REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER (10PM HBO)
How does Seth MacFarlane, television’s most prolific writer/ producer/ voice artist/ millionaire playboy/ hulu pitchman unwind at the end of a busy week? By sitting down with Bill Maher to promote FAMILY GUY, AMERICAN DAD and THE CLEVELAND SHOW of course.

NEW & NOTABLE:
HAPPY FEET (8PM ABC)
Or as we like to call it, the worst Best Animated Feature Oscar winner EVER.

PRISON BREAK (8PM FOX, Global in Canada)
Michael must choose between Lincoln or Sara. Our advice — considering Lincoln is the one who got Michael into this whole prison mess to begin with — “Team Sara” all the way.

FLASHPOINT (9PM CBS, CTV in Canada)
Now far be it from us to judge the man who is determined to make his dying wife’s final days memorable by taking her on a crime spree. But come’on, is “jail time” really the lasting memory you should be aiming for?

DATELINE (9PM NBC)
The only thing less interesting than one hour exploring infertility with Hoda Kotb, is… you guessed it, two hours!

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING:
DOLLHOUSE (9PM FOX, Global in Canada)
Although word on the street internet is that tonight’s guest appearance by FIREFLY’s Alan Tudyk as the mysterious designer of the Dollhouse coinciding with the big ‘Alpha’ reveal is no coincidence, we’re going to go out on a limb and say, “Yes, in fact, it is.” Why? Because everybody knows that Agent Paul Ballard would make for a far-cooler Alpha. Plus, that twist would have the added benefit of finally giving the woefully-underused Tamoh Penikett something interesting to do.

NEW & NOTABLE:
WIFE SWAP (8PM ABC)
Paging Child Protective Services Line 1. A family on tonight’s WIFE SWAP does not allow their kids to watch TV or go online. Seriously, what’s up with that?

FLASHPOINT (9PM FOX, Global in Canada)
When a student brings a gun to school to carry out revenge against some bullies who pushed him too far, this TV Addict is left asking: When will kids learn that violence is never the answer? Especially when DEGRASSI has so clearly taught us that revenge is best served via an anonymous group on Facebook. Just ask Holly J.

DATELINE (9PM NBC)
Who needs KINGS when we’ve got Keith Morrison examining the death of a 24-year-old surfer for two hours.*

PARTY DOWN (10:30PM Starz)
Henry and Roman aren’t pleased when Casey befriends a well-known sports personality at a corporate-retreat event. While this TV Addict isn’t pleased that SuperChannel (in Canada) expects us to shell out another 15.99 a month to get PARTY DOWN. I mean have they seen our cable bill?

* Denotes Sarcasm

DOLLHOUSE (9PM FOX, Global in Canada)
What are the odds that Echo, Sierra and Victor, who have re-awoken as their original selves (complete with their own memories) escape from the Dollhouse? Well, considering the show is called DOLLHOUSE, we’re gonna go out on a limb and say not very good.

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS (9PM NBC, E! in Canada)
The Taylor’s make a decision about the McCoys, which if you ask us, sure has the makings of an awesome old school Western, should, you know, FNL ever wish to pull another “murder mystery” ratings stunt by introducing time travel.

REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER (10PM HBO)
It’s Plumber versus Maher when Joe “The Plumber” Wurzelbacher gets grilled by Bill. We can’t wait.

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING:
FLASHPOINT (9PM CBS, CTV in Canada)
When two 16 year olds wind up in a robbery gone wrong, the Team is faced with the chilling prospect of having to take a lethal shot – at a kid. Or as we’ll be calling it from now on, thanks to last week’s LOST, “Pulling a Sayid.”

DOGTOWN (10PM National Geographic)
In what we can only assume is a Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner episode gone terribly terribly wrong, a golden retriever undergoes surgery after its paw is injured in a trap.

DOLLHOUSE (8PM FOX)
Echo provides protection to a pop star. Chris Brown best be watching his back.

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS (9PM FOX, “A” in Canada)
Hey FNL fans, the TV Addict has a message for you. Click here to check it out… and pass it on.

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (10PM Sci Fi, Space in Canada)
Can’t wait until 10PM, click here for the lowdown on what you can expect from tonight’s installment. It ain’t pretty.

NEW & NOTABLE:
FLASHPOINT (9PM CBS, CTV in Canada)
In the latest installment of what not to do during the mortgage meltdown, three men take the CEO of a mortgage company hostage after they lose all their money in a mortgage scheme.

DOLLHOUSE (9PM FOX. Global in Canada)
After gigabytes of valuable bandwidth wasted with endless rumors and speculation, the internets will finally get to see what they’ve been scrutinizing for the better part of a year now.

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS (9PM FOX)
Jason’s gotta figure out a way to support Erin and his son. See, that’s one of the things that makes this show so great: The people feel real and — most of the time — face real problems. Unfortunately, folks still aren’t tuning in, as proven by the fact that last week, this show had viewer viewers than HOWIE DO IT. Heck, it had viewer viewers than FUEGO EN LA SANGRE on Univision. Seriously.

