NEW YANKEE WORKSHOP:
POKER TABLE
Noon, Saturday, Jan. 28
AETN (Comcast Ch. 3, Broadcast Ch. 2)
For whatever reason, the Friday night poker game has once again become a weekend ritual for millions of red-blooded American Joes and Janes, eager to blow their kid’s college fund and get up close and personal with guys nicknamed “The Weasel.” Still, the way we figure it, if you’re going to lose your money, you might as well do it in style. To that end, follow along as master woodworker Norm Abram walks you through the steps required to build an eight-sided mahogany poker table, complete with drink holders and an inlaid top. A word to the wise, however: Be careful with all those sharp-’n’-pointy tools while building the thing. It’s hard to deal without a thumb.
CELEBRITY FIT CLUB
5 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28
VH-1 (Comcast Ch. 56)
Though it seems like the rich and famous are always just a few sizes thinner than you’ll ever be in your life, the truth is the Beautiful People have their problems with weight as well. To prove it, VH-1 has fielded this reality series, “Celebrity Fit Club.” Now in its third season, the show features eight B-list celebs, split into two teams. Each team competes every week in a series of challenges to see which one can lose the most weight (though most of the drama is found off the field of battle). This year, join stars-of-yesteryear Chastity Bono, Jeff Conaway, Young MC, Bruce Vilanch and Kelly LeBrock (yes, the smoking hot chick from “Weird Science,” fluffed up considera-bly) as they try to win the war on Demon Fat.
HISTORY’S MYSTERIES: SODOM AND GOMORRAH
6 p.m. Friday, Jan. 27
The History Channel (Comcast Ch. 70)
n Right-wing nimrods like Pat Robertson might tell you that Sodom and/or Gomorrah is right here in America — possibly San Francisco, New York, or poor old New Orleans — but archeology has long struggled over the idea that there once really were two cities so wicked they were destroyed by God. Long assumed to be a myth, the recent discovery of two ruined cities, Numeria and Babedrha, on the Dead Sea — both bear-ing the scars of some cataclysmic event and with one containing a shrine to the Biblical Lot — has prompted debate as to whether or not they might really be the Sodom and Gomorrah of the Biblical story. Tune in to see if researchers can get to the bottom of this most vivid of the Al-mighty’s temper tantrums.