(ALL TIMES ET)

9:30PM, SUN | SHOWTIME – 1ST SEASON FINALE
Episodes – With the Pucks! pilot finished, Sean and Beverly get ready to return to England. But when Sean goes to Matt’s house to say goodbye, he makes a shocking discovery that could put personal and professional relationships in serious jeopardy.

10PM, SAT | COMEDY CENTRAL
Patrice O’Neal: Elephant in the Room– The funny guy (and The Office guest star) riffs on everything from safe sex to being harassed.

8PM, SUN | CBS – 18TH SEASON PREMIERE
The Amazing Race: Unfinished Business – 11 former teams return to take another shot at the one meeeeellion dollar prize, including Kent and Vyxsin, brothers Jet and Cord and last season’s father and daughter team, Gary and Mallory.

8PM, SUN | ABC
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition – Dane Cook, Terry Fator and Duff Goldman help the team give a couple – including a soldier who was wounded during a shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas – their dream wedding and a new home.

8PM, SUN | FOX
The Simpsons – Halle Berry is the guest voice as Bart and Homer become the stars of Hollywood awards season when Homie stars in Bart’s film project: Angry Dad.

9PM, SUN | HBO
Big Love – Everyone’s against Barb’s pursuit of the priesthood, but she’s willing to do whatever she has to to make it happen, including divorcing the increasingly hapless Bill.

9PM, SUN | ABC
Desperate Housewives – Keith asks Bree to move to Florida with him, so he can be closer to his son.

9PM, SUN | NBC
Saturday Night Live Backstage – The new two-hour special is packed with fun fan scoop, including clips of favorite skits, interviews with the cast and various celebs’ commentary (including recent scene stealer Jon Hamm) on what it’s like to host the classic comedy series.

9PM, SUN | FOOD NETWORK – 1ST SEASON FINALE
Worst Cooks in America – Who are you rooting for: Team Joshie or Team Georg?

10PM, SUN | BRAVO
Real Housewives of Atlanta Reunion, Part II – Kim and NeNe are still getting into it as the cast discusses season three with Andy Cohen, but Khandi also lets Kim know how fed up she is with her taking advantage of Khandi with her cheesy singing career.

Worth flipping to during commercials:
– In the Primeval fourth season finale (Sat., 8PM, BBCA), Danny pops in with a warning for the team;
– Annie is stuck in purgatory in the Being Human third season premiere (Sat., 9PM, BBCA);
– Jerseylicious: Inside the Jungle (Sun., 8PM, Style) takes fans behind the scenes at the Gatsby Salon;
– In the series premiere of Secret Service Files (Sun., 8PM, NGC), agents raid a Bogota counterfeit plant where more than $25 million in fake U.S. money is made every year;
– The East tries to repeat as NBA All-Star Game (Sun., 8:30PM, TNT) champs;
– Abby tries to get one of her partners to take Hank’s case when she has to recuse herself on Californication (Sun., 9PM, Showtime);
– Chris becomes a puppeteer on Family Guy (Sun., 9PM, Fox);
– Mack Trucks CEO Denny Slagle is this week’s Undercover Boss (Sun., 9PM, CBS);
– Justin Timberlake guest stars on The Cleveland Show (Sun., 9:30PM, Fox);
– Horatio’s ultimate foe, the man who killed his wife, returns on CSI: Miami (Sun., 10PM, CBS).

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• Filed in Real Housewives, Saturday Night Live, TV Picks, TV Specials
• Tags: Big Love, Desperate Housewives, Episodes, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Justin Timberlake The Cleveland Show, Patrice O'Neal: Elephant in the Room, Real Housewives of Atlanta Reunion Part II, Saturday Night Live Backstage, The Amazing Race: Unfinished Business, The Simpsons, Worst Cooks in America finale

(ALL TIMES ET)

8PM, SUN | CBS
53rd Annual Grammy Awards – Movie awards shows can drag on forever, but think of this annual music kudosfest as more of a concert. On the star-packed bill: Justin Bieber, who performs with Usher and Jaden “Karate Kid” Smith, Mick Jagger, Barbra Streisand, Rihanna with Drake, Eminem, Lady Gaga, Cee Lo Green, Bruno Mars, Katy Perry and Lady Antebellum. Statues will be doled out, too, of course, with Eminem leading all contenders with 10 nominations, followed by Mars with seven and Jay-Z, Gaga and Lady Antebellum with six each.

9PM, SAT | HBO
The Sunset Limited – Tommy Lee Jones directs, executive produces and co-stars in this adaptation of Cormac McCarthy‘s play about an atheist professor (Jones) who tries to commit suicide, and the religious ex-con (Samuel L. Jackson) who saves him.

11:30PM, SAT | NBC
Saturday Night Live – Russell Brand hosts, Chris Brown performs … Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do?

9PM, SUN | HBO
Big Love – The show’s final season is at the halfway mark after this episode, in which Bill battles with the Mormon church for his Senate goals, Cara Lynn’s adoption hits a snag and Lois tries to rewrite the truth about her marriage to Frank.

9PM, SUN | ABC
Desperate Housewives – Mike investigates whether Zach was involved in Paul’s shooting, but more importantly, J.R. Ewing guest stars again!

