Looks like the SAG and studios have dropped negotiations without reaching a deal so look for a bunch more DVD reviews from me in the next few weeks because it's time to stock up for the summer. It's still springtime and finally my young-man's fancy is turning to love just in time to check out "The Love Boat" reruns on Joost - I can't get enough soft-focus of B and C list celebrities from 25......

Hope everyone had a great weekend with or without your TVs. Not much industry stuff of note today other than Variety pounding on the drums for the SAG contracts to move towards resolution. The two parties have met 17 times so far and still the June 30th date gets closer. Can you imagine meeting 17 times with someone and not having reached some kind of compromise? 7:30pm The Assassination of Richard Nixon IFC - (2004)......

The LA Times has a write-up on the demise of local public Channel 36. Somehow the City of LA can't/won't come up with a measly $500k to keep local broadcast of "school sport events, public policy talks, and long-distance for-credit college classes". While it's true that there is another city-funded public channel (#35) that one seems to be a megaphone for whichever politicians are in office. Surely the megalopolis of LA is big enough to......

It looks like Time Warner Inc. will be spinning off Time Warner Cable and announcing that sometime today. No word yet on how that might affect subscribers (like yours truly) of the TV, phone, and web services that the cable entity offers. 9:00pm MI-5 BBCA - This show kicks butt over any similar US show: "CSI", "NUMB3RS", etc. 9:15pm Brief Encounter TCM - (1945) Hey romantics, this tale of unrequited love directed by David Lean......

This weekend it's all about BBC America's programming with new seasons of "Robin Hood", "The Graham Norton Show", and "Wire In The Blood". I've seen previews of "Robin Hood" and it's a more than worthy replacement for "Torchwood" whose season (dramatically) ended last Saturday with the (supposed) deaths of at least two main characters. Of course, you'll have to be able to emotionally handle the incredible switch from science fiction to fantasy in order to......

New York City may be all the way across the country, but if Rupert Murdoch gets his way there you can bet he will cast his gaze upon all other major metropolitan areas: the New York Times reports that Murdoch wants to obtain a permanent FCC waiver to acquire two TV NYC stations in addition to his three newspapers and radio assets. Will this be a last hurrah while the friendly Bush Administration still controls......

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Viacom, MGM, and Lion's Gate are teaming up to place (yet) another premium channel in your cable lineup - supposedly there are movies and programming that HBO, Showtime, Starz, Cinemax, etc. are not covering. Is the logo going to be a lion with a Viacom dog collar? 7:00pm High Plains Drifter TCM - (1973) This is Clint Eastwood at his cowboy best in a non-spaghetti Western. It might......

Hey "Gossip Girl" fans, The CW is pulling the show off of its website because too many of you are choosing to watch it online vs. TV (where its ratings are slumping). So, I get it, restrict the viewing of the content and everything will get better. What do you want to bet that this won't fix the problem? Tonight 7:00pm The Stepford Wives TCM - (1975) The ORIGINAL and much better version, with the......

MTV's "The Real World" returns for its 20th season which is scary because I remember the premiere of this show back in 1992. My roommates and I, and our significant others (or not) would get together and watch the show which seemed scarily innovative at the time - _anything_ could happen! From being an innovator in reality programming to just another in a field of crowded participants, another season of "The Real World" seems like......

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......

Am recovering from my NYC trip to see the SNL taping. Monday looks a little slow but I'm sure there's a crapload of Masters' Tournament highlights to watch. I'm sorry if the selection looks a little CBS-heavy but that's what's on. What're you watching on Monday nights? Lemme know. 8-10:00pm The Big Bang Theory/How I Met Your Mother/Two and a Half Men/Rules of Engagement CBS - All new. CBS has a comedy stranglehold on Monday......

We have a bit of TV on tonight but it's not much unless you like cooking, which I do. I'm waiting for Thursday and the return of some programming to NBC. 7:00pm Major Dundee TCM - (1965) A classic with Charlton Heston in a memorial marathon of his films today/tonight on TCM. 8:00pm Nova:Cracking the Maya Code PBS/KCET - Goddammit, I feel like this is an excuse for yet another National Treasure sequel. 9:00pm Dancing......

Did anyone see the plastic surgery disaster that is Renee Zellweger on Letterman last night? The skin was stretched so hard over her face I thought her skull was going to pop out. OK so maybe it isn't plastic surgery, Botox anyone? What is wrong with her?? Tracey Ullman has her dead on in "State of the Union". Also, in yesterday's Wall Street Journal, there's an article about NBC's new 52-week, wait, now "65-week" lineup,......

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 Fox TV above the law? The Washington Post reports that Fox is challenging a $91,000 fine levied against them by the FCC for a broadcast of "Married by America" back in 2003 that featured reality show cast members licking whipped cream off of strippers' "digitally obscured" body parts. Since the FCC is controlled by an administration that is full of Fox fans will the network get away with it? It should be noted that......

