Bill Clinton Jams with Elvis Costello and Other TV Highlights

Todd Plitt/Getty This week: Barbara Walters reveals her most fascinating person of the year, William Shatner gets a talk show and Daniel Radcliffe talks about on-stage erections.

MONDAY DEC 1

He’s bared it all on Broadway. Now Daniel Radcliffe promises “emotional nakedness” on Inside the Actor’s Studio, where he’ll talk about his career swerve from tween idol Harry Potter to horse lover/blinder in Equus. (Bravo, 8 p.m.)

Khaled Hosseini, author of New York Times bestseller and serious tearjerker A Thousand Splendid Suns will remind Stephen Colbert’s audience that their disintegrating stock portfolios are but a trifle when compared with the value of human life. (Comedy Central, 11:30 p.m.)

Billionaire investor/adventurer Steve Fossett disappeared in September 2007 while piloting a small plane high over the Nevada desert. Discovery Channel star Steve Searles was wrapping up a film shoot nearby when a hiker discovered the crash site. Within hours, Searles and his production team had inked a deal to document the Fossett mystery, and the resulting footage, and subsequent investigations, now arrive in Steve Fossett: What Went Wrong? (10 p.m.)

TUESDAY DEC 2

Our initial response to the latest installment of the History Channel’s Universe series, “Sex in Space,” was: teach us how to date in New York, then we’ll give a damn about doing it in orbit. But the episode promises to get to the bottom of whether NASA astronauts have ever joined the 220-Mile High Club, so (sigh) we’re in. (9 p.m.)

Speaking of space, the BIO network has given former Enterprise captain and Emmy winner William Shatner his own talk show. In Shatner’s Raw Nerve, the king of career resuscitation will have “heated conversations with the hottest names in Hollywood.” The guest list is a mixed bag—opening the series is Touched By an Angel’s Valerie Bertinelli—but we’ll tune in for the Shatner histrionics alone. (11 p.m., followed by an episode featuring Tim Allen)

WEDNESDAY DEC 3

Our pick of the week: the Sundance Channel premieres Spectacle: Elvis Costello With… The intimate talk show hosted by the original cool geek flaunts an impressive guest roster that begins with Sir Elton John (also an executive producer), The Police, Rufus Wainwright, and Bill Clinton—who just might jam! (9 p.m.)

Fox’s latest UK import Secret Millionaire follows moneyed folks who anonymously infiltrate the plebian masses for a week, Barbara Ehrenreich-style. They work for minimum wage and find a few lucky commoners worthy of their largesse. Louisiana fast-food entrepreneurs Todd and Gwen Graves star in the season opener—expect prizes, tears, and, quothe Entertainment Weekly, “a thousand uses for ground meat.” (8 p.m.)

Ah, the duality of womanhood in the media milieu. CBS brings the glitter, the glamour, and a $5 million bra with The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, not to mention a presumably ecstatic Usher as musical guest. (10 p.m.) Then segue into the brilliant-newswoman bonanza on the late-night talk shows: Arianna Huffington drops by The Daily Show (Comedy Central, 11 p.m.), followed by Barbara Walters on The Colbert Report (11:30 p.m.), and CNN’s Christiane Amanpour delights on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. (NBC, 11:35 p.m.)