Must-See TV Tonight: Intervention! The Hills! The Year In Soup!

One of the great things about TV is that it offers constant, instant contrast-and-compare. Take tonight: at 9 p.m., A&E’s Intervention has a new episode (I’m still recovering from last week’s harrowing middle-aged-mom-alcoholic season premiere) that’s sure to make you think twice about drinking/drugging/eating too much/eating too little. Then right after that at 10 p.m., The Hills wraps up its season, and you can watch people who truly need an intervention—a self-absorption dry-out; a cleansing celebrity-fast. I don’t really care whether Lauren makes up with Heidi, as the promos promote. But last week, I kind of loved that totally fake, “Hey, let’s get drunk and then married!” scenario that Heidi and Spenser acted out for us—I hope tonight there’s an equally totally-fake moment when Heidi’s parents, upon hearing the news, beat the crap out of Spenser. Oh, and I’ll also be DVR’ing Joel McHale’s E! special The Year in Soup. Joel’s the perfect antidote to The Hills and Intervention: snarkiness as chicken-Soup for the soul! –Ken Tucker