THIS WEEK’S TOP TV TIPS
SATURDAY
Come Dance With Me
This is the first of three new lighthearted Hallmark movies airing this month. It stars Andrew McCarthy and Stephanie Mills in a romance about a financier who takes dancing lessons to impress his girlfriend and ends up falling for the instructor. Have we been here before? The other two air Wednesday, Dec. 12 ( A Christmas Song with
Natasha Henstridge and Gabe Hogan) and next Friday, Dec. 14 ( Baby’s First
Christmas with Casper Van Dien and Rachel Wilson). CTV The March Sisters at Christmas A modern retelling of
Louisa Mae Alcott’s beloved Little Women, this new special finds the sisters – Jo ( Julie Marie Berman), Meg ( Kaitlin Doubleday) Beth ( Melissa Farman) and Amy ( Molly Kunz) – facing the news that their mother is planning to sell the family home because they cannot keep up with the cost of the repairs. While their parents are away, the girls work to bring the house back to its former glory, in the hope that they can stay together under the same roof.
Lifetime
Burn Notice
If you missed any of the first 10 episodes of Season 6, there’s a chance to catch up today as the specialty channel airs a marathon of Part 1 in preparation for the return of new episodes this Thursday. In that premiere, the former discredited U.S. spy, Michael Westen ( Jeffrey
Donovan), and his team are stranded in Panama and must hijack a plane in order to get home.
Super Channel
SUNDAY
Christmas with Holly Based on the novel by Lisa
Kleypas, this new Hallmark movie stars twins Lucy and
Josie Gallina as a six-yearold orphan, Holly, who is being taken care of by her uncle Mark Nagle ( Sean
Faris). Holly, who hasn’t spoken since her mother died, writes a letter to Santa asking for a mother for Christmas. Enter newcomer Maggie ( Eloise Mumford) who has retreated to the town where she spent her childhood summers after she is jilted by her fiancé, and has opened a toy store. Holly is a frequent visitor – and the rest, as they say, is history
ABC
MONDAY
American Country Awards
Trace Adkins and Kristin Chenoweth once again host this star-studded ceremony in which the winners are chosen by the fans. Voting for the artist of the year only closed last Friday, but we do know that Rascal Flatts, Kip Moore, Jake Owen, Natasha Bedingfield and Miranda Lambert will be among the performers. The two-hour spectacular airs live from Las Vegas.
Fox
The Daily Planet It’s High Tech Toys Week on the science program and there are some weird and wonderful – not to mention expensive – examples on tap, from remote- control helicopters to a two-storey robot vehicle that can be driven through a city and controlled from either a touch-screen console, iPhone or game interface. Best of all is the Hot-Tug, a floating hot tub complete with a wood-burning stove, that putts its way across a lake virtually submerged.
Discovery Channel
TUESDAY
Rizzoli & Isles Tough-as-nails Boston detective Jane Rizzoli ( Angie
Harmon) and medical examiner Maura Isles ( Sasha
Alexander) are back from their fall recess with five allnew episodes to complete their third season. Based on bestselling crime novels by
Tess Gerritsen, the ladies will investigate a number of complex cases, including the apparent suicide of a famous writer and the brutal stabbing of a former college football star.
Super Channel
WEDNESDAY
Derren Brown: Apocalypse Almost as far out as Orson
Welles’ adaptation of H.G. Wells’ novel The War of
the Worlds back in 1938, this new two-part special uses psychological trickery in an elaborate stunt to convince one person that the planet has been devastated by a meteor strike. The hapless ‘victim’ of the hoax is led to believe that he is only one of a handful of survivors. After waking up disoriented in hospital he makes his way outside to discover buildings in ruins, streets in disarray and lots of zombies. Illusionist Brown has been creating TV and stage mind-control performances for over a decade.
Space
THURSDAY
Flashpoint Tonight is the final episode of the original Canadian cop drama that paved the way for other hit homegrown series. In the finale, Team One faces its most deadly adversary in five seasons – a deranged bomber who has planted bombs all over the city, causing the SRU to join forces with firefighters, paramedics and the military in an effort to keep the peace. Encore presentations of the two-part finale will air on Sunday, Dec. 16 and be repeated again on Monday, Dec. 17.
CTV The Magic Hockey Skates A new half-hour animated special about a young boy who struggles to prove to his older brother that he has what it takes to be a hockey star: he just needs a new pair of skates. He reluctantly settles for a used pair, even though he is told that they are magic. Based on a children’s book by Allen Morgan.
CBC