(ALL TIMES ET)

10PM | FX
Justified – Bummed about son Coover’s death (despite what she did to his hand), Mags Bennett (Margo Martindale) decides to get her affairs in order, which means a pile of cash and the promise of peace for one Givens family member, and a nice hunk of humiliation and trouble for one of Mags’ own. Meanwhile, when Winona lets Raylan know that she’s finally divorcing the hapless Gary, Raylan starts contemplating his own future, and Boyd … well, let’s just say Boyd starts to thoroughly embrace his inevitable role as the new king of Harlan County.

8PM | FOX
American Idol – It’s down to the final eight, who perform songs from movies tonight. Will this week lead to another “shocking” ouster? Not for me … the only thing shocking at this point is how overrated this group of contestants is, especially when it comes to the judges’ criticisms (or lack thereof). The season started off with much promise, but, as Idol expert and author Richard Rushfield points out today at The Daily Beast, what we’ve ended up with is another lackluster season, and one that definitely has us all missing Simon Cowell very, very much.

8PM | ABC
The Middle – Brick is humiliated (humiliated) when Frankie makes him wear his cousin’s old clothes.

8PM | CBS
Survivor – What does a double tribal council mean? Two players are headed to Redemption Island, of course..

9PM | ABC
Modern Family – Everyone has fame on their minds, as Phil tries to convince his fam to appear in his realty business commercial and, in what’s sure to be one of the season’s most fun storylines, Cameron becomes the music director at Luke and Manny’s school.

9PM | DISCOVERY – 8TH SEASON PREMIERE
MythBusters – A magazine + a toaster = an explosive device? Adam and Jamie test that movie myth.

9:30PM | FOX
Breaking In – Alyssa Milano guest stars as a dentist who’s impressed by Cameron’s (Bret Harrison) job.

9:30PM | TLC
Extreme Couponing – Remember Nathan, from the original Extreme Couponing special, the guy who donated all that cereal to a food bank? The philanthropic coupon clipper is at it again tonight, as he tries to put his money-saving skills to work to assemble enough goodies to send 1,000 care packages to American military men and women. Awesome.

9:30PM | ABC – SERIES PREMIERE
Happy Endings – 24 daughter Elisha Cuthbert (yeah, I always wished that mountain lion would have eaten her, too) stars in back-to-back episodes of this new comedy about a woman who throws her group of friends into chaos when she leaves her fiancé at the altar.

Worth flipping to during commercials:
– Bobby tries to make the best Baked Alaska on Throwdown with Bobby Flay (8:30PM, Food Network);
– The Criminal Minds team travels to San Diego to investigate a series of killings involving college students (9PM, CBS);
– A couple wins their dream wedding on the season one finale of Shedding for the Wedding (9PM, The CW);
– The BAU team digs into the kidnappings of new mothers on Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior (10PM, CBS);
– Benson’s still looking after her young charge, while also searching for his druggie mom on Law & Order: SVU (10PM, NBC);
– Will Adam become the latest Real World roommate to get the boot? (10PM, MTV);
– Back-to-back Storage Wars episodes (10PM, A&E);
– Mad Men star Christina Hendricks challenges the contestants to perform a retro-themed challenge on Top Chef Masters (10PM, Bravo);
– Eyewitness video, from news crews and amateur videographers, of the tsunami and earthquake disaster in Japan make up NGC’s Witness: Disaster in Japan special (10PM).

And the late-night line-up:
– Conan (11PM, TBS): Anthony Anderson and Dax Shepard;
– The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (11PM, Comedy Central): Tracy Morgan;
– The Colbert Report (11:30PM, Comedy Central): Morgan Spurlock;
– The Late Show with David Letterman (11:35PM, CBS): Aziz Ansari and Courteney Cox;
– The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (11:35PM, NBC): Diane Lane and Chris Jericho;
– Lopez Tonight (Midnight, TBS): Prince;
– Jimmy Kimmel Live (12:05AM, ABC): Eva Longoria, Patrick Warburton and Robyn;
– Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (12:35AM, NBC): Mike Tyson (REPEAT);
– The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (12:37AM, CBS): Ashley Judd;
– Last Call with Carson Daly (1:35AM, NBC): Producer Gale Anne Hurd (REPEAT).

