World Series: Rangers at Cardinals (Fox, Friday) — Tonight’s deciding Game 7 comes on the heels of last night’s absolutely bananas Game 6, which I enjoyed even though I hate Cardinals fans, Tony LaRussa, all Molinas, and above all else the city of St. Louis. Nevertheless, I’m not such a troll that I won’t admit that it’s been a great series, and the TV critics who are crying about a World Series Game 7 bumping “Fringe” and hurting the debut of “Grimm” and season premiere of “Chuck” should be pushed into an industrial turbine.

Grimm (NBC, Friday) — Series premiere. As modern fairy tale adaptations go, I’ll admit that this looks less stupid than “Once Upon a Time.” By the way, I should mention that “Grimm” star Claire Coffee (“The West Wing”) did one of those always-enjoyable Me in My Place photo shoots for Esquire. Claire was a classmate of mine at Northwestern. For a long time she dated a guy who’s now in Blue Man Group, who’s close friends with my roommate the Arby’s guy. “Cool story, Hansel.”

Chuck (NBC, Friday) — Season premiere. A small but loyal following has kept this show on the air for fifth season. A small, loyal following that doesn’t care about laughably terrible action sequences. When I watch “Chuck” I feel like I’m watching a telenovela version of an American show.

The Simpsons (Fox, Sunday) — Treehouse of Horror episode. From time to time I feel the need to remind you that Treehouse of Horror V is my favorite “Simpsons” episode ever, to the point that this blog is named for a quote from it.

Allen Gregory (Fox, Sunday) — The new animated comedy from Jonah Hill stars Hill as a precocious 7-year-old with gay dads who leaves the gentle embrace of home-schooling for the rough-and-tumble world of public school.

The Walking Dead (AMC, Sunday) — Prep yourself for Halloween with your weekly dose of zombie ownage. Sophia’s still missing, by the way. Jeez, just find her or show us her remains already.

Our sporty friends at With Leather have been all over the excitement in baseball last night — from pictures of sad Red Sox faces to charts about Boston’s epic collapse to an inspired edition of the Dugout — but I couldn’t help but take one little TV highlight and share it here. Here you see Dan Johnson’s game-tying, 9th-inning home run strike a Yankees fan between the legs. I call it Baseball to the Groin. It works on so many levels!

(GIF via @cjzero)

9/11: Ten Years Later (CBS, Sunday) — The award-winning documentary 9/11, which followed an FDNY fire company throughout 2001, is updated with new interviews and footage. Hosted by Robert DeNiro.

The Love We Make (Showtime, Sunday) — This was one of the six sickeningly exploitative 9/11 specials that Josh highlighted last week. I do believe I’ll take a pass on this one.

Portraits from Ground Zero (A&E, Saturday) — This special shares the images taken at Ground Zero by photographer/filmmaker Andrea Booher, who had unparalleled access to the site of the tragedy in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

Entourage (HBO, Sunday) — Series finale. Good riddance. I don’t particularly care which douchey song concludes the series as long as it’s over forever and never comes back to us in movie form. (Preceded by season finales for True Blood and Curb Your Enthusiasm.)

The X Factor (Fox, Sunday) — Fox is offering an 8-minute sneak preview after its NFL doubleheader.

Torchwood: Miracle Day (Starz, Friday) — Season finale. Captain Jack and the Torchwood crew save Earth (probably).

Sunday Night Football: Cowboys at Jets (NBC) — I’ll be watching this instead of 9/11 specials. Five years ago, I wrote about my 9/11 experience and mused about the connection between the NFL and America’s psyche, particularly as we relate to the rest of the world. Not the best thing I’ve ever written, but it reminds me that moving on and doing my work is just as important as hanging my head in quiet remembrance.

As most of you know, I love the NFL. I was giddy during last night’s game between the Saints and Packers. Several times I said to myself, “I’m just so glad football’s back!” with the same kind of genuine childlike enthusiasm I have about wanting to hug corgis.

So what better way to celebrate the beginning of the NFL season than with FOOTBALL CORGIS? On the following pages are corgis playing with footballs, corgis watching football, corgis in football jerseys, and even one picture of a corgi being washed by NFL cheerleaders. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. The cheerleaders and the corgis, that is.

Read the rest of this entry »

This photo's approval rating: a thousand percent

President Obama originally intended to address a joint session of Congress about jobs or the economy or something tonight, but John Boehner was all, “Wednesday’s no good, I’m in the tanning booth from 6 to 11.” So Obama bumped it back a day — the same night as the NFL opener between the Saints and Packers.

But don’t worry, it’s all good. Obama’s speech will be over before kickoff, and his address bumps the atrocious pregame program off of NBC.

NFL Kickoff 2011 was originally scheduled to air on NBC but is now being preempted due to President Obama’s speech, scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. ET. NBC will join NFL Kickoff 2011 in progress once its coverage of the speech has concluded and VERSUS, USA, Syfy and G4 will resume their regularly-scheduled programming shortly thereafter. NFL Network will carry NFL Kickoff 2011 in its entirety.

NFL Kickoff 2011 will feature musical performances by award-winning artists Kid Rock, Lady Antebellum and Maroon 5 from a stage adjacent to Lambeau Field… The 90-minute pregame celebration will also feature Football Night in America and Sunday Night Football commentators Bob Costas, Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth, Dan Patrick, Tony Dungy, Rodney Harrison, Peter King and Mike Florio live from Green Bay as they examine the impending 2011 NFL season. [press release via TV by the numbers]

Oh boy, Kid Rock AND Maroon 5? I just strained my wrist dismissively wanking. There aren’t too many things I dislike more than hearing a politician talk about the depressing state of our nation, but Tony Dungy’s assh*le face is one of them.