Michael & Michael Have Potential

HBO used to be the spot for smart, edgy comedy, but now that their "comedy" shows (Hung, Entourage) are more dramatic than hilarious, it's Comedy Central's turn to lead the funny vanguard. Michael & Michael Have Issues has familiar faces, but what they're doing is entirely new.

Michael & Michael Have Issues [10:30 PM, Comedy Central]

The conventional wisdom is that a new show should not be judged on the pilot, but on the second episode. On that basis, Michael & Michael Have Issues has a chance to succeed. The comedy gets more energetic (and funnier) in tonight's episode as Michaels Showalter and Ian Black figure out what to get their boss Biederman (Josh Pais) for his birthday. Best part: Showalter explaining why Ian Black didn't make the birthday party.

Radical Hollywood Remedies [10 PM, E!]

One of the best things about E! is the way they turn "Hollywood" into a mass noun with all sorts of implied meanings. Tonight, it leans more towards the crazy end of the spectrum as the extreme health practices of celebrities and weird Los Angeles people finally have their own special. Some of these strange cures might actually work given the proper mental state, so they should include ordering information in the credits.

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

Guests: Tracy Morgan, Leslie Mann, Diane Birch. After the big numbers for McCartney and Conan's hilarious but sometimes unapproachable comedy running on NBC, this is the summer of Dave. Tracy Morgan will be his usual bonkers self, but, like all comedians who grew up in the 1980's, he gives Letterman much due respect.

I Heart Huckabees [8 PM, IFC]

Andy Samberg's devastating impression of Mark Wahlberg notwithstanding, this is some of Marky Mark's best work on film. More importantly, David O. Russell co-wrote and directed a film that gets excerpted in countless college courses to give bored freshman something interesting to watch while learning about existentialism.