Animal Planet

NEW YORK - Animal Planet's desire to become less warm and fuzzy means exposure to some unaccustomed issues, such as danger on the high seas and journalistic fairness. A network crew returned to port in Australia last week after tagging along on a mission to interfere with a Japanese whaling expedition in the Antarctic. A miniseries about the experience, "Whale Wars," is expected to air this fall. To make the series, Animal Planet worked with the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, activists considered heroic defenders of wildlife or dangerous meddlers, depending on your politics.

Animal Planet has a menagerie of new shows for the season ahead that promise real-life drama, monstrous mystery, unusual human creatures and a new breed of cute. Also look for the network's first competition show, with the provocative title "Top Hookers. " (Relax. It deals with fishing.) The slate of new programming, most of which will launch next year, is scheduled for unveiling to advertisers Thursday in New York at the upfront presentation of parent company Discovery Communications.

Lopez Tonight 11 p.m., TBS This is just too . . . off. Just over two weeks after she tried to kill herself with pills, Fantasia Barrino (pictured) is doing the circuit to promote her new album. Sorry, but that sets off a few alarms for me. Was she stunting in order to make her story more dramatic and guarantee herself coverage? Is she genuinely in trouble, in which case a media tour might be unadvisable? Both?! She’s visiting George Lopez tonight. Dark Blue 9 p.m., TNT They stage a prison break, so that a bad guy can go free, so they can trail him and find his brother, who is about to...

The 84th Academy Awards Sunday, 7 p.m., Channel 5 After months of speculation and prognostication - and what felt like a gazillion other awards shows - the little golden guys finally learn who they're going home with. Favorites going into the show include "The Artist" for best picture, George Clooney (pictured) for best actor for "The Descendants" (co-written by Mass. native and adapted screenplay nominee Nat Faxon), and Viola Davis for best actress for "The Help. " Expect veteran host Billy Crystal to crack wise throughout the long night about the nominated films, multiple nominee Clooney, and the Brett Ratner...

The Middle 8 p.m., Channel 5 Talking to reporters recently at the Television Critics Association press tour, DeAnn Heline, the co-creator of this sometimes overlooked gem of a sitcom about a kooky-but-loving Midwestern family, said she's thrilled that the series seems to be catching on with viewers. "For a while, [I'd] say, ‘Oh, I write for the show ‘‘The Middle," ' and you'd have a blank stare, and then," she added with a laugh, "[I'd] say, ‘We're on before ‘‘Modern Family.