TV: Five shows worth watching tonight: Nov. 24
Your select viewing guide for Thursday, Nov. 24
FOOD Glutton for Punishment Food Network, 7:30 p.m. Remember the smooth moves of Tom Cruise in Cocktail? The 1988 movie set the trend for the craft known as “flair bartending,” which involves barkeeps juggling bar implements and liquor bottles for the amusement of tipsy patrons. The acrobatics obviously made an impression on galloping gourmet Bob Blumer, who tonight attempts to demonstrate his own mad bar skills at the International Flair Competition in Las Vegas. The challenge: Mix and serve several world-class cocktails with creative flair in a three-minute period. And remember, please tip your server.
REALITY The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills Slice, 8 p.m. Welcome to Beverly Hills, where the shops are expensive and so are the housewives. This sixth instalment in the Housewives franchise is also the highest-rated, very likely because the participants are so fantastically smug about their privileged existences. The group includes Adrienne Maloof, whose family is stinking rich from casinos and ownership of the NBA’s Sacramento Kings, and Kim Richards, a former child star and single mother of four. As on all the Housewives shows, each episode introduces new turmoil to the rich and sort of famous women. Tonight, for example, Adrienne pushes her friendship with Kim with a burning question: Is she still sober?
DRAMA Person of Interest CBS, Citytv, 9 p.m. Still holding forth in Thursday-night ratings, this rookie crime drama is popular with former Lost fans, who watch simply for the performance of Michael Emerson. For six seasons of Lost, Emerson stole the show as the sympathetic villain Ben Linus. On this show, he’s quirkiness personified as the computer genius Mr. Finch, who has devised software capable of predicting crimes in the future and has conscripted the former CIA operative Reese (Jim Caviezel) to prevent them from happening. Tonight, Finch identifies a former Marine with dubious connections to a crime ring, which leads to Reese infiltrating the gang.
MUSIC A Very Gaga Thanksgiving ABC, 9:30 p.m. Settle down, you little monsters: Lady Gaga is about to carve the turkey. The music world’s biggest star sits down for an interview with Katie Couric in this bizarre 90-minute program, which also includes musical performances and special guests. The interview takes place at Gaga’s alma mater, Sacred Heart Catholic School in Manhattan, and the pop diva is expected to talk about her musical inspirations and her days as a gawky, bullied teenager. La Gaga will also perform eight songs and sing a duet with Tony Bennett, before she enlists celebrity chef Art Smith to help her prepare the traditional Thanksgiving feast of turkey and waffles. And no, this is not a joke.
MOVIE The Killer Inside Me The Movie Network, 10:30 p.m. Based on a novel by Jim Thompson, this 2010 feature set new levels for blunt big-screen unpleasantry. Set in a small Texas town, circa mid-fifties, the film stars the baby-faced Casey Affleck as the deputy sheriff Lou Ford, a supposed good guy engaged to the respectable but boring Amy (Kate Hudson). One day Lou is dispatched to the outskirts of town to roust the newly-arrived hooker Joyce (Jessica Alba). Instead, Joyce ignites the psychopath inside Lou and the couple enter into an unholy alliance involving rough sex and a grander scheme to fleece the town’s wealthiest citizen, the good ol’ boy Chester (Ned Beatty).