'Monk,' 'Psych' Return

A few weeks ago, I noted the passing of actor Stanley Kamel, who played Monk's shrink Dr. Kroger on "Monk." (USA, 9 p.m.)

Kamel, a veteran character actor, appeared on some of the best episodes of the series and was a delight in the role of Monk's overworked therapist.

Kamel's death from a heart attack brings a note of poignancy to tonight's season premiere, as Monk must deal with the death of the character of Kroger, who often served as Monk's security blanket.

The episode isn't that great, even with guest stars Hector Elizondo as Monk's new shrink and Brad Garrett as the guy fixing up Monk's new house; the mystery is fairly easy to solve and how Monk is rescued in the end is downright silly.

But the final scene (and the underlying theme of much of the episode) is a nice tribute to Kamel, so it's worth checking out.

It's followed by the season premiere of "Psych" (USA, 10 p.m.), which has always been a rather silly show. We meet Shawn's (James Roday) long-lost mother (guest star Cybill Shepherd) tonight, but the "case" is even sillier than usual.

REMINDER: The second part of the three-part "Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog" starring Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillion hit the Web on Thursday at DrHorrible.com. You can check out the finale on Saturday. After Saturday, you'll have to pay $1.99 to download it off iTunes instead of getting it for free, though it is well worth it.

WEEKEND'S BEST BETS: "Doctor Who" (Sci Fi, 9 p.m.) meets "It's a Wonderful Life" in the episode "Turn Left," as Donna (Catherine Tate) experiences a world in which she never met the Doctor (David Tennant). Want to see what life on good ole Earth would be like without the Doctor constantly saving us? Tonight provides a great example. It also provides some hints into the two-part finale, in which all of the Doctor's companions play a key role. It's followed by a new "Stargate: Atlantis" at 10 p.m.

With Robin Hood away, Marian (Lucy Griffiths) must intervene to rescue the poorfolk of Nottingham in her guise as the Night Watchman on "Robin Hood" (BBC America, Sat., 9 p.m.)

On Sunday, Foyle is back on the job on "Masterpiece: Mystery" in a new "Foyle's War" (PBS, 9 p.m.)

ESPN manages to waste a lot of time with the annual "ESPY Awards" (ESPN, 9 p.m.)

The second installment of "Generation Kill" (HBO, 9 p.m.) debuts Sunday.

Finally, missed "Mad Men" the first time around and want to catch up before Season 2 begins? AMC is running an all-day marathon of the Emmy-nominated series on Sunday beginning at noon. Now is your chance to catch up before Season 2 begins a week from Sunday. This is TV at its absolute best and worth a day of watching or at least Tivo-ing.

Holiday Specials

One of the good things about cable programming is that new episodes of various series seem to pop up all the time when you least expect it.

Of course, from a ratings standpoint, it may not be the best thing for networks to suddenly unleash a Christmas episode when the show in question has been off for a few months and isn't scheduled to return for a few months hence.

So consider yourselves alerted to two all-new, Christmas-themed episodes of "Monk" (USA, 9 p.m.) and "Psych" (USA, 10 p.m.) And coming next week are a holiday-themed special from "The Closer" and four new episodes of the summer hit "Saving Grace," both on TNT.

On "Monk," a department store Santa is murdered. (By the way, that must be the worst job in the world considering how many TV series have Christmas-themed episodes about investigating the murder of a department store Santa), while on "Psych," a visit to Gus' (Dule Hill) parents leads to his dad (Ernie Hudson) being the prime suspect in a murder.

Meanwhile, TV viewers starved for new episodes may be getting some good news as recent talks between the Writers Guild and the studios have led to some progress. If a settlement is reached soon, most production schedules wouldn't be too terribly affected, so we could see new episodes of returning series by mid- to late-January. (That's assuming a contract does get signed. Positive talks and a signed deal are two very different things).

The networks themselves are in decent shape for new dramatic stuff, ironically because networks these days are so impatient with new shows finding footing that they keep a lot of shows on the shelf on standby when they yank the new show. So, CBS has things like "New Adventures of Old Christine" and NBC has "Medium" and so forth all ready to go. In addition, the networks have also delayed a lot of new series for winter launches anyway, so a lot of series will make their debuts over the next month or so, regardless of the strike.

And the strike is good news for quality shows that are still trying to find an audience, like NBC's "Life" and "Chuck," for example, both of which were renewed for full season orders despite middling ratings. Not only will those shows stick around for this year, but have a good chance for renewal because production orders for new pilots have been delayed by the strike. So it's easier for the networks to renew a show that already has a cast, crew and sets in place.

WEEKEND'S BEST BETS: Landry confesses his crime to the cops on "Friday Night Lights" (NBC, 9 p.m.) Frankly, I'm not sure how the writers will keep Landry out of jail, which is a shame, because I like Jesse Plemons' character and would rather seem him in high school than in prison. It's followed by a new "Las Vegas" at 10 p.m.

"Men In Trees" (ABC, 8 p.m.) and "Women's Murder Club" (ABC, 9 p.m.) are also new.

The negative aspect to the strike is the addition of more reality shows to the schedule, including TV specials like tonight's "Movies Rock," (CBS, 9 p.m.), where top musicians perform famous movie songs. God, I hope this came about as filler material because of the strike and wasn't meant as an original special, because that would mean the networks really are running out of good ideas.

If you missed "Torchwood" the first time around, you can catch the rerunning of the series on Saturday at 8 p.m on BBC America.

If you missed the miniseries "Tin Man" the first time around, Sci-Fi is running all three parts in a marathon beginning Sunday at 9 p.m.

Also new on Sunday is CBS' lineup of "The Amazing Race," "Cold Case" and "Shark."

Oprah Winfrey and Mitch Albom present a TV-movie version of Albom's book, "One More Day" (ABC, Sun., 9 p.m.), about a suicidal ex-ballplayer (Michael Imperioli) who looks back at his life with the ghost of his late mother (Ellen Burstyn).

Finally, "Dexter" (Showtime, Sun., 9 p.m.) airs its penultimate second-season episode.