Ear on TV: Week of 08.23.10: Katy Perry

For someone who was by all accounts supposed to be a one-hit wonder, Katy Perry's career has developed some serious legs -- ones that nearly rival her own oft-exposed appendages. So how did this onetime gospel singer go from wanting to be Amy Grant to becoming the next Madonna? (There can be more than one, right Lady Gaga?)

Perry (née Hudson) provides little or no clues on her sophomore release Teenage Dream, but self-discovery is not really what her pop confections are about -- neither is subversion. Even though she and her counterpart Lady Gaga both may dance a line of innuendo, Gaga shoots fire from her brasserie while Perry has cupcakes and lollipops affixed to hers -- one is a warning, the other a sweet invitation. Who knows what she'll have on her love pillows when she appears on Letterman late Tuesday night, but it's sure to be more risqué than her wardrobe choices for her double-shot Friday morning (The Early Show, The Today Show).

Elsewhere, Canadian comedy troupe Kids in the Hall have reunited for a funny mini-series airing Fridays on IFC, called Kids in the Hall: Death Comes to Town. Eight 30-minute episodes about what happens to a small town when the Grim Reaper arrives via bus? Sign me up.

Playlist: Picks for the week
Monday, August 23
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Big Boi
CBS: Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson: Willie Nelson (REPEAT)
FUEL: The Daily Habit: Mumford & Sons
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Big Boi (REPEAT)
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Daniel Merriweather (REPEAT)
PBS: Tavis Smiley: Rufus Wainwright
TBS: Lopez Tonight: Los Lobos
Tuesday, August 24
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Katy Perry
CBS: Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson: Wilco (REPEAT)
NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings (REPEAT)
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Halestorm (REPEAT)
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: David Gray (REPEAT)
Wednesday, August 25
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: The Pretty Reckless
FUEL: The Daily Habit: Duane Peters & the Great Unwashed
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Mike Posner (REPEAT)
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Fanfarlo (REPEAT)
Thursday, August 26
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: The Specials
NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Robert Cray (REPEAT)
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Titus Andronicus (REPEAT)
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: The Raveonettes (REPEAT)
TBS: Lopez Tonight: Lynyrd Skynyrd
Friday, August 27
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: The Black Crowes (REPEAT)
CBS: The Early Show: Katy Perry
FUEL: The Daily Habit: De La Soul
IFC: Kids in the Hall: Death Comes to Town: Kids in the Hall
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Snoop Dogg (REPEAT)
NBC: The Today Show: Katy Perry
SMITHSONIAN: Play On, John: John Cohen
Saturday, August 28
BBCAMERICA: The Graham Norton Show: Pixie Lott (REPEAT)
NBC: Saturday Night Live: Taylor Swift (REPEAT)
SMITHSONIAN: Making the Monkees: The Monkees
Sunday, August 29
DOCUMENTARY: Talking Guitars: Paul Simon, Jackson Browne
SMITHSONIAN: Worlds of Sound - The Ballad of Folkways: Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly