Six Feet Under celebrates Christmas in July in a most depressing fashion

By Erik Adams | July 24, 2012 | 9:29am

TV Features TV

Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Tuesday, July 24. All times are Eastern.

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Six Feet Under (1 p.m.): Break out the inflatable Santas, the unbeatable-deal-signaling sleigh bells, and the festive “Discount embalming” fliers: It’s “The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year”: The one-year anniversary of Nathaniel Fisher’s death! But also Christmas! Which was when Nathaniel Fisher was hit by a bus! John Teti awaits the feel-good hit of the holiday season.

REGULAR COVERAGE

MasterChef (Fox, 9 p.m.): Oh, if only Phil Dyess-Nugent were in Los Angeles for the Television Critics Association Press Tour, he could’ve had the pleasure of hearing Gordon Ramsay say that he only yells on certain shows. MasterChef would be one of those shows.

White Collar (USA, 9 p.m.): The case of the week involves a particularly slippery crook who’s a thorn in the FBI’s side. Maybe he’ll be just as charming as Matt Bomer and worthy of his own spinoff, giving Kenny Herzog twice the White Collar capers to review in a given week.

Frontline (10 p.m.): “What’s open-pit mining?” you might say. To get your answer, you can check out these terrifying, “hole in the Earth” satellite photos of the chasms created by open-pit mining, or you can fall down (and down and down and down and down) the rabbit hole with Meredith Blake and Frontline.

Workaholics (Comedy Central, 10:30 p.m.): The guys play private eye in order to help a coworker who suspects his wife of stepping out on him. Kevin McFarland is watching you [Clap clap.] Workaholics. He sees your every move, baby.

WHAT ELSE IS ON

Craft Wars (TLC, 8 p.m.): Conveniently enough, that episode of Six Feet Under is being reviewed on the eve of Christmas in July, the invented holiday that allows the local appliance store to move some additional units on a one-horse-open sleigh, while Craft Wars gives itself over to a Yuletide challenge. Pine-cone tree ornaments for everyone!

The Deadliest Catch (Discovery, 8 p.m.): The eighth season of the venerable seafaring reality series comes to its two-hour-long conclusion. It’s titled “The Bitter, Bloody End,” so it’s assumed the fleet really earned that additional hour.

15 Awesomest Boy Bands (E!, 9 p.m.): Finally, a way to reignite the bitter, bloody Backstreet Boys/’N Sync rivalry of the TRL era. The members of 98 Degrees, meanwhile, must settle for slugging it out with Menudo, The Bay City Rollers, and The Osmonds.

Love In The Wild (NBC, 10 p.m.): No matter which couple emerges from this copule’s-retreat-by-way-of-Outward-Bound competition, one thing is for certain: If they ever have kids, they’re going to get a bunch of crazy anti-vaccination literature from Jenny McCarthy.

Pygmalion (TCM, 8 p.m.): Do you enjoy the journey of My Fair Lady’s Eliza Doolittle, but simply can’t abide by all those pesky show tunes? Good news! “The Rain In Spain” wasn’t even part of that story when George Bernard Shaw wrote it as Pygmalion, and it’s not included in this 1938 film adaptation, either!

Red (The Movie Channel, 8 p.m.): This action-comedy—inspired by the Warren Ellis comic series of the same name—didn’t set the world on fire in 2010, but it did earn itself a sequel, set to debut next summer. The lesson: Never underestimate the high-larious appeal of old people with guns.

Tour de France: Stage 20 (NBC Sports, 7 p.m.): And thus ends another Tour de France, as the cyclists ride down the Champs-Élysées, where they turn over the world’s sporting interests (and the attention of most television programmers) to the London Olympics.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Vito: Jeffrey Schwarz turns in a loving portrait of the late gay-rights advocate and film historian/critic Vito Russo—and, like the people interviewed for the documentary, Phil Dyess-Nugent hasn’t a single bad thing to say about its subject (or the film itself).