Best Bets: Oscar noms, SAG Awards, "Chimes of Freedom"
(CBS) This week in entertainment is all about Oscar.
Academy Award nominations will be announced early Tuesday morning in Los Angeles, and the race begins in earnest to nab one the gold statuettes to be given out at the Feb. 26 Academy Awards gala.
Those who clear this hurdle will be jockeying for a better position at the two weekend awards ceremonies - the Directors Guild Awards Saturday night and the Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday. Both take place in Los Angeles.
The DGA awards dinner is not televised, but the SAG Awards will air on TNT and TBS beginning at 8 p.m.
At the box office the midwinter lull continues, with few movies of consequence making debuts. Among those opening this weekend are "Man on a Ledge," a thriller about a suicide attempt used to mask a jewelry heist; "One for the Money," based on Janet Evanovich's mystery-by-the-numbers book series, with Katherine Heigl as bounty hunter Stephanie Plum; and "The Grey," with Liam Neeson leading a band of oil-rig workers whose plane crashes in the Alaskan wilderness.
On DVD, look for the release of "50/50," the comedy about cancer that won praise for Joseph Gordon-Levitt's performance.
TV networks continue to roll out midseason fare this week. On Wednesday, Fox debuts "Touch" with Kiefer Sutherland playing the father of an emotionally challenged savant. Joan and Melissa Rivers are back for a new season of "Joan Knows Best" on WE tv on Tuesday, and a new actor tackles the title role in "Spartacus: Vengeance" when that STARZ show opens a new season Friday.
The "Real World" spin-off "Battle of the Exes" starts on MTV Tuesday and "The Deadliest Catch" cousin, "Bering Sea Gold," launches on Discovery Friday.
As all "CSI" fans know by now, Marg Helgenberger makes her last appearance as a regular cast member (future cameos have been discussed) in the CBS hit on Wednesday night.
HBO has a talked-about documentary series on ailing boxing trainer Freddie Roach beginning on Friday. "On Freddie Roach" is directed by "Friday Night Lights" heavyweight Peter Berg.
Tim McGraw's anticipated new album "Emotional Traffic" hits stores Tuesday. The 12-track album was the center of a suit last fall in which McGraw accused his record label of deliberately delaying new music by releasing compilations. Fellow country star Kelly Pickler also has a new album, "100 Proof," debuting that day.
Also on Jan. 24 is the release of "Chimes of Freedom," a musical salute to Amnesty International on its 50th anniversary. Seventy-six Bob Dylan songs are covered by 80 artists as diverse as Joan Baez, Miley Cyrus, Elvis Costello, Maroon 5, Ke$sha, Sting and Ziggy Marley.
Award-winning crime writer Walter Mosely adds another novel to his best-selling Leonid McGill series with the publication Tuesday of "All I Did Was Shoot My Man."
Fictional serial killer Serge Storms is also back Tuesday in Tim Dorsey's "Pineapple Grenade." It's the10th book in a series by the Florida journalist and novelist. And already getting some press is "Bond Girl," a debut novel by 34-year-old Erin Duffy, who drew on her Wall Street experiences to give readers this peek at the testosterone-driven world of finance.