Kathy Griffin

For her "Hulaween" party this year, which benefits her New York Restoration Project, Bette Midler wore a white chef's costume (complete with toque) splayed with fake blood, and carried a cleaver. "If factory food doesn't start changing its ways, people are going to start dying in the streets. Amputations and blindness isn't any fun," Ms. Midler announced to the press assemblage. (The chef Alice Waters would be honored that evening for her advocacy of locally produced food.)

Later, finding Ms. Midler chatting with a family of fans dressed as the Palins, the Daily Transom asked her if there would be any Songs for the New New Depression, now that the boom is over. "I have a job—I'm in Vegas all year round, so I'm not worried," the songstress replied. Ms. Midler would only say that it was "thrilling" to have a fellow Hawaiian a hair away from the presidency.  read more »

MONDAY

The new Batman flick, The Dark Knight, opened this weekend to rave reviews, sold out crowds and a record-breaking performance at the box office—it took in $155.34 million, according to the Associated Press, surpassing the $151.1 million Spider-Man 3 made on its opening weekend a little over a year ago. When a blockbuster generates this much hype, the networks can cash in with primetime tie-ins that appeal to TV-addicts regardless of whether or not they've actually seen the movie. It starts tonight with The Dark Knight's predecessor, Batman Begins, on FX at 5 p.m. Then at 9, turn to the History Channel for Batman Tech, which answers the question posed by the Joker in the original 1989 remake of Batman: "Where does he get those wonderful toys?"  read more »

Monday

Is the impulse that drives viewers to A&E’s reality series Intervention charity? Or what the newspapers used to call "human interest"? Or is it just Schadenfreude? Either way, the show, which chronicles those confrontations between self-destructive people and their families and friends brokered by "intervention" specialists, certainly doesn't play for laughs. What you’re seeing is usually pretty horrific, and the train wrecks it picks through can actually become pretty touching stories. Methamphetamine and OxyContin addictions are common fare here; and the success stories, which are not guaranteed, are definitely the more edifying programs. So maybe it is charity after all? Tonight we meet Chad who, like most of the show's subjects, had a pretty troubled childhood—he ended up in juvie for felony arson. At age 15, Chad’s father introduced him to cycling, and he went pro and even cycled on the same team as Lance Armstrong. When he got kicked off the team for “personality conflicts,” however, he turned to drugs. He's homeless and spends his days drinking, panhandling and smoking crack. Can an intervention save his life? The show airs at 9 p.m. Of course before reality programs there were nonfictional programs about science and nature and history. The History Channel takes a break from reconstructing Hitler's last hours in the bunker to trot out an hour-long program about the origins of life on earth at 9 p.m. At any rate switch to Bravo at 10 and watch Clueless if you haven't seen it a few too many times already, or fire up the fourth season premiere of Weeds at 10 p.m. on Showtime.  read more »

Monday, June 9

This week kicks off with a controversial documentary about the Oscar-winning filmmaker-cum-Humbert Humbert, Roman Polanski (9 p.m. on HBO). As you may recall, Mr. Polanksi, a Polish Holocaust survivor who was married to the eight-months-pregnant actress Sharon Tate when members of the Manson family murdered her in 1969, pleaded guilty to getting it on with a 13-year-old in 1977. A year later, he fled the U.S for Paris, likely evading years worth of prison time. But Marina Zenovich’s new film, Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, which the LA Times calls a “surprisingly haunting examination of the politics, personalities and legal complexities of the 1977 case,” argues that Mr. Polanski’s flight to France was more than just a means of avoiding the slammer:  read more »

COMEDY

Kathy Griffin—in appreciation of her gays, the fans of her hit Bravo reality series and anyone who just loves watching a hilarious comedian verbally brutalize celebrities who are more famous than herself—is bringing her notorious comedy routine to the area with a whopping four shows in two nights during the last weekend in May. And in true D-list fashion, they aren’t even in New York City! Instead, you’ll have to trek down to the Borgata in Atlantic City if you want to see Ms. Griffin perform, but fear not proud urbanites: Apparently A.C. is getting hipper by the minute! [On Sale: Saturday, March 8, at 10 a.m.]

CONCERTS

“If you want beef then bring the ruckus / Wu Tang Clan ain’t nothin’ ta…”; you get the idea. Yes, the seminal hip-hop group is back with a new(ish) album and a show at Irving Plaza on April 16. Don’t call it a comeback! [On Sale: Today!]  read more »

Kathy Griffin, the redheaded comedian, is sad that the Golden Globes didn’t really happen. But luckily for Ms. Griffin, a person largely famous for her ability to mock other, more famous people, NBC asked her to basically pretend that they happened.

In this clip from last night’s Dateline, Ms. Griffin says that she still loves Awards Season, “because everyone’s freshly Botoxed and shiny and pulled and everyone has long, pretty dresses that they had to puke all week to get into.” It’s true: watching her sling schtick can cause a bad case of the somebody-please-hug-her tingles.  read more »

MONDAY

While the WGA is back at the negotiating table, locked up in some undisclosed location—e.g. not the Beverly Wilshire—and avoiding the press, the show must go on! (But keep those fingers crossed.) Tonight is the final round of competition in Dancing With the Stars (ABC, 9 PM). Marie Osmond has completely co-opted the fifth season of the reality series, what with her fainting, her father passing away, and her being the oldest woman to ever make it to the finals. (I bet she just loves that stat.) So just give the darn trophy to her and let’s go back to acting like this isn’t one of the most popular shows on television.

For some real competition, Samantha Who? (ABC, 9 PM)—which has been bumped up a half hour to make way for Notes From the Underbelly (ABC, 9:30 PM) making its second season debut—will go to head to head with Two and a Half Men (CBS, 9 PM)—the most popular half hour of comedy on TV, despite not being the least bit funny.

Bonus: a gaggle of hot models—Heidi Klum, Marisa Miller, Adriana Lima—do a bit of DVR hijacking for Victoria’s Secret on How I Met Your Mother (CBS, 8 PM).   read more »