Tonight in the rerun department, we’ve got Barney losing his mojo, just as he gets invited to a Victoria’s Secret party. I’m sure this episode of How I Met Your Mother, “The Yips,” is chock full of Barney-isms. Check it out on CBS at 8 p.m.

It’s followed by repeats of Rules of Engagement, Two and a Half Men, and The Big Bang Theory. “The Griffin Equivalency,” finds Raj getting an ego boost after winning some fame from a magazine article, and risking his friendship with Leonard by trying to win over Penny. Jackie got hiccups from laughing at this episode.

On Fox at 8, we’ve got House trying to diagnose a book editor who suddenly begins insulting coworkers at a dinner party, in “The Social Contract.” Sounds like he’ll fit right in around Princeton-Plainsboro, and Jen was happy to analyze Wilson, for a change. That’s followed by Lie To Me – “Do No Harm” – in which Lightman and Foster investigate the disappearance of an 11-year-old adopted girl.

At 8, The CW has repeats of One Tree Hill (”Searching for a Former Clarity”), and Gossip Girl (”The Age of Dissonance”). Blair gets crushing news about her future, and Serena becomes attracted to the director of a school play. You know you love it. xoxo

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Tonight in reruns, we’ve got House, Lie to Me, and Emeril Green, among others. Here’s the roundup:

At 8 PM, Fox is running House: The Softer Side. It’s the one where the team tries to decode a patient with both male and female DNA. No, it’s not a reality TV series, it’s House.

Over on CBS at 8 is How I Met Your Mother: Three Days of Snow. Debbie thought the episode sucked. Your thoughts?

At 8:30 on Planet Green, Emeril Green features everyone’s favorite mobster-looking chef Emeril Lagasse talking green foods and other fresh, organic, environmentally-correct cooking tips and tricks. CBS has a repeat of Rules of Engagement: Dad’s Visit.

At 9 PM, CBS has a repeat of Two and a Half Men: David Copperfield Slipped Me a Roofie. Just the title alone makes me want to check it out, even though I’ve never watched a single episode of Two and a Half Men.  Fox has Lie To Me: Unchained. I can vouch for this one, because Lie To Me is one of my new favorite shows that’s flying under the radar. It’s the one where Lightman and Torres decide whether a rehab’d gang leader will help fight inner-city violence or return to his own life of crime. They could have used Cal Lightman on The Wire.

At 9:30, CBS has The Big Bang Theory: The Barbarian Sublimation. Jackie learned several lessons while watching this episode, including that she will not seek out the game The Age of Conan, and muffled woofers aren’t a good thing.

We’ve got a little bit of everything in Rerun World tonight, from Kathy Griffin to Hugh Laurie to Tim Roth. If you missed the pilot of Hung, check it out on HBO at 9 PM. It felt flaccid to Keith, but I think it’s an interesting premise. Notice how more and more TV characters are turning to drugs and prostitution to make a living?

• Starting at 8 PM, CBS has reruns of How I Met Your Mother, Rules of Engagement, Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory, and CSI: Miami. The HIMYM episode is “Little Minnesota”; it’s the one where Marshall takes Robin to a Minnesota themed bar. Debbie thought the episode sounded more clever than it turned out to be. The Big Bang Theory’s ep is “The Bad Fish Paradigm,” the second season opener in which Penny turns to Sheldon for comfort after her disastrous first date with Leonard.
• Fox is airing reruns of House and Lie To Me. We’ve grown to love Cal Lightman in this household, and tonight’s ep is the one where he and his crew investigate a NASA test pilot accused of intentionally crashing a plane.
• The CW has reruns of One Tree Hill and Gossip Girl. Blair tries to improve her standing with Yale by babysitting the daughter of a prominent Yale donor. Yeah, that sounds like Blair. I’ll get caught up on this season on DVD.
• TNT has a repeat of The Closer at 9 PM, leading into a new episode at 9 PM. The repeat finds Brenda getting involved with the gay dance party scene. Should I say something here? Nah, just watch the episode and experience Brenda’s quirky goodness.
• On Bravo, catch a rerun of Millionaire Matchmaker at 8 PM, followed by a repeat of Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List. Kathy tries to get hip by joining Facebook and hanging with Paris Hilton. Good luck with that.

The 2008-2009 television season is quickly coming to a close. Last week saw some 30 season/series finales hitting our screens. The resulting numbers were all over the place. Some shows took advantage of the situation, pulling out all the stops and hitting numbers they hadn’t seen in some time. Others held steady. And a few signed in with troubling drops.

I’ve mentioned before that these final numbers could hold sway as the networks prepare to release the fall schedules this week. That does still apply, although, after all the shenanigans over the weekend, with Dollhouse and Better Off Ted being renewed, just how much sway becomes a little more cloudy. Read the rest of this entry »

We’re on the verge of it now. Over the next two weeks all of our favorite shows are going to be ending, and some of those tough decisions will have to be made by the networks. These final few ratings numbers will play heavily in those decisions. With that in mind, the week brought good news for a couple of bubble shows (Castle, Lie To Me), and bad news for others (Better Off Ted, Cupid, The Unusuals, Dollhouse, Reaper, My Name Is Earl). Read the rest of this entry »

And just like that, finale season is upon us. Over the next few weeks, all of our favorite shows will be pulling out all the stops and heading off into the summer break, with hopes of returning for another go in the fall. Some of them, no doubt, will be disappointed in that regard. Aside from the marriages, pregnancies, and lives left hanging in the balance, finales are interesting from a ratings perspective because they provide the possibilities of a numbers boost. One last data point to point to as you make the case that this show shouldn’t be canceled. NBC got the ball rolling last week as Chuck and Heroes both fired off their finale salvos. The results were something less than stellar. The news was better for Fringe, the NCIS spinoff, and the CW Thursday. Read the rest of this entry »

Okay, so the pun made me phrase it this way. The truth is, it’s more like Rules of Engagement has stumbled upon the groove that How I Met Your Mother so comfortably resides in. Or, I could just be imagining things. Either way, I really like both of these shows, and, judging by the numbers, a lot of people do too. If we could crossbreed the audiences? Besides some messy DNA breakdowns, we might build a huge fan base for each show that will guarantee their survival for years to come (and hopefully wipe the “most popular comedy” tag off of Two and a Half Men).

And now that I have this topic bouncing around in my head, I’m seeing millions of little points of similarities. First of all, their respective premises. How I Met Your Mother is a story about how a guy (this week’s Family Guy totally called the show on Bob Saget being the adult version of adult Josh Radnor!) met his kids’ mother. We assume she’s still his wife, though, interestingly, I don’t think Ted’s ever said as much. Rules of Engagement’s about marriage as well. Sure, a lot of it concerns the pitfalls, but for four seasons, Ted’s been tripping over himself looking for Ms. Right. I’d call that pitfalls as well.

Both shows take place in New York City. Not so unusual, but I needed to say it. I can’t wait until we move back home!!! Read the rest of this entry »