DirecTV has finally come to the on-demand table but is it too late? Supposedly it's at least as bad as the Dish Network's offering - very limited functionality, automatically sending content to a set top box with limited storage and potential delays in viewing. Friday 8:00pm The Return of Jezebel James FOX - Series Premiere. Parker Posey in a sitcom? WTF? Fox is really planning for success with this one by putting it on a......

Everyone is in a tizzy about The Wire coming to a close yesterday - it's one of the few shows that decided to go out while it was on top so kudos to them. The TV Junkie is barely keeping his head above water with the deluge of new shows coming out in the next week, tonight it's Julianna Margulies' return to the little screen with Canterbury's Law (that's a mouthful, say: Julianna Margulies in......

How do you say "circling vultures" in Spanish? | Photo courtesy of Paramount Vantage I'm still a bit surprised that Into the Wild was so completely overlooked during awards season. Sure it meandered a bit, but the acting and directing were all top-notch. And how on earth was Eddie Vedder's "Hard Sun" skipped over by the Academy in favor of three--three!--songs from Enchantment? This may sound weird, but I liked everything about Mr. Magorium's......

Talk shows this week are all Natalie Portman all the time if you hadn't noticed - the charming pixie is making the rounds for her new flick The Other Boleyn Girl, a period piece that looks like a yawn to me. In terms of tonight's viewing options check out the 10 o'clock slot - way too many choices and all of them are reality TV, what a shame. 7:15pm Doctor Zhivago TCM - If you......

On Monday the NY Times reported that ABC and Cox Communications are collaborating on a video-on-demand service with disabled fast-forward, meaning, yeah, that you can't skip the commercials. This isn't that new an idea as Time Warner Cable has been doing the equivalent with two features called "Start Over" and "Look Back" (after using them IMHO they stink). This is another example of old media protectionist attitudes that think the strategy is to avoid being......

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......

OK so the Oscars are this weekend. Even though the writers' strike is over, the prediction is that this will be a ho-hum (excuse me?) Oscars. First of all, the majority of the films presented for consideration are real downers, secondly, because of the strike, many potential presenters thought that the awards ceremony would be canceled or drastically cut back so they made other plans and are now not available to present at the show.......

OK so the Oscars a week from Sunday are what we're building up to but as an enthusiastic follower of Dexter on Showtime, I'm intrigued to see how it will translate to its network debut on CBS at 10:00pm this Sunday. At first I was concerned that the end result would be a heavily edited, several minutes shorter, vapid and empty shell of its former glory. Not so according to my Showtime contact. Evidently when......

Idol-heads and Runway-heads have a lot to celebrate tonight and I'll be damned, look at how busy the schedule is in the 10:00-11:00pm time frame. Since I don't think any of the options are fantastic is it better to have a little or a lot of mediocrity to choose from? In other news, yeah the writer's strike is over, and SNL is finally heading back into production with it's first show scheduled for Feb.......

The much hyped Lipstick Jungle makes its debut tonight. The networks are desperate to get a Sex In The City lift but how typical to go after a show format that premiered a decade ago instead of coming up with something new and original. Reviewers who received a preview from NBC have said that Lipstick Jungle is "not as bad as Cashmere Mafia" - a Pyrrhic Victory at best. 7:45pm Lolita TCM - (1962) The......

I was kind of unhappy at how PBS dropped off Super Tuesday coverage fairly early in the evening. Political sickos pretty much had to rely on CNN which was all tech-ed out: did you see that crazy stage Wolf Blitzer was on? How about the map with _way_ too much information? They didn't even know where to look on that thing and neither did I. Was I looking at specific precincts reporting, or was......

It's been going on all day as it is: election coverage. Obviously you have your choice to get this news all night: CBS, ABC, PBS, CNN, MSNBC, and probably the best news source, Comedy Central. For all other decent viewing options see below. And if elections aren't the equivalent of polling and monitoring then there's this recent bit about a challenge to the Nielsen ratings system. Looks like TNS Media Research is going to go......

It's more of a challenge than anything. Dear WGA, you've got some big shoes to fill, can't wait for you guys to get back on the job with proper compensation and creating something "worthy" of TCM's high standards.......

I'm feeling it a little bit, yes, definitely am looking forward to the LOST premiere on Thursday night. Maybe make some chicken teriyaki and some tropical drinks, perhaps in a real coconut shell, yeah, that's the ticket. Also, did anyone catch Cosby on Letterman last night? The guy is brilliant. 9:00pm Myth Busters TLC - Debunking something about remote controlled planes as well as the "cockroach survival" theory 9:00pm Lost ABC - "New" super......

There's a few new shows and seasons starting this week, including the 2 hour premiere of "Lost" on Thursday but it all just feels like a build-up to the Super Bowl. 6:00pm State of the Union Address VARIOUS - Unless he gets the Constitution amended, this is his last one, time for a party. 9:00pm Intervention A&E - If you've been watching "Breaking Bad" the last couple weeks, here's the real deal on crystal meth......