TiVo’s Best Bet Recordings: August 8, 2011

It’s time to get that TiVo® DVR ready for this week’s Best Bet Recordings. This week is filled with stars returning to TV in their series and season premieres. For those of you who loved “Sister, Sister”, Tia & Tamera Mowry are back in their own reality series. Top Shot returns for a third season. Raven-Symone is also back on TV in State of Georgia. If those don’t suite you check out these other great suggestions…

Bachelor Pad: To paraphrase the opening sequence of “The Odd Couple”: Can dating-show alumni — specifically, alumni of past seasons of “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette” — share a house without driving one another crazy? Probably not, but it’s fun to watch, especially since the second season’s batch of housemates includes Season 14 Bachelor Jake Pavelka; his chosen one-turned-ex, Vienna Girardi; and Vienna’s current beau, Kasey Kahl.

Auction Kings: Paul Brown, owner of the Atlanta auction house Gallery 63, hunts for the most unusual items in America, then beguiles bidders into paying top dollar when they go under the gavel in this reality series. In the second-season premiere, those items include a super-rare piece of baseball memorabilia, a Harley-Davidson motorcycle from the 1940s and a gambler’s watch from the 1800s with a surprise inside.

One Man Army: A real-life “Hurt Locker” scenario challenges the last two operatives standing in the new episode “Faster, Stronger, Smarter.” Those two will emerge from a field that includes a veteran Navy SEAL, an FBI agent, a Florida motorcycle cop and a private security contractor, who must carry an 80-pound load under and over a series of walls and make their way through a web of lasers. The winner gets $10,000 and the One Man Army title.

2011 PGA Championship: Golf’s best head to Georgia’s Atlanta Athletic Club for the year’s final major, the PGA Championship. A field that includes Luke Donald, Lee Westwood, Phil Mickelson and Graeme McDowell will vie for the title won last year by Martin Kaymer. The 26-year-old German won the 2010 tourney in a playoff against Bubba Watson, but the big story was Dustin Johnson grounding his club in a bunker, which cost him a two-stroke penalty and a spot in the playoff.

Strike Back: Cinemax goes guns a-blazing into the world of original programming with this high-octane action series about a disgraced former U.S. Special Forces officer (Sullivan Stapleton), who joins with a secret British military unit to fight international terrorists. If you like your action audacious and your pace relentless, you’ve found your perfect summer entertainment. Philip Winchester (“Crusoe,” “Camelot”) also stars.

Daily Picks, most-recorded shows and more can all be found on tivo.com to help make the most of your TV time. Not at home to set a recording? No sweat. Your broadband-connected TiVo box allows you to set recordings while on the go.  Learn More.