Decisions, Decisions

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Many families purchase a video camera to record happy memories for posterity. Years down the line, they can pop in a DVD and recall the trip to White Sands or Coney Island or the family ranch. Luckily, the Gosselin children have a crew of videographers documenting their every move and emotion, so one day they can take a trip down memory lane and rediscover the moment when their parents announced (possibly) that they were splitting up. What will Jon & Kate decide? We might find out tonight.

Jon & Kate Plus 8 [9 PM ,TLC]

The breathless promos promise a "special announcement" on tonight's one-hour episode. As we hoped, TLC is mixing up the lighter, guest-star heavy episodes (That Ace of Cakes dude, American Chopper dudes) with the down and dirty, possible big-D run-up. Smart decision, especially given the potentially game-changing revelations tonight. Or this could all be empty hype. Either way, decent television.

Make It or Break It [9 PM, ABC Family]

Any channel that shows Gilmore Girls reruns deserves a mention now and then. While this seems like a better reality show idea than a scripted teen drama, this new series about teenage gymnasts training to make the Olympics could have some entertaining moments if it doesn't take itself too seriously. In tonight's pilot, a new girl (Chelsea Hobbs) impresses the other athletes. It's great to see Peri Gilpin getting work, but if this is one of those "Mom, gymnastics isn't my dream! It's yours!" shows, then the judges could be pretty harsh.

30 Best & Worst Beach Bodies [9 PM, E!]

Ripped from the headlines of (presumably) the National Enquirer, here's a half-mean, half-laudatory E! show chock-full of pap shots and cellulite zoom-ins. At this point, television no longer makes us feel better about ourselves, so this is basically a push, self-esteem-wise.

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Empire Records [8 PM, Fuse]

The jokes and cute spontaneous moments in this film have not aged well, but Rory Cochrane's performance as Lucas, the enterprising employee who gets the save-the-underdog-record-store plot in motion, has lost none of its confident strangeness. Variety called Cochrane's performance "spookily sincere" and it stands to reason that if he had been better looking, he could have had a Ryan Reynolds-like early career, full of dry comedic roles. Of course, the Variety also said Empire Records was a "soundtrack in search of a movie," which is sort of true, also.



Comments

  • whoneedslight says:

    I continue to love this soundtrack, a hundred years later. And although I like his Slater better in Dazed and Confused, it is still one of Cochrane's top two roles.
    Rex Manning Day!