So The Colber(t) Repor(t) and The Daily Show are back and while Colbert, Stewart, Kimmel, and Conan are all nimble on their feet, and very funny and engaging, it's amazing how the success of all these shows really comes down to the writing. It's great to have them all back on the air and it does provide us all with some late night alternatives, but I hope NBC, ABC, and Viacom come to their senses......

TV character actor John Berg was found dead at his Van Nuys residence Sunday afternoon. Berg took his own life by carbon monoxide poisoning using a hibachi grill. He was 58. "He died as a result of suicide ... from suffocation," Lt. John Kadas of the coroner's office said. "A hibachi grill was used inside his bedroom. It's a fairly common form of suicide where it's put inside an enclosed space and then lit up.......

Some Trekkies are having heart palpitations over this: William Shatner, who played Captain Kirk, will not be in the 2008 release of Star Trek. While Leonard Nimoy gets to play the resurrection of his character, Spock, there is no place for Shatner and the cocky and horny Boston Legal character is disappointed, he told the Associated Press: 'I couldn't believe it. I'm not in the movie at all. Leonard, God bless his heart, is in,......

From last week's episode of Boston Legal, which is, hands down, one of the funniest shows on TV these days.......

Will we be able to survive the onslaught of new shows and season premieres tonight? Will you succumb to the hype of Cane? I've been hearing about that one since the beginning of the year. Reaper, on the CW, is directed by Kevin Smith of Clerks fame. But for quality I'm probably going to have to stick with Damages, at 10pm on FX, since I haven't missed an episode yet and won't miss this one.......

Suburbia: 140-mile commute to LA and back, life in subsidized housing in Antelope Valley is of a different brand. Douchebag: So this is where David E. Kelley gets his material for Boston Legal on ABC -- right here in LA where our own City Attorney stonewalls the simplest of yes or no questions. What an asshole, don't vote for this guy if he runs for anything. Another good example: he wasted money suing the Grand......

A Word or 76: CBS lineup tonight is wiped out by the CMAs and unless you are up for a Sir Laurence Olivier marathon on TCM then there's no movies on. I'm getting kind of sick of the parade of authors on late night TV, particularly Comedy Central - who the eff has time to read when there's so much bad TV? Speaking of bad TV, we're down to the final 3 on both......

A Word or 10: I hope Jon Stewart rips Tenet a new one tonight. Tonight - Tuesday - May 8, 2007 Indians @ Angels (KCAL, 7:00 p.m.) NCIS/The Unit (CBS, 8-10:00 p.m.) Murder victim found in taxi, Jenny discovers a "secret"/The team is having past mission infractions investigated Dateline NBC (NBC, 8:00 p.m.) NBC exploits families looking for loved ones Gilmore Girls/Veronica Mars (the CW, 8-10:00 p.m.) Rory's graduation party/Verionica investigates the disappearance of......

Tonight - Tuesday - May 1, 2007 NCIS/The Unit (CBS, 8-10:00 p.m.) This week the gimmick is a blind photographer - dude, what's your Flickr site?/Parachute malfunction Brando (TCM, 8-??) Biography of Marlon Brando followed by several of his films, starting with A Streetcar Named Desire. Dateline NBC (NBC, 8:00 p.m.) Boys confess to 2004 murder of 12-year-old girl Gilmore Girls/Veronica Mars (the CW, 8-10:00 p.m.) Lorelai eating, drinking, shopping, karaoke/Veronica investigates vandalism of......

A Word or 49: Iggy Pop redeems Jimmy Kimmel tonight. For petessake when is the stupid 'house' gimmick ever gonna end on House? (new one tonight) I'm rockin' the slot with the Shield tonight though - now that Vic seems to be in the clear perhaps we're just back to some stellar violence. Today - Tuesday - April 24th, 2007 Rita Hayworth Marathon (TCM, 5- p.m.) Starting with Pal Joey, then Salome, etc. Check......

A Word or 36: My son has pink eye and I've had to watch daytime TV, a truly terrible terrible thing to have to subject yourself to. I dunno if I'll be able to turn any of the following on. Tonight - Tuesday - February 20th, 2007 Canucks @ Ducks (PRIME, 7:00 p.m.) American Idol (Fox, 8:00 p.m.) We're down to 12 wannabes NCIS/The Unit (CBS, 8-10:00 p.m.) New episodes. Dateline NBC (NBC, 8:00......

