Summer: OVER!

This week is the first official week of Fall TV, which means my carefree days of TV avoidance are OVER. Alas. Of course, I am glad to see the return of some shows ("Community; "30 Rock," and....uh...could that be it??) and am somewhat relieved to learn there really aren't a lot of new shows I'm that excited about. WHICH! Brings me to the reason for this post. I'll be giving a quick rundown of this week's new shows every day over on the Appeal, and you can read today's post right here!

And, as always, you can see my weekly Hey, Watch It! post on the SFGate Culture blog. Go, now, and learn about Elvira's return to late night movie hosting!

Surrender, Surrender, But Don't Give Yourself Away

Of course I have an opinion about the whole Leno/Conan hullabaloo, and you can read it over at the SF Appeal right now!

The Line-Up

For those without TiVo or TiFauxs, note that "30 Rock" has been moved to a new time, swapping with "Scrubs." So, "30 Rock" is now at 9:30 and "Scubs" is now at 8:30.

Got it?

Good.

Also, there's a new episode of "Lost" tonight as well, and it's also moved times. It's now on at 10pm, which I'm kind of annoyed by. Not because it's late and I'm old and I'll fall asleep (although, who am I kidding, that's bound to happen) but because I've been enjoying the season so much, having to wait until 10 to see a new episode is a bit of torture in my primetime line-up.

Stryker...Strike Her!

I can't remember where I first saw this linked to, but this is a pretty good explanation for why the Writers Guild has gone on strike. It's too bad it's hampered by one of the worst audio mixes I've ever heard. And that's saying a lot for a YouTube video.

Scab. Picket. Don't! It Might Get Infected

I guess I should say something about the writers strike, huh?

I'm for it.

The end.

But really, I am all for the writers and what they want. I'm sure it's a lot more complicated than just "Studios = greedy = bad," and "Writers also = greedy, but not quite as bad." But I do think it's pretty obvious that if writers get residuals from reruns, they should also get residuals from any other kind of re-airing of their work, be it online or on DVD....

But more importantly, I'm actually kind of grateful for the break it's giving me in my daily viewing obligations in the late night TV realm. "The Daily Show," "The Colbert Report" and Letterman are currently in reruns. Letterman might come back on the air and try to wing it without a writing staff, which I think is a good thing because the bad thing about all this is that (for the most part) people who work on shows who AREN'T writers aren't getting paid while this strike is going on...

It's also interesting to see that many shows that would have probably been cancelled a long time ago because of bad ratings are remaining on the air because the networks can't afford to pull shows that are already written and filmed when they don't have anything that can go into production to replace them with. But on the other hand, it could also mean that new shows will be cancelled once their episodes run out because why reinvest in shows that could lose their audience after a long hiatus? Might as well start fresh...

Which means only one thing: Get ready for more reality and game shows. And I say: Bring it on. I have a lot of movies in my Netflix queue I'd like to watch.

Holy Crap, It's November!

How did that happen?

I was going to hype "Mad Men" once again because AMC will begin to air reruns of the season tonight, but it looks like they will air episode one tonight, and then for some unfathomable reason will be skipping to episode four next week. Well, I guess that's better than nothing?

In other TV news, Joss Whedon is reteaming with Eliza Dushku for a series on Fox. Hopes are high, but then again I am one of the few people who really didn't go for "Firefly" at all, so Whedon has yet to impress me post-"Buffy"...

Oh, and this week's Streets of San Fauxcisco post is now up on the SFGate Culture Blog.

The Scary-Faced Lady Has Sung

Heh. That was fast. CBS has cancelled "Viva Laughlin" after just two airings. Which was two more airings than it deserved. "The Amazing Race" will take its place on November 4th, woo!

This is the part of the Fall TV season I look forward to with devilish glee: the cancellation of the sucky. This Fall there aren't any new shows I'm really passionate about, so I don't care what gets cancelled and will instead appreciate it when there's one less show on TV I feel the inexplicable need to watch.

Good News Everyone!

Oh, wait. There actually IS good news! AMC has renewed "Mad Men"! I can now watch the show every Thursday without the constant worry that it will soon all be over. Except for tonight, because I think it's a rerun.

If you haven't yet watched the show, shame on you. But if you have Comcast digital cable, I believe all the episodes are available On Demand, so you now have no excuse to not be watching.

Suck It, E! Entertainment Television!

So, Kathy Griffin won an Emmy at that "Creative Emmys" last weekend, and her speech won't be televised on E! this weekend. Here's what she said:

I guess hell froze over. A lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this. He had nothing to do with this... suck it Jesus! This award is my God now.

People are calling it hate speech. All I know is I love her a little bit more now.

Of course the women on "The View" had something to say about it this morning, and of course Elizabeth Hasssssellllbleck thinks that's something that should never be said. And the new idiot Sherri Shepherd (she'll remain an idiot in my book because she admitted she does not believe in evolution and does not want it taught to her kids, and she took her husband back after he had an affair, and a CHILD, with another woman. They have since separated, but still!), thought the same thing. Apparently there's a line one should never cross and it involves making fun of Jesus.

