TVSquad

Two of the biggest daytime court TV shows, Judge Joe Brown and Judge Judy, are holding the line in the new season. Few changes were made to either program for the 2005-2006 season.

Judge Joe Brown saw the most significant change, with his audience now voting on cases before he rules on them. The results are shown on the TV monitor behind the judge that was introduced last year. Until now, it's mostly been used to show photos of exhibits.

There's also a female announcer now. His court reporter returns for another season. She's alright, but the less of her the better. The opening segment has been cleaned up and is not as annoying or self-serving to Judge Joe.

Fox entered the daytime small-claims court show market today with Judge Alex, a 30-minute show that offers little more than similar programs. Judge Alex's good looks might keep his show alive, but there's nothing especially compelling about it.

I watched two episodes today. They contained the usual small-claims cases. There's a court bailiff who provides the appropriate smiles and laughs on cue, much like the other shows in this genre. There's an announcer who explains what's going on. There's no reporter, a la Judge Joe Brown. At the end of the cases, the plaintiffs and defendants undergo exit interviews without an on-camera interviewer, much like Judge Judy's show does with participants.

For the first time ever (as far as I know), Jerry Lewis will devote a portion of his marathon show for the Muscular Dystrophy Association this weekend to also helping another worthy cause. He'll be devoting the first four hours and the last four hours of the telethon to raising money for Hurricane Katrina victims through celebrity appeals.

It's not clear whether there will be two giant signs showing the current level of contributions for both causes or if the Katrina donations will be handled in a different way from the MDA ones. Go Jerry!

An ABC/ESPN experiment for its Indy auto racing coverage that provides a split screen during national commercials is a success, at least from the perspective of this TiVo user and commercial skipper.

Called "Side-By-Side," the technique splits the screen into parts, with the commercial itself taking the majority of the right side of the screen, as well as the audio. The live, albeit silent, Indy race is in a smaller window on the left side (you can see this in the screenshot to the right).

The top of the screen includes more information, including the name of the company whose commercial is running at that moment. The top three race leaders also are listed on the top of the screen, in addition to the current lap.

The FCC has sped up the process for some TV sets to include built-in digital tuners. Mid-sized TV sets must have digital TV (DTV) tuners by next March 1, four months earlier than originally required.

FCC rules already require all TV sets larger than 36 inches to have built-in DTV tuners by this July 1. In addition, half of all mid-sized TV sets -- those with 25- to 36-inch screens -- must have DTV tuners by this July 1. Two industry groups had asked the agency to eliminate the 50 percent requirement for mid-sized sets, a request the FCC rejected.

FCC rules also require that small TV sets larger than 13 inches and all TV receiving devices, such as VCRs, must have built-in DTV tuners by July 1, 2007. The agency this week proposed that the date be moved up to Dec. 31, 2006. It also asked the industry and public whether TV sets with screens smaller than 13 inches should have a digital tuner requirement.

The agency's actions are part of the broader effort to move from analog to digital TV broadcasting. The faster that TV sets have built-in digital tuners, the quicker the move to digital TV will be practical.

Do you have an HDTV set yet? We're taking an informal poll to find out how many TV Squad readers are interested in high-definition and digital TV coverage.

A weekly column on upcoming HDTV programming is just around the corner. And there's a ton of news out there about network plans for future HDTV programming, regulatory actions in Washington, and emerging digital TV technologies (including high-def personal video recorders, or PVRs).

So tell us: Do you have an HDTV set? If not, when do you plan, if ever, to buy one? Do you have an HD PVR?

I've been watching Cops on Fox for about 15 years, last night being the latest time. Every time I watch the program, I have the same question: Why do so few people (suspects, witnesses, etc.) comment on the fact that a camera operator and a sound person are following these cops around?

I'd say that 99 percent of the people are never heard saying anything about this. Maybe all the comments are edited out. I know that I might be inclined to ask, as an aside, "By the way, where are the camera guys from?" Or maybe I would be so shocked to have a need for contact with the police that I wouldn't care.

And that 1 percent that I inferred? I can remember a time or two where a suspect looks into the camera and says something like, "Get out of my house." But I think the camera is allowed to go where the cops go by law, so that's not an issue.

And while I'm commenting about this show, how do the producers decide whose faces are shown and whose faces are blurred out? Is it merely decided by which ones are later found guilty and which ones aren't? I don't think so, because even sidelookers are blurred out sometimes. It must be a major headache to go through 22 minutes of tape and figure out which people and things to blur out.

Of course, maybe I should forget all of this and just enjoy the show.