Julia Roberts Tribute Hour

In these days of awards specials and what-not, AMC is running a "Julia Roberts Tribute" tonight at 8 p.m. It's basically an hour of Roberts' former co-stars showering her with praise, followed by a trophy of some sort, I bet.

I've never really understood the appeal of these type of shows, but then, I've never really understood the appeal of Julia Roberts, either.

Is she a good actress? Sure. But Hollywood makes her out to be the second coming of Katharine Hepburn or something.

I find many of Roberts' films to be formulaic: Out-of-place, but sassy Julia enters a scene where she shouldn't fit in, but through sheer charm and smiling, following an impassioned speech or two, wins over those who won't accept her.

But obviously I'm in the minority, since Roberts is the highest-paid actress in Hollywood and gets her own tribute show on AMC. So enjoy.

WEDNESDAY'S BEST BETS: The second-part of a two-part "Life" (NBC, 10 p.m.) airs in its normal timeslot. If you missed Part 1 on Monday, you should still be able to follow what's going on as Charlie learns the identity of the man who committed the crime he was framed for.

"Private Practice" (ABC, 9 p.m.) and "Dirty Sexy Money" (ABC, 10 p.m.) are also new, as is "Gossip Girl" (CW, 9 p.m.)

TV's Best New Star

There's an old adage in Hollywood: Never work with children or animals.

Whoever came up with the adage obviously has never seen "Pushing Daisies," (ABC, 8 p.m.) because that person obviously hasn't seen Ned's (Lee Pace) dog Digby in action.

In my opinion, the single best-shot scene on TV this year was the song-and-dance routine between Digby and Broadway veteran Kristin Chenowith, who performed Olivia Newton-John's "Hopelessly Devoted To You" in the series' second episode. And you had the Lassie-inspired sequence a couple of weeks' ago, in which the young Digby pulled the fire alarm en route to tracking down the young Ned at boarding school.

How the producers of "Pushing Daisies" get the facial expressions and perfect timing out of Digby is certainly a question for the ages, but the closest scene-stealing animal to Digby on TV that I can think of is Moose, the Jack Russell Terrier who played Eddie for 11 seasons on "Frasier."

But Digby is even better, and one of the best elements on TV's best new series. Tonight's episode centers around a murdered dog breeder, so I'm hoping that means a big role for Digby.

AROUND THE DIAL: For those interested, Newsday has a very good interview with "30 Rock" star and Maconite Jack McBrayer, who plays Kenneth the page. You can view it here: http://www.newsday.com/services/newspaper/printedition/sunday/fanfare/ny-fffast5451095nov11,0,1362365.story

Good news this New Year's Eve. Dick Clark is officially back on ABC's "Rockin' Eve," sharing hosting duties with Ryan Secrest. Clark, 77 years young, missed the 2004 edition because of a stroke, and it always seems that he's a year away from hanging up his microphone permanently. ...

Just a week ago, "Damages" was 50-50 as to whether FX would give the show a second season. But the network announced this week that it was not only bringing the Glenn Close series back, it was doing so with both a second and a third season. ...

Finally, a reminder that the Galleria Cinemas in Centerville will show "The Menagerie," a digitally remastered version of the original "Star Trek" episode tonight at 7:30 p.m. It's one of the select few theaters around the country that is doing so. I was going to go last night, but got sidetracked (Thanks, Oprah!)

WEDNESDAY'S BEST BETS: What has become a TV event returns tonight as "Project Runway" (Bravo, 10 p.m.) begins a new season. (Don't worry, Mom and Dad, I've set the VCR). Of course, if the WGA strike lasts a while, it wouldn't be much of a surprise at all if parent company NBC starts re-running the series on the main network, since "Runway" is one of the highest-rated cable series on the air.

Speaking of NBC, I got a preview DVD of tonight's "Life" (NBC, 10 p.m.) and it's one of the cleverest installments of the series as the detectives investigate the death of a Walter Mittyish bigamist while Crews is the prime suspect in the murder of the cop who put him away. We pick up some major clues tonight in the story arc about the conspiracy that sent Crews (Damian Lewis) to prison, but they bring about more questions than answers. It's preceded by a new "Phenomenon" at 8 p.m. and "Bionic Woman" at 9 p.m.

ABC is running new episodes of "Private Practice" and "Dirty Sexy Money" after "Pushing Daisies."

Enjoy "Back To You" (Fox, 8 p.m.) and "Til Death" (Fox, 8:30 p.m.) while you can. Both series stopped shooting last week because of the strike, so I'm fairly certain this is the last week of new episodes. "Kitchen Nightmares" (Fox, 9 p.m.) should continue for a while, since it's a reality show.

CBS is all new with "Kids Nation," "Criminal Minds," and "CSI:NY," while the CW's "Gossip Girl" is also new at 9 p.m.

Dirty Sexy Fun; Practice Not Perfect

ABC made up for the year it didn't put me on its critics list by sending me a bunch of DVDs for preview. So much so that I've enlisted help to review them all in time.

Yes, loyal dozens, you not only get the word of the TV Guy, but you get special guest star Stephanie, the Cherry Blogger as well.

