Butlers I Have Known

Yes, it is still raining in the third season premiere of the Seattle-set thriller (that is so obviously filmed in Vancouver, B.C.). It’s a year after the close of the Rosie Larsen case, Holder (Joel Kinnaman) is still working as a police detective and Linden (Mireille Enos) lives and works on Vashon Island. And yes, a new case catches the interest of both our brooding leads. Two-hour season premiere, 8 p.m. Sunday on AMC.

Steven Soderbergh’s Liberace biopic sparkles and gleams with all the excesses that the flamboyant entertainer was famous for, as it tells the tale of the virtuoso pianist (Michael Douglas) and his relationship with Scott Thorson (Matt Damon). There’s also sex, hot tubs, drugs, plastic surgery and the specter of the AIDS epidemic. Featuring Scott Bakula, Debbie Reynolds, Cheyenne Jackson, Rob Lowe and (an almost unrecognizable) Dan Aykroyd. Not for those who only want to remember Liberace as an amazing showman, and definitely not for the prudish, but it’s a fairly solid tale of a rocky relationship. 9 p.m. Sunday on HBO.

To wrap up its fourth season, this very funny comedy sends the Pritchett/Dunphy clan to Florida for a funeral, only to discover that Gloria (Sofia Vergara) has an outstanding arrest warrant. Fred Willard returns as Phil’s father, Frank. Season finale, 9 p.m. Wednesday on ABC.

After nine years, this mockumentary series about the employees of the Scranton, Pa., branch of the Dunder Mifflin paper company comes to a close. The documentary that characters have been a part of finally airs, and past and present staffers gather for a wedding. Might we expect an appearance from Steve Carell’s Michael Scott? With the serious tone the series has been flirting with all season, you might want to have some tissues handy. Hourlong series finale, 9 p.m. Thursday on NBC.

In this four-part series, Peter Sagal, the witty host of NPR’s “Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me!,” hops aboard a customized Harley-Davidson and travels  across the country to discuss some of America’s constitutional debates with legal scholars, historians and public figures. Series premiere,  9 p.m. Tuesday on KCTS.

It’s been a been a wild 22nd season for this great reality competition. Contestants played bagpipes and rolled barrels in Scotland, navigated a maze in a Berlin nightclub and transported wheels of cheese — via sled — in Switzerland. We’re down to the final four teams, and I’m rooting for hockey-playing brothers Anthony and Bates Battaglia. Two-hour season finale, 8 p.m. Sunday on CBS.

This engaging drama started off kind of slow, but has become another winner for the FX network. It follows two married KGB spies (Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys) who are posing as suburbanites in 1980s-era Washington, D.C. Russell and Rhys are playing wonderfully against type, Noah Emmerich is great as the FBI. agent who just happens to live next door, and how delicious is it to see Emmy-winner Margo Martindale (“Justified”) as a Russian spy? And I haven’t even mentioned the great ’80s music and “technology.” Definitely one to check out. Season finale, 10 p.m. Wednesday on FX.

ABC hasn’t treated the six fast-talking friends of this Chicago-set comedy very welI. They started off on Tuesdays, disappeared for weeks, reappeared on Sundays and then settled in on Fridays. Listen up, network programmers: Eliza Coupe, Elisha Cuthbert, Zachary Knighton, Adam Pally, Damon Wayans Jr. and Casey Wilson are a simply a-mah-zing ensemble and deserve much better than this. Renew! Renew! Renew! (Here’s hoping it’s a) season finale at 8 p.m. Friday on ABC.

Quippy judge Michael Kors returns for the 11th season finale of this still-involving sartorial challenge. The final designers are Portland’s Michelle Lesniak Franklin, New Mexico native Patricia Michaels and Stanley Hudson of West Hollywood, Calif. My allegiances have switched many times this season, but my money’s now on Michelle. Two-hour season finale, 9 p.m. Thursday on Lifetime.

Another quriky sitcom that excels due to its top-notch cast. Jane Levy stars as Tessa Altman, a teenager who moved to suburbia from New York City with her dad (Jeremy Sisto). And while the residents of Chatswin (including Cheryl Hines, Ana Gasteyer, Alan Tudyk and Allie Grant) at first appeared to be  odd/cute suburbanites, as the second season progressed, they’ve gotten downright strange. Still, this is a clever, well-written comedy, that ABC would be smart to renew. One-hour season finale 8 p.m. Wednesday on ABC.

This wicked (and laugh-out-loud funny) political comedy about fictional Vice President Selina Meyer and her staff returns for a second season tonight. Julia Louis-Dreyfus plays Meyer to the hilariously quirky hilt, and the actors playing her co-workers (Anna Chlumsky, Matt Walsh and Tony Hale) can match her laugh-by-uncomfortable-laugh. 10 p.m. Sunday on HBO.

The season finale of this great drama, starring Timothy Olyphant as Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, always delivers. Remember the fates of Robert Quarels (Neal McDonough) in season three, or Mags Bennett (Margo Martindale) in season two? After (mostly) resolving the case of Drew Thompson, season four is headed toward a major showdown between ultra smooth Raylan and mobster Nicky Augustine (Mike O’Malley, lightyears away from his kindly father on “Glee.”). Oh, and you can always count on Boyd and Ava Crowder (Walton Goggins and Joelle Carter) being up to no good.

Buckle up. Quite literally anything could happen. Season finale, 10 p.m. on FX.

I had to post this (again). So creepy. So wrong. So funny.

Arouet had its Seattle opening night of “The Hen Night Epiphany” last night at the Downstage Theatre.

Roy Arauz ably directs Irish Playwright Jimmy Murphy’s comedy/drama that follows a group of five woman on a “Hen Night” (bachelorette party). A capable cast (Colleen Carey, Laura Crouch, Ellen Dessler, Frances Hearn, and Kelly Johnson) play the full range of emotions in this touching story.

The show runs through April 6. If you can, check it out. Tickets and information available at Arouet’s Web site.

Looking forward to the new episode of “Graham Norton Show” with guests Mila Kunis, Dame Judi Dench and Jude Law.

It’s been fun to have Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein and their multitude of quirky Northwest characters back for a third season, but just as winter comes to a close, so must our winter-TV favorites. So savor tonight’s episode (in which Portland suffers a citywide blackout) — it’ll have to tide you over until next season. Season finale, 7 and 10 p.m. on IFC.

For the 22nd edition of this eight-time Emmy Award-winning reality competition, 11 new teams of two (firefighters, twin brothers. roller-derby moms!) take off from the starting line for a 25-day race around the world. And of course, host Phil Keoghan will be there to greet (or sometimes eliminate) them when they arrive on the mat at the end of each leg. And … Go! Season premiere, 8 p.m. Sunday on CBS.

These pics brought a smile to my day.

The great (and very gruesome) series about a group of humans trying to survive against all sorts of enemies (mostly undead) returns for the second half of its third season. If memory serves me correctly, The Governer (David Morrissey) had just pitted brothers Daryl and Merle against each other in a very “Thunderdome”-style fight to the death. Bring it! 9 p.m. Sunday on AMC.

Oh, what will we do on Thursday nights without the wonderful wit of Tina Fey and company? As the various loopy characters gather for the final episode of “TGS” before moving on to the next phase of their lives (Liz is now a mother!  Kenneth is the head of NBC? Really?), let us take a moment to thank Tina, Alec Baldwin, Jane Krakowski, Tracy Morgan, Jack McBrayer and everyone else  for seven seasons of a very witty, clever and funny television show.  Hour-long series finale. 8 p.m. Thursday on NBC.

dknooptv:

Tuesday nights just got a whole lot better with the return of Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) and this wonderfully involving drama, based on the works of Elmore Leonard. For the fourth season, Givens unravels a 30-year old cold case that hits close to home. Season premiere, 10 p.m. Tuesday on FX.

