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Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga

GREAT PERFORMANCES: TONY BENNETT: DUETS II

This is a programming note since I was not able to review the show.

Quick note here about this one. Just wanted to make sure that it got at least some play since it is pretty cool that all the stars your kids are into, such as Lady Gaga, are singing with a guy old enough to be my grandfather. Seriously, Bennett is 85 and still performing like nobody’s business – and PBS brought him to us live. If I had half his energy now…

I have seen the duet he did with Lady Gaga, singing The Lady is a Tramp – which is delightful. Gaga, whatever her issues with hypersexualization, is still a darned good musician, and I have to give her props. But there’s a whole series of these, including Bennett’s work with the late Amy Winehouse, Michael Buble, Queen Latifah (who may be a little old school for your kids) and a host of others who’ve been around the block a few more times.

It’s on PBS tonight. Check your local listings for times.

David Steinberg and Jerry Seinfeld

INSIDE COMEDY

Friendly Rating: Elementary and older

Safety Rating: Some talk of drinking and the odd innuendo – but can’t promise there won’t be language issues

Quality Rating: Interesting, but not interesting enough

Series premieres tonight on Showtime at 11 p.m.

When I was a kid, I loved shows like these, where the comedians I saw on TV sat down and just talked about themselves and their lives. I wanted to find out all about Bill Cosby and Mel Brooks and Don Rickles. Okay, maybe not Rickles so much because I didn’t think he was that funny. And there was part of me that wanted to be a stand-up comedian, as well.

The problem with David Steinberg’s new look at comedy and the comedians who make it is that it’s not that riveting. It’s just two guys chatting and laughing a little. There’s not much here about comedy that I didn’t already know. The one surprise was that it was pretty safe. I saw one innuendo from some of Seinfeld’s concert footage. But otherwise, the worst word I heard was hell. Can’t promise that will continue, however.

That being said, if you’ve got a kid who’s new to this whole thing, it might be just the ticket. You’ll probably have to explain about the Seinfeld show and Don Rickles. Other masters coming up include Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Tim Conway and Jonathan Winters. Chris Rock and Sarah Silverman are also coming up. Not all of these are folks you’ll find funny or even appropriate. Others will be very interesting to see.

David Mazouz and Kiefer Sutherland, courtesy Fox

TOUCH

Friendly Rating: Elementary age and up

Safety Rating: Some fist fighting and potential bombing, but may get worse

Quality Rating: Really, really good

Special preview tonight at 9 p.m. after American Idol, series premieres on March 19.

It’s not often that I get really excited about a show, and as I write this, I do so with some decidedly bated breath. I’ve seen terrific pilots go south – and this story of a widower with a son who appears to have autism, but who can see the interconnectedness of the universe in numbers – is a truly terrific pilot.

Created by Tim Kring, who brought us Herois, the pilot starring Keifer Sutherland as Martin Bohm is dynamite. Martin is a former award-winning reporter who’s doing other stuff now (gee, does that sound familiar). Well, Martin is having a tough time of it. His wife died in the World Trade Center on September 11, leaving him and their son Jake (David Mazouz). Jake, who has never said a word, it trying to connect in the only way he can, via numeric patterns.

But these numeric patterns have meaning for a wide swath of humanity all over the world, and in tonight’s episode, a string brought together as only Kring can do. Jake can’t quite see the future, but he can see connections and how they all will land in terms of future events.

So far, the show isn’t nearly as convoluted at Heroes. Better yet, it is extremely positive – the implication being that we can all choose to do something good for each other.

Violence was a decided problem with Heroes, but the worst violence in this show are a couple fist fights and one suicide bombing that doesn’t come off. I truly hope that they can keep this up, with a view to a world that can be made better. I would not be surprised if it goes the way of all thrillers, but in the meantime, I can hope.

Host Wes Moore, courtesy Discovery Network

Tonight is the annual State of the Union address by the President of the United States, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT. Yes, this is a carefully orchestrated event designed to make you feel good about our current president (and given that this is an election year, President Obama has his work cut out for him). But it is news that is happening live, which will give you and your kids the opportunity to draw your own conclusions about what was said without the filter of a news agency.

This is even more important because as soon as the president is done, the opposition gets to put its spin on the speech. It would be nice if folks were kind and willing to acknowledge the good on the other side, but I doubt that will happen.

We also have a show premiering on OWN:

BEYOND BELIEF

Friendly Rating: All ages

Safety Rating: Scenes of war violence, some icky surgery scenes

Quality Rating: The intent is good, the execution only so-so

Series premieres on OWN tonight at 10 p.m.

A soldier survives a hit from a rocket, which embeds itself into his abdomen. A surfing dog helps kids with disabilities. All sorts of wondrous and cool things about our world. This is probably the show that everyone clamors for when they scream that all the news on TV is so negative.

The show, hosted by Wes Moore, is pretty interesting. The problem is that it’s mostly re-plays of old ABC News segments. At least two of the featured segments on tonight’s premiere are, including the story of the soldier – and that one dates to 2007.

If that doesn’t bother you (for some reason, it really bothered me), this is an okay show and ultimately rather uplifting.  It’s also fairly family friendly, which is a little on the unusual side, although you may want to watch first to be sure some of the stories aren’t too mature for your family.

Dunham Massey House, courtesy PBS

SECRETS OF THE MANOR HOUSE

Friendly Rating: Older elementary and up

Safety Rating: Very safe

Quality Rating: Very good, especially if you’re a Downton Abbey fan

Documentary airs tonight on PBS, check your local listings for times.

Being something of a P.G. Wodehouse freak, I couldn’t wait to see this little film on the real live Edwardian era manor houses of a hundred years ago.

The good part about the film is that it is very focused on the early part of the 20th century – in what became the Golden Age of the Manor House society before it all went to heck after World War I. It also has a very strong thread about the incredible inequities that eventually led to the eventual dissolution of the manor house as it was then into a much smaller, but still lavish life style.

Aristocratic manor houses still exist, many of them as museums as their owners can no longer afford to keep them up. Wealthy, aristocratic and titled families still exist in England, as do weekend parties in the country, but you don’t usually find homes with staffs of up to 100 servants anymore.

As glamorous as those days seemed, as the doc points out, there were quite a few cracks and fissures in the social strata and it wasn’t quite the perfect world it seemed. Still, if you’re a fan of Wodehouse, Dorothy Sayers, Upstairs Downstairs and Downton Abbey, this is the real life back drop for those wonderful stories, and as such, it’s a lot of fun and blessedly short.