TV: Five shows worth watching tonight: February 18
A select viewing guide for Monday, February 18
DOCUMENTARY March to the Top (CBC, 8 p.m.) Time to profile some true heroes. This heartfelt documentary chronicles the dogged efforts of a dozen wounded and ill Canadian war veterans to scale the towering summit of Island Peak, a mountain located near Mount Everest in the Himalayas. The film follows the soldiers during their training session in the Canadian Rockies, after which they set out for the month-long trek up to the base camp and take their run at the Island Peak itself. The program also spends time with the soldiers’ families and loved ones and provides insight into why they joined the armed forces in the first place.
REALITY Antiques Roadshow (PBS, 8 p.m.) For some viewers Monday night means settling in for reality fare like The Bachelor and The Biggest Loser; for everyone else, there’s this venerable PBS series, now in its 16 th season. The sturdy format still focuses on people bringing in their curios and objets d’art for appraisal by antique dealers and historians. Tonight’s new episode takes the Roadshow team into Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, where appraiser Debra Force discovers an oil painting by Joseph Henry Sharp valued at nearly a half-million U.S. Mark L. Walberg hosts.
COMEDY 2 Broke Girls (CBS, Citytv, 9 p.m.) This old-school sitcom about two sassy single ladies trying to make it in the Big Apple was a breakout hit last season and is still holding strong in Monday-night ratings. For latecomers, the premise stars Kat Dennings as the streetwise Max, who regards her waitressing job at a grubby diner as a stepping stone to her larger dream of opening her own cupcake business. Helping out with Max’s big dream is her fellow waitress Caroline (Beth Behrs), a former rich kid reduced to hard times after her father is imprisoned in a Bernie Madoff-like investment scandal. In the current sophomore season, Max and Caroline have already opened their cupcake shop, but their business hits a snag in tonight’s new show when a mean-spirited and litigious puppeteer (played by Andy Dick) decides to block the entrance to their store.
DRAMA Castle (ABC, CTV, 10 p.m.) The secret of this show’s success stems entirely from solid Canadian acting talent. Edmonton-born Nathan Fillion shines as the suave author-sleuth Richard Castle by Edmonton-born Nathan Fillion, who solves each new crime with his NYPD counterpart (and now girlfriend) Kate Beckett, played by Hamilton native Stana Katic. Tonight’s new show kicks off a two-episode arc in which Castle and Beckett dig into a murder investigation but end up exposing a plot to kidnap the daughter of a wealthy Middle Eastern businessman. Acting veteran Dylan Walsh, seen most recently on Nip/Tuck, guest-stars as an FBI agent assigned to the case.
MOVIE Victor/Victoria (TCM, 10 p.m. ET; 7 p.m. PT) Spinning off the timeless Shakespearean themes of mistaken identity and gender-bending, this 1982 musical-comedy was a breakthrough film for Julie Andrews. Following her iconic squeaky-clean roles in films like The Sound of Music and Mary Poppins, Andrews went a little grittier as the destitute showgirl Victoria, who has trouble finding work in 1930s Paris. Her solution: She pretends to be a man pretending to be a woman, which works out swell for her stage show but also twigs the interest of gangster King Marchand (James Garner), who is confused as to why he finds Victoria so attractive. Robert Preston earned a Best Supporting Oscar nod for his portrayal of a gay drag performer named Toddy.