If you saw my SNL post yesterday, you know I'm all high on live TV (always have been), and lookie, lo-and-behold, we're going to start getting live ads on TV: the Hollywood Reporter says that Jimmy Kimmel (featured below tonight) will start running at least one live ad per episode starting in May. Garmin ran a live ad on Leno a year ago and the "effectiveness and awareness" levels exceeded standard (dead?) ads enough for......

Did anyone watch "Top Gear" last night on BBCA? They had a fantastic contest of who could cross London the fastest: a bicycle, a several hundred horsepower boat, public transportation, or a Mercedes SUV. The bike won! Followed closely by the boat and then public transportation with the SUV dead last by more than a quarter hour after public transport. Since LA doesn't have many viable waterways it looks like it's time to sideline cars......

Is HBO really in trouble? (Speaking of HBO, check out this great movie from 1983 about the creation of the HBO Theater opening sequence). Business Week asks if the premium channel is in trouble now that "The Sopranos" are gone (also "The Wire", "deadwood", "Rome", etc.) with nothing on the horizon to step up. The fact is that Showtime, FX, and even AMC are coming up with more compelling shows as of this last year......

Here on the 5th anniversary of the Iraq War with over 4,000 American dead and tens of thousands of Americans wounded PBS' Frontline launches its two-part special "Bush's War". Of course conservative pundits will accuse PBS of being the citadel of the liberal media but Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, or any of their ilk could never come up with a documented timeline of evidence that illustrate what a completely disgusting mess we're in. The......

A few months ago LAist interviewed writer/creator/director Marshall Herskovitz about his web series Quarterlife, and lo and behold, the series debuts on NBC tonight! MySpace, which showcased Quarterlife has a new show of the hidden-camera comedy variety debuting this week as well, "Special Delivery", which will have episodes twice weekly. From these new media developments we turn to television's ancient past on today, Jackie Gleason's birthday, JackieGleason.com has been launched with rare stills and clips......

Am not so sure how I feel about last night's Frontline (PBS/KCET) which was an analysis of the Haditha "incident" where 24 Iraqi civilians, mostly women and children, were not massacred - they were just killed in their pajamas. I guess it's a matter of semantics, when is shooting 2 year olds at point blank not a massacre? I don't think the Marines or PBS itself did a good job of proving that this incident......

OK so the PBS examination of the Haditha massacre is going to be pretty heavy duty tonight, there's a couple options for lighter fare, and of course the season finale of Nip/Tuck will be the pornographic prime time finish. 8:00pm American Idol FOX - The 12 remaining male contestants perform. 8:00pm Tour of California: Stage 2 From Santa Rosa to Sacramento VERSUS - Fabian Cancellara is in the lead by 2 seconds, American Levi Leipheimer......

If you care for "Just For Laughs", "According To Jim" and all things Tuesday ABC, they're new. We have a premiere tonight on Bravo, our new source of reality TV. This time they're launching Millionaire Matchmaker featuring Patti Stranger (right) who performs the very public service of hooking up desperate, misunderstood, and underprivileged millionaires with compatible mates - Patti, I hope someday a grateful society brings you the honors you deserve. 8:00pm American Idol FOX......

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......

I watched Saving Grace last night because there was nothing else on and I was sorry I did it. Holly Hunter I love you but there should be a better show than this for you - it's morphed into Touched By An Angel with touches of profanity. It looks like there's a lot of stuff tonight (below) but it's actually pretty sparse. I'll have some DVD reviews up soon since that's what I'm really watching,......

7:15pm It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World TCM - Every comedian alive was put in this '63 classic. Watch it, without commercial interruption, as this gang of motley fools head across SoCal towards a slapstick finish in Santa Monica and Venice. TV Junkie Pick-O-The-Night. 8:00pm A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving ABC - One of the weaker Charlie Brown specials, but nostalgia is strong. 8:00pm Kontroll IFC - Cool indie flick from Hungary about a psychopath......

The much anticipated Damages finale is tonight - since the series was so very good I'm already thinking beyond the finale and more about which players will remain for a second season. Ted Danson's Frobisher is so delightfully evil the airwaves will be much the poorer in his absence, if in this season marks his departure. 8:00pm Five Days HBO - Part 4 of 5. The only new drama programming on at 8pm tonight other......

