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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Saturday, January 17, 2009

Tube Notes

By Mike Hughes

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Ellen Page and Michael Cera play teens who create a life in the Oscar-nominated comedy "Juno."

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TONIGHT'S MUST-SEE

"Juno" (2007), 6 p.m., HBO. As awards season grows, it's time to revisit one of the delights from a year ago. Ellen Page plays a sarcastic teen who learns she's pregnant. Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman want to be the adoptive parents. That may not sound like a comedy, but Diablo Cody wrote witty (if sometimes overdone) lines that Page delivered perfectly. Jason Reitman directed nimbly, boosted by Kimya Dawson's low-key songs. The result won an Academy Award for Cody and nominations for Page, Reitman and the film itself.

TODAY'S ODDITY

"Solitary" season-opener, 9 p.m., Fox Reality Channel. This nasty show plays like the bad parts of "Survivor." It plunks people into solitary-confinement pods, then tortures them with heat, hunger, torn feet and mental anguish. The difference is that "Survivor" also has good parts. "Solitary" has none, except for an interesting batch of contestants. One is such an intense "Solitary" fan that he built his own pod at home.

OF NOTE

"Lewis Black: Red, White & Screwed," 5 p.m.; "Jeff Dunham: Spark of Insanity," 6:30 p.m.; and "D.L. Hughley: Unapologetic," 8 p.m., all Comedy Central. The channel strings together three of its best standup comics, ranging from silliness to righteous rage.

"Crusoe," 7 p.m., NBC. Three mysterious warriors are looming. Eventually, Friday might have to decide between saving himself and Crusoe.

"Game Show in My Head," 7 and 7:30 p.m., CBS. It's the third week for this amiable oddity, which has people trying to talk strangers into odd deeds.

"Without a Trace," 8 p.m., CBS. This rerun says a guy's daughter disappeared a year ago; now he's missing, too.

"Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," 9 p.m., NBC. In a rerun, a teenager has returned after being missing for four years. Still, there are holes in her story.

"Saturday Night Live," 10:29 p.m., NBC. Rosario Dawson hosts, with music from Fleet Foxes.