Sure, Sunday seems to always be overcrowded with high-end TV, but what to watch the rest of the week? Every Monday, we bring you five noteworthy highlights from the other six days.
“The Crimson Petal and the White”: US Premiere
Monday, September 10th at 8pm on Encore
Michel Faber’s acclaimed 2002 historical novel gets the lavish miniseries treatment in this 2011 UK production making its debut stateside on Encore. Romola Garai stars as Victorian-era prostitute and novelist Sugar and Chris O’Dowd as William Rackham, the perfume business heir who becomes infatuated with her. Shirley Henderson, Richard E. Grant and Gillian Anderson also star in the two-part series, the second half of which airs Tuesday the 11th at 8pm.
“Sons of Anarchy”: Season Premiere
Tuesday, September 11 at 10pm on FX
Kurt Sutter’s motorcycle gang drama returns for a fifth season on FX with a 90-minute kick-off episode. Last year brought some serious turmoil within SAMCRO, including revelations about what happened to Jax’s (Charlie Hunnam) late father and major reshuffling of the power structure. This new season will include the addition of castmembers Chuck Zito and Jimmy Smits, as well as “Lost” alum Harold Perrineau as new villain Damon Pope.
“Damages”: Series Finale
Wednesday, September 12th at 9pm on DirecTV’s Audience Network
The Glenn Close legal thriller got a second life thanks to satellite provider DirecTV, who picked up the series for two more seasons after original network FX dropped it in 2010. “But You Don’t Do That Anymore” will close out the fifth season and the entire twisty series by dealing with the current big case involving whistleblower Naomi Walling (Jenna Elfman) and Channing McClaren (Ryan Phillippe), the founder of a Wikileaks-style site, as well as the early flashforward suggestion that Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne) might just end up dead.
“The New Normal”: Series Premiere
Monday, September 10th at 9pm on NBC
“Glee” creator Ryan Murphy’s latest series, a half-hour comedy about the makeshift urban clan formed by a gay couple (Andrew Rannells and Justin Bartha), their surrogate (Georgia King) and her mother (Ellen Barkin) and daughter (Bebe Wood), premieres on NBC before moving to its regular timeslot Tuesday at 9:30pm after the Matthew Perry vehicle “Go On.” If you just can’t wait for the broadcast premiere, the pilot episode is streamable online here.
Death Traps Marathon
Saturday, September 15th starting at 8pm on TCM
In what has to be one of the weirder ideas for a Turner Classic Movies theme night, the network’s running an evening dedicated to “unsuspecting victims being lured into possibly fatal situations.” But the titles involved are all stone-cold classics — things kick off with F.W. Murnau’s “Sunrise” at 8pm, then goes on to “Strangers on a Train,” “Dial M For Murder,” “Niagra” and “The Postman Always Rings Twice.”
Also worth a look: The guiltiest of TV’s guilty pleasures, “Hoarders,” returns for a sixth season on A&E on Monday, September 10th at 9pm; after having returned to the screen following a 15-year break to play a religious leader on Syfy’s “Caprica,” Meg Tilly takes the lead in the Canadian World War II series “Bomb Girls” (pictured right), making its US premiere on the ReelzChannel on Tuesday, September 11th at 10pm; and if you’ve ever wondered what former “O.C.” star Mischa Barton is up to, look no further than Lifetime original movie “Cyberstalker,” premiering on LMN on Friday, September 14th at 8pm.
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