Scripps-Howard National Spelling Bee (ESPN) — When I lived in the sports blogosphere, I was always surprised by how much sports fans loved watching nerdy Indian kids spell obscure words. Nevertheless, as a former undersized nerdy spelling champ, it’s nice to see the word dorks get their moment in the sun.
Love Bites (NBC) — Series premiere. Josh Kurp went over the series’ pitfalls in our Summer Preview, but here’s a recap: the hour-long comedy was scheduled for a fall 2010 premiere, then Jordana Spiro dropped out to stay on “My Boys” and star Becki Newton, — whose character was supposed to be a virgin — got pregnant. No wonder the episode order got dropped from 13 to nine.
Children’s Hospital (Cartoon Network) — Season premiere. I wish Adult Swim would just hurry up and get its own channel; I’m tired of making the distinction between Cartoon Network and the cool part of Cartoon Network. Also: more shows should be 12 minutes long and aired without commercial breaks. Like, say, “American Idol” results shows.
NY Ink (TLC) — Series premiere. Just as Kat von D left “Miami Ink” to star in “LA Ink,” so too has Ami James, who despite the name is not a woman but actually a tough Israeli dude.
LATE NIGHT GUESTS: Jason Sudeikis and Piers Morgan on Kimmel; Dick Van Dyke on Ferguson; Tim Tebow (!) on “The Daily Show”; reruns.
