Week in DVR: Get Treated by Gabriel Byrne, Immediately! Plus, Donna Martin Matriculates

Christopher Rosen — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 11:00:30 -0400

Monday: In Treatment
With House (OMG, Kutner!), How I Met Your Mother, 24, Gossip Girl, One Tree Hill, Chuck, Heroes, Medium and Dancing with the Stars all airing within the same three hour block on Monday nights, you probably don’t have a lot of room on your DVR for another show, but In Treatment definitely deserves your attention. The acclaimed HBO series returned last week with new patients and a new schedule—two episodes air on Sunday night, another three on Monday—and it’s nothing if not enthralling. The good thing about In Treatment is that you don’t need much background to get involved—this isn’t Lost we’re talking about—but to get the full scope of Gabriel Bryne’s towering performance, we would suggest watching all five episodes each week. If you’re more interested in an à la carte commitment, however, check out the sessions revolving around Alison Pill’s Pratt student-with-cancer and/or John Mahoney, who plays a corporate CEO suffering Tony Soprano–like panic attacks. Don’t be surprised when both stars wind up on the shortlist of Emmy nominees come the fall. [HBO, 9 p.m.]

Tuesday: 90210
Donna Martin integrates? Nostalgia gets a boost this week as Tori Spelling becomes the latest former 90210 star to return to Beverly Hills for the reboot. Apparently, Donna has been off in Japan becoming a famous fashion designer with her husband, David Silver, but a rough patch in their blissful union has caused her to return stateside. Brian Austin Green won’t be making an appearance during the episode, but both Diablo Cody and Ben Lyons will. If the idea of Diablo Cody, Ben Lyons and Tori Spelling sharing the screen just made your head explode, you’re not alone. [The CW, 9 p.m.]

Wednesday: What Happens in Vegas
Speaking of Ms. Cody… we’ve been pretty much addicted to all things “Fempire” since reading that ill-begotten New York Times Style section piece on the screenwriting club-for-girls. For the uninitiated, “The Fempire” includes Ms. Cody, Dana Fox, Lorene Scafaria and Liz Meriwether, and for some reason, their exploits both fascinate and repel us on a daily basis. (Ms. Cody’s interminable Twitter feed might also have something to do with this.) Ms. Fox, a Stanford graduate, is responsible for What Happens in Vegas, a standard romantic comedy that actually gets lifted out of the doldrums by its exceptional cast. In addition to always-charming megastars Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher, What Happens in Vegas features under-the-radar people like Rob Corddry, Zack Galifianakis, Andrew Daly, Lake Bell and Jason Sudekis, proving that the line between mainstream Hollywood and niche comedy is blurrier than ever. [HBO2, 6:15 p.m.]

Thursday: It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Director Stanley Kramer, best known for overwrought audience pleasers like Inherit the Wind and, later, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?, wanted to make the ultimate comedy, so he cast a litany of stars—Buster Keaton, Jerry Lewis, Spencer Tracy, Carl Reiner, Milton Berle, Sid Ceasar, Mickey Rooney and many others—for this jokey caper. Predictably, the results are overwrought (and overlong), but there is something bizarrely transfixing about watching Hollywood royalty take pratfalls for three hours. [AMC, 8 a.m.]

Friday: Prison Break
After four seasons, two prisons, countless red herrings and one decapitation-that-wasn’t, Prison Break returns this week to begin its slow march toward the great television heaven in the sky (the series finale will air on May 15th). We would never go as far as Stephen King, who called the illogical series one of his favorites, but it will be missed. Despite massive flaws, Prison Break was always good for a laugh, or, at the very least, an exaggerated eye roll. Here’s hoping the series ends with everyone on a spaceship to Mars. Oh wait, that already happened on another show… [Fox, 9 p.m.]

Observer » Week in DVR: Get Treated by Gabriel Byrne, Immediately! Plus, Donna Martin Matriculates

Week in DVR: Get Treated by Gabriel Byrne, Immediately! Plus, Donna Martin Matriculates