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• Filed in American Idol, Justified, Late Night, Mad Men, TV Picks
• Tags: American Idol, Breaking In, Extreme Couponing, Justified, Modern Family, MythBusters, Survivor, The Middle

The Thanksgiving Day TV marathon … it’s probably responsible for thwarting more family dramas than we’ll ever know. When the fam gets to be too much, the boob tube can provide a bit of solace (i.e. escape), whether it be from a Brady Bunch marathon (“My nose, my nose, my nose!”) or the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade or NBC’s annual National Dog Show, hosted by the not real J. Peterman.

Whatever’s your TV pleasure – and your family drama to avoid – there’s surely something on TVScreener.com‘s Thanksgiving Day (and Friday, for nursing those tryptophan hangovers) Viewing Guide to make your Turkey Day less of a turkey. And don’t call me Shirley.

PS – A general channel surfing rule of thumb: Lifetime Movie Network … always something worthy of your guilty pleasure viewing hours there.

THURSDAY (all times ET)

MARATHONS:
Cake Boss (TLC): 6AM-3AM Friday

Supernanny (Style): 6AM-3AM Friday

House (USA): 7AM-7PM

The Godfather I, II and III (AMC): 7:30AM-8PM

Cool Tools (DIY): 8AM-4AM Friday

First 48 (A&E): 8AM-11PM

Genius of Photography (Ovation): 8AM-2AM Friday

James Bond movie marathon (SyFy): 8AM-5:30AM Friday (includes Dr. No, License to Kill, Live and Let Die, The Spy Who Loved Me, Tomorrow Never Dies, Casino Royale, For Your Eyes Only and The Man with the Golden Gun)

House Hunters and House Hunters International (HGTV): 8:30AM-6PM

The Brady Bunch (TV Land): 9AM-6PM

Cats 101 and Dogs 101 (Animal Planet): 9AM-7PM

Food Paradise (Travel): 9AM-8PM (including episodes on donuts, breakfast, ice cream, sandwiches, hot dogs, steak, hamburger, bar food, barbecue and more steak)

MythBusters (Discovery Channel): 9AM-3AM Friday

Top Chef (Bravo): 9AM-4:30PM

Band of Brothers (Spike): 9:30AM-9PM

The Closer (TNT): 10AM-6PM

My Fair Wedding with David Tutera (WE): 10AM-5PM

Snapped (Oxygen): 10AM-2AM (Saturday)

Biography on CNBC (CNBC): 11AM-6PM

Lockup (MSNBC): 11AM-5AM Friday

Home Alone (FX): Noon-midnight (is Home Alone the new A Christmas Story with this all-day airings?)

World’s Strictest Parents (MTV): Noon-8PM

Real Housewives of Orange County (Bravo): 4:30PM-11PM

Pawn Stars (History): 8PM-3AM Friday

George Lopez (the sitcom) (Nick): 9PM-6AM on Friday

AND:

– Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (NBC): 9AM
– Tommy Boy (a classic) (TBS): 10AM
– The National Dog Show (NBC): Noon
– The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (Nick): 3PM
– A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (ABC): 8PM
– Beyonce: I Am … Yours (ABC): 9PM
– CNN Heroes: An All-star Tribute (CNN): 9PM
– Elf (USA): 9PM
– Love Actually (Lifetime): 9PM (PERFECT holiday movie. Trust me)
– Martha Stewart’s Christmas Special (FLN): 9PM
– NBC’s People of the Year (NBC): 9PM
– Punkin Chunkin (Science): 9PM
– Paul McCartney: Good Evening New York City (ABC): 10PM
– Great Performances with Mary J. Blige, Andrea Bocelli and David Foster (PBS): Check local listings for time and channel

FRIDAY (all times ET)

MARATHONS:
Say Yes to the Dress (TLC): 6AM-10PM

NCIS (USA): 6:30AM-12:30PM

Criminal Minds (A&E): 8AM-11PM

James Bond movie marathon (SyFy): 8AM-5:30AM Saturday (includes Thunderball, From Russia With Love, You Only Live Twice, Diamonds Are Forever, Casino Royale, GoldenEye, Goldfinger and Never Say Never Again)

