Watch It! For April 28, 2008

“Jon and Kate Plus 8″

One of the positive outcomes — maybe the only one — of the WGA strike has been the relative paucity of reruns in April. Usually, the networks start dribbling out the rehashes the month before sweeps, preparing us for the great expanse of broadcasting sadness that comes with warm weather. But this month has been strangely entertaining thanks to the mad push to make you remember why you liked series television in the first place.

On “How I Met Your Mother” (7:30 p.m. CBS), Barney violates something called “The Bro Code,” which might have something to do with NPH riding a unicorn. And on “Carrier” (8 p.m., PBS), the secrecy surrounding the USS Nimitz’ location is given a look, albeit a close-to-the-vest one, as well as the role of port calls in maintaining crew sanity. That should be a little embarrasing.

On “Jon and Kate Plus 8″ (8 p.m. TLC), the Gosselins go on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” which continues this show’s inevitable slide into self-reference. My wife loves to watch ”J&K+8″ because watching people deal with six 3-year-olds instead of our one makes her feel better about the toddler struggle, but when I watch it, it shoots my nerves, yet I keep coming back in a testament to televisual masochism. Plus, one of my chief dislikes is when the subjects of reality television acknowledge their notoriety — it happened with “The Osbournes” and also the original “Flip This House” people in Charleston, S.C.  It began on “J&K+8″ when they started getting comped on everything from tummy tucks to pianos, and it culminates in this Oprah visitation. I just want to see how people deal with having eight kids, not on how they deal with the rush of fame. Fame is boring, but creating your own army of toddlers is compelling television.