Star-Telegram.com: Movies-TV

Conservative audiences are finally getting engaging films they will pay to see

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 00:10 CDT

By LISA DAVIS

The Billy Graham biopic Billy: The Early Years opens in theaters across the U.S. today, but it’s more than just another example of Hollywood imitating real life. It’s the latest in a string of conservative-themed movies that have opened nationally over the last month.

Two — the patriotic documentary Proud American and the slapstick comedy An American Carol — are politically conservative, while Billy and the Christian family drama Fireproof are socially conservative.

Yet all have one thing in common: Their makers eschewed the traditional Hollywood formula of big-budget, major-studio backing and advertising in the coastal big cities and instead concentrated on the heartland.

It can make for strange bedfellows. After all, it’s not every day that Carol director/producer David Zucker — who, as one of the brains behind the Airplane!, Naked Gun and Scary Movie movies, has more of a scatological sensibility — is tossed into the same category as the country’s best-known evangelical preacher.

Billy: The Early Years stars Armie Hammer as a teenage Billy Graham, struggling with his newfound faith in the face of the Great Depression.

"He’s an iconic figure in American history, but his story is not that well known. Teens, especially, don’t know anything about him," says producer Lawrence Mortorff, whose credits include the Christian movies The Omega Code and One Night With the King.

"We didn’t try to proselytize or hit people over the head with the gospel. We tried to tell a good story.

"People can go to church on Sunday and get a sermon. People go to the movies to be entertained."

Hard to define

So what exactly is a "conservative" movie? Conservatives have claimed all sorts of cinema as their own, from Star Wars (bully for space defense systems) to The Incredibles (makes a great case for tort reform) to The Dark Knight (a free-market billionaire who takes the law into his own hands and sets up a secret terrorist surveillance program? Heck, some at The Wall Street Journal even claimed that Batman is President George W. Bush.)

Ellen Hubbard, co-founder of the Dallas-born American Film Renaissance conservative film festival staged in Washington, D.C., tends to define a conservative movie by what it doesn’t have. "If a film doesn’t slam religious people, if it doesn’t have one of those overly hostile message to traditional American values . . . ."

If it’s hard to define a conservative movie, she says, it’s even harder to find good ones to screen at the festival. "I’d like to say we have a very competitive submission process, but we don’t," she says. "A lot of films we get aren’t up to snuff."

"People want films to be an escape. That’s something we as conservatives have to learn. We have to work on films that have a compelling story, compelling characters."

AFR, which was founded in Dallas in 2004, moved its headquarters to Washington, D.C., in August. ("It’s a great town to market a film festival," Hubbard says. "Half the town is Republican.")

This year’s festival, held last weekend, featured a screening of American Carol — which skewers filmmaker Michael Moore and all things liberal — as well as several documentaries and the feature film The Dukes (starring Robert Davi, who also played the lead terrorist in American Carol).

The festival had its genesis, in part, as a reaction to Michael Moore’s Bowling for Columbine. "There were a lot of complaints from the right-of-center community, a lot of cries for boycotting the film. We thought, that’s ridiculous," Hubbard says. "Why do conservatives always seem to complain? They’re very reactionary, unfortunately. Instead, why don’t we compete?"

To that end, AFR held its first filmmaking workshop this summer in Los Angeles. The weekend session attracted several documentary producers — including one from Fox News — as well as some Capitol Hill staffers.

"People say, 'My film didn’t get into Sundance because I’m a conservative.’ I hate that victim mentality," Hubbard says. "Filmmakers need to focus on making good films, period."

Passion of the box office

Back in 2004, after Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ made more than $300 million, Hollywood saw the light, as it were. By setting up the religiously themed division Fox Faith, 20th Century Fox took the lead, but it has concentrated more on straight-to-DVD movies that are marketed through Christian bookstores.

'Project Runway' may be put on hold for now

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 18:28 CDT

By MATEA GOLD

NEW YORK — Wednesday’s episode of Project Runway began the drawn-out reveal of who will be the next winner of the popular fashion-design competition.

But the more pressing question hanging over the show is this: After Runway’s fifth season concludes Oct. 15 on Bravo, how long will viewers have to wait for its return?

The future of the reality show is in limbo, the subject of a bitter lawsuit between Bravo’s parent company, NBC Universal, and the show’s producer, the Weinstein Co.

