jail that seems relatively non-violent. The real punishment, Spurlock says, is fierce boredom. This is a dark and discouraging portrait, especially in the final minute. Still a few warm glimpses are along the way.

"20/20," 8 p.m., ABC. Elizabeth Vargas introduces cataclysms that could end life on Earth and artificial intelligence gone awry. Some — a comet or a super volcano for instance — are natural. However, scientist Stephen Hawking also points to worst-case possibilities of global warming and artificially created viruses.

"Justice" debut, 8 p.m., Fox. Here's a legal "dream team," the kind O.J. Simpson and others have had. It's the best justice money can buy, complete with a "shadow jury" that reacts to every nuance. The boss (Victor Garber) is slick but gives the jury a young, Nebraska-bred lawyer (Kerr Smith), called the "all-American face of not guilty." Eamonn Walker (who was so brilliant in PBS' modern-language "Othello") and Rebecca Mader are also on the team. It's easy to dislike these people, but some clients really are innocent. At the end of each hour, we'll see what actually happened. This opener is smart and well-acted but not involving.

"American Masters: Judy Garland: By Myself," 9:30 p.m., PBS. Judy Garland was working on an autobiography when she died at 47 in 1969. Her thoughts, read by stage actress Isabel Keating, provide the core of this superb documentary, which first aired in 2004.