TVSquad

Seventeen. That is the number of premieres that aired during the 1973-74 Saturday morning schedule. It marked the largest number of premieres since original fare began to be offered during the 1965-66 season. It also marked an official shift in the what the networks decided was rating-getting Saturday morning fare.

Taking an example from ABC's successful Saturday morning schedule during the 1972-73 season, the other networks loaded up their time slots with animated versions of its primetime related fare. There was also a lack of animated rock bands. With The Osmonds, Jackson 5ive and Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan off the schedule only one band (and one solo performer) joined the fray this time around.

The 1973-74 season also marked the return of some old Saturday morning favorites: Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Batman, Superman and Aquaman. After a bit of a vacation these characters returned to the airwaves in new formats. For all, it would be the beginning of a long-running Saturday morning relationship that would last well into the 80s.

Labor Day marks the end of summer (yeah, don't tell me summer ends later in September, if it's Labor Day and the kids are back in school, summer is over), and you could spend the weekend at the beach, having a barbecue, or doing something athletic outside. Or, you could stay in all weekend on your couch and watch a TV marathon! Here's a list of some marathons you can see this Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.

Saturday, August 30

• At 6am, TCM starts a marathon of Katharine Hepburn movies.
• At 7, History Channel has a marathon of Ax Men.
• At 9, USA has a Starter Wife marathon.
• Also at 9, Sci-Fi has a marathon of monster movies, including Carnosaur, Reptilian, Beneath Loch Ness, Eye of the Beast, King of the Lost World, and Black Swarm.
• At 10, Bravo has a Shear Genius marathon.
• At 11, History Channel has a bunch of Ice Road Truckers episodes.
• At 11:30, Discovery Kids has a marathon of Flight 29 Down episodes.
• At 2pm, Spike has a CSI marathon.

Dexter's got it all: murder, mystery, mayhem, even romance and humor. My excitement barometer has started to rise, what with the hype surrounding the new season, premiering on September 28 on Showtime.

Man, I wish the creators of Dexter could package and sell their formula, although I'd be a very busy woman if all shows were this good. In fact, a show this good rarely comes around, with top-notch writing and incredible acting talent coming together.

Speaking of which, Hispanic Business has a quality interview up with the actor who plays Angel Batista on Dexter, David Zayas.

I'm sure that Michelle was even more angry than usual when she saw Ollie immediately following her in last night's Big Brother 10 double eviction show. Meanwhile, Dan the man with a plan, relaxes in the yard of the house. But is he really all that relaxed? There was an HOH competition last night after the show itself ended. Who's the new HOH and how might it affect the final four?

Read on past the jump for extreme show spoilers!

Here's who's on the late night talk shows tonight.

• Charlie Rose: Doris Kearns Goodwin, Robert A. Caro, and Joseph A. Califano
• The Daily Show: coverage of the DNC
• The Colbert Report: John McWhorter
• The Late Show with David Letterman: Amy Sedaris, Kim Kardashian, and Brian Regan
• Jay Leno: Shawn Johnson, Arsenio Hall, and Chuck Berry
  
• Jimmy Kimmel Live: Lauren Conrad, Tyrese, and Glen Campbell
  
• Tavis Smiley: Matt Bai, Marc Morial, and Cornel West
  
• Late Night with Conan O'Brien: Bob Costas and Sophia Bush
  
• The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson: Mary Steenburgen and Criss Angel (repeat)
  
• Last Call with Carson Daly: Kate Flannery and Moby (repeat)
  

• At 7, USA has more coverage of The U.S. Open.
• At 8, The CW has a new Smackdown!
• PBS has a new Washington Week at 8, followed by new episodes of NOW and Bill Moyers Journal.
• TCM has On The Waterfront at 8.
• At 9, NBC has a new Dateline.
• Discovery Channel has two new episodes of Discovery Project Earth at 9.
• At 10, CBS has a new Swingtown.
• ABC has a new 20/20 at 10.
• At 10:30, E! has a new episode of The Soup.
• At 11, HBO has the season premiere of Real Time with Bill Maher.

Check your local TV listings for more.

The reviews from the political talking heads -- right and left -- have been mostly positive. The visuals were spectacular and riveting. History was made at Mile High Stadium in Denver last night when Senator Barack Obama accepted the nomination of the Democratic party as the first African-American presidential candidate. There were 80,000 people packed in the stadium, and now Nielsen has determined that 38 million people tuned in to watch on TV.

How impressive is that number? It's more than the opening ceremonies from the Beijing Olympics. It's also more than the 2008 Oscars and the finale of Fox's American Idol.

The networks cleared just one hour of prime time -- from 10-11 ET -- and the Democratic organizers made sure to present Obama's speech right in that slot, not drifting into the local late news.

August has been a slow month for these "Best XXXX of All-Time" and "Worst XXXX Sitcoms of the Decade" lists, but here's an interesting one: the 20 best seasons of the last 20 years.

It's an interesting subject for a list because TV fans can often agree on what shows are generally good or bad, and we can generally agree that even the best shows have bad seasons if they run long enough. But if you think about the shows that you've watched over the past 20 years (and watched all of the seasons, not just episodes here and there), what seasons stand out to you? Off the top of my head, before I even read the article, I thought of either season 2 or season 3 of The West Wing (the list writer picks season 2) and I would obviously pick a season of The X-Files or The Simpsons, though it would be hard to pick one season (he picks season 4 of the former and season 4 of the latter). Also on the list: season 2 of Buffy and season 1 of Deadwood. The first seasons of Friday Night Lights and Firefly? Really?

