Media Scribbler

Getting sick of the rah-rah U-S-A attitude over on NBC at the moment? If you’re not lucky enough to be able to watch Canadian or British coverage from Beijing (as in legally — not suggesting anyone violate the Peacock’s American viewing rights) there’s stuff in first run on the cable nets you should give a chance, whether for the first time or if you’re already a fan.

Over on the Travel Network, they have cultivated a fairly small stable of quirky stars who attract loyal fanbases. Few are bigger right now than Tony Bourdain and Samantha Brown. Bourdain specializes in going to exotic countries or random parts of the U.S. to taste the cuisine, be abused by his production crew and look really, really great doing it. Brown’s more of a prototype of what most 30ish-year-old women wish they were doing at least part of the time — traveling to a fun city to drink, run all over town and just have a great time in.

Both are airing brand-new eps of their respective shows; Bourdain in “No Reservations” at 10 p.m. on Mondays, and Brown in “Passport to Great Weekends” on Thursdays. Brown’s traveling to all-America Wyoming this week. You’ll be sick of gymnastics by then, right?

Of course, AMC is still in full swing with the second season of “Mad Men” on Sundays at 10. You have only a few weeks to watch enough to figure out who this Don Draper guy is before the Emmys. Same with Kyra Segwick’s character in “The Closer”, which is Mondays at 9 on TNT.

There will be more recommendations on their way in coming days, including something that every childhood fan of “Full House” should be forced to watch, if only to know that Danny Tanner was completely a character and actually should’ve probably earned Bob Saget an Emmy or two, just because he did something clean. In the meantime, nominate your own alternative programming in comments.

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