A Word or 51: PBS and NPR have been hyping up the new set of Frontline programs that expose media manipulation. Knee-jerk conservative pundits will have a chance to spew their own conspiracy theories since this week we have the Anti-Surge Resolution in Congress, and the Libby trial - topics both relevant to the program. Tonight - Tuesday - February 13th, 2007 American Idol (Fox, 8:00 p.m.) Done with auditions, the show heads to......

A Word or 11: Crap - I have no time to get snarky with you today. Tonight - Tuesday - February 6th, 2007 American Idol (Fox, 8:00 p.m.) It's off to San Antonio where they play both kinds of music, Country _and_ Western. NCIS/The Unit/The Unit (CBS, 8-11:00 p.m.) All new and 2x the Unit. Dateline NBC/Late & Order: Criminal Intent/Law & Order: SVU (NBC, 8-11:00 p.m.) All new. Gilmore Girls/Veronica Mars (the CW,......

A Word or 28: Am still impressed with the fact that Bill Gates went on the Daily Show on the eve of a major product kick-off. Too bad the product sucks. Tonight - Tuesday - January 30th, 2007 Lakers @ Knicks (KCAL, 5:30 p.m.) Kings @ Flames (Fox Sports, 6:00 p.m.) Dateline NBC (NBC, 8:00 p.m.) Members of 'Perverted Justice' search for perverts! If only it were the other way around. American Idol (Fox,......

Tonight - Tuesday - January 9th, 2006 Lakers @ Grizzlies (KCAL, 5:00 p.m.) Ducks @ Predators (PRIME, 5:00 p.m.) "Dateline NBC" (NBC, 8:00 p.m.) The one-track minds at NBC have dug up yet another polygamist murderer "Rome" (HBO, 8:00 p.m.) HBO is rerunning Season One in preparation for the season two debut on Sunday. Look for my upcoming DVD review on the Season-One set. "House" (FOX, 9:00 p.m.) House is back - and he......

Tuesday Night "Rachael Ray's Thanksgiving in 60" (FOOD, 6:00 p.m.) If you're in need of last minute T-giving ideas watch this evil little sprite dish them out "Beauty and the Beast" (IFC, 6:00 p.m.) Director Jean Cocteau's 1946 surreal take on the fairy tale. Hey, at least I'm not pushing you to watch Eisenstein's "Alexander Nevsky" at 9:25 p.m. "NHL Hockey" (PRIME, 7:00 p.m.) Sharks @ Ducks "NBA Basketball" (the CW or FSW, 7:30......

More SAG Awards liveblogging. Watch out, Dakota is coming. 8:40 Outstanding actor in a comedic series: Sean Hayes takes it to Will and Grace, leaving William Shatner, James Spader and Larry David behind. 8:44 Ensemble comedy series: Arrested Development, Boston Legal, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Desperate Housewives, Everybody Loves Raymond, My Name is Earl. Which show has the most pretty ladies? Yep, they win. Four lavender dresses &mdashl but nobody told Nicolette. She's in green.(side note:she......

While not always on the top of our Tivo to do list, David E. Kelly has come up with some pretty good televsion shows over the years. "Ally Mc Beal", "The Practice" and "Boston Legal" were all solid, if somewhat overly-dramtic tv that served to cement his popularity and his reputation for quality programming. What does a man like this do for an encore? Why get into reality television, of course. Following the "if......

You never know when you're going to run into someone whose life is all things Entertainment, so why not use LAist to keep you in the loop on a variety of high-watermark happenings. Opening this weekend, the Sam Raimi (of Spiderman 1 & 2 fame) produced, and Lucy Lawlesss co-starred whack-a-mole horror flick, Boogeyman. Telling the story of a young man traumatized by memories of terrible events he experienced in his childhood bedroom --......

It's that time of year again. The Museum of TV and Radio has announced their lineup for the 2005 William S. Paley Television Festival, with event panels being organized for NYPD Blue, In Living Color, Adult Swim, Law & Order, Desperate Housewives, Jack & Bobby, The L Word, Lost, Veronica Mars, Boston Legal, Deadwood, and An Evening with Michael Palin. LAist highly recommends buying tickets to an evening for one of your favorite shows,......