On Oxygen, living life large with Deion

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TV This Week
On Oxygen, living life large with Deion
By Diego Vasquez
Jun 3, 2008 - 1:00:13 AM

Oxygen’s highest-rated show, “The Bad Girls Club,” is about a bunch of outrageous non-celebrity screw-ups trying to reform. But the network’s bread and butter remains its Tuesday celebreality shows, featuring Janice Dickinson, Tori Spelling and, most recently, Deion Sanders.

Sanders’ show, “Deion & Pilar: Prime Time Love,” wraps up its first season tonight at 10:30 p.m., when Pilar launches her own modeling agency. It’s preceded by a mini-marathon of “Love” episodes starting at 3:30 p.m.

“Love” might seem at first an odd fit for Oxygen, the woman-focused network that recently rebranded to focus on a younger target audience, women 18-34.

Former NFL defensive back Sanders is a sports figure, and an aging one at that. He last made the Pro Bowl in 1999, and he started his NFL career one decade earlier, before some of Oxygen’s target audience was even born.

But it’s Deion and long-suffering wife Pilar’s home life with their five kids that makes the show a decent fit for Oxygen. The program showcases Pilar’s struggle to find herself after years of living in her traditionally minded husband’s shadow. The family resides in a tiny Texas town of some 4,000 people, giving their life more semblance of normalcy than other celebrity families like, say, the Osbournes ever had.

“Love” has put up good numbers for Oxygen, though the network has yet to renew it for a second season. In April, “Love,” which had a sneak preview during halftime of this year’s Super Bowl, premiered to a network-record 579,000 total viewers and 250,000 women 18-34.

Season to date, those numbers have slipped a bit, to 548,000 total viewers and 217,000 women 18-34, but that’s still more than double what the network averaged in primetime during May, its best month ever.

A look at this week’s top TV draws
TUESDAY, JUNE 3
Time	Network	Program	Description
7 a.m.	NBC	“Today” (N)	Actor and comedian Jack Black guests.
8 p.m.	Fox	“The Moment of Truth” (G)	Last week’s ratings were off versus the regular season, but still solid for summer.
9 p.m.	CBS	“48 Hours Mystery” (N)	A story involving a computer expert, his Russian wife and the KGB.
9 p.m.	Fox	“Hell’s Kitchen” (R)	The final six get a look at the London West Hollywood restaurant the winner will be in charge of.
9 p.m.	Discovery	“Deadliest Catch” (R)	It’s storm season and the Coast Guard is called in for a medical emergency.
10 p.m.	MTV	“Shot at Love with Tila Tequila” (R)	The final six show Tila what they’ll do for her love.
10:30 p.m.	Oxygen	“Deion & Pilar” Prime Time Love” (R)	Season finale. Pilar launches her own modeling agency.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4
Time	Network	Program	Description
7 a.m.	CBS	“The Early Show” (N)	The cast of “How I Met Your Mother” guests.
7 p.m.	ESPN	“Major League Baseball” (S)	The hot Rays take on division rival Red Sox in Boston.
8 p.m.	Fox	“So You Think You Can Dance” (R)	This season’s final round of auditions.
9 p.m.	CW	“Farmer Wants a Wife” (R)	Matt and the remaining ladies play a game of truth or dare.
9:30 p.m.	TBS	“Tyler Perry’s House of Payne” (C)	Curtis and Ella attend a reunion at their college.
10 p.m.	ABC	“Men in Trees” (D)	Patrick returns, and he has his memory back, but Annie has already moved on.
10 p.m.	TV Land	“She’s Got the Look” (R)	Series premiere. Women over 35 compete for a modeling contract.
THURSDAY, JUNE 5
Time	Network	Program	Description
7 a.m.	ABC	“Good Morning America” (N)	Actor and comedian Adam Sandler guests.
8 p.m.	Fox	“So You Think You Can Dance” (R)	After a few weeks of auditions, the top 10 males and females get callbacks.
8 p.m.	Discovery	“Discovery Atlas” (N)	Edward James Olmos narrates a look at Mexico.
8:30 p.m.	NBC	“Last Comic Standing” (C)	More auditions, this time in San Francisco.
9 p.m.	ABC	“NBA Basketball” (S)	Game one of the NBA Finals between the Celtics and Lakers.
10 p.m.	CBS	“Swingtown” (D)	Series premiere. Swingers meet and swap in 1970s Chicago.
10 p.m.	NBC	“Fear Itself” (D)	Series premiere. A horror anthology series, with a new story each week.
FRIDAY, JUNE 6
Time	Network	Program	Description
7 a.m.	NBC	“Today” (N)	R&B performer Chris Brown makes an appearance.
8 p.m.	CMT	“Can You Duet” (R)	The final five pairs perform, and then one is eliminated.
8 p.m.	History Channel	“Modern Marvels” (N)	Among other things, a look at the most dangerous snake in the U.S.
9 p.m.	E!	“Forbes Top 20 Young Royals” (N)	A look at youngsters from royal families from around the world.
10 p.m.	Comedy Central	“Live at Gotham” (C)	Season premiere. Six comics perform to kick off the season.
10 p.m.	Travel Channel	“Ecoluxe” (N)	Series premiere. A look at environmentally friendly ways to travel.
SATURDAY, JUNE 7
Time	Network	Program	Description
11:30 a.m.	ESPN Classic	“Soccer” (S)	A match between Switzerland and the Czech Republic kicks off the Euro 2008 tournament.
3 p.m.	CBS	“PGA Golf” (S)	Third-round coverage of the St. Jude Championship, from Memphis.
3:30 p.m.	Fox	“Major League Baseball” (S)	Today it’s Cubs-Dodgers, Mariners-Red Sox or Indians-Tigers.
5:30 p.m.	ABC	“Horse Racing” (S)	Can Big Brown take home the Triple Crown by winning the Belmont Stakes?
8 p.m.	Fox	“Cops” (R)	Cops in Vegas stop a man on a bike, but he takes off when a car crashes nearby.
10 p.m.	truTV	“Inside the Criminal Mind” (N)	A profile of convicted serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin.
SUNDAY, JUNE 8
Time	Network	Program	Description
1 p.m.	Fox	“Formula One Racing” (S)	The Canadian Grand Prix, from Montreal.
3 p.m.	CBS	“PGA Golf” (S)	Final round of the St. Jude Championship, won last year by Woody Austin.
7:30 p.m.	ESPN Classic	“Soccer” (S)	The U.S. takes on Argentina, the top-ranked team in the world, at Giants Stadium.
8 p.m.	CBS	“Million Dollar Password” (G)	How will week two of Regis’ new gig fare?
9 p.m.	ABC	“NBA Basketball” (S)	Game two of the NBA Finals.
9 p.m.	USA	“Law & Order: Criminal Intent” (D)	Goren awaits a decision on whether he’ll be reinstated or not.
10 p.m.	National Geographic Channel	“Bullets Over Boston: The Irish Mob” (N)	A look at a Boston crime boss who’s No. 2 on the FBI’s most-wanted list, behind Osama Bin Laden.
A = awards show or special, C = comedy, D = drama, DD = daytime drama, G = game show, K = kids, M = movie, N = news/documentary, R = reality, S = sports, T = talk/variety show.