The list is for the past 20 years, but it leans heavily towards shows of the mid-90s and the 2000s. How about season 2 or 3 of NewsRadio? Or how about shows like Lost, The Sopranos, Mad Men, 30 Rock, Friends, or Seinfeld? They explain their methodology but it seems a little lame to me.

The Simpsons is about to go some place it has never gone before: Homer Simpson's colon.

According to The New York Post, Homer is going to undergo a colonoscopy this season. Actually, it's not going to be part of the long-running FOX show, it's going to be part of the multi-network cancer benefit on September 5 titled Stand Up To Cancer. The Post even quotes a line from the segment that already has me laughing, from Marge: "There's his wedding band! He told me he was having it polished!" Which begs the question, do Marge and Homer even wear their rings?

Stand Up To Cancer is an ambitious telethon that will air on all four networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX). The three network news anchors (Katie Couric, Charles Gibson, and Brian Williams) even went on the morning shows several weeks back to promote this rare display of unity between the networks.

Hopefully Homer will be clean as a whistle, despite 40 plus years of eating fried foods and donuts.

Hey, if David Schwimmer can do it, why not Jennifer Aniston?

The rumors floating around have turned out to be true: the ex-Friends star is going to make a guest appearance on NBC's 30 Rock this season. In fact, she's filming the episode as I type this. Well, maybe not that sentence, but even as I type ... this.

Now comes the endless speculation on what part she'll play. Could she be a new girlfriend for Jack Donaghy? Or maybe a new cast member brought on TGS with Tracy Jordan that becomes a rival to Jenna? How about an old friend of Tina Fey's that moves to New York and causes trouble for her in some way? I think the biggest twist would be if Aniston actually became a regular on the show, but I don't see that happening.

Of course, why not just have her be Rachel Green (sorry, it must be Rachel Geller by now)? She could be brought on TGS as a fashion/make-up person.

Despite being a regular in season 7, Laura Vandervoort is scheduled to appear in only a single episode of season 8 of Smallville. Sorry to spoil those who haven't seen the season 7 finale by now, but considering her Kara/Supergirl character was trapped in the Phantom Zone at the end of the season, it's nice of the producers to allow her storyline to end on a more positive note (one can hope).

Ms. Vandervoort also mentioned at the Toronto FanExpo this past weekend that there was consideration of spinning off her character to her own show. While that would have been a good idea, the ship sailed on a Smallville spin-off after season three. Also, a series about a super-powered blonde girl has been done already with a show about a certain Vampire Slayer.

I already have low expectations for season eight of Smallville (particularly given the radical change in cast). Without the regular presence of the rather attractive Kara, my expectations remain the same.

"Guess Who's Coming to Denver": Seeing Jon Stewart and Aasif Mandvi make those jokes about (not) seeing Barack Obama's speech made I wonder if there are still any regular viewers that doesn't understand when The Daily Show (and The Colbert Report) tape and air their episodes. I remember when I started watching Conan O'Brien when I was super young, all the "It's really 11:30 at night!" jokes flew way over my head. So, just in case you don't know but are too embarrassed to ask: Both TDS and TCR tape around 6:00 or 7:00 in the evening and then air the same night. There.

It's somewhat a contradiction in terms to hear of the British Broadcasting Corporation setting up a division in Los Angeles, but it's happening anyway. Jane Tranter, the executive who was in charge of such hits as the revamped Doctor Who and Life on Mars is spearheading the effort.

It's a good idea and long overdue. BBC programming is incredibly popular here in the states (at first due to PBS and now due to cable, particularly BBC America). With this in mind, the Beeb can now have more content take place directly in the United States. Personally, I find it unfair with regards to Doctor Who that the Doctor seems stuck in Cardiff all the time.

This move also likely means that the BBC will be using more American writers and/or actors within their content. If Joss Whedon did some work for the BBC, then Ripper might finally be made into a series.

I'm pretty sure I know how Will Arnett has spent his summer: doing leg presses. Arnett is slipping back into his short robe to reprise his role on 30 Rock. His character, Jack Donaghy's nemesis Devon Banks, may have already screwed Jack out of the CEO job at the end of last season, but he's coming back for more.

Arnett is scheduled to load up on the self-tanner and appear on 30 Rock's season premiere, airing October 30. He scored a well-deserved Emmy nomination for his stint on the show last season, so his reappearance is no big surprise. Arnett is reportedly already on the 30 Rock set shooting scenes with Baldwin for the inevitable Banks/Donaghy showdown.

Although this is the only episode in which he is confirmed to be appearing, I wouldn't be shocked if he popped up again later in the season. I'm just hoping that the season premiere takes place a little while after the finale, so Kenneth can get back from Beijing in time to be harassed into Banks' arms, because that's the love story I want to see.

The action for the hamsters in the Big Brother 10 house didn't end at the end of the live show last night. Now, this won't air until Sunday night on the show, but there is already a new Head of Household in place. They gave the houseguests enough time to catch their breath, then the show went on. Well, it went on at the house, that is.

For extreme show spoilers, read past the jump. You've been warned.