“In Plain Sight,” a new action series on USA (8 p.m.), stars Mary McCormack as a tough-as-nails but smoking hot U.S. marshal whose beat is integrating new people into the federal witness protection program. McCormack’s troubled character, Mary Shannon, seems patterned on Holly Hunter’s character on “Saving Grace,” except that Mary is hobbled by mediocre script-writing (she got better lines as Howard Stern’s wife in “Private Parts”).
But the show’s low-budget look and feel, which comes from being shot in Hollywood tax-break haven New Mexico, serves the seedy subject matter well. Life as a snitch-in-hiding is not glamorous, we are led to believe. Worse, you have to deal with an angry cop who’s forever spouting TV clichés at you.
WEDNESDAY
Planet Green launches. The cable channel, taking the place of Discovery Home Channel (digital cable), will see just how far the retail industry’s enviro-frenzy can go. Although the showcase of the early months of the channel will revolve around efforts of Greensburg, Kan., to rebuild green after a devastating tornado, the bulk of its schedule is a lineup of less high-minded programming designed to bring corporate America and consumers together in the Planet Green zone. (GM, Clorox, S.C. Johnson and Whirlpool are all major sponsors.)
Opening night programs include “Wa$ted!” a show about eliminating “eco-horrors” from your household (7 p.m.); and “Supper Club” (6 p.m.), in which “Dancing With the Stars” host Tom Bergeron enjoys a “green meal” with four celebrity guests, talking environmental issues.
THURSDAY
“Swingtown,” set in those free-wheeling, wife-swappin’ ’70s, debuts at 9 p.m. on CBS (KCTV-5). Recently I referred to this long-in-development program as a “summer burn-off,” which got this response from a CBS publicist: “We are still in production right now, and our airdate was only delayed due to the writers’ strike … Don’t give up on this show before it has started!” OK, OK, I won’t! But if all 13 episodes don’t air this summer, I reserve the right to bring back the “burn-off” label.
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