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Tonight's Best TV

Thursday, August 4

By Alynda Wheat
Entertainment Weekly

YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS

(Entertainment Weekly) -- Entertainment Weekly's daily guide to notable shows:

10-11PM
SERIES DEBUT: TEACHERS (BBC America, TV-MA) It's safe to assume that high school teachers spend their free time talking smack about their young charges. And the ensemble cast of this British dramedy would be doing just that if they weren't so hilariously self- involved: stealing quick cigarette breaks in bathroom stalls, coming to work hungover, and occasionally smuggling sheep onto school property. The wry show centers around Simon (Andrew Lincoln), a lit teacher who figures that the way to get through to students is to act just like a teenager -- i.e., living with his father and turning up on a paramour's doorstep after getting properly pissed at the local pub. There's little to learn from the first episode of the foulmouthed eight-part series, but much laughter to be had. -- Gilbert Cruz

EW Grade: A-

Best of the rest

8-9PM
SERIES DEBUT: SMALL SPACE, BIG STYLE (HGTV, TV-G) Drinking game! When anyone puts up a mirror, dashes to IKEA, or has a novel lighting concept, take a swig.

8-10PM
QUEST FOR DRAGONS (History Channel, TV-PG) Oooh! New oxymoron: dragon documentary.

9-9:59PM
THE LAW FIRM (NBC, TV-14) Two friends fight over a poster that "jokingly" suggests one of them is a terrorist and implicitly proves the other is an ass.

9-11PM
X GAMES (ESPN, TV-PG) Extreme athletes flock to L.A. in order to showcase their skills on boards (of the wake-, surf-, and skate- variety) and bikes (motor- and BMX). In the decade since the games debuted on the sports network, the tricks have become even bolder and more breathtaking. And unlike Jackass, it's even better when these daredevils stick their landings. Andrew Clevenger

10-10:30PM
SERIES PREMIERE: STARVED (FX) The story of four New Yorkers who must deal with the sobering reality of eating disorders. Though we're not sure how a show with that premise could be considered a sitcom, it does have its slapstick moments. (One involves a colonic.)

10:30-11PM
SERIES PREMIERE: IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA (FX) FX's new hour of comedy continues with a series about four twentysomethings managing and promoting an Irish bar in the City of Brotherly Love while they deal with their own racism and narrow-mindedness. We're sure the show will do as much for tourism in Philly as "The Real World" did.

11PM-MIDNIGHT
I WANNA BE A SOAP STAR (SOAPnet, TV-14) Evil-twin test. So easy! Just remember: The good say what they should; the evil say what they mean.

1:15-3AM
MURDER BY DEATH (TCM, TV-14-DL) Jamesir Bensonmum: "She murdered herself in her sleep, sir." Dick Charleston: "You mean suicide?" Jamesir Bensonmum: "Oh no, it was murder, all right. Mrs. Twain hated herself."

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