What Iko's Watching Tonight

You know what? Even being a random night in the middle of the dearth of TV known as "summer," there's some good stuff on tonight. So, what am I watching? Read on to find out...

1. Home Run Derby - yeah, OK, I know...not very interesting to you non-baseball fans, but I'm going to watch it, so sorry. I'm excited to watch Dan Uggla and Josh Hamilton smash balls over the right-field wall at Yankee Stadium. I'm excited to watch it BE at Yankee Stadium, in it's last season as the home of the Yankees, because, let's face it, we're probably not going to see any non-regular season baseball there, based on tear the Rays are on (well, maybe not the last few games, but I think they'll get pretty far this season). Even if you don't like baseball, maybe turn the derby on at the end, just to see who wins...come on, you know you want to...

2. "Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations" - He's in Colombia tonight, which should be pretty interesting. I basically know Colombia as a place where there are lots of drugs and guns (maybe I've watched too many drug trafficking-related movies), so I'm interested to see the food and country beyond that. Also, last week's season premiere episode in Laos was amazing, so I'm currently having high hopes for this season of the show. Tony was wonderful in Laos, I had completely forgotten how eloquent and truly thoughtful he can be when he's not being the snarky, jackass we've all grown to know and love. Which is not to say the snark isn't welcome and sometimes even warranted, but the episode just didn't lend itself to that kind of commentary. He was actually mostly silent, an outside observer, just trying to give us in the U.S. a picture of a country that had been destroyed by war (and still is), yet full of people who have respect for their traditions and are completely untouched by Western society, even if that is certain to change in the near future. The country of Laos is absolutely gorgeous, how badly did you want to stay in that inn Tony's guide owned, to wake up in the morning and have a breakfast of ant egg omelet outside, next to a fire, surrounded by mist? Beautiful. If you haven't seen the episode, I highly recommend it.

3. "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" - finally! After the longest two week break EVER, our boys are back! I'm especially excited this week, as I am going to see "The Daily Show" taping on Thursday evening as a VIP, VIP, VIP, due to my unceremonious rejection last time I tried to see the show.

So much has happened during their break, I don't know how they'll cover it all - come on, Jesse Jackson? That's a whole show for each of them in and of itself! I'm hoping for a rant about FISA from Jon and some kind of "Threatdown" from Stephen about the Treasury Dept. I just wish they'd post this week's guest on TDS website, so I know who I can look forward to seeing on Thursday. Sidebar: does anyone know of a good restaurant in the Midtown West/Hell's Kitchen area? I have a few ideas, but could really use some suggestions.

4. Who am I kidding? I'll probably watch the TiVoed Ed Helms interview from Friday a few (10) times, too. How can you not? He's adorable. After a few (10) re-watches this weekend, I've come to the conclusion that my favorite part is right after he busts out the Tom Brokaw impression while singing "Candle in the Wind," because it's actually Ed singing, just for a few seconds, then he goes back to the Elton John impression. His voice is amazing, especially at that exact moment. Besides, how can you NOT love the giant, pink, feathered cape? The only way the song would have been better (and I use the term "better" very loosely, as, clearly, it was amazing), is if Ed had ended the song with an Andrew Bernard-style, "Nailed it!"