9PM, SUN | FOX
Family Guy – When he and Brian create a ruckus in a movie theater, Peter and the pooch are ordered to attend AA meetings, but they don’t really take with Peter.

9PM, SUN | FOOD NETWORK
Worst Cooks in America – After the final four compete in a “culinary decathalon,” their families show up and ask each of them to make a favorite dish.

9:30PM, SUN | SHOWTIME
Episodes – Bev thinks Sean is having an affair with Morning, so she … well, she does something that she’s not going to be able to take back, setting up a tension-filled season finale next week.

10PM, SUN | ANIMAL PLANET – 2ND SEASON PREMIERE
Fatal Attractions – New Joisey police discover a dangerous tiger stalking around a residential neighborhood. And no, it’s not Snooki.

10PM, SUN | BRAVO
The Real Housewives of Atlanta Reunion, Part 1 – The ladies rehash the drama of season three, and, no surprise, much of it revolves around NeNe and Kim.

Worth flipping to during commercials:
– The BAFTAs, the “British Oscars,” air on BBC America (Sun., 8PM), and The King’s Speech is the favorite there, too;
– Mayor Booker kicks off his reelection campaign on Brick City (Sun., 8PM, Sundance);
– On The Simpsons (Sun., 8PM, Fox), a lonely Valentine’s Day sends Moe on the prowl to meet women, with Homer as his wingman (D’oh!);
– On Californication (Sun., 9PM, Showtime), a naughty photo of Hank may land him in even more hot water, and without an attorney;
– David helps a bride whose wedding theme is mini trucks (huh?!) on My Fair Wedding With David Tutera (Sun., 9PM, WE);
– And LeBron James, Kevin Garnett, Shaquille O’Neal, Dwight Howard and Steve Nash are among the NBAers guest starring on The Cleveland Show (Sun., 9:30PM, Fox).

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• Filed in Award shows, Real Housewives, Saturday Night Live, TV Picks
• Tags: Big Love, Desperate Housewives, Episodes, Family Guy, Fatal Attractions, Grammys, Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Saturday Night Live, The Real Housewives of Atlanta Reunion, The Sunset Limited, Worst Cooks in America

Star Rating: 4 out of 5

Stars: Matt LeBlanc, Tamsin Grieg, Stephen Mangan, John Pankow, Kathleen Rose Perkins and Mircea Monroe

The Big Idea: Beverly (Grieg) and Sean (Mangan) Lincoln are British TV producers with an award-winning series on their hands. That has a Hollywood TV exec, Merc Lapidus (Pankow), sniffing around them, with promises of fame and fortune if they’ll move to Los Angeles to launch a U.S. version of their series, Lyman’s Boys, about a British boarding school and its proper headmaster (guest star Richard “Uncle Vernon Dursley” Griffiths). The big detail the slippery Merc neglects to mention to Bev and Sean: He wants Friends star Matt LeBlanc to be the lead in the show … yes, Joey Tribbiani as the headmaster of a stuffy boarding school.

To Watch or Not to Watch: Absolutely. Not only is Episodes the best non-Dexter and Weeds excuse for signing up for Showtime, it’s easily LeBlanc’s best non-Friends work ever. Though much of the premise revolves around how miscast “Joey from Friends” is in the British series remake — and LeBlanc is a good sport to agree to be the butt of jokes about the real and pseudo-real versions of his career and his personal life — LeBlanc also gives as good as he gets, playing a version of himself that is anxious for a TV comeback and very savvy about how to play the Hollywood game, but also weary of the fact that everyone, from fans to industry players, continues to see him as Joey.

There’s also a bit of drama thrown into the mix — too good to spoil, though I’ll tease that TV-LeBlanc’s reputation as a ladies man plays out into a major romantic entanglement and a big cliffhanger that ends the show’s seven-episode first season — and some delicious, right-on-the-money jabs at the more ridiculous aspects of how TV execs sometimes operate.

And, though Episodes most definitely showcases LeBlanc, British TV and movie stars Grieg and Mangan are both funny and charming (particularly Mangan, as his Sean begins a bromance with LeBlanc); Pankow, probably best remembered as Paul Reiser’s cousin on Mad About You, is a scene stealer as the fickle, glad-handing Merc; and Perkins is a delightfully stressed mess as Carol, Herc’s second in command at the network, and the one who has to clean up after his shenanigans. Like the fact that, though he’s professed to love Bev and Sean’s show, Merc has never actually seen it. “He’s not a big TV watcher,” Carol explains, with a straight face.

TV Screener Tidbit: Though LeBlanc continues to be very vocal about his opinion that a Friends reunion should be a no-go, he’s very free with the Friends/Joey Tribbiani/”How you doin’?” jokes in Episodes. One of the best: In episodes six and seven, a pivotal plot point involves a Joey cologne that was (in TV version of LeBlancland) released during Friends‘ run. The cologne’s tagline: “How you smellin’?”

Episodes premieres Sunday, January 9, at 9:30PM ET on Showtime

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• Filed in Cable TV, Comedy, Review - TV
• Tags: Episodes, Episodes Matt LeBlanc, Matt LeBlanc, Showtime