“Extreme Couponing”
Wednesday 9 & 9:30pm, TLC
My couponing skills extend to getting 50 cents off the fancier box of macaroni and cheese. But there are people who take couponing seriously, spending hours every week tracking down thousands of the circulars most of us recycle from the Sunday paper so that they can get a crapload of goods for almost no money. Some of the subjects featured on this new show—which debuted as a highly rated special last year—claim to save up to 90 percent on their grocery bill using coupons, and in some cases, get paid to leave the store with certain merchandise. One woman even credits coupons for allowing her to live totally debt free. (The cameras show her getting $230.38 worth of groceries for $6.92.) In this economy, can any of us afford not to watch?
“Human Planet”
Sunday 8 & 9pm, Discovery
From the folks who brought you 2009’s breathtaking “Planet Earth” and 2010’s slightly less exciting “Life” comes this new six-part documentary series that chronicles how the human race interacts with our planet. You get to see shark callers in Papua New Guinea, reindeer herders in Norway, raptor hunters in Mongolia, icebreakers (using dynamite!) in Ottawa, and people engaged in other totally nutso activities you could never conceive of doing yourself, all in glorious high definition. Also look for footage of what is supposedly a never-been-contacted tribe living in the rain forests of Brazil.
“Law & Order: Los Angeles”
Monday 10pm, NBC
The newest spin-off of the long-running “Law & Order” franchise struggled to find its voice when it debuted last fall, and NBC put it on hiatus while massively retooling the cast. Poor Skeet Ulrich has had a rough go of it with previous TV projects (see: “Miracles,” “Jericho”), and still can’t seem to catch a break. His lead detective character is apparently getting killed, which paves the way for Alfred Molina’s DA character to take back the badge and return to the police force he abandoned to become a lawyer. Also departing the series are Regina Hall and Megan Boone, freeing up space in the DA’s office for Alana de la Garza, whose popular Connie Rubirosa character from the last four seasons of original “L&O” will join the cast. If you liked the original “LO:LA” line-up just fine, check back in around June when several shelved completed episodes will reportedly air.