Posted Aug 27th 2008 2:03PM by Kristin Sample
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd, Super Skank Wednesday, Celebreality

Welcome to
Super Skank Wednesday. This is where I celebrate the awesomely skanky people on the following shows:
I Love Money,
Charm School,
New York Goes to Hollywood, and
The Surreal Life. Basically, I'll discuss the skankalicious shows that make
VH1 the network it is today.
This Wednesday let's do another picture book fairy tale. I'm learning a lot from
I Love Money. How about you? After the jump, I have a piece I call "12 Pack's Destruction, A Tale of Hubris." I'm not a betting woman, but I don't think anyone on
ILM knows what the term "hubris" means.
Continue reading Super Skank Wednesday: 12 Pack's Destruction, A Tale of Hubris
Posted Aug 27th 2008 1:03PM by Richard Keller
Filed under: Programming, OpEd, America's Got Talent
Several billion years ago, give or take a few billion, a few neutrons decided to get together with a few protons and form what has been called the Big Bang, which pretty much started the universe as we know it. As things cooled down stars, galaxies, and planets were born. On the planet we know as Earth some primordial ooze became cozyu with their amino acid friends, creating the baseline needed for life. At about that same time this season of America's Got Talent premiered aired on NBC.
Okay, I may be exaggerating a bit here, and my science may be slightly off, but it does seem to me that AGT has been on the schedule a bit too long. Premiering on June 17th, most of the shows that aired before the Olympic break have been just the tryouts. Only the very end of July and first few weeks in August dealt with the callbacks and elimination of those initially chosen by Piers, Sharon and the Hoff. Finally, we are now into the live competitions and eliminations, which means two nights of AGT a week for the next several weeks. According to the schedule posted at NBC's media site, that puts the finale of the show around October 1st! Nah, that can't be right.
Continue reading Believe it or not, America's Got Talent is not over yet
Posted Aug 27th 2008 12:43PM by Annie Wu
Filed under: OpEd, Video, The Daily Show, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free

"Guess Who's Coming to Denver?":
The Daily Show is back! They'll be in Denver for the whole
Democratic National Convention, workin' their shiny new set. It's pretty much just Jon's "j" desk and a whole lot of big screens hanging in the back. The gang was in full form, and I believe this was the most I've laughed at the show in a while. Perhaps it only feels that way because the show has been gone for a week and a Monday. Thank goodness they returned, because I was starting to get the shakes.
Continue reading The Daily Show: August 26, 2008 - VIDEOS
Posted Aug 27th 2008 12:26PM by Jonathan Toomey
Filed under: OpEd, Rescue Me, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Webisodes
(M10) Well, now - wasn't much going on there, huh? That isn't a negative comment though. Other than the 9/11 minisode featuring Jimmy, "Smoke" was probably my favorite one out of all ten. Just the 62 Truck boys doing what they do best - saving lives. No words were spoken (hence, the lack of a quote at the beginning of the post) as the guys rushed through one of the worst fires I think we've ever seen on Rescue Me. Tommy saved a young girl and Lou brought out a dog. Not bad.
Continue reading Rescue Me: Smoke (minisode finale)
Posted Aug 27th 2008 11:23AM by Jackie Schnoop
Filed under: OpEd, Video, Survivor, Casting

Originally, the new season of
Survivor had an announced premiere date of September 18. We can scratch that now. It's been changed to two back-to-back episodes on September 25. Don't tell me they're actually thinking ahead and realize that football or something else would preempt the season premiere. It's not like CBS to realize such things!
Jeff Probst will be the host, asking his Probsting questions at Tribal Council. Read on past the jump to check out the new castaways!
Continue reading Survivor: New cast announced - VIDEO
Posted Aug 27th 2008 11:01AM by Richard Keller
Filed under: Programming, OpEd, Doctor Who, Celebrities, Torchwood, Reality-Free
On a regular basis, we get press releases sent to us here in the palatial penthouse suites of TV Squad. Most of them are your standard write-ups about a upcoming series or television event that can't be missed. Others, while they seem to print all of the necessary information, actually have an underlying subtext to them, arousing curiosity about what the networks and/or studios are not revealing.
Take the recent press release from BBC America that mentioned the beginning of filming on the newest series of Torchwood. The press release mentioned the subtitle of the series, Torchwood: Children of Earth, and that this newest series (actually, mini-series ... only five episodes) will focus on one single adventure that has the team battling for the future of the human race. The release also mentioned the return of John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness, Eve Myles as Gwen Cooper and Gareth David-Lloyd as Ianto Jones.
Continue reading Filming begins on the third (mini)season of Torchwood
Posted Aug 27th 2008 9:59AM by Jonathan Toomey
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, Early Looks, Reality-Free

You're going to hear a lot of things about FX's new motorcycle club drama Sons of Anarchy. It's different, it's edgy, and it covers a fairly taboo topic that, up to now, hasn't really been addressed in a TV drama.
However, strip away the leather jackets and exhaust fumes and you're looking at something we have seen before: Sons of Anarchy is The Sopranos on Harleys. You've got your powerful crime family, illegal gun smuggling, rival gangs, conspiracy, and for good measure? Drea de Matteo (of Sopranos fame) plays a crank addict. Trade the crank for blow and we've seen that before too.
Continue reading Sons of Anarchy -- an early look
Posted Aug 27th 2008 8:38AM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Food/Home/DIY, Programming, OpEd, Daytime, Talk Show

