TVSquad

Thank you, TV Jesus. You know that you could buy TV shows off the iTunes Music Store for a while now, but the offerings have been limited to five ABC shows with some rumored talk of CBS joining in on the game and even some mention of the possibility of ESPN getting involved.

My fellow blogger, David Chartier over at TUAW first spotted this this morning, when he noted that "Apple has added a ton of new shows to the iTMS from the likes of NBC, USA, SciFi and Disney. The Office, Monk, Battlestar Galactica (including the miniseries), The Tonight Show, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Law & Order and Surface are among the newcomers. But wait! There's more: peep the vintage NBC shows like Knight Rider (no joke), Dragnet and even some Alfred Hitchcock." Launch iTunes now, navigate to the iTMS, and click on TV Shows now to check it all out for yourself.

The new Internet TV revolution has truly begun! Viva la revolution!

Boy, December 1 was a banner night for the late night talk shows, wasn't it? It seemed like many of the shows took it up a notch so they could take even a small amount of attention away from the "big event", the Winfrey/Letterman summit (by the way, Dave did an absolutely brilliant job of building hype for this interview; I'm sure he got his best ratings in years). Just some highlights from the night, at least as far as my eyes and remote were concerned:

I'm just full of Oprah news today. Looks like the "feud" she had with David Letterman is about to end; America's favorite Book Club president will appear on The Late Show on December 1. She's appearing to promote the play she's producing, a musical adaptation of The Color Purple.

Dave announced the news to the audience at tonight's taping, and he couldn't be more thrilled. "She's huge. Put bygones behind us, the water under the bridge, over the dam, wherever water goes  -- standing in your basement -- she's going to be here on this show and it's going to be fantastic," he gushed.

It's too bad, though; I loved Dave's groveling to Oprah over the years. If anyone remembers his nightly "Super Bowl of Love," you'll agree with me. Now, I just hope he doesn't start getting all gooey with her like he does with Dr. Phil. Gooey Dave is not a funny Dave.

I find this confusing and sad. America, do you really like Jay Leno better than Letterman? My God...why? I find the guy incredibly unfunny, he mumbles and rushes through many interviews, he has Gilbert Gottfried as a regular, Stuttering John as an announcer...ugh. I find Leno does one funny thing, and that's "Headlines," and he has nothing to do with the humor of that (other than mugging for the camera and really overexplaining the jokