Thursday Night Comedy Treat -- But Not on NBC

Viewers who prefer to follow the pack will no doubt be flocking to NBC's line-up tonight, where although Trump's reign has ended (for this season at least), no doubt the network's still hoping for record-breaking numbers for one of the last new Friends and the season finale of Will & Grace. The latter, by the way, is a real good-news/bad-news scenario -- yes, you get to see John Cleese and Tim Curry guest in the episode, but you also have to endure series regular (and unfathomably over-praised) Megan Mullally and a special appearance by Jennifer Lopez. I think the bad news makes the whole thing unwatchable.

And though I don't watch Friends, I notice that there's something going on about Rachel going to Paris. What's with Paris these days? Did somebody poll a whole bunch of 26 year old career girls and find out that they still dream of going to Paris? Ooh la la, already! What a depressing cliche. It was bad enough watching Sarah Jessica Parker mope around the City of Lights on Sex in the City, although I can see where at least Rachel is sure to find a coffee house to take the place of the one she'd leave behind. Geez, I hate all these shows!

What I don't hate, however, is BBC America's splendid Thursday night comedy line-up beginning straight up at 7pm with Rowat Atkinson in The Thin Blue Line and Blackadder, then continuing until 11pm with Monty Python, Trailer Park Boys, Velvet Soup (which I haven't caught yet), The Office, and Dead Ringers. I'll once again put in a passionate plug for Trailer Park Boys, an import from Canada that's as likable as it is hilarious. I know that they are bleeping the "fucks" for the late-night slots, but I'll check tonight what other words (if any) get the boot for primetime. It's a shame we have to get Trailer Park Boys lite down here, but the show still words beautifully if not as vibrantly profanely as on the Showcase network up there. I caught the first three episodes of the latest season while I was in Nova Scotia the last couple of weeks, and am happy to report that TPB's vision and hilarity is as good or better than ever. I love that show!

If you've been following Fox's mysterious action-adventure hour Tru Calling, tune in tonight at 8pm for the two-hour (actually it's two episodes back-to-back) finale. Fans of the show and its star, the intense and appealing Eliza Dushku, are hoping that it will end up on Fox's renewal slate, though no word has come down as yet.

Over on HBO2 tonight you can catch the first three episodes of Deadwood starting at 8pm, and then tomorrow watch the next three on HBO starting at the same time. I'm watching it but I'm not loving it, though that's no fault of the excellent cast and the authentic-ish potty-mouth mise-en-scene. There's something downright annoying to me about the incessant profanity, probably the result of too many years where westerns didn't talk dirty at all, but it's sometimes just a bit too much of a good thing, ya know? It would be hard to assemble a group of actors more interesting than Powers Boothe, Brad Dourif, Keith Carradine, Ian McShane, et al, so definitely give it a try if you haven't yet made your mind up about it.

On a much probably scarier note, tonight's PBS' Frontline "The Jesus Factor" examines President Bush's religiosity and what effect it's having on this country. And that effect is, in a word, overwhelming. Don't miss this important program!

Also at 10pm, over on Showtime's Penn & Teller's Bullshit! goes for the jugular on the whole recycling movement. While you're sure not to agree with everything -- or perhaps anything -- that these guys uncover, it's always a sobering and unsentimental look at popular notions and behaviors that not many others would be cranky or courageous enough to undertake. And of course remember that instead of calling people outright liars or otherwise skirting libel or slander statutes, P & T instead use fairly vitriolic profanity to characterize their subjects. Makes for a salty half-hour, at least!