A fall TV guide (with help from Carly Googles)

Hey, it's almost time for TV shows to get back on the air! :O It seems like just yesterday that they all ended in May. Where DOES the time go?

However, I'm psyched, since in just a few short weeks I will be able to devote massive amounts of my time (and this blog!) to new television. Some of these posts will take the place of The Baggage Game, which will disappoint some of you, but no doubt please Danielle and others who dislike it.

My friend Carly - and I can call her my friend, of course, because we're friends on Facebook - at Carly Googles already covered some of this ground. You can check out her awesome entry here. I'm going to focus on the shows I actually watch though, cribbing from her list and the Internet, like...

Archer - TBA 2011. The cartoon from Matt Reed, the guy who did Sealab 2021 and Frisky Dingo, was probably my favorite show from start to finish last year. The only bad thing was its short season length. I'm hoping they do a full 20-episode run this time, but since it is an FX show, I'm guessing that won't happen.

Community - Sept. 23 (Thurs.) Like the other NBC Thursday shows, we have another week to go for new episodes. SIGH. Given how the season ended, there are definitely a lot of different ways they can go with the start. It's definitely the tensest comedy from a character standpoint, given the minefield that awaits this year.

Family Guy - Sept. 26 (Sun.) I feel like each year, less and less of my friends watch. However, if you can accept that it's generally the same sort of formula for each episode, it's still pretty solid. Hey, it's only 22 minutes of your life, once you take away the commercials. There isn't enough funny in that short time to keep your interest? As "Funny" Dave Dameshek would say, SHAME!

Glee - Sept. 21 (Tues.) Sigh - It seems like so far away! Just one more week...

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - Sept. 16 (Thurs.) This freakin' week! SCORE. I'm super excited.

Modern Family - Sept. 22 (Wed.) A week after Always Sunny, which seems appropriate to me. It's the best network sitcom going right now, even if I thought its last episode sucked. It really deserved all of the Emmys it won, though.

The Office - Sept. 23 (Thurs.) Much like Heroes last year, this is a make-or-break season of the show to me. If the first couple episodes are bad, I'm probably tapping out quickly. Even Dwight couldn't save some episodes last year, and he's normally the one go-to guy in terms of laughs.

Saturday Night Live - TBA (but if I had to guess, I'd say Sept. 25 or Oct. 2) This could be an interesting season, since they're (allegedly) replacing four or more cast members. Last season was pretty much sucky except for Betty White, which was surprising to me, because the previous year was pretty solid toward the end.

Shit My Dad Says - Sept. 23 (Thurs.) I really doubt that this show has any staying power. However, I'll at least give it a chance for a couple episodes. Shatner + Funny = Interest.

South Park - Oct. 6. Technically, this is a continuation of the season that began in March. I hate how South Park splits up their seasons into seven episode chunks, ugh. Just as you're getting into the show, it goes off the air for five months. It is still consistently 1) funny 2) socially relevant or 3) both.

The Venture Bros. - TONIGHT! My favorite cartoon on Adult Swim! I just wish they managed to produce more than an episode a month, seemingly. It is animated in an old school style that apparently takes effing forever. The wait is usually worth it, though.

-----
I'm positive I forgot some shows, but this is what's on my radar for now.

Dear TMZ, thanks.

Thanks for being useful every once in a great, great while, such as for the above picture from this article you did... That is all.

Around The Dial: White confirmed for SNL, Conan confirmed for Boston, and death confirmed for shows

Some more television news for you all to digest, since I am woefully behind on my television viewing because of work...

- Our long national nightmare is over, as The New York Daily News and People and practically every other outlet on the Internet is reporting that Betty White will host Saturday Night Live on May 8. According to them and others, guest appearances by Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Molly Shannon, Maya Rudolph, Ana Gasteyer and Rachel Dratch will help White split up the workload of the show.

For myself and other members of the Facebook group devoted to getting her on the show, this is great, great news. I'm just hoping that it doesn't spawn movements for other, inferior hosts, that would water down the entire concept. For example, as much as I love the Chuck Norris facts floating around the Internetz, he would make a pretty horrible SNL host. I think we all got a good dose of his "acting" ability from Walker, Texas Ranger.

