A Dash of Country

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Though you probably love The Airborne Toxic Event and The Bravery and can't get enough of M. Ward, there is a lot of great country music out there. Yeah, it might not make you feel all angsty, but the contributions of its artists deserve celebration. Bruno probably won't be planting his junk on Tim McGraw's face at tonight's CMT Awards, but there will be cowboy hats. Lots and lots of cowboy hats.

The 2009 CMT Music Awards [8 PM, CMT]

Comedian Bill Engvall hosts the only fan-voted country music awards show. The performances tonight include Sugarland, Def Leppard, Keith Urban, Taylor Swift and Rascall Flatts. Allegedly, T-Pain will show up to bring some much-needed flava to the broadcast.

The Lazy Environmentalist [9 PM, Sundance]

Sundance Channel will just not let this saving the environment thing drop. After the sensual whimsy of Isabella Rossellini's Green Porno, here comes author/personality Josh Dorfman demonstrating how easy it can be to go green. Not many people will watch this show, unfortunately, but hopefully Sundance sticks with it. In five years, there will be primetime shows exactly like this one.

The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien [11:35 PM, NBC]

Guests: Larry David, Lauren Conrad, Gavin Rossdale. After some strange guest scheduling (Norm Macdonald and Jim Gaffigan on the same show was especially odd. You never book two dry white comedians at once.), Conan should step into a more comfortable rhythm this week. It still feels odd to hear surprising jokes coming from NBC at 11:35 PM, but we'll get used to it.

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Citizen Kane [8 PM, TCM]

Unless you had to write a paper on the film or were trying to impress some girl or guy you met at AFI Fest, it's doubtful you ever sat down on a Tuesday night to watch Citizen Kane with the intention of enjoying yourself. In spinning a tale of power, lust, lost innocence and newspapers, Orson Welles created a punishing viewer experience; every canted angle and flash-forward reminding us of his genius, every deep focus framing emphasizing just how far ahead of his time that he was. Still, mandatory viewing.



Comments

  • David Davies says:

    Def Leppard? WTF? It is a complete mystery to me how Sheffield can produce such great artists as The Human League, Jarvis Cocker / Pulp, Heaven 17 (trust me on that one) and also Def Leppard. The NWOBHM has a lot to answer for.

  • Inhaler says:

    CMT? Close-minded twats.