TV Lookout: highlights for Nov. 30-Dec. 6

During their four decades as a comedy duo (actually, it was more like four seasons playing teen stepbrothers on Nickelodeon's "Drake & Josh"), Drake Bell and Josh Peck started out as cute, goofy kids. But by the series' end in 2007, they were exhibiting the overage, desperately overplaying style of a pair of over-the-hill vaudevillians.

Never mind. They're back, along with the rest of the "D&J" troupe including "baby sister" Miranda Cosgrove (now sort of a fox as the star of Nick's "iCarly"). This uncalled-for reunion results in a special Nick movie, "Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh," premiering Friday at 8 p.m. EST.

Unlike the series in its prime, this film has minimal wit, maximum shtick, and an unexpected mean streak. Peck, whose designated function was always to play Jerry Lewis to Bell's Dean Martin, is so wound up in this movie he makes a showoff like Lewis seem like an introvert.

Bottom line: Kids will probably like the film. But adults who might not mind being in the same room with an episode of "Drake & Josh" will flee when this movie gets rolling.

Other shows to look out for:

_ Billionaire adventurer Steve Fossett had broken more than 100 world records. But on Sept. 3, 2007, he was reported missing after the plane he was flying over the Nevada desert failed to return. He was declared legally dead last February. Then, on Sept. 29, a hiker in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., found the first evidence: some of Fossett's personal effects. A Discovery Channel crew shooting in the area was alerted. With footage of those recovered items (including $1,000 in cash and a glider license), the story of what happened is detailed in "Steve Fossett: What Went Wrong?" It airs on Discovery at 10 p.m. EST Monday.

_ This is the sort of agribusiness the government frowns on: marijuana being raised in greater bulk and with greater potency, spawning a shadowy multi-billion-dollar industry that some analysts believe eclipses corn as the nation's leading cash crop. National Geographic Channel's "Explorer: Marijuana Nation" investigates this growth industry, including the criminal elements that sustain it, the efforts by law enforcement agencies to contain it, and the health costs (and, some argue, health benefits) of the weed that seemingly can't be snuffed out. It airs Tuesday at 10 p.m. EST, with correspondent Lisa Ling reporting.

_ Long before now, it became clear that William Shatner is game for anything. Drama, comedy, singing (arggg!), hosting, writing, doing those nutty commercials for Priceline.com. And now he's got a talk show, "Shatner's Raw Nerve." First up: Valerie Bertinelli, airing Tuesday at 10 p.m. EST, followed by Tim Allen at 10:30 p.m. EST. Ahead: Drew Carey, Jimmy Kimmel, Judge Judy and Leonard Nimoy, among others. But often, Shatner is more fun to watch than his guest. It airs on the Biography Channel.

_ From the Comfort-in-Knowing-Exactly-What-You're-Gonna-See Dept.: Lifetime presents "Flirting with Forty," a pleasant and utterly predictable romance with Heather Locklear as a divorced mother of two who, on the brink of her 40th birthday, wonders if she'll ever know love again. Then she and a hunky young surfer dude meet cute. See? You've guessed the ending already. It airs Saturday at 9 p.m. EST.

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Nickelodeon is owned by Viacom; Discovery Channel is owned by Discovery Communications, LLC; Biography Channel is owned by A&E Television Networks, a joint venture of The Hearst Corporation, Disney-ABC Television Group and NBC Universal; Lifetime is a joint venture between the Hearst Corp. and the Walt Disney Co.

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On the Net:

http://www.nick.com

http://www.discovery.com

http://www.nationalgeographic.org

http://www.biography.com

http://www.mylifetime.com

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EDITOR'S NOTE — Frazier Moore is a national television columnist for The Associated Press. He can be reached at fmoore(at)ap.org

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