American fans have been waiting nearly a year for the return of this glorious and oh-so-satisfying British miniseries. While much has been made about the guest appearance of Shirley MacLaine — she’s wonderful, by the way — there are many other things to celebrate. My favorites: that deliciously wicked pair of servants, Thomas and O’Brien (Rob James-Collier and Siobhan Finneran); the restrained-but-changing Lord Grantham (Hugh Bonneville); and the force of nature that is the Dowager Countess (Dame Maggie Smith). Prepare some tea and crumpets and luxuriate in the two-hour season premiere, 9 p.m. Sunday on KCTS.

(GREG GILBERT / THE SEATTLE TIMES) - A sign was posted at the water’s edge displaying the water temperature of 46 degrees. Several thousand polar bear swimmers showed up at Mathews Beach for the 11th annual Polar Bear Plunge.

I’m so glad that Kathy Griffin will be joining Anderson Cooper tonight to co-host CNN’s New Year’s Eve coverage for the sixth consecutive year.

It’s always so much fun to watch these two interact. I can’t wait to see what will happen tonight.

“Happy New Year” everyone!

Many have called me crazy, but for the second year in a row I will be wading into Lake Washington on Tuesday morning to start off the new year. It all started last Dec. 31 with a friend’s suggestion, and after a bit of hesitation, I joined the throngs (many in costume) at Matthews Beach for a bracing start to 2012. And to answer the questions I get most often; no, you don’t jump off a dock — you walk into the lake; to get the official patch, you have to immerse yourself (put your entire head under water); and yes, it’s very, very, very, very cold.

It hasn’t got the enduring reputation of such stalwarts as “A Christmas Carol” or “It’s a Wonderful Life,” but this 1989 family drama about a 9-year-old girl (Rebecca Harrell) who discovers a reindeer that she believes may belong to Santa Claus deserves a place on your holiday-viewing schedule. There’s a great supporting cast (Abe Vigoda, Cloris Leachman and Sam Elliott), and yes, it borders on the overly sentimental, but if you’re prone to tears (who, me?) you might want to have some tissues ready for the closing minutes.

dknooptv:

Winter comes to the titular city in this half-hour preview episode (season three officially debuts on Jan. 4). All the elements that make this series so delightfully quirky are here: brilliantly underplayed performances from leads Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein; great guest stars (Jim Gaffigan, Matt Lucas, Jack White); and a right-on-the-money opening sequence that may feel a little too familiar for those of us who live in the Pacific Northwest. 7:30 p.m. Friday on IFC.

dknooptv:

For those of us in need of a “Downton Abbey”-style fix, we might want to head over to the Sundance channel tonight and try out this delicious-looking two-part miniseries about a young woman who discovers that her mother was a spy during WWII. It stars Rufus Sewell (PBS’ “Zen”), Michelle Dockery (“Downton Abbey”) and Charlotte Rampling (“Melancholia,” “The Swimming Pool”), and is based on a novel by William Boyd. 9 p.m. Friday on Sundance

Marsha Glazière’s new book (“Eclectic Coffee Spots in Puget Sound”) features 41 paintings of Puget Sound area coffee shops. This is Joe Bar.

First off, a warning. This is NOT a family-friendly holiday film, but a twisted/creepy 1975 thriller from director Bob Clark (“Porky’s” and “A Christmas Story’) set in a sorority house at Christmastime. It was a precursor to a generation of horror films, full of shocks and thrills (be very afraid of what’s in the attic) and great/campy performances from Margot Kidder, Andrea Martin and Olivia Hussey. Not for the squeamish, and you probably shouldn’t watch it alone.

The late John Hughes’ 1987 road movie about two strangers (Steve Martin and John Candy) who use several forms of transportation to get home for Thanksgiving. Some of the humor is a bit crude (“Those aren’t pillows!”), but Martin does a great stressed-out businessman; Edie McClurg’s car rental agent is a stitch (“Gobble, gobble”); and Candy’s shower-curtain-ring salesman, Del Griffith, starts off as every traveler’s nightmare but emerges as the heart and soul of this comedy.