Florangela Davila's TV picks

Brace yourself for more wince-inducing TV this week — and we're not even talking "American Idol." No, it's the hilarious cringe-fest "Extras," and yes, we're having a laugh.

Poor Andy Millman (Ricky Gervais) just can't catch a break. On his sitcom, he's stuck in a horrible black wig and red glasses, forever mandated to repeat a catchphrase he's beginning to loathe (see above). And last week he was humiliated (brilliantly) by David Bowie. "Chubby little loser. Pathetic little fan man," Bowie crooned. Which just about sums up how Andy's feeling again tonight (10 p.m., HBO) when, while dining with Maggie (Ashley Jensen; yes, the seamstress on "Ugly Betty"), he picks the wrong restaurant patron to shush. The cameos in this show always hit their mark, and tonight Daniel Radcliffe ("Harry Potter") has a cocky turn. Dame Diana Rigg imparts a grammar lesson. Look for Chris Martin shilling a Coldplay LP next week.

In the Feed Your Brain category, PBS offers a two-week, four-part series on "The Supreme Court," perfect for anyone who's ever flirted with the notion of law school. A host of academics and justices illuminates the history of the illustrious institution, giving viewers a crash course in the motives and arguments behind influential judicial decisions that continue to impact us now. Parts 1 and 2 (9 p.m. Wednesday, KCTS) include spotlights on (clever) John Marshall, the 1857 Dred Scott case, the 14th Amendment and (skeptical) Oliver Wendell Holmes. And here's a name worth learning: Elsie Parrish, the Wenatchee chambermaid who demanded to be paid the state's minimum wage — and won. If the series feels too dense at times, the narration throughout by David Strathairn ("Good Night, and Good Luck's" Edward R. Murrow himself) soothes.

For those who've fallen hard for "Friday Night Lights," that gridiron teen drama that can't (sadly) seem to snag a viewing crowd, the real-life version returns 10:30 p.m. Tuesday with MTV's "Two-A-Days." It's Alabama instead of Texas and the Buccaneers instead of the Panthers, but there's still a hard-driving coach, a do-or-die mentality and a lovely cheerleader pledging her love to her football beau. The Hoover High Buccaneers have blown their chances for a national title, so the reality series starts with homecoming and the team vying for a shot at the school's fifth state championship. I would take hours of these appealing, grunting high-school athletes over the sand-and-surf "I want to go shopping" teen types usually featured on reality TV.

Speaking of remarkable people worth documenting: "Remarkable People" is the title of a new KCTS series airing at 9 p.m. Thursdays in February. It's an eight-part tribute to local knowns and lesser-knowns; half-hour snapshots of lives being lived on one's own terms. Local filmmaker Jean Walkinshaw produced the series. Up first are candid, inviting portraits of climber Jim Whittaker and wife Dianne Roberts, and Bering Sea crab fisher Stefani Smith. We hear from the subjects themselves about the highs (Whittaker's 1990 Everest Peace Climb) and the lows (Smith being the only woman on the boat) of their chosen passions. The episodes are preceded at 8 p.m. by Walkinshaw's 1996 documentary, "The River," which takes a look at the fabled Columbia waterway. Consider this two hours of Only In the Northwest TV.

"24" tick-tock: 12,397 dead, with things not looking so good for Graem "I-Didn't-Inherit-Jack's-Good-Looks" Bauer.

Florangela Davila: 206-464-2916 or fdavila@seattletimes.com