The Big C makes its Canadian TV debut

Every so often, a new TV drama will bow with little or no fanfare, on an obscure cable channel hardly anyone watches, and then go on to a long and productive life, partly on the strength of its subject matter, and partly on the strength of its acting and cast of characters.

The Big C (W Network, 8 p.m.), starring Laura Linney as a reserved suburban wife, schoolteacher and soccer mom with terminal cancer, debuted during the summer of 2010 on the U.S. pay-cable channel Showtime. From the beginning, The Big C was difficult, if not impossible, to find in Canada, even as Linney won the 2011 Golden Globe for best actress and an Emmy nomination.

That changes tonight, for most viewers, anyway, when the W Network airs The Big C from the beginning, starting with backto-back episodes that first aired in August 2010.

The Ricky Gervais Show (HBO Canada, 9 p.m.) picks up where last week’s “discussion” left off, with modern-day philosopher and raconteur Karl Pilkington ruminat- ing about why a will is a form of charity and, therefore, should be ineligible for death duties, and why people should limit themselves to just one charitable cause per year.

This week, HBO renewed Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO Canada, 10 p.m.) for another two years beyond this one, which will take the roundtable discussion program through 2014. Tonight’s guest lineup includes New York Times columnist and Wall Street critic Andrew Ross Sorkin, Coming Apart author Charles Murray, Democrat strategist and CNN “contributor” Paul Begala and advocate for veterans’ rights Paul Rieckhoff, founder of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

If that guest lineup sounds too austere and intellectual for your liking, you can always pull up a chair to The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (NBC, 11:35 p.m.), featuring very special guest Mel Gibson, and a musical performance by British-irish boy band The Wanted, fresh off their appearance on The Voice.