Critic's Corner Monday: Virginia Madsen visits 'The Event'

By Robert Bianco, USA TODAY

?Is there life left in The Event (tonight, 8 ET/PT)? NBC hopes so: It gives a two-hour relaunch to this sci-fi conspiracy series, which began with such promise before losing its way ? and much of its audience ? through a gimmick-reliant fall run.

Still, the show does boast a strong cast, boosted tonight by guest stars Virginia Madsen, Hal Holbrook, Roger Bart and Clea DuVall, and diminished by a product-placement guest turn by Chris Matthews.

This kind of inappropriate news-division promotion, which NBC does with appalling regularity, hardly helps the show make its case.

?It's a very special House (Fox, 8 ET/PT) as a sudden illness forces Cuddy to re-evaluate her future. That causes the show to revisit the past in a series of dream-sequence salutes to iconic film and TV genres.

Enter your ZIP code below to see local listings.

Jaime King Gisele Bündchen Angelina Jolie Grace Park Willa Ford