This Week on Television

I don't know anyone who was fortunate enough to catch one of the night sky's best shows ever over the weekend. Either I know too few people, or it's just really bad luck that August is appearing to be the rainiest month so far. According to the PAGASA-DOST website, the famous Perseids meteor shower would have been visible late Saturday and Sunday nights. Year after year, I anticipate that spectacular free show, and it's just my bad luck that where I was over the weekend was all rained out. But no matter-there's always next year. Besides, this week is looking up, entertainment-wise, because, as AXN tells us, House is back-among other things.

New Season

Season 2 of "House M.D." started Monday night, with LL Cool J as special guest star portraying, guess what, a death row inmate named Clarence, who starts having hallucinations, seeing the people he killed: his girlfriend, a member of a rival gang, and a police officer. He arouses House's interest when the acerbic doctor hears that Clarence's heart was beating so fast it was pumping air instead of blood.

From their first brush of the season, Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie) is obviously not over his former significant other, Stacy. This is a score for House because he's not the cold, heartless fellow we thought him to be after all. And boo-hoo for Dr. Allison Cameron, although I never did think it would have made for a good plot development had Dr. House reciprocated her feelings. Fox.com has an in-depth Season 2 episode guide ("House M.D." is currently on its third season, after all), but I'm not going anywhere near that. Spoilers tell me, however, that there's going to be a bed scene this season. (I just hope it's nothing like the Grissom-Sidle "bed" scene in CSI.)

New/Old Show

Following the quirky medical show is yet another quirky medical show, "Nip/Tuck" (Dylan Walsh and Julian McMahon). I know it's been showing in another station since forever, but having missed Episode 1 of Season 1 way back, I'd always postponed watching the show until I got myself a complete Season 1 DVD. That never happened, and now I've got four season DVDs to catch up with. I don't know how AXN is going to handle the catch-up game, but having a "Nip/Tuck" marathon isn't such a bad idea. And neither is a "Nip/Tuck" series run that covers all four past seasons.

The first episode tests the partnership of the show's two plastic surgeons Sean McNamara (Walsh) and Christian Troy (McMahon) when Christian operates on a Colombian drug lord (how Miami) and gets paid in drug money-on top of the chaos brewing in Sean's family.

This series has been getting contradictory responses and has been controversial for its mature subject matter. But I think it's so now more than ever, given the almost absurd prevalence and accessibility of cosmetic surgery-not just to the stars, but to everyone who's ever dreamed of having a better nose, for starters-these days.

The New Apprentice

Finally, this Wednesday in Star World, we also get to find out who Donald Trump is hiring as the new (fourth) star of the Trump organization. We're a couple of seasons behind on "The Apprentice"-Trump has already hired a fifth one. But that doesn't mean this one isn't at all exciting. What makes it so is that it's a toss-up between two more than competent contenders, from a pool of applicants hand-picked by Trump himself.

Both Randal and Rebecca proved their mettle in the different charity events they handled-with Randal stepping up to the plate when his softball charity event was rained out, and with Rebecca quick to the punch line when The Donald himself inadvertently started her stand-up comedy event a full half hour early.

It's a close fight, and I'm guessing it will all boil down to who raised more money for their respective charities. And my money is on Randal because he held a live auction, while Rebecca only inserted donation envelopes in her little Yahoo! thank you bags. Besides, Randal's track record speaks for itself. He won in three out of the three tasks he handled, and in all three, his team voted to give him immunity. Rebecca won in only two, and one with the help of Randal, although she consistently did a great job despite a broken ankle.

Who will be the fourth apprentice? Wednesday will tell us. For now, only NBC.com and websites dedicated to Trump's winning reality show know. But reading episode guides isn't the same as seeing it on the telly, ain't it?

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