The History Channel

MONDAY

The new Batman flick, The Dark Knight, opened this weekend to rave reviews, sold out crowds and a record-breaking performance at the box office—it took in $155.34 million, according to the Associated Press, surpassing the $151.1 million Spider-Man 3 made on its opening weekend a little over a year ago. When a blockbuster generates this much hype, the networks can cash in with primetime tie-ins that appeal to TV-addicts regardless of whether or not they've actually seen the movie. It starts tonight with The Dark Knight's predecessor, Batman Begins, on FX at 5 p.m. Then at 9, turn to the History Channel for Batman Tech, which answers the question posed by the Joker in the original 1989 remake of Batman: "Where does he get those wonderful toys?"  read more »

MONDAY

The three Americans who were freed recently from a leftist guerilla organization in the jungles of Colombia traveled home to Florida for the first time in more than five years on Saturday after undergoing 10 days of treatment in an Army medical center in Houston. Their highly publicized rescue by the Colombian military on July 2 served as a reminder that the large South American nation still has lots of problems, like political strife, a slowing economy, poverty, crime and drugs. (Did you see that VBS.tv documentary on Colombian scopolamine? Scary!) But tonight, Anthony Bourdain focuses on the brighter side of Colombian culture in the latest installment of No Reservations.  read more »

Monday

Is the impulse that drives viewers to A&E’s reality series Intervention charity? Or what the newspapers used to call "human interest"? Or is it just Schadenfreude? Either way, the show, which chronicles those confrontations between self-destructive people and their families and friends brokered by "intervention" specialists, certainly doesn't play for laughs. What you’re seeing is usually pretty horrific, and the train wrecks it picks through can actually become pretty touching stories. Methamphetamine and OxyContin addictions are common fare here; and the success stories, which are not guaranteed, are definitely the more edifying programs. So maybe it is charity after all? Tonight we meet Chad who, like most of the show's subjects, had a pretty troubled childhood—he ended up in juvie for felony arson. At age 15, Chad’s father introduced him to cycling, and he went pro and even cycled on the same team as Lance Armstrong. When he got kicked off the team for “personality conflicts,” however, he turned to drugs. He's homeless and spends his days drinking, panhandling and smoking crack. Can an intervention save his life? The show airs at 9 p.m. Of course before reality programs there were nonfictional programs about science and nature and history. The History Channel takes a break from reconstructing Hitler's last hours in the bunker to trot out an hour-long program about the origins of life on earth at 9 p.m. At any rate switch to Bravo at 10 and watch Clueless if you haven't seen it a few too many times already, or fire up the fourth season premiere of Weeds at 10 p.m. on Showtime.  read more »