First up is me, though, because I've been fortunate to catch the first two episodes of one of the best new shows of the season, "Dirty Sexy Money." (ABC, 10 p.m.)

Quite simply, "DSM" is everything that "Desperate Housewives" was in its brilliant first season: biting dark humor mixed in with an overarching mystery. (Hopefully, "DSM" won't devolve the way "DH" did after the first season, though).

Peter Krause ("Six Feet Under") is Nick George, the hapless attorney to the richest, most famous family in the U.S. — the Darlings (who are anything but). Nick doesn't want the job, which his late father previously held, but the patriarch of the family (Donald Sutherland) makes him an offer that seems too good to be true.

Five minutes after he takes the job, Nick quickly finds out there isn't enough money in the world to make it worthwhile. The Darling clan is constantly causing fires for Nick to put out: Patrick (William Baldwin) is an aspiring senator with a secret that definitely can't be leaked; Karen (Natalie Zea) is still in love with Nick years after the two grew up together, and makes no secret about it; Brian (Glenn Fitzgerald) is quite possibly the world's meanest and worst priest; Jeremy (Seth Gabel) is a party boy with no direction in life, while his twin sister Juliet (Samaire Armstrong) is a Paris Hilton clone.

Nick tries to keep all of the Darling issues at bay while investigating the death of his father.

"DSM" is never dull, deftly mixing Nick's real-world outlook with the antics of the Darlings. And while each of the Darlings could be written off as caricatures, by the second episode, they are shown with enough depth that it keeps the viewer interested.

Also airing tonight is the premiere of the "Grey's Anatomy" spinoff "Private Practice" (ABC, 9 p.m.), which debuted last winter as a backdoor pilot during an episode of "Grey's." Since I didn't watch that episode, nor do I watch "Grey's," I turned the premiere over to the Cherry Blogger, who had this to say:

'At the beginning of the pilot episode for "Private Practice," Dr. Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh) tells Chief Richard Webber that she is resigning from Seattle Grace and moving to California because she needs a change, she needs to start fresh, and she wants "to dance naked." Addison is looking for a lot less drama, and that's what "Private Practice" delivers. Anyone looking for the same fast-paced agnst-filled ups and downs of "Grey's" won't find it in "Private Practice" - at least not if the rest of the season follows the same pace as the pilot.

One thing about the show that bothered me from the start was the swap-out of actress Merrin Dungey for Audra McDonald in the role of Addison's best friend, Dr. Naomi Bennett. I was a huge fan of "Alias," and therefore a huge fan of Dungey, who played the Francinator. I read that she was swapped out because producers felt she didn't have enough chemistry with the cast. Boo! McDonald seems to take the role as her own well, but I do hope to see more development of her character, as well as the others, throughout the season.

The writing was fine for the first episode, but I'll need a reason to get behind these characters and stay hooked to "Private Practice," something I didn't find in the pilot. But I'm hoping writer Shonda Rhimes can pull it off.'

I can only add that "Private" is one of the more interesting shows on ABC's schedule. The network could have put it on Thursdays after "Grey's" to practically guarantee it a huge audience, but instead is gambling that enough "Grey's" viewers will head over to Wednesdays, establishing a beachfront there. It's a big gamble, one worth following.

MACON ACTRESS ON HOUSE OF PAYNE: Ed Grisamore reports that Macon actress Sylvia Boykin will appear on "Tyler Perry's House of Payne," (TBS, 10 p.m.) Boykin, a graduate of Stratford Academy, will be playing an attorney.

WEDNESDAY'S BEST BETS: One of the most buzzed-about shows of the summer was "Bionic Woman" (NBC, 9 p.m.), which debuts tonight. British actress Michelle Ryan takes on the role of Jamie Sommers, a bartender who is rebuilt with bionic parts after a devastating car accident. But she's not the first woman to undergo this procedure, and the original bionic woman, Sarah (Katee Sackoff) isn't the friendliest super-being around.

Having watched two versions of the pilot, I was a little underwhelmed by it, but there is enough good possibilities - especially with producers like David Eick and Jason Katims - that I'll be sticking with it for a while.

I enjoyed the first two episodes of "Life" (NBC, 10 p.m.) a lot more, and so did my parents. I think Damian Lewis ("Band of Brothers") is one of the best actors working and I loved his quirk-filled performance about a cop who returns to the job after being framed and sent to prison for 12 years. Some critics and fans, however, find the character too quirky and have been turned off by it, so I deliver the warning that this will be a show with little middle ground: you'll either love it or hate it.

CBS airs the season debuts of "Criminal Minds" and "CSI: NY" after a new episode of "Kid Nation" (CBS, 8 p.m.) Fox is also all-new, with the Kelsey Grammer-Patricia Heaton comedy "Back To You" (Fox, 8 p.m.) leading things off. I was very underwhelmed by the pilot, but with all the talent associated with the show in front of and behind the camera, I'm giving it another shot.

Finally, the next installment of Ken Burns' "The War" (PBS, 8 p.m.) airs tonight, an extra-long segment that focuses on D-Day.