Duly noted.

In other news, I would totally buy this t-shirt.

What? No "Cop Rock"?

Time magazine has compiled a list of the 100 best TV shows of all time, and it's pretty cool because there's a clip with every listing.

Of course it's not complete because "Mad Men" isn't on it. That show just keeps getting better and better. Last night's episode almost had me crying, not because of anything that happened in the show (although the bit about Salvatore was pretty heartbreaking), but because it was so damn good. I almost had an "I LOVE THIS SHOW SO MUCH!!!!" moment (see above).

Emmys, Shmemmys

The Emmy Nominations were announced this morning, and once again it proves that the nominations are cast by people who don't actually watch TV.

OK. Maybe that's a little harsh. There are some good ones in there. I'm happy about "30 Rock"'s nods. And....and....OK. None of the other nominations are very pleasing. Once again, nothing for Lauren Graham on "Gilmore Girls." And "Boston Legal" for Best Drama Series? Really? And nothing for "Battlestar Galactica"?

WhatEVER, Emmys.

Here's an Idea...Move It to FRIDAYS!

NBC renewed "Friday Night Lights". While I did manage to watch the entire season of the show, mainly because there were some days when I was badly in need of some TV to watch while working and it's one of the shows NBC provides on its Web site, there are still three reasons why I don't really care that it's been renewed.

1. I hate football.

2. The show utilizes that incredibly annoying shaky cam technique. They tried to excuse this during the first episode by explaining that a camera crew was following the new coach around, filming some kind of documentary, but they dropped that whole notion pretty much by the second episode, yet still kept the annoying palsy camerawork for the rest of the season.

3. I hate football.

The End Is Nigh

ABC announced that "Lost" will end in 2010, which sure sounds like a long ways away, but maybe that's just because I don't want to admit that come 2010, I will be 40.

The show will have three more shorter seasons, which means no more of that lame six episodes and then a long break and then the rest of the season crap. I guess the general hope is now that the writers have a definite time line in sight, they will be able to pace the show better, and maybe come up with some episodes that don't feel like they're just pulling stories out of their asses.

Which is not to say I feel they've been doing that recently--I've liked the past couple of episodes--but I'd have to call the majority of this season a failure.

I Will Always Love You

Looks like that season finale of "Gilmore Girls" on May 15th will be the series finale, as it has been cancelled. I sure hope that finale gives us some happy endings, because this season has had way too many downer moments.

In other news, I'm going to tomorrow's final S.F. Conan O'Brien taping, woo!!

Separation Anxiety

For the three other people out there who were fans of ABC's "Six Degrees" you should know that the final five episodes of the series will end up on ABC's online video site. One new episode is already up, and four more will premiere each Friday.

I watched the latest ep yesterday, and it just made me miss the show all the more.

In other news, if you're wondering what ever happened to that guiltiest of guilty pleasures, "Men in Trees," it sounds like the final episodes of its season won't air until the Fall, when they will be tacked on to the second season. Which is just dumb in so many ways.

Andy Barker, D.O.A.

Poor Andy Richter. He just can't win when it comes to sitcoms, can he? His latest, "Andy Barker, P.I.," has been cancelled by NBC. The remaining two episodes will be "burned off" this Saturday night from 8-9pm.

While I didn't think the show was as good as, say, "30 Rock," I still enjoyed it, and felt if given a chance, it could build up a level of lunacy it sorely needed. But it was still better than the likes of ABC's "In Case of Emergency," which, for some unknown reason, is still on the air.

Six Degrees of Cancellation

Oh, poop. After just two weeks back on the air, ABC has officially cancelled "Six Degrees." Once again, I was really digging this show, even more so with its "revamping," which I thought would doom it. They were finding new ways of connecting the characters; Hope Davis and Campbell Scott finally shared some screen time; and it looked like those two characters were headed towards a possible romance with each other, which would have been perfect. But now, we may never know if that was to pass. I just hope ABC decides to put the remaining episodes up on their Web site.

Sad...Happy!

I still don't have my PowerBook back here at work (any minute! They promise!) so I have been forced to use a PC all day. I've already cursed the thing a dozen times and had three programs crash on me. PCs are SO AWESOME!

Anyway, here's some brief news of interest: In the sad department, Bob Clark, the director of "A Christmas Story," was killed in a car crash today.

In happy news, "30 Rock" was renewed for a second season!

Conan Conquers San Francisco

I posted about this on SFist, but they're having trouble with their servers, so who knows when it will actually appear on the site. Late Night with Conan O'Brien is coming to San Francisco at the end of April for a week of tapings at the Orpheum Theater.

This is the link to learn how to get tickets. It's taking a long-ass time to load, though, so if you want to get tickets, send an email request to ConanInSanFrancisco - at - nbcuni - dot - com with your name, address, phone number and email. And if you get tickets, take me.

The Nein

"The Nine" is joining "Six Degrees" in limbo land as ABC has pulled it from broadcast until further notice.

I guess the network just can't stand shows that have numbers in their titles.