TV: Critic's picks for Nov. 29
A select guide to the best shows on Monday
REALITY<br> Cribs MTV, 7 p.m.<br> What with all the giddy excitement over "Jackass" lately, some people may have forgotten that "Cribs" set the trend for MTV reality shows when it launched way back in 2000. Then and now, the no-concept series exists to provide fascinating tours of the houses and mansions of the very rich and very famous. Two episodes air back-to-back tonight. The first visits the well-appointed homes of pro snowboarder Chris Dufficy and low-rung socialite Brittny Gastineau. The second focuses on the L.A. domiciles of proudly Canadian actor Will Sasso and race-car driver Paul Tracy. The lads have done well for themselves.
DRAMA<br> The Event NBC, CITY-TV, 9 p.m.<br> Well, that's a wrap. Launched with grand hype in September, "The Event" closes its half-season tonight with a semi-cliffhanger. The big-budget sci-fi drama was supposed to be the next must-watch serialized show, à la "Lost," but viewers never clicked to the concept. The premise, if you missed it, had something to do with extraterrestrials that have been kept secret by the U.S. government for six decades, with the conspiracy theory reaching all the way up to the White House. In the closer, the U.S. president (Blair Underwood) confronts the whistle-blower in his administration, while the rakish Sean (Jason Ritter) still searches fruitlessly for his girlfriend. NBC claims they'll return to "The Event," but don't hold your breath.Joseph Viles
ACTION<br> Chase NBC, CITY-TV, 10 p.m.<br> This show, however, is a pretty big hit. Coming from the TV factory of Jerry Bruckheimer, "Chase" is a ratings hits and most outings are worth watching, courtesy of Kelli Giddish's performance as the tough-as-nails U.S. Marshal Annie Frost. Tonight, Annie gets her gun to catch two small-town femmes fatales who seduce unwitting dopes into helping them on bank jobs. See Annie run.Vivian Zink
REALITY<br> Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D List MuchMoreMusic, 11 p.m.<br> Hard to believe, but this shrill reality series following the life of needy female comic Kathy Griffin has been going for six seasons. Hailing from the U.S. Bravo channel, the show is probably more honest than most U.S. reality shows, with all credit to Griffin's wry comedy and peculiar obsession with celebrity. And she's usually in good D-list company. In tonight's fifth-season episode, she hobnobs with Barry Manilow and Carol Channing and looks up one-time Canadian talk-show host Alan Hamel, still helping his wife Suzanne Somers push Thighmasters. Fame is both fleeting and cruel.Peter Kramer
MOVIE<br> Scrooged AMC, 8 p.m.<br> Ready to get into the holiday spirit? This 1988 comedy reshapes "A Christmas Carol" for modern times. The inimitable Bill Murray plays Frank Cross, a mean-spirited, vodka-swilling network executive with plans to broadcast a crass version of Charles Dickens’s story on Christmas Eve (with perky gymnast Cathy Rigby as Tiny Tim). To teach him a lesson, Frank is visited by three ghostly spirits, including a cigar-chomping cabbie (David Johansen). Watch very closely for jazz legend Miles Davis in a cameo as a street musician.