"I think they’re going to be sad if they have to wait," host and executive producer Heidi Klum said of the program’s fans. "And, of course, we will be sad, too. But we’re all sitting in the same boat. We don’t really know what is going to happen."

Executive producer Harvey Weinstein was planning to show the next season on Lifetime Television, which struck a lucrative deal for the rights to the program. But NBC Universal sued, claiming the Weinstein Co. breached its contract by shopping the show to another network. Two weeks ago, a New York state Supreme Court judge granted its request for a preliminary injunction to stop Lifetime from airing or promoting the show or its new spinoff, Models of the Runway.

While the parties haggle, production is nearly complete on the sixth season, set in Los Angeles instead of New York, with guest judges such as Lindsay Lohan, Eva Longoria and Rebecca Romijn assessing the work of a new batch of designers.

But barring a settlement agreement, it appears highly unlikely that Runway will be back on the air in January in time for a finale at New York Fashion Week in February, as Lifetime had hoped. That means it would be delayed until at least late summer so the finalists could show their collections at fashion week in September. (In a statement, the network said it is confident that the series will eventually land on its schedule, adding that, "regardless of the legal outcome, Lifetime is well-positioned for growth.")

If NBC prevails, the situation is more complicated. It’s all but certain that the show wouldn’t return to Bravo, the network on which it became a hit. That’s in no small part because Weinstein has "a particular dislike" for Lauren Zalaznick, the NBC Universal executive who oversees Bravo, as Judge Richard B. Lowe noted in his Sept. 26 ruling. Before their negotiations ended, NBC Universal and Weinstein were discussing airing Runway on a different network, perhaps even as part of NBC’s prime-time schedule.

The bottom line: Until the suit is resolved, the upcoming episode of the show may be the last that Runway aficionados will see for a while.

It’s a jarring interruption of what has been a stellar ride for the show, one of cable television’s great success stories.

When the program launched in late 2004, even its producers had some doubts about its premise.

"When we started, we thought, 'Who is going to sit around and watch a bunch of people sewing?’ " executive producer Jane Lipsitz recalled.

But the program’s inside pass to the fiercely competitive fashion world proved a major draw, as did the outsized personalities who vie to be crowned the country’s "next great designer."

"If somebody told me you have 24 hours to make a dress out of candy wrappers, plants or car parts, I’d curl up in the fetal position," executive producer Jane Cha said. "To see these designers make these amazing creations in such a short amount of time with pretty strict parameters never ceases to wow people."

For Bravo, Project Runway helped power its rise as a destination for a young and affluent audience. By far the most-watched program on the cable channel, ratings for the show are at an all-time high this season, averaging 3.981 million viewers each episode.

"It is the gold standard," said Frances Berwick, general manager of Bravo Media. "It has been very influential for us and many other networks as well."

Debra Messing returns in 13-episode 'Starter Wife' series

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 18:28 CDT

By ROBERT PHILPOT

Running times are a strange thing on TV: When USA aired The Starter Wife as a miniseries in summer 2007, it felt bloated and meandering at its six-hour length. Now that The Starter Wife is returning as a regular series, and is likely to run at least 13 episodes, it feels much more streamlined and concise. It’s the difference between overhyping something as an "event" and merely presenting it as a show you might like to watch on Friday nights.

Not that the series premiere of The Starter Wife isn’t being a little overhyped. It kicks off with one of those "two-hour" episodes that’s really two episodes scheduled back to back to give the illusion of extra weight. But this series and the miniseries that preceded it aren’t about gravity. They’re about breezy comedy-drama, female bonding and gently satirical jabs at the Hollywood lifestyle.

Debra Messing returns as Molly Kagan, the ex-wife of a whiny studio weasel who unceremoniously dumps Molly, turning her into a near-outcast in their deeply connected community. In the miniseries, Messing often played Molly as so stunned from the divorce that she was completely benumbed, but by now Molly has had a chance to get used to the idea of being divorced, and Messing relaxes considerably, giving a confident performance as a woman whose confidence is growing but still shaky. With the series, Messing finally makes a clean break from the self-absorbed characters she played in Will & Grace and Ned and Stacey, without seeming as self-conscious about it as she did in Starter Wife 1.0.

