TLC's Staging Invasion Peddles Shameless Foreclosure Porn

gal225.jpg

Depending on whether you think the housing market has hit bottom, TLC's new series about foreclosure flipping might seem like it showed up late to the party. Heck, even a ponzi scheme series would feel old after the Madoff sentencing. 2009's been a big news year, so we understand if there's a programming lag, but hopefully there isn't a series about Twitter-jacking in development.

Stager Invasion [8 PM, TLC]

In back to back episodes, a staging expert helps families sell the homes they can no longer afford. If TLC lets Jon & Kate take a month off to get their affairs together, the least they can do is stop giving homeowners hope that $1,000 and a camera crew will help them sell that clunker in Royal Ridge or Birnam Wood or wherever. Staging a home well can make a big difference, but let's not give too much credence to the theory that Americans can make mistakes and TV will come to the rescue.

Tiny & Toya [10 PM, BET]

As if you didn't know, Tiny is T.I.'s fiancee and Toya is Lil Wayne's ex-wife. In tonight's series premiere, Tiny thinks T.I. might be planning a wedding before he starts his prison sentence. (T.I. went to the slammer on May 26.) The central theme of the show is the two ladies establishing themselves as businesswomen and spending time with their families. Personally, that sounds like a Today Show segment - a Weekend Today Show segment, at that. Please find more drama.

Jesse James Is a Dead Man [11 PM, Spike]

Wouldn't you want to make your life as death-free as possible if you were married to Sandra Bullock? This dare-devil series premiered last month (with new epis on Sundays), but there is a strange appeal to James. It isn't exactly smart to fire a machine gun from a moving vehicle on a collision course with another car, but there's a subtle wink about everything James does, like those tats could be washed off any second and he could go back to trading the Euro.

gal225.jpg

What Happens in Vegas [8:15 PM, MAX]

For a film ostensibly about having a crazy time in Vegas, not all that much happens in Vegas in this comedy. Falling into the Sadistic Second Act trap (see Bride Wars for another example of this), the script wastes too much time alternating between Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz finding ways to torture each other at the expense of the supporting cast, especially Dave (Zach Galifianakis). As we learned in The Hangover, the man has the ability to make anything funny if you give him some latitude. Dennis Miller as the judge was an excellent choice, however.