- Speaking of Chuck Norris and Walker tangentially, Conan O'Brien is now on tour! It bears the comical name Legally Prohibited From Being Funny On Television Tour, and Conan will hit 30 cities, along with sidekick Andy Richter and portions of his band. Tickets start at $39.50.

I would love to go to this, but I'm not sure if anyone I know in Boston or Rhode Island would be interested in going with me. (This is assuming that tickets haven't already sold out.) If you'd like to go with me, shoot me an e-mail (sgre6768@gmail.com) or leave a comment. He is playing two shows in Boston, Friday June 4 and Saturday June 5. Both shows start at 8 p.m., and ideally, I'd prefer the Saturday show.

- I talked the other day about The Forgotten being canceled already, which made me curious about what other shows had been canceled so far this year. Luckily for me though, TV Series Finale has done all the work for me already with a great list here!

First, I'm really disappointed that I never saw Blonde Charity Mafia, which frankly sounds like something I would make up. My show would revolve around supermodel blondes pulling bank heists and acting EXACTLY like the characters in The Godfather and Goodfellas. Unfortunately, the actual show was supposed to be a docu-series about a trio of young, influential women in D.C. (I'm presuming they would be blonde.)

Second, I was glad to read that Flight of the Conchords ended of their own accord as opposed to waiting for the axe to fall from HBO. While I enjoy Bret and Jemaine as much as anyone, I found their series to stretch the concept a bit much. Their old stand-up special packed the quality into a compact bit, whereas the show stretched it as thin as silly putty.

Third, I find TNT dramas to be very overwrought. I don't like The Closer or Saving Grace, and a third show, Raising The Bar with Zack Morris, has been axed completely. Good riddance. Zack, please go back to your hijinks at Bayside. Heck, you could probably be the principal at this point, which would lead to HILARIOUS role reversals!

And finally, unfortunately... The Tyra Banks Show is done. NOOOOO! She provides so much great fodder for The Soup with Joel McHale. Sigh. At least he still have Wendy Williams, Maury Povich, The Today Show and reality shows to keep afloat...

The Betty White photo is from here. The Flight of the Conchords photo is from here.

Around The Dial: Leno back with some kinda, sorta good guests; Archer gets second season!

Checking in with some television news around the dial...

- The guest list for Leno's return to The Tonight Show has been released, according to TV Guide. Click here to catch a glimpse.

To be honest, I think TV Guide is stretching a bit when they say it includes "a lot" of A-Listers. The first night back, yes, Leno has Jamie Foxx and Lindsey Vonn, followed by Sarah Palin and Shaun White that Tuesday. Those are four pretty solid guests, and I imagine Vonn and White will do well on the show, coming off the Olympics and because of their solid conversational skills anyway.

However, after that, it goes downhill fast. Wednesday has Chelsea Handler, which is probably the first night Leno might get shit on by a guest, and the "big names" for that night are the cast of Jersey Shore. Thursday is Matthew McConaughey - ugh. And Friday has Morgan Freeman, a definite A-lister, but not someone known for his dynamic interviews.

I think most of the better A-list interviews - Tom Hanks, Harrison Ford, Tom Cruise - are going to wait out Leno's "new" Tonight Show to see how the ratings are. If there is a big public backlash against Leno, then I think they'll avoid the show like the plague. At that point, it would be REALLY interesting to see what NBC does. Maybe they could lure Conan back, as nuts as that sounds, with a ridiculous contract offer. Otherwise, they'd have to quickly promote Jimmy Fallon (unlikely) or hire some outside gun with little late night experience.

- In great television news, Archer has been picked up for a second season by FX! Woohoo! Just the other night, I was worried it wouldn't get picked up, but it seems like the ratings have stayed strong for the show. It's great news for Adam Reed, who came from the Adult Swim / Cartoon Network way of doing things, which was to constantly stall and wait on renewing shows.

The Archer picture comes from the news item I linked to in the story. The Leno cartoon is from this site.

Around The Dial: Quick bursts on some random TV news

Just surfing on Google for some random television news...

- I once had a subscription to Time magazine, mostly by accident. I had signed up for some card at Electronics Boutique, and as part of joining their club, I *had* to take a free magazine trial. I forgot to cancel the subscription after a month, but hey, Time was pretty decent, even if it was costing me about $50 a year.

Articles like this one, on the proliferation of reality television by James Poniewozik, are why I kept my subscription going. Also of note are the two sidebars, featuring the Top 10 reality shows and the Top 10 skankiest reality shows.