Don't forget to check out my interview with Glenn Close if you haven't yet. Damages is the pick of the night of course, but there's some other gems out there. 8:00pm Matt Lauer Reports NBC - I'm not a huge fan of Matt Lauer or NBC news reporting but it should be interesting to see him grill Senator Larry Craig about his wide stance. 9:00pm Frontline: Cheney's Law PBS/KCET - A look at the Cheney......

A Word or 56+/-: I guess Tuesday's are Ida Lupinow filmfests on TCM - why, god why? How about a Terry Thomas filmfest for effssake? If you want to watch new stuff tonight you'll have to head over to PBS. And hey, Colbert has a "surprise guest that rhymes with Steagle" tonight. Bugsy Siegel? Tonight - Tuesday - June 12th, 2007 Dodgers @ Jays (KCAL, 4:00 p.m.) Astros @ Angels (Fox Sports, 7:30 p.m.)......

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......

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 73: LA, get ready for your dirty underbelly to be nauseatingly exploited as the sixth season of The Shield gets underway tonight. There's a bit more room on the dial after, thank god, the following shows got the ax last week: The Wedding Bells (Fox) which was truly awful, Six Degrees (ABC) another bad one, 7th Heaven (the CW) which I don't even know about and The Black Donnellys which was......

Tonight - Tuesday - February 27th, 2007 Wuthering Heights (TCM, 7:00 p.m.) Get Bronteed with the original '39 film. NCIS/The Unit (CBS, 8-10:00 p.m.) Pull on the Depends for 2 hours of non-stop CBS action. Dateline NBC/Law & Order: Criminal Intent/Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (NBC, 8-11:00 p.m.) Perverted Justice/Poisoned journalist/A rape in Philadelphia Gilmore Girls (the CW, 8:00 p.m.) Rory gets offered an interview with the New York Times. Primetime (ABC, 9:00......

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 30: Golden Globes redux: was happy that Sacha Baron Cohen won; Forest Whitaker, OK; Alec Baldwin, thank you; but "Cars"? "Grey's Anatomy"? No wonder I hate those award skeet skeet sessions. Tonight - Tuesday - January 16th, 2007 Blues @ Ducks (PRIME, 7:00 p.m.) "American Idol" (Fox, 8:00 p.m.) 2 hour season premiere "America's Funniest Home Videos" (ABC, 8:00 p.m.) A two hour death march of fun "The Unit" (CBS, 9:00......

Tuesday Night "NBA Basketball" (PRIME 42, 6:00 p.m.) Clippers @ Jazz "Nova" (PBS, 8:00 p.m.) A genetic impairment causes an entire Turkish family to walk on all fours. PBS is attempting to become the Discovery Channel, or TLC or something sensational. What next, "When Anthropologists Attack"? "Dancing With the Stars" (ABC, 8:00 p.m.) This is the finals, finally - does anyone think that they'll let Emmitt Smith walk away with this thing? I'd like......

“Dancing With the Stars” (ABC, 8:00 p.m.) Really, is this worth watching anymore without Springer on it? We're hoping for some kind of graphic dance-floor accident, or perhaps a Carrie-at-the-senior-prom reenactment. “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” (NBC, 9:00 p.m.) Liza Minelli makes a cameo appearance in this Halloween-tinged episode. “Veronica Mars” (the CW, 9:00 p.m.) The underground campus casino is robbed in this Halloween-tainted episode. “Frontline/World” (PBS, 9:00 p.m.) The Burmese government conducts a......

As if the ghetto birds weren't enough, now the LA Sheriff is checking out unmanned drones for survelliance. Farewell privacy! The long-awaited Biggie Smalls retrial pushed back to 2007, American Airlines red-eye flight from LA to Chicago lands at O'Hare this morning without its nosegear lowering and locking. Pilots are amazing. The editors of the LA Times are bashing their parent company's CEO today. Hugh Hewitt says "This is a classic hit piece, standard......

OJ Simpson was in town this past weekend for Necrocomicon which, as Cinematical points out, seems an odd choice since his film career didn't feature much in the way of horror (and if OJ now counts as a modern-day boogie man popular like Jason Voorhees, Freddy Kreuger and Michael Myers, well, well we don't quite have the words to explain how that makes LAist feel) but he probably wasn't talking much with people about......