TV Lookout |
Maybe you're still haunted by oil man Daniel Plainview in the film "There Will Be Blood." Maybe you're haunted by the thought of your next billfold-busting visit to the gas station.
In any case, oil is surely on your mind these days. So the timing is right for TV's latest twist on tough-jobs-for-tough-guys: "Black Gold," which drills into the quest for oil in west Texas.
Billed as "an unfiltered look at lives on the line," this series also happens to boast elements of a game show: The oil reserve must be tapped within 50 days. And there are three rival rigs, each with its hearty team of "roughnecks" — each competing just a few hundred yards from the others.
Gentlemen, start your drill bits!
There's brave talk about the abundance of this oil field, but a sobering detail is what gives "Black Gold" much of its drama: The oil is waiting (IF it's waiting) a distant 2 miles down. That's 350 lengths of 30-foot pipe to be assembled and sunk.
The difficulty and danger seem another argument for driving a Prius. Or riding a bike.
"Black Gold," which comes from the creator of "Deadliest Catch" and "Ice Road Truckers," premieres at 10 p.m. Wednesday on truTV.
Other shows to look out for:
Wendy Watson is a 22-year-old art-school grad sharing an illegal sublet and struggling to stay afloat in a succession of dead-end temp jobs. Then, much to her surprise, she is recruited by a mysterious, squeaky-clean superhero to assist in his crusade as The Middleman. Well, it's a job. And she'll get to help fight monsters, aliens and other forms of comic-book evil! That's the premise of a new ABC Family series called, yes, "The Middleman." Matt Keeslar stars in the title role, with Natalie Morales ("CSI: Miami") as Wendy. This whimsical, for-all-ages series premieres at 8 p.m. Monday.
Maybe your kid already knows everything about a certain upcoming A&E series. If so, you should definitely watch "Psychic Kids: Children of the Paranormal." Otherwise, you might still be interested in seeing youngsters (three per episode) brought together with a medium, Chip Coffey, as well as psychologist Lisa Miller, who attempt to help them cope with their inconvenient skills. These sometimes disturbing abilities include visualizing dead people and predicting the future. The series aims to teach the kids how to navigate their day-to-day lives endowed with what can be a curse, not just a special gift. It premieres at 10 p.m. Monday.
Life was so simple back then, before life began. No taxes. No birthdays to remember. Just rocks, water, gases. Then — whaddaya know — a single-celled organism sprang into the picture and things started getting complicated. Flash forward 3.8 billion years, and cable's History Channel is airing a documentary called "How Life Began." (It airs Monday at 9 p.m.) There's a lot of ground to cover between those earliest pioneers and today's trillion-celled life forms such as humans. But the two-hour film does a fine job of filling in the picture while framing questions that remain after billions of years.
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