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Will someone please just write a show for Chi McBride? In work as varied as "Pushing Daisies" and "Human Target," McBride has become a go-to guy for ballast-providing second lead - tough but tolerant, wise in that one-line-delivering sort of way that can brighten up even the sludgiest scene, like a Matisse in a small room with limited exposure. But how long can the man be expected to serve as accent wall? He's at it again in the new CBS cop drama "Golden Boy," which premieres Tuesday.

"LA Shrinks" debuts Monday on Bravo, which may be broadly described as a network on which people who really do not need the money star in reality programs. It focuses on three therapists, hopping from one to the other -- they don't interact -- and following each in and out of the office. In contrast to the house style, the principals are relatively likable and well adjusted, though not without their challenges. For the space of the opening episode, at least, none of them scream. Our practitioners: -- Dr. Venus Nicolino, who lives and works in a big, marbled Bel-Air mansion, with a husband and four kids, two their own and two nephews under "permanent guardianship" (reason unstated)

It's so easy to make fun of the 1980s. Ray-Bans, glam-rock hair, acid-washed jeans, the yuppie and Reaganomics, and all those regrettable images of women in power suits and tennis shoes. It seemed even as it was occurring an age of Culture Lite, a consumer-driven wasteland after the socially and politically transformative '60s and '70s. Even the title of National Geographic's new six-hour, three-part documentary "The '80s: The Decade That Made Us" seems, at first glance, a bit of a joke.

Before you watch HBO's new miniseries "Parade's End," here's a little advice. Close your eyes and imagine Benedict Cumberbatch's icy hot "Sherlock" and all the good folks at "Downton Abbey. " Now picture them disintegrating, down to the molecular level. A love for them may have drawn you to this five-part adaptation of Ford Madox Ford's Edwardian-period novels in which Cumberbatch stars, but any preconception of this television viewing experience will only send you down the wrong path, where you may flounder among the greenery and miss something important and possibly wonderful happening on screen.

The plaintiff - a young man - is angry, feeling violated and no longer willing to be the lover of the woman standing a few feet away. Their affair is a sordid one: He's her literary professor; she posted a humiliating sex video of him on YouTube. The rub: Their entanglement was sanctioned by the man's wife, a way to keep him sexually satisfied once motherhood left her unkempt - an idea that developed after she read the erotic bestselling novel "Fifty Shades of Grey. " And they're looking to Ana Maria Polo for resolution.

In more ways than one, Robert Clary is a survivor. In real life, the diminutive Parisian-born actor and singer survived three years in concentration camps as a Jewish teenager during World War II. In show business, the 87-year-old has had a long and successful career that has included TV, Broadway, nightclubs and records. Clary remains best known for his role as master chef and French patriot Cpl. LeBeau in the 1965-71 CBS comedy series "Hogan's Heroes," which was set in a German stalag , or POW camp, during WWII.

Artists and writers have been weighing in on political matters for a long time now. But when a filmmaker as controversial as Oliver Stone announces a 10-part television series about American history, it makes you wonder: Do we really want a history lesson from a guy who thinks LBJ had a hand in killing Kennedy? Stone laughs a little when asked how his new "The Untold History of the United States" fits into a feature film career that includes projects like "JFK," which suggested that the Mafia, the CIA and Lyndon Johnson had roles in assassinating the president.

To any viewer who thinks "Sons of Anarchy" is too violent, consider the bright side: At least the castration scene got … um … deleted. Kurt Sutter, creator of the drama about a California motorcycle gang, presented the idea of showing a character getting the unkindest cut early in the run of the show, now FX's highest-rated. But he backed off after the network's chief objected. "I have no filters," Sutter said with a laugh. "I just assume everyone feels the way I do about things.

Once upon a time not so very long ago I was a young woman living a writerly life of working poverty in New York City, which, for better or worse, engendered certain expectations from HBO's "Girls. " I admired though did not love the first season and felt hopeful about the second - creator Lena Dunham is smart and sharp-eyed, unafraid to wallow in the sticky brine of self-love and self-loathing that marks a certain time of many people's lives. But lately watching "Girls," which has its second-season finale Sunday night, just makes me feel old. And impatient in a vaguely maternal way, like when you see a lovely but irritating wild child running naked around the playground, shouting "vagina" at everyone and peeing in the sandbox.

The producers at "American Idol" wanted to shore up a dramatic slide in ratings for the show's newest season, so they added three star judges and even allowed viewers to vote online for favorites up to 50 times simultaneously. The changes for the 12th season didn't help. Ratings have plummeted by double digits for the second year in a row, down this season by 18%, to 15.8 million total viewers, according to Nielsen. In its fifth season in 2006, "Idol's" average audience was more than twice as large.