In a media crossover,
People magazine is coming to TV screens.
ABC has scheduled an hour-long special called
Half Their Size: The People Magazine Weight Loss Challenge for Sept. 30 at 10 p.m.
The franchise began in
People in 2002, and focuses on folks who need to shed more than a few pounds -- preferably, half their size. Obviously, the magazine stories have been a big hit, since anything about losing weight is always a big hit.
The show will focus on eight residents of Mississippi -- the nation's "heaviest" state -- for a nine-month period to see how their lives change through diet and exercise.
Continue reading People magazine catches the reality TV wave
Posted Aug 27th 2008 8:03AM by Jackie Schnoop
Filed under: OpEd, Big Brother (US), Episode Reviews, Episode Recaps
(S10E20) "Dan's not a very good negotiator. What the hell was he smoking?" - Memphis about Dan.
And, no. He certainly isn't. With that whacked-out deal he made with Ollie for the Head of Household win on the last episode of
Big Brother 10, Dan will go in the history books as the worst negotiator ever in the series. I don't care if he says he planned it all out. As a matter of tact, if it's planned, then it's even more whacked-out. Read on past the jump for my full review of the show.
Continue reading Big Brother 10: PoV Competition #7
Posted Aug 27th 2008 12:04AM by Isabelle Carreau
Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, America's Got Talent
(S03E09) "The search for the best new act in America continues." - JerryAs Jerry said, the competition ain't over yet! (We will actually be watching the show until October!) After taking a short break for a little event called the Olympics,
America's Got Talent is back with a two-hour long episode and it's now time for us to vote for
Neal E. Boyd your favorite act!
Episode 3.09 is the first of four Top 40 episodes, each lasting two hours. Ten acts perform live each episode. The five acts per episode that received the most votes will move on to the Top 20. Let's review the acts that were shown in the first episode of the week and make our predictions as to which one should move on.
Continue reading America's Got Talent: Episode 309
Posted Aug 26th 2008 6:02PM by Jackie Schnoop
Filed under: OpEd, Big Brother (US)

Tonight's
Big Brother 10 show should prove very entertaining, don't you think? Of course, viewers who only watch the broadcast show will have different games to play than live feeds fans. While I play "How many times can this hamster cuss within five minutes" -- network fans can only count the bleeps. Lucky me, I get the whole shebang.
For the latest news from the 24/7 live feeds, read past the jump. As always,
extreme show spoilers are ahead!
Continue reading Big Brother 10: Live feeds report - August 26
Posted Aug 26th 2008 3:01PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: OpEd, Reality-Free, Burn Notice

Writing a tie-in novel to a popular (and current) TV show can't be an easy thing to do. Some of them are pretty lousy, dashed off to appeal to fans of the show and/or cash in on the show (and let's not even get into fan fiction). The author also has to be careful not to tick off loyal fans who know the show backwards and forwards. What if you get the voice wrong? What if you get character information wrong or change something in the show's world that fans don't buy (and actually ticks them off)? What if you suddenly make the lead character a robot or a leather bondage fanatic?
Luckily none of those things are a problem in the first
Burn Notice tie-in novel,
The Fix. It's written by
Tod Goldberg, author the the novels
Fake Liar Cheat,
Living Dead Girl, and the short story collection
Simplify, and it's his
first journey into the world of TV show tie-ins. It's quite good. Fans will be pleased and it works as a separate little adventure as well.
Continue reading Burn Notice: The Fix - Book Review
Posted Aug 26th 2008 2:02PM by Isabelle Carreau
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, Early Looks, Reality-Free
"Our friendship can be tested anywhere." - Rusty to CalvinSince it's July 9, 2007, premiere on ABC Family,
Greek has been one of weekly TV guilty pleasures. I've been enjoying its light and fun stories as well as the evolving and imploding relationships and friendships between the characters.
Having had the chance to read a few
spoilers about the upcoming season these past few weeks, it looked like
Greek would be as fun to watch as it was in its first season. However, something can look good on paper and turn out quite differently on the screen. Luckily, it is not the case for
Greek; at least not according to the season premiere, which I had the chance to watch.
Slight spoilers coming up!Continue reading Greek season two -- an early look
Posted Aug 26th 2008 1:00PM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, Early Looks, Reality-Free

TNT's original dramas are kind of hit or miss for me. I'm absolutely in love with
The Closer, but have zero interest in
Saving Grace, despite its good reviews and
Holly Hunter's Emmy nomination. It was while I was watching
The Closer that I saw the ads for
Raising the Bar, TNT's newest series, which premieres on Monday, September 1 at 10 pm. I've got to say, I had the same reaction when I first saw promos for
Saving Grace: "meh."
I love a good lawyer show, but there was something about
Raising the Bar that just struck me as bland. I really didn't know if I'd even bother checking out the premiere. However, when I got the chance to see the first three episodes, I decided to jump on it. This way I could check it out at my leisure, but more importantly, I could figure out just what the hell is going on with
Mark-Paul Gosselaar's hair.
Continue reading Raising the Bar -- an early look
Posted Aug 26th 2008 11:03AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Daytime, Reality-Free

Everyone thinks they can write. No, really. If you talk to anyone who likes TV and movies, invariably you'll hear that they have a great story. Well, some do and some don't. In the soap business, just about every kind of story has been told.
A show like
Passions, which has recently come to an end, told wild tales about witches and sorcery and dwarfs and demons.
General Hospital has been firmly set in plots about mobsters in the manner of
The Godfather, with Sonny Corinthos a latter day Michael Corleone.
As the World Turns, currently in its 52nd year, is rooted in traditional love stories and family conflicts, although you have to give them props for
Luke and Noah, a frontline gay romance which is definitely a 21st century development.
Continue reading TV Squad Soap Report: Have I got a story for you...
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