A look back at the best and worst of TV in the past week (July 19-25), and a peek ahead at what’s coming up.
Highlights
1. “Torchwood: Children of Earth.” I went into this BBC America 
miniseries cold; I hadn’t watched the first two seasons of “Torchwood,” but it looked like cheesy sci-fi fun so I figured I’d give it a try. But now that I’ve seen it, I’m completely hooked. It was five fantastically fun, thrilling episodes with space aliens, government conspiracies and big explosions, so much more suspenseful and less campy than I had figured. This might be the surprise highlight of summer TV. The series gets a quick turnaround and will be released on DVD on Tuesday — and it’s well worth checking out.
2. “Top Chef Masters.” It was so refreshing to see reality show competitors actually helping each other do well in this week’s Elimination Challenge, where they got to choose a rival chef’s ingredients. If that happened in the normal “Top Chef,” someone would get stuck cooking with anchovies, butterscotch pudding and a kumquat. Sure, the series lacks drama and tension, but I’m fine with that. As I’ve said before, it’s a cleansing reality-show sorbet. Here’s hoping some of the masters’ class and goodwill rubs off on the new season of “Top Chef” competitors. Interesting side note: While New York is widely seen as the center of the American cooking universe, only one NY chef made the finals, along with two from the Bay Area, two from Chicago and one from LA. What’s that mean? Probably nothing, but still. . . . huh.
3. “Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D List.” Specifically, Kathy bombing at the Apollo Theater. The audience’s dead silence that greeted an off-color joke (Off-color? From Kathy Griffin? Whoda thunk?) was so hilariously awkward that it left me slack-jawed trying to figure out whether to laugh or feel embarrassed for her. (I decided on laughing.) The reaction still baffles me; in a theater where Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock and Martin Lawrence honed their filthy standup acts, Kathy Griffin’s use of the p-word somehow drew outrage and a lifetime ban? Weird. Even if there were kids in the audience. Here’s a link to the video. Watch and cringe.
Lowlights
1. BBC America’s HD rollout. For weeks, BBC America had been promoting their move to HD programming to coincide with the “Torchwood” miniseries. Problem was, they didn’t actually reach deals with ANY cable or satellite providers to carry the HD channel. So, effectively, they have HD but no one can actually see it. Brilliant.
2. “The T.O. Show.” Self-indulgent, inane and boring. Just reinforced every negative feeling I already had toward Terrell Owens. Have fun with him, Buffalo!
3. “Entourage.” Didn’t things used to happen in this show? Funny things? Where’s the cleverness? Where’s the playfulness? This season feels like it’s been dumbed down. Thank god Ari’s office antics are still as sharp as ever.
Looking forward to . . .
1. “Being Human” (9 p.m. Saturday, BBC America). So what are a ghost, a werewolf and a vampire like when they’re just sitting around the house? That’s pretty much the setup to this supernatural comic thriller. It’s getting good reviews and has me intrigued. Too bad I won’t be able to see it in HD.
2. “Burn Notice.” (9 p.m. Thursday, USA) Wow, only two episodes left this season? Where’d the time go? And where’d Moon Bloodgood’s Detective Paxson character disappear to? This agent to the ex-spies has me curious — what’s Michael getting himself into?
3. “The Yes Men Fix The World” (9 p.m. Monday, HBO). This documentary highlights of the past six years’ worth of actions by this troupe of professional pranksters and hoaxsters as they expose corporate greed. Think Michael Moore meets “Borat.”
