Saturday, January 17, 2009

Guests of the Week: Jan. 19-23, 2009

Here are our picks for the guests who will be worth watching during the coming week. Feel free to weigh in if you have a guest to recommend.

Letterman's taking the week off, but Leno has a couple worthwhile guests on Monday: Neil DeGrasse Tyson, the astrophysicist who's always a great guest on "The Daily Show" and "Colbert Report," and Jimmy Fallon, with whom Leno will no doubt discuss the upcoming "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon." Craig Ferguson may or may not have the always charming Joel McHale on Tuesday -- the CBS press release says yes, the "Late Late Show" web site doesn't have him listed, but we'll set the TiVo and find out. "The Daily Show" promises live inauguration coverage and (via satellite) Bishop Gene Robinson; expect Rick Warren to come up in conversation. Stephen Colbert welcomes inaugural poet Elizabeth Alexander. Monday's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" is a rerun, but a particularly good one, with Kathy Griffin, Sally Hawkins and Mike Birbiglia. Birbiglia did a very funny routine and mentioned that he has a Google alert set, so Mike, if you see this blog entry, post a comment! "Juno"/"The United States of Tara" scribe Diablo Cody sits down with Jimmy on Wednesday, and on Friday, Joan Rivers will discuss her new book about plastic surgery (is she presenting herself as a cautionary tale?). And no one has a bigger "get" this week than Tavis Smiley, whose PBS show will feature an interview with President-elect Barack Obama.

Don't Bother: No one particularly egregious this week, but we're a little freaked out that Perez Hilton will be appearing on two talk shows (Ferguson and a "Chelsea Lately" repeat). Likewise, no one's really ubiquitous enough this week to win the Pluggernaut Award for promotional ubiquity, but Renee Zellweger, plugging her dreadful-looking new movie "New In Town," looks like a strong contender for next week's title.

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