TVSquad

This Monday, August 6 at 9:00 p.m., VH1's new series, The Pick-Up Artist, debuts.

Mystery, reknowned woman picker-upper, is the center of the new reality series. Mystery takes in six dorky guys and tries to transform them into babe magnets. One man is eliminated during each episode, with the champion going home with $50,000.

• At 7, NBC has a new Dateline.
• At 8, CBS has a new Big Brother.
• Lifetime has a new Side Order of Life at 8, followed by new episodes of State of Mind and Army Wives.
• At 9, PBS has a new Mystery!
• There's a new Gene Simmons Family Jewels on A&E at 9.
• WE has a new Bridezillas at 9.
• HBO has a new John From Cincinnati at 9, followed by new episodes of Entourage and Flight of the Conchords.
• Also at 9: Spike has the series premiere of The Kill Point.
• At 10, HGTV has the season premiere of Design Star.
• Comedy Central has a new Mind of Mencia at 10, then a new American Body Shop.
• USA has a new Dead Zone at 10.
• The History Channel has a new Ice Road Truckers at 10.

Check your local TV listings for more.

• At 7, CBS has a new 60 Minutes, then a new Big Brother.
• NBC has a new, two hour Dateline at 7.
• At 9, PBS has a new Mystery!
• USA has a new episode of The 4400 at 9, then a new Dead Zone.
• There's a new Next Food Network Star at 9.
• HBO has a new John From Cincinnati at 9, then new episodes of Entourage and Flight of the Conchords.
• At 10, Lifetime has a new Army Wives.
• History Channel has a new Ice Road Truckers at 10.
• E! has a new Simple Life Goes To Camp at 10.
• Showtime has a new Meadowlands at 10.
• Also at 10: Comedy Central has a new Mind of Mencia, followed by the premiere of American Body Shop.

Check your local TV listings for more.

• At 7, CBS has a new 60 Minutes.
• NBC has a new Dateline at 7, then the Concert For Diana.
• FOX has a new episode of The Loop at 7 (new episodes air at 8:30 and 9:30 as well).
• At 9, PBS has a new Mystery!
• Food Network has a new Next Food Network Star at 9.
• WE has a new Bridezillas at 9.
• There's a new John From Cincinnati on HBO at 9, then new eps of Entourage and Flight of the Conchords.
• At 10, Lifetime has a new Army Wives.
• MSNBC has this morning's Meet The Press at 10, if you missed it.
• Showtime has a new Meadowlands at 10.
• Also at 10: E! has a new Simple Life Goes To Camp, followed by a new Sunset Tan.

Check your local TV listings for more.

• At 7, CBS has a new 60 Minutes, followed by The 61st Annual Tony Awards.
• NBC has a new, two-hour Dateline at 7.
• At 8, TCM has Bringing Up Baby, with Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn.
• At 8:30, The Loop returns with a new episode on FOX (there's another new episode at 9:30).
• At 9, PBS has a new Mystery!
• HBO has the series finale of The Sopranos at 9, followed by the series premiere of John From Cincinnati.
• Food Network has a new Next Food Network Star at 9, then a new Challenge.
• At 10, Showtime has the season finale of The Tudors.
• E! has a new Simple Life Goes To Camp at 10, followed by a new Sunset Tan.
• There's a new Army Wives on Lifetime at 10.

Check your local TV listings for more.

Julia will have her review of the new HBO series John From Cincinnati when it premieres after the Sopranos finale on June 10, but San Francisco Chronicle critic Tim Goodman has seen the first three episodes, and he's not impressed. In fact, he's depressed.

Goodman says that the heads of fans of David Milch's other show, Deadwood, will "explode" when they see this, that they would get rid of Deadwood just to air this show. He won't have his full review 'til Sunday, but on his blog, Goodman says that HBO made "a total blunder" and that the show is just "a total mess." Wow, I guess we'll have to wait for his full review to find out what he really thinks.

As I said yesterday, I'm going to give it a shot. I mean, the previews are just so bizarre that you have to check it out.

• At 7, CBS has a new 60 Minutes.
• NBC has a new, two-hour Dateline at 7.
• CNN has a debate between all the Democrati candidates for President at 7.
• At 8, The CW repeats the pilot episode of Hidden Palms.
• Lifetime has the new movie Write & Wrong, with Kirstie Alley at 8, followed by the series premiere of Army Wives.
• MTV has the (live) MTV Movie Awards at 8 (repeated at 10).
• At 9, PBS has a new Mystery!
• There's a new Gene Simmons' Family Jewels on A&E at 9.
• HBO has a new Sopranos at 9, then the season finale of Entourage.
• Also at 9: Food Network has two new episodes of The Next Food Network Star.
• At 10, MSNBC repeats this morning's Meet The Press, if you missed it.
• HGTV has a new Bought & Sold at 10, then a new My First Place.
• E! has a new Simple Life Goes To Camp at 10, followed by a new Sunset Tan.
• Showtime has a new ep of The Tudors at 10.

Check your local TV listings for more.

Long before he toted a machine gun and traded quips with Mr. T, George Peppard starrred as the suave, clever insurance investigator Thomas Banacek on the Boston-based mystery series Banacek. Both characters loved their cigars.

A company called Hart Sharp Video is going to release a two-disc DVD set of the show's first season. It will be released on May 15 and is part of a series of sets they're going to release (the others are The Crow and Trapped In TV Guide, a prank show based around classic TV shows). Extras on the Banacek discs will include a photo gallery, a microsite, and a special TV Guide crossword puzzle.

(S05E11) Tony Shalhoub has garnered a few Emmys for his role as Adrian Monk, and I know some have complained that at this point it's almost as if he's given the award automatically. I don't care whether or not Shaloub "deserves" to be nominated year after year, but I do know that it's Monk that makes Monk worth watching. I don't watch this series because of the complex plots, because they're rarely complex. Clues to the suspect's identity are made more obvious than hints in an Encyclopedia Brown story, especially in this episode when a mysterious man strangles his lover in the opening scene, a man who is clearly Andy Richter even though they try to obscure him.