TVSquad

Warner Bros. was trying to be a bit experimental. They were going to try selling new shows they were producing such as Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and others on their own online retail site. They hit a speedbump in the shape of at least four broadcast networks, though. Seems those networks believe people have such strong associations with the network they're shown on that they didn't want people to be able to find them on the studio's site. This disagreement may mean that unless a deal is hammered out Warner Bros. new shows won't be available on digital platforms at all.

According to a new study from Brandimensions, the new show with the most buzz leading into the Fall TV season is Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. That conclusion was drawn from a monitoring of online discussions and mentions. A bit over 22 percent of those, the study says, were relating to Studio 60. So almost a quarter of the online discussions regarding the upcoming TV season involved in some way shape or form that one show. The next highest ranking belonged to fellow NBC program Heroes, with 9.3 percent. Studio 60 is also the show most people are feeling warm and fuzzy about, with a 3.81 "sentiment" ranking. All that adds up to the potential for a big move by NBC out of the ratings doldrums and back into first place. Of course buzz doesn't always translate directly into ratings but the folks at NBC have to be feeling pretty good about this right now.

Responding to a fine of $3.3 million from the Federal Communications Commission, CBS has said that none of the complaints regarding a recent episode of Without A Trace came from actual viewers. The network says that all of the 4,200-plus complaints labeling the episode as "indecent" came from the Parents Television Council and American Family Association, two socially conservative advocacy groups. CBS claims in its appeal that to be valid a complaint must come from an actual viewer of th show. Ironically, the broadcast of the episode that drew the complaints was a repeat. When the episode was originally aired no complaints were filed. The appeal from CBS seeks to rescind the fine, the largest ever doled out by the FCC over an indecency issue. A PTC spokesperson says that this is just legal manuvering and that the will of the people must be recognized. That might be true but the complaints are hardly valid if they didn't watch the show, are they? And where were the complaints the first time around?

I'm taking this story with a grain of salt, but if true it's pretty funny.

While vacationing at a ski resort, 24 star Keifer Sutherland was approached by someone who said they worked for the CIA. That person told him his portrayal of uber-efficient (and seriously sleep-deprived) Bauer had set expectations for CIA operatives too high. Seems the agent's mother had remarked to him that he should be more like Jack Bauer, who gets things accomplished quickly. No word on if the mother in question also advised her son to shoot people in the legs should they not cooperate willingly.

(S05E24) We pick up right where we left off in the last episode. J.D. is celebrating the arrival of Spring and all the things that go with it, including the annual appearance of Dr. Kelso in shorts, showing off his surprisingly youthful and muscular legs. He'll show off his amazing vertical leap at a baby shower Elliot throws for Turk and Carla in the hospital cafeteria later on. At the shower Dr. Cox and Jordan give all their old baby toys and equipment to the couple since they don't need it anymore.

(S05E23) Elliot thinks her relationship with Keith (which at the start kind of creeped me out and then...well...it still creeped me out) might be over. This is very distressing to Carla, who is suffering from an excess of hormones as she gets more and more pregnant. Elliot thinks Keith is weak, largely because he seems to get trampled on every day by Dr. Cox and other interns. Carla even goes so far as to get Elliot, Turk and J.D. together to try and talk Elliot out of breaking up with him. It's no use, though, since she's looking for someone stronger who will stand up for her.

(S05E22) First off, I love the title. It actually had me chuckling when I saw it on the Tivo screen and before I even started watching it.

The episode itself was good, a solid double that almost got stretched for a triple. Once again, J.D. was not the driving force behind the plot but more of a spectator to events happening around him. The central premise was that if you stay somewhere long enough things tend to repeat themselves. And so we're treated to sort of a greatest hits tape of lines from previous episodes of Scrubs. The Todd urgently tells someone there's a breast reduction surgery about to take place and he has to go stop it. J.D. stumps The Janitor with a riddle and other such things. It's a pretty funny device that at least is better than a standard sitcom clip-show.

Page Six is reporting (I keep looking at that and still can't believe I typed it) that Star Jones is being shown the door by Barbara Walters and the producers of The View. Jones' departure was apparently one of the conditions of Rosie O'Donnell joining the show, a condition Walters and other knew and agreed to when they were courting O'Donnell. Jones' agents are denying the host is on her way out but others say they're sniffing around for a new home for her. Gayle King, a friend of Oprah Winfrey, is apparently in line to replace Jones on the show. The boisterous Jones has come under some fire recently for a series of disagreements with management over her agreements to pitch products or mention brand names on the show.

I have to tell you the absence of Jones on the show would absolutely kill the unintentional comedic possibilities inherent in a pairing of her and O'Donnell. I might have overcome the gag reflex both of these personalities cause individually, much less together, just to see when one would pounce on the other on the air.

(S05E21) I (and the rest of you, I think) often judge whether an episode of Scrubs is good or not by how outrageous the comedy is. The show has definitely built a reputation for being wacky and surreal and that's the yardstick that's used to decide whether or not that episode succeeded and is firing on all eight cylinders. In a way that's unfair. There are a lot of extremely talented actors on the show and they rarely get a chance to stretch in a dramatic direction.

This was an episode where, were we to judge on comedy stylings, it would be a failure. There was very little in the way of the outrageous comedy that is the show's hallmark. We pick up shortly after the last episode left off, with Dr. Cox reeling from the death of three patients after they got organs from a woman who died after being infected by rabies. (Don't get me started on this - my TV barely survived the viewing.) Cox has turned to drinking to dull the pain and has cut himself off from the rest of the staff and his friends and even came to work drunk.

(S05E19) J.D. is locked in a water tank for most of this episode, but not before he passes on the gift of voiceover narration to The Janitor.

One of the major - and funniest - plots of the episode is Dr. Cox's constant questioning of just how hip and funky Turk is. Mediocre basketball skills, a group of hopelessly unhip friends and a host of other characteristics all combine to have Cox remind Turk over and over again that he is not cool. This is not helped by the fact that Carla is in full baby-prep mode. That includes buying a mini-van and buying a Baby Bjorn.