Vacation season is still in session for most of the late night crowd, so you’ll have to wade through a mountain of repeats if you want to get your yuks and music before nodding off to sleep. Perhaps that’s for the best, as even the shows that are in session this week are a little soft. But if you’re into music, Letterman has got you covered. He will have musical appearances by Big Boi (Monday, August 23), Katy Perry (Tuesday, August 24), the Pretty Reckless (Wednesday, August 25) and the Specials (Thursday, August 26).

The rest of your options this week are all on cable. Jon Stewart will welcome Rod Blagojevich (Monday) and Drew Barrymore (Wednesday) to “The Daily Show,” while George Lopez will have great music from Korn (Tuesday) and Fantasia (Wednesday). (He’ll also have Lynyrd Skynyrd on the show, if you’re into that.)The morning shows are all on vacation, though it’s probably worth catching Tuesday’s repeat of “The View” that features Andre Leon Talley as a guest host. But with so many people on hiatus, perhaps this is the week to dive into “Tavis Smiley,” the late night show on PBS (no, really). He’ll have an eclectic batch of guests this week, including Rufus Wainwright (Monday), author David Finkel (Tuesday) and Louisiana Recovery Authority chairman Norman Francis.

Also an option: Spending the week watching “Chelsea Lately” in preparation for the on-the-horizon 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, which will air live from Los Angeles on Sunday, September 12 at 9 p.m. Eastern on MTV.

Source: MTV