- CBS had a good fourth quarter, as their advertising revenue increased by 8 percent and they met earnings estimates set by Wall Street. The New York Times story on it is here.

- The Democrats and Republicans are gearing up for a showdown on healthcare at some sort of summit Feb. 25. This Examiner article, while slanted to the left a bit, gives a decent summary of the issues and what not faced by both sides. (So ends my short, yearly political commentary!)

The Burgundy photo is from this site.

Around The Dial: Archer gets good ratings, Gervais excels with the Globes and JLH has bedazzled junk

Back in the day, there was this show called Frisky Dingo. And by "back in the day," what I really mean is January 2009, when it and a spin-off show, The Xtacles, was formally canceled. Anyway, it was a wacky show that featured the evil villain Killface, who resembled a white-skinned standing crocodile, battling Xander Crews, a buffoonish billionaire with the alter-ego of... Awesome X!

Like most of the shows on Adult Swim, it was pretty wacky and funny. I considered it like a more over-the-top version of The Venture Bros., since both shows loved to lampoon the conventions of their genre. Dingo was by the same guys who did Sealab 2021, one of the four original shows on Adult Swim, and it features the same deadpan humor.

This brings me to present day, and the show Archer, which is done by the same guys. Actually, in many ways, it seems like a clone of Frisky Dingo. The main difference is the theme - It merely transposes Xander Crews from a superhero to Archer, a secret agent in an incompetent bureaucracy. Only two episodes have aired so far on FX - it is currently in the time slot of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - but they have shown incredible promise. I'm hoping the show has a good future, and the first articles out about it have noted that it has done surprisingly well in the ratings.

In other television news...

- I watched the Golden Globes last night, and I wasn't really that impressed, outside of all the older celebrities who are still foxy as all heck. I did think that Ricky Gervais did an incredible job hosting, and some of his jokes were just savage. He got in the obligatory shots at NBC and Jay Leno, but his best burn was definitely on Mel Gibson, making a reference to his drunken driving arrest right before he presented an award.

The other amusing part of the broadcast was how drunk some celebrities clearly were. I'm referring mostly to Maggie Gyllenhaal, who looked so drunk-red that it seemed like she was wearing a clown nose, and Felicity Huffman, who repeatedly stumbled over simple teleprompter lines. Also, I was really glad that Glee managed to take home an award, and the cast looked great, too. And as Billy Crystal would say, if you look great, then you must feel great.

- Jennifer Love Hewitt apparently has been into "vajazzeling" her vagine. I don't really think it adds anything to her, but hey, I'm still a fan. She was one of my earliest crushes, along with Melissa Joan Hart.

The Frisky Dingo picture at the top is from this blog. Jen is from this site.

More Glee in my future, but will a gimmick derail?

I'm torn about the news that Glee is getting a second season. On one hand, I'm glad that the show is definitely getting a second season, guaranteed, since FOX has such a horrible track record with nurturing shows. For example, it has already canceled Dollhouse; I didn't watch it, but I've heard good things from friends, who are no doubt displeased at that news. And in the past, FOX hasn't seen it fit to renew great, critically acclaimed shows like Arrested Development, Firefly, Futurama and Family Guy. So, if Glee is safe for another season, then I'm quite glad.

However, an Entertainment Weekly news post about the news contains a distressing bit of information to me - "Fox is launching a nationwide casting search this February to fill three new season 2 roles. Per the network’s press release, “Auditions will be open to amateur individuals as well as professionals between the ages of 16-26, and all hopefuls will be able to submit auditions online."

What the hell? Why do I want to see amateurs sing? If I wanted to witness that, I'd actually watch American Idol. Dear FOX, keep your god damned amateur singers on one show. I'd prefer that actors and actresses with actual chops, like the lovely Jayma Mays and Lea Michele, get screen time.

I suppose that the new cast members could be just bit players, but really, I can't imagine a scenario in which actual professionals wouldn't be better served for the roles. Also, they're casting three people? That seems like quite a few. Does that mean three people are leaving the show to make room for them? If so, then I suppose it could be a good thing, since it would freshen the cast up a bit from year-to-year, but I would prefer professionals taking those spots as opposed to amateurs.

Also, Britney better be staying on the show. That's all.