FUNERAL GAMES

Let’s go back in time, to, say, 44 B.C. Despite all the fabulous architecture, day-to-day life was brutal, unforgiving and short. On the HBO series “Rome,” Julius Caesar (Ciaran Hands) has just been stabbed to death in the Roman Forum and his survivors, including his wife Calpurnia (Haydn Gwynne), are understandably nervous. Mark Antony (James Purefoy) steps up to do some damage control, proposing that Caesar receive a statesman’s funeral. He cleverly uses the ceremony as an occasion to turn the tide of public opinion against Caesar’s murderer Brutus (Tobias Menzies). Meanwhile, poor Lucius Vorenus (Kevin McKidd) is losing his marbles following the tragic death of his wife, Niobe (Indira Varma). His friend Pullo (Ray Stevenson) returns to Rome to help him arrange a proper funeral.

ROME

Sunday, 9 p.m., HBO

Cool cameos

Fortysomething aspiring actor Andy Millman (Ricky Gervais) gave up his day job to pursue fame in

the movies, only to find he just couldn’t land the big parts. But now things are looking up

for the determined, ever-optimistic Andy as a sitcom script he wrote has been picked up – although this breakthrough may not be everything that it seems. Andy is forced to compromise on his sitcom but at least he gets to see real stars do cool cameos on his show. This year, “Extras” has David Bowie, Ian McKellan, Daniel Radcliffe and Orlando Bloom. In the season premiere, Bloom makes a play for Maggie (Ashley Jensen, Christina of “Ugly Betty”) and he can’t believe that she doesn’t find him irresistible.

EXTRAS

Sunday, 10 p.m., HBO

The anti-Oscars

The Golden Globe Awards like to pride themselves on their informality and air of camaraderie. Stars hang out by the bar at the Beverly Hilton ballroom bar, some get drunk and others still go missing from their seats because they’re in the bathroom. No one behaves in such an informal manner at the staid but prestigious Academy Awards. Winners of the cheesy statuettes, given out by the mysterious and slightly dubious Hollywood Foreign Press Association, are often seen as locks for the Oscars. Often they are, but the motion picture Academy likes to have the last word. So will “Dreamgirls” beat “Little Miss Sunshine,” or has everyone had about enough of the hype? The Globes will also honor working actors from television. Everyone runs to the bar and the bathroom when those awards are given out.

THE 64TH ANNUAL GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS

Monday, 8 p.m., NBC

New York collects garbage

What does a girl do when she’s been rejected by Flavor Flav? Jump off the Brooklyn Bridge or thank her lucky stars? In the case of Tiffany Pollard, who was nicknamed “New York” by Flav, you get your own dating show. “I Love New York” is the one series that proves that there’s a pot for every lid. We will see if New York, with the advisement of her mother, Sister Patterson, can find her true love from a wide-ranging dating pool. There’s a thug, a bodybuilder with tweezed eyebrows, a slightly retarded guy grieving for his dead dog, Princess, and several average white guys, among many other smooth operators. Verbs and nouns may not always agree when these guys start wooing New York, and her commentary on them — “He’s a handsome hunk of chocolate!” — may seem crude, but the series is best available in train wreck TV. The most amusing bloke on the show may be Chamo, New York’s personal assistant, a flame-out who seems to have patterned himself after Chita Rivera.

I LOVE NEW YORK

Monday, 9 p.m., VH1

Two surgeries

Harold O’Malley survives his heart surgery, but next doctors must operate on his malignant esophageal tumor on “Grey’s Anatomy.” The situation is fraught with possibilities as the patient’s son, George (T.R. Knight), didn’t want Dr. Burke (Isaiah Washington) in the operating room. George and his family, which includes his mother, Louise (Debra Monk), are on edge. But so is show heroine Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), who sees her estranged father, Thatcher (Jeff Perry), visit the hospital to meet his new granddaughter. There’s no break for Meredith at home, either. She discovers that her boyfriend Dr. McDreamy (Patrick Dempsey) isn’t sleeping through the night. Second of a two-part episode.

GREY’S ANATOMY

Thursday, 9 p.m., ABC

Unmasked woman

Since the debut of “Ugly Betty,” Wilhemina Slater (Vanessa Williams) has been meeting secretly with a woman completely wrapped in bandages, apparently from radical plastic surgery. From all appearances she is Fey Summers, the former editor in chief of Mode magazine, the woman that the publisher tried to murder. Slater and Summers have been plotting a takeover of Mode since that time and now that Daniel Meade is brokenhearted over Sofia’s departure, the girls may pounce. While Wilhemina makes a list of who will stay and who will go at the magazine, Betty sets Daniel up on a date with a supermodel. Her sister Hilda goes into business selling cupcakes when Herbalux is recalled.

UGLY BETTY

Thursday, 8 p.m., ABC