Also returning is Judy Davis, who deservedly won an Emmy for playing Molly’s alcoholic friend Joan. Now in recovery, Joan is given the task of straightening out a drunken movie star (Daniel Gerroll) in a subplot that bears echoes of the Peter O’Toole movie My Favorite Year, and Davis manages the same balance of steeliness and vulnerability in her scenes with Gerroll and with Ronny Cox, who plays her husband. Chris Diamantopoulos also returns, as Molly and Joan’s semi-obligatory gay best friend, but at least he gets some subplots of his own — including one involving an action-movie star — rather than just being around for good listening and snippy quips.

In the 15-plus months since the Starter Wife miniseries concluded, several of its cast members have gone on to other things, including Peter Jacobson, who played Kenny, Molly’s jerk of an ex-husband and now has a key role on House. United 93’s David Alan Basche steps in to play Kenny, and it’s the hardest change to get used to: The miniseries portrayed Molly as the kind of trophy wife who would’ve been out of Kenny’s league if he weren’t so rich and successful, but with his traditional movie-star looks, Basche’s Kenny looks like he could score with many women regardless of how much money he made.

Still, Basche plays a twerp well, and the premiere does an admirable job of juggling plotlines about Molly losing a journal, gaining a potential new love interest (Hart Bochner) and befriending a baseball player’s wife (Danielle Nicolet). Based on a novel by Gigi Levangie Grazer (who is currently separated from producer Brian Grazer), The Starter Wife does feel like it could take more cutting shots at Hollywood; like the miniseries, its satire feels like watered-down Entourage. But its more down-to-earth elements work, and Messing and Davis make it worth checking out.

The Starter Wife 8 tonight

USA Network

***

Channel Surfing: The night is filled with premieres

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 21:02 CDT

ROBERT PHILPOT

Tonight brings three big series premieres, all of them inspired by series from other countries: Kath & Kim (7:30 p.m., KXAS/Channel 5); Eleventh Hour (9 p.m., KTVT/Channel 11); and Life on Mars (9:01 p.m., WFAA/Channel 8). All three are reviewed on the Your Life cover.

Tonight’s other highlights are abbreviated: CSI, SNL, LA Ink and a new FX show.

Family Feud: The Sutton family, from Keller, is scheduled to compete against a California family in this episode of the game show. Noon, KDAF/Channel 33

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation: One of TV’s biggest series makes a belated ninth-season premiere, with the CSI team investigating the shooting of their troubled colleague Warrick (Gary Dourdan). Jorja Fox, who left last season, returns for this episode. 8 p.m., KTVT/Channel 11

U.S. Senate Debate: Republican Sen. John Cornyn faces off against his Democratic challenger, Rick Noriega. 8 p.m., KERA/Channel 13

Saturday Night Live: OK, so it’s Thursday, but the SNL crew is kicking off a series of half-hour, politically themed prime-time specials leading up to the election. 8:31 p.m., KXAS/Channel 5

ER: Angela Bassett joins the cast as a doctor "whose tough attitude causes the whole ER staff to feel defensive." Yeah, never seen a character like that on ER, have we? 9 p.m., KXAS/Channel 5

LA Ink: Tattoo artist Kat Von D returns for a second season, which mixes the relatively mundane (Kat launches a new makeup line at Sephora) and the outrageous (Kat’s new boyfriend is Motley Crue survivor Nikki Sixx). 9 p.m., TLC

Testees: FX tries to outdo It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia with this gross-out comedy about guys who make money by participating in medical experiments. One scene involves a vivid urination joke. Don’t say you weren’t warned. 9:32 p.m., FX

Stephen Colbert's day job: being a jerk

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 21:03 CDT

By JOCELYN NOVECK

NEW YORK — Stephen Colbert was raised in South Carolina to be a Southern gentleman. But he spends his days being a jerk. It must be tough.

Not really, says the Comedy Central star.

"I was taught to be nice, so it’s not in my nature to be a jerk," he told a crowd of fans over the weekend at the New Yorker Festival. "But I do enjoy it."

The host of The Colbert Report spent 90 minutes out of character, regaling interviewer Ariel Levy and deconstructing the process of playing a right-wing blowhard pundit.

