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......

Southern California is girding itself for high winds this weekend. Emergency vehicles, such as huge, water carrying planes and an abundance of fire trucks and crews from around the state and country are staying put, in case a fiery after shock occurs, KPCC reports. Be safe and lock up the 10-year-olds. I've been saying they're trouble for years. There's some sort of strike set to begin Monday. This is not your average work stoppage.......

So is anyone NOT buying Knocked Up this week? There's something like 5 different versions in Amazon's top 25 bestsellers right now. Wow. The TV Set is a great movie that about 400 people saw when it was in theaters. I had a near-private screening one afternoon at the Santa Monica Laemmle. Next is really only interesting if you're a Nicholas Cage hairpiece connoisseur (like myself). Evening has an incredibly raunchy nude scene with......

Monday Mark Danielewski presents Only Revolutions 7pm @ Vroman's Ellen Sandler presents The TV Writer's Workbook 7pm @ Borders, Sherman Oaks Nell Freudenberger & Jennifer Gilmore discuss their work with Bernadette Murphy 7pm @ Central Library Sy Safransky discusses his work and The Sun 7:30pm @ Beverly Hills Public Library Tuesday James Ellroy discusses his work 7pm @ Central Library Diana Gabaldon presents Lord John & the Brotherhood of the Blade 7pm @ Vroman's......

CBS says it is one parent distorting the picture of Kid Nation, a reality show about 40 kids, 40 days and no adults that premieres on September 19th. But news outlets are on the attack with Lisa de Moraes of The TV Column at The Washington Post rounding up the media coverage: The news reports on "Kid Nation" to date are the stuff PR-nightmare legends are made of: charges of thwarting child-labor laws; parents......

The TV Junkie's picks for the night: 8:00-9:00pm Big Brother 8 CBS - LAist's editor-in-chief's fave (only on Sundays perhaps), but here it is, a new episode - is the Tommy Lee-wannabe gonna dis the hottie some more? 9:00-10:00pm American Chopper TLC -David Letterman's fave. The boys were just on his show and they were pretty darn entertaining. Lemme guess, the younger brother does something stupid. 10:00-11:00pm Mad Men AMC - A collection of......

HBO has been known to push the envelope. Thanks to the fact that subscribers pay extra for the channel, and there are no commercials, the network is neither beholden to the FCC or uptight whiners. Without those restrictions, the network has been able to blossom with adult-orientated shows like The Sopranos, Taxi Cab Confessions, and Entourage. Now there's word that HBO has a new series about sex that actually shows real penetration between the......

After being all 4th of July-ed out, this LAist poster settled in for a mellow night in front of the boob tube. But the network pickings were slim. We're talking skinnier than Nicole Richie. NBC-4 showed two hours of dreck with America's Got Talent. FOX aired two hours of So You Think You Can Dance. And ABC offered viewers George Lopez, Freddie (yes, Prinze Jr. has a TV show) and two repeat episodes of......

He might be the sage from South Central but he's no sage of tv syndication. Larry Elder's eponymous daytime talk show will not be next season. The KABC talk radio host and conservative columnist now has two defunct syndies under his belt. Elder continues to be a dominant radio personality and will celebrate his 11th year on the air this year. The TV talk show will continue to air locally on KCBS at 9......

We're not quite sure how to define the new breed of Country music influenced singer-songwriters on the airwaves lately. We're even more confused when they are local (by way of Nashville, Tennessee) artists like Casey Black. Do we call him alt-country or something else. Nothing quite seems to fit right. Ever since we picked up his album last year and saw him at an awkward solo performance at the Santa Monica Apple Store we......