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (10PM Sci Fi, Space in Canada)
At long last, Ellen reunites with her people. Gee, wonder how that’s gonna go? Think she’ll be happy to find out about Saul and that trampy Six? I’m thinking “not!”

NEW & NOTABLE:
WIFE SWAP (8PM ABC)
Whenever a show involves a LARPer (Live-Action Role Player), you know there’s going to be lots of eyerolling on the part of those they interact with. In other words: Hey, it’s Friday, one of tonight’s swappers is a LARP-er… if you’re into that kinda thing, this is your show.

GHOST WHISPERER (8PM CBS)
Melinda’s new guy may be on the verge of figuring out that she’s not like other girls. You know, when do you have the whole “Listen, you should probably know, I see a lot of ghosts” conversation? That’s a third-date chat, right?

HOWIE DO IT (8PM NBC)
Sure, BIONIC WOMAN had its flaws, but… um, is it too late to have it back? Pretty please? Anything but this crap.

SUPERNANNY (9PM ABC)
Not for nothing, but at this point… hasn’t Jo probably taught us everything she possibly can at this point? If you’ve been watching and still can’t control your kids, give it up. (Although frankly, I suspect a lot of people watch simply to offer themselves the small comfort brought on by saying, “Well, honey, our kids aren’t that bad!

FLASHPOINT (9PM CBS, CTV in Canada)
The sins of the not-so-distant past come back to haunt Ed when a sniper seeks vengeance and winds up putting one of the SRU team in dire jeopardy. (Okay, kids, FYI: when my description reads this dry, it’s a pretty good indication that I’ve never seen the show and have no clue what I’m talking about! See, it feels like a “behind the scenes” glimpse, doesn’t it?)

13 FEAR IS REAL (9PM CW)
I wanted to like this, being a fan of both horror movies and reality shows. I really did. But… um, yeah. It wasn’t scary enough to satisfy my need for thrills, or believable enough to pass for even a bad reality show.

ROSTRO DE ANALIA (9PM Telumundo)
No clue what it’s about, but ever since 30 ROCK did that bit with Alec Baldwin appearing on a telenovela, I’ve started watching them and making up my own dialogue. Good times!

DAYS OF OUR LIVES (11PM SOAPnet)
Melanie dies. John and Marlena return. Sami and Lucas reunite. Sure, sure, none of that is true… but come on, for a minute there I had you thinking “Someone stepped in to save my soap!”

The biggest surprise to come out of yesterday’s CTV UpFront Presentation wasn’t that two new Canadian produced shows [FLASHPOINT and THE LISTENER] actually look like they can compete with the best the US networks have to offer. Rather its that this TV Addict may have just met the first Canadian actor who genuinely prefers Hollywood North [Toronto] to Hollywood.

Enrico Colantoni is back in his hometown of Toronto Canada shooting the new Canadian produced series FLASHPOINT and he couldn’t be happier.

As one of the stars of FLASHPOINT, Colantoni plays Sgt. Gregory Parker, the chief negotiator in Toronto’s Emergency Task Force. An elite team of police that’s tasked with thwarting the most heinous of crimes at the moment they get out of hand.

Yet while most of the press in attendance were content in asking the generic, “How accurately do you portray a cop on the show?” type of questions.” Which by the way, Colantoni was more than happy to answer in his trademark humorous style, “The real thing doesn’t really make for good TV, unless someone gets shot. Guns always make good TV.” This TV Addict had only one thing on his mind. Or to be more specific two words: VERONICA MARS.

But when I had the chance to ask Colantoni if he still keeps in touch with his former MARS cast members, I found myself slightly disappointed when all he could muster was a quick and succinct, “Yes.”

“The biggest difference is how close knit everyone is. In all the years I spent in the States, I don’t recall having dinner with any of the Producers. Yet right from the beginning Marie and Bill [FLASHPOINT Producers Anne Marie La Traverse and Bill Mustos respectively] have opened their house and heart.” elaborated Colantoni on the differences between US and Canadian television, “With FLASHPOINT it seems to be a lot more about the process rather than the success and the failure of the show. You can just do your job and not worry about who’s out to get you.”

Reading between the lines its pretty clear that the sudden and disappointing cancelation of VERONICA MARS took its toll.

“Anybody who decides to be an actor can’t really be in it for the job security.” explains Colantoni, “But on VERONICA MARS we thought we had a good thing going and then the landscape and the network changed. Heck at one point we thought we’d outlive the network. But apparently they thought that other shows could do better. I still can’t figure that one out.”

Neither can we Enrico, neither can we.

Now that the American Networks have started to cheap out branch out and look to Canada for affordable quality content, the TV Addict finds himself in a prime position to offer up first looks at some of your future favorite shows. Translation: Watch your back Ausiello!

Courtesy of my CTV sources, here’s a first look at Enrico Colantoni in the new series FLASHPOINT.