Real Housewives of New Jersey (Bravo): 8AM-5PM

That ’70s Show (FX): 8AM-5PM

Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern (Travel): 9AM-8PM

Deadliest Catch (Discovery Channel): 9AM-3AM Friday

Mission: Organization (FLN): 9AM-3PM

Moonlight (Chill): 9AM-5PM

Sanford & Son (TV Land): 9AM-4PM

Everybody Hates Chris (BET): 10AM-6PM

Caught on Camera (MSNBC): 11AM-5AM Saturday

Law & Order (TNT): 11AM-7PM

Golden Girls (WE): Noon-7PM

Seinfeld (TBS): Noon-4PM

100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders of the ’80s (VH1 Classic): 1PM-6PM

Beverly Hills 90210 (SoapNet): 1PM-9PM

I’m Alive (Animal Planet): 1PM-10PM

White Collar (USA): 1:30-7PM

Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives (Food Network): 2PM-11PM

Ultimate Factories (NGC): 2PM-8PM

The Andy Griffith Show (TV Land): 4PM-10PM

100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs (VH1): 6PM-11PM

Til Debt Do Us Part (CNBC): 6PM-9PM

AND:

– Curious George: A Very Monkey Christmas (PBS): 9AM
– Storytellers: Foo Fighters (VH1): 11AM and 11PM
– Toys We Grew Up With (HGTV): 1PM
– 25 Great Holiday Ideas (HGTV): 3PM
– Bowfinger (my al-time favorite movie about Hollywood – Fake Purse Ninjas!) (Comedy Central): 4:45PM
– SpongeBob SquarePants (new episode) (Nick): 8PM
– Monk (penultimate episode of the series) (USA): 9PM
– White Collar (new episode) (USA): 10PM

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• Filed in Holiday Programming, TV News
• Tags: Brady Bunch, Cake Boss, CHarlie Brown Thanksgiving, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, MythBusters, Real Housewives, Thanksgiving TV marathons, Thanksgiving TV schedule

All the tube news that’s fit to surf …

– Among the TV shows that will host panels at the San Diego Comic-Con in July: Chuck, Dexter, Dollhouse, Lost, MythBusters, Psych, True Blood, Supernatural and Smallville.

– There may be no such thing as a free lunch, but there are free TV comedy episodes to watch while you’re noshing. Thanks to Sitcoms Online.com for the heads up about iTunes’ summer sale, which includes free episodes of Arrested Development, Reno 911! and The State, 99-cent eps of The Office, 30 Rock and The Larry Sanders Show, and, best of all, the entire five-episode first season of The State for $3.96.

– Fox has announced its fall 2009 premiere dates, kicking off its season on Sept. 16 with Glee and (another) new season of So You Think You Can Dance.

– Speaking of SYTYCD, why would Katie Holmes be performing on the show? Right? Yet, the rumor persists that she’ll be shaking her moneymaker on a July episode.

– American Idol season five vet, and one of the show’s most successful artists, Chris Daughtry, talks about his second album, which will be released on July 14.

– America’s Got Talent kicks off next week on NBC (June 23, (9PM ET), but will the show find its own Susan Boyle? Even though the Internet sensation was the runner-up on the latest season of Britain’s Got Talent, she’s reportedly earning more than $160,000 for a 12-minute performance at corporate events. In comparison, former President Bill Clinton gets between $140,000-150,000.

– NPH – Neil Patrick Harris, of course – is going to be a villain called The Music Meister in a fall episode of Cartoon Network’s Batman: The Brave and the Bold. Wouldn’t he be great in the next big-screen Batman, too …

– Gossip Girl is the big TV nominee at this year’s Teen Choice Awards.

– Heidi Pratt says Al Roker made her cry. So does dry shampoo … in other words, what doesn’t? Did being chastised by Whoopi Goldberg also make her shed tears?

– Dave Letterman apologizes, again, for the Palin jokes on tonight’s Late Show.

– Heroes star Sendhil Ramamurthy will guest star in the upcoming “Bollywood Homicide” episode of Psych, which premieres (not soon enough) its fourth season on Aug. 7.

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• Filed in TV News
• Tags: 30 Rock, Al Roker, America's Got Talent, American Idol, Arrested Development, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Chris Daughtry, Chuck, David Letterman, Dexter, Dollhouse, Fox fall premiere dates, Fox premiere dates, Glee, Gossip Girl, Heidi Pratt, Katie Holmes, Lost, MythBusters, Neil Patrick Harris, NPH, Psych, Reno 911!, San Diego Comic Con, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Smallville, So You Think You Can Dance, Supernatural, Susan Boyle, Teen Choice Awards, The Larry Sanders Show, The Office, The State, True Blood, Whoopi Goldberg