Snowed In? What to Watch Tonight

If you're located in the Northeast like us, you're probably stuck in your home. Lucky for you it is a Thursday night and there's usually a good amount of television at your disposal. I can't expect you to swim through all your channels and find what to watch yourself though. So I'll do it for you.

There's nothing really going on until prime time, so we'll start at 8 p.m. Note all the times are Eastern.

8 p.m. -
I haven't watched Survivor since the first season, but I know there's plenty of you out there that get off on this stuff. This season's China edition will be on CBS. I'm leaning towards The Office on NBC, however. Despite the fact that it is a repeat of last season's holiday episode, it seems fitting given the weather.

I would probably spend this hour over at Comedy Central watching The Daily Show and Colbert Report, but I have a very limited amount of channels here. There's also a new episode of Smallville on CW.

If you're looking for something long-term you have a couple options. FX is running American History X tonight while Disney is running The Polar Express. ABC Family will feature Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (movie links go to trailers). The NFL Network is also running the Broncos/Texans game, which should make some some good television unlike the Wizards/Heat game on TNT.

9 p.m.-
For those of you who didn't make long term commitments to either the movies or sporting events, I have another block of television for you.

30 Rock (NBC) takes home the cake at 9 p.m. I blew this show off when it first started, but it has really grown into great comedy. Tina Fay does great work in front of (acting) and behind the camera (writing). I still can't figure out if Tracy Morgan is that bad of an actor or it is just his ridiculous character. CSI on CBS is a decent standby and for those who didn't get enough punishment at 8 p.m. with Survivor can torture themselves with Don't Forget the Lyrics! on Fox.

The movie channels finally decide to become a factor at this hour with The Hills Have Eyes on HBO and The Pursuit of Happyness on Starz. Pursuit is a really great movie that I had the chance to rent over the summer. Will Smith is great, as usual. Watching this would be good preparation for his new movie I Am Legend, which comes out tomorrow. Little Miss Sunshine, another great and cute movie, is on another HBO channel at this time too.

10 p.m.-
We take a bit of a nosedive here thanks to local news and repeats, but there are still some goodies. Mad Men, created by The Sopranos writer and executive producer, will be airing on AMC. The show was also nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Drama Series. If you do have a hankering for the news, BBC's World News America will begin here. So skip the house fires. The earlier (and terrible) basketball game should be coming to an end around 10:30 p.m., which is exactly when the Spurs/Lakers game begins. If you're a sports guy or gal and the Broncos/Texans game is getting boring (or you don't get NFL Network), this isn't an awful one to tune in to.

11 p.m.-
It doesn't get much better here. More local news and some Sex in the City reruns. Scrubs reruns start on My TV 9, or whatever they are calling that channel now. Today's episodes of The Daily Show and Colbert Report start here too. So if you caught up on yesterday's earlier, now you can watch today's. Sticking with BBC from last hour will give you Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, which is one of the few reality shows I find myself enjoying.

HBO has some amusing stuff on, like Taxicab Confessions - certainly a guilty pleasure for some. They also have Blood Diamond starring Leonardo DiCaprio, another great movie I saw this summer. Keeping with the Will Smith theme, Starz is running Independence Day here. Solid choice. Pursuit and Independence Day may be my two favorite Smith flicks, so just typing this is hyping up my I Am Legend anticipation.

12 a.m.-
Here comes the end of the night for most of us and with that comes all the usually bad late night shows. Leno and Letterman may be the least funniest people I've ever seen on television. On the other hand, feel free to switch the channel to Jimmy Kimmel on ABC. will.i.am will be appearing as the musical guest. TBS stops running reruns here and runs Jerry Maguire, a nice change of pace from late night talk shows and gives us poor chumps without HBO a movie to watch.

I guess I'll finally mention Meerkat Manor here. It is actually running all night on Animal Planet, so consider this a nice little fall back. Comedy Central gives watchers their crass cartoon, Drawn Together, which is usually good for a couple laughs. You, Me and Dupree airs on HBO2. Dupree is in the same vain as everything else Owen Wilson has done in the last five years. Nothing special, but it will provide some laughs without much thinking.

You're own your own for 1 a.m. SportsCenter is about the only thing new on at this point, so find something you know you like and enjoy the reruns.