Before every interview, he said, he explains to his guest exactly what he’s doing. "I tell people, 'He’s an idiot,’ " Colbert said, referring to his alter ego. "I say, 'Disabuse me of my ignorance.’ "

Still, there have been a few people who didn’t quite get the joke. Colbert says he knows he has offended Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., and early in the show’s run, Bob Kerrey, the former governor of Nebraska, didn’t seem to get that he was fake.

The comedian added that he does care about how people feel they’re treated on the show.

"I don’t care what they think of me, but I am worried about their feelings," he said.

Actor Mark Ruffalo sees the familiar, relevant in 'Blindness'

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 18:48 CDT

By DUANE DUDEK

TORONTO — If instead of Blindness you called the new film by Fernando Meirelles Illness, you might be telling the story of actor Mark Ruffalo.

In Blindness, based on the 1995 novel by Nobel Prize-winning writer Jose Saramago, Ruffalo plays an eye doctor who must lose his sight before he can see his life.

"And when I told him the story," Meirelles said during an interview at the Toronto International Film Festival, "he said, 'Fernando, this is my story.’ "

In 2001, Ruffalo learned he had a brain tumor called an acoustic neuroma, which could have become life-threatening if untreated. He underwent a 10-hour microscopic surgery, struggled with complications while recovering in New York at the time of 9-11 and didn’t act for a year.

But with three new films coming to theaters — including a comedy, The Brothers Bloom, and a crime drama, What Doesn’t Kill You — Ruffalo is working like a man renewed.

"It’s that crazy actor thing of struggling for so many years," he said in an interview in Toronto. "You think it’s going to be over so soon, so you have to take it all."

And it was almost over sooner than he expected.

In Blindness, he plays a character who is made helpless by an illness and whose experiences are "magnified, amplified and retooled" variations of his own, Ruffalo said.

Meirelles said that Ruffalo told him: " 'There was a time I couldn’t button my shirt or buckle my shoes. Sometimes I was going in the street and I was lost. I had to call home and was 100 percent dependent on my wife. And I was irritated for having her help me with anything.’

"And that," said Meirelles, the Brazilian director of the Oscar-nominated foreign-language film City of God, "is exactly what happens to" his character.

Ruffalo called his illness an "ego-shattering event."

And even though he’s "not an actor who uses my past experiences to get me someplace in a scene," he said he understands "the nature of becoming . . . incompetent, incapable, powerless and out of control."

Ruffalo and Julianne Moore, who plays his wife, "knew intuitively" that their characters were detached.

"They were living in the same house but in different worlds," Ruffalo said.

Their marriage was "deadened" and their love "buried under the narcotizing effects of wealth, materialism, work and status."

And when he becomes blinded by a contagious pathogen, he is made entirely dependent on his wife, who can still see.

The story by Saramago, an 85-year-old Portuguese writer and Marxist, is about such alienation and the breakdown of modern society.

Saramago doesn’t give the characters names but refers to them as husband, wife or doctor, roles "whose strong mythological boundaries . . . take away our individuality and humanity," Ruffalo said.

As a Marxist, Ruffalo said, Saramago believes that food, water and shelter "are basic human rights. That’s how he sees the world. And he also sees what holds people back from that. 'Look at the shoes he’s wearing, his haircut, his car, his race.’ "

And by taking away the characters’ power of sight, Ruffalo said, "all the prejudicial things we use to separate ourselves from each other disappear."

Channel Surfing: Hey, that face looks familiar

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 18:46 CDT

New shows continue to trickle out, with two tonight on MyNetworkTV, but most of today’s highlights come from guest stars.

The Doctors: Singer Melissa Etheridge is scheduled to discuss her struggle with breast cancer in this edition of the medical talk show. 5 p.m., KTXA/Channel 21

The Tony Rock Project: Comedian Rock (Chris’ brother) hosts this new, uneven sketch-comedy/hidden-camera series that riffs on people’s attitudes toward race. 7 p.m., KDFI/Channel 27

Criminal Minds: Luke Perry stars as a cult leader suspected of child abuse in this episode, which also features Bedford’s Jenna Boyd as the girl at the center of the abuse allegations. 8 p.m., KTVT/Channel 11

Latinos ’08: This special examines the 2008 election from the perspective of Latino voters. 8 p.m., KERA/Channel 13

World’s Funniest Moments: Arsenio Hall hosts this new series, the latest TV show to watch viral videos and then put them on the air. 8 p.m., KDFI/Channel 27

Dirty Sexy Money: Sax man Kenny G appears as himself in this episode, in which the Darling family continues to deal with the death of one of their own. 9:01 p.m., WFAA/Channel 8

CSI: NY: Hip-hop artist Nelly appears in this episode, in which an air marshal is killed while Mac (Gary Sinise) is on a flight to Washington, D.C., and Mac gets involved in the investigation. Hey, CSI: D.C.!9 p.m., KTVT/Channel 11

South Park: Those animated scamps return with new episodes, starting with Cartman taking on the Chinese. 9 p.m., COM

The Sarah Silverman Program: In the second-season premiere, Sarah gets high for the first time — and considering the weird ways her mind works when she’s sober, she should really be surreal when she’s stoned. 9:30 p.m., COM

Producer polices legacy of 'Cagney'

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 23:50 CDT

By LYNN SMITH

HOLLYWOOD — After 25 years, producer Barney Rosenzweig is as passionate as ever about whipping up public support for Cagney & Lacey, his 1980s-era police series about two female partners that was once saved from cancellation by viewer protest.

Case in point: a Sept. 20 article in the Los Angeles Times about the debt owed by current female-led dramas to Lynda LaPlante’s Prime Suspect. A Rosenzweig-led campaign brought at least a dozen angry, articulate e-mails to the writer and her editors.

"The failure of your apparent understanding of the significance of Cagney & Lacey is alarming," wrote one, reflecting the general sentiment.

Rosenzweig’s letter on his Web site, cagneyandlacey.com, used stronger language and urged fans to contact the Times. Some writers said they were also alerted on a Yahoo message site by his assistant.

Rosenzweig said he had been trying to persuade MGM to release DVDs of all six seasons of the show; only the first has come out so far. The show, he said, was the crowning achievement of his career.

In 1983, before the widespread use of computers, he sparked a letter-writing campaign that led CBS to rescind its cancellation of the show. At a time when there were only three major networks, the show reached 12.6 million households a week. It stayed on the air until 1988.

The trade paper Variety was similarly swamped with mail when it linked the current rise of women on television to Prime Suspect, said TV reporter Cynthia Littleton.

In some cases, fans feel a connection with the show because they helped save it from cancellation and also because it was good, Littleton said.

"It was consistently well-written and it had not one but two fantastic female stars," she said, referring to Sharon Gless, who played Chris Cagney (and who is married to Rosenzweig), and Tyne Daly, who played Mary Beth Lacey.

The series did break ground in the way the partners struggled in a traditionally male-dominated field, tackled social issues and related to each other, she said.

MGM and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, which released the first season of Cagney& Lacey on DVD, has not set a date for releasing more episodes.

'Springer' has been making scenes for 18 years

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 18:48 CDT

By KEVIN PANG

CHICAGO — Jerry Springer knows your pain. He empathizes. You’re right: Your man done you wrong, that other woman’s a home-wrecker — oh, don’t mind the 200 people in the room chanting you’re a dirty . . .

In a world of ambiguity, The Jerry Springer Show offers clarity. And the occasional punch in the face.

The show has endured 18 years, 3,500 episodes and enough philanderers to fill St. Peter’s Square. Though Springer won 10 local Emmys beginning in the 1980s for his work as a Cincinnati newscaster, The Jerry Springer Show has yet to be nominated for one.

But can its impact on popular culture — good or bad — be measured by gold-plated statues?

Searching for the answer to that question, we went to the belly of the beast, into the heart of darkness that is Springer headquarters. In this quest for greater meaning, a show taping yields several fundamental truths about the human condition.

On the second floor of Chicago’s neo-gothic NBC Tower, there is the soundtrack of ringing phones and gurgling water dispensers, plus the disproportionate gorgeous-intern-age-woman-to-every-other-employee ratio. There’s the Springer on-air security team, off-duty Chicago cops in tight black T-shirts who acknowledge your presence with a "how ya doin’ " and a tiny lift of the chin.

The six green rooms where on-air guests are held preshow are off-limits to nonguests and allow guests to be separated by gender and storyline. Brief glimpses inside reveal guests working with the wardrobe and makeup department. For one day, these Everymen and -women are treated like Hollywood stars.

"I’ve been watching the show religiously for 15 years," says Chris from Marion, Ind., last name withheld because he is a guest on today’s show.

Some weeks ago, Chris called producers to tell his sordid tale. He has been intimate with a neighbor, Tamika, who is married to Craig. Cue shocking story line twist: Chris works with Craig. Cue shocking twist No. 2: Chris is married to another woman.

Producers loved his story and flew the party of four to Chicago, paying for airfare (same plane, separate seats), hotels (separate rooms) and a food allowance.

Pressed about the truthfulness of his story, Chris insists it’s "all legit," though producers asked him to emphasize certain plot points to better move the story along.

So why, then, would he want to air his dirty laundry on national television?

"It’s something new," said 28-year-old Chris, wearing a crucifix necklace. "And if it happened on the streets [having his adultery revealed outside the show], it would have been five times worse."

After the infamous Jenny Jones Show incident in 1995 — when a secretly gay man was killed after confessing he was attracted to his male best friend — Springer makes sure there are no surprises.

For guests to appear, producers must disclose to them that during the show a secret will be revealed. For legal reasons, producers must read to the prospective guests four possible revelations over the phone, one of which is the correct answer. They consult a sheet of 21 possible secrets: your wife’s cheating with another guy, your man is secretly gay, your girlfriend wants a third person in bed, and so on.

"The people who come on our show are fans of the show, so they know what they’re getting into," says Rachelle Consiglio, newly named executive producer. In another office, producer Nicole Toalson dials number after number of potential guests. The show receives 5,000 calls and e-mails each week. Only 2 percent will become on-air segments.

Toalson is at once inquisitive and ingratiating. The shock of asking such personal questions has worn off, but she still asks as though she’s dishing with her best friend.

"Is he still having sex with Stacy?" Toalson asks a caller, jotting in a spiral notebook."When’s the last time you slept with him?" "Do you still love him?"

Then there’s Springer’s office, the grand poobah’s lair. Two conclusions can be drawn from the various tchotchkes: He’s a die-hard Yankees fan, and he enjoys the occasional cigar.

In the mid-’90s, Springer came on the national scene like a sucker punch, the forerunner of broadcasting dysfunctional behavior. For much of this decade, though, ratings have fallen — the show has lost half its viewers since 2002, averaging 1.7 million viewers last year. Then Dancing With the Stars came calling two years ago, and Springer pasodobled his way into American hearts. After his fifth-place finish, he was tapped to host America’s Got Talent on NBC. It was this summer’s highest-rated show.

Channel Surfing: High-stakes reality TV

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 17:50 CDT

ROBERT PHILPOT

Tonight brings another presidential debate (at 8), and by now you know the drill: All the major networks, except for the CW, will air it, as will CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and several other cable channels. But other reality shows are on as well.

The Biggest Loser 6: Families: One benefit of tonight’s debate is that it forces this show, which ordinarily clocks in at a seriously repetitive two hours, to be the one-hour program it should be. Fort Worth’s Renee Wilson and her daughter Michelle Aguilar are still in the hunt. 7 p.m., KXAS/Channel 5

Dancing With the Stars:The Results Show: Kim Kardashian got the boot last week, but Hannah Montana’s Cody Linley, a Lewisville native, is hanging in there. 7 p.m., WFAA/Channel 8

NOVA:Arctic Dinosaurs features Dallas’ Museum of Nature & Science paleontologist Tony Fiorillo, who travels to excavation sites on Alaska’s North Slope to extract a unique fossil skull from the lip of a cliff. 7 p.m., KERA/Channel 13

90210: Fort Worth’s Norman Buckley directed this episode, in which Dixon and Silver (Tristan Wilds, Jessica Stroup) have an interesting experience at her "half-birthday" party — which takes place in a cemetery. 7 p.m., KDAF/Channel 33

The Real Housewives of Atlanta: The franchise goes south with such "real" housewives as DeShawn Snow, whose husband, Eric, plays for the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers. 8 p.m., Bravo

Man Caves: In the second-season premiere of this home-makeover series, in which ordinary rooms are turned into places for men, Howard Stern’s producer Gary Dell’Abate has his space transformed into an upscale sports club and bar. 8 p.m., DIY (Time Warner Channel 165, DirecTV 230, Dish 111, FIOS 147, U-Verse 454. Not available on Charter.)