Comedic Justice

With two harrowing nights of I'm A Celebrity, Please Don't Make Me Touch Vermin Again in the books, and two more left this week, we're eternally grateful that NBC is giving us something scripted, plotted and acted tonight in the season finale of Law & Order. While it probably lacks the comedic heft of Frangela in a jungle, post-Orbach L&O still brings the solid one-liners.

Law & Order [10 PM, NBC]

Our modern equivalent of Gunsmoke closes out its 19th season tonight as TNT-subscribers start counting the days for the recent episodes to make it into their afternoon reruns. Tonight's crime involves the murder of a charity executive, stalking, S&M tapes and, just for good measure, blackmail. With the blue-collar Dennis Farina years long behind us, this show is starting to have an air of coolness again, and the extracurricular banter between Jeremy Sisto and Anthony Anderson sparkles with actual wit and running in-jokes about their wives & diet plans.

The Real Bonnie and Clyde [8 PM, National Geographic]

In NatGeo's effort to incorporate more crime (L.A. Gang Wars follows) and less animal exposés, here's an hour-long docudrama briefer on Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker, the couple who committed some serious crimes in the 1930s. Using the diary of a fellow gang-member (Clyde's sister-in-law) for a semi-fresh perspective on the spree, this will give more insight into the actual crimes than the 1967 Arthur Penn film, but it probably won't have the big ending.

Late Show with David Letterman [11:35 PM, CBS]

Guests: Jessica Biel, Zach Galifianakis, Steve Earle. Wow, a really big shew tonight with two strong talk guests and a legendary/infamous music act. If Steve Earle had been a stand-up comic, odds are that he would be bumped, but this is Steve Earle and he might do something strongly political in response. For those who can't get enough of The Hangover's press parade, Bradley Cooper is second guest on The Tonight Show.

Coed Call Girl [8 PM, Lifetime Movie Network]

Tori Spelling and early-career Jeri Ryan star in this universal tale of a college student (Spelling) who ignores the low-interest loans and work-study opportunities usually provided by universities and opts for harlotry. It's difficult to believe that this first aired back in 1996, especially because Tori still looks exactly the same. Still, this might be her best work ever. Before you go to the bodega to grab your Snickers bar, there's no reason to scoff at something being Tori Spelling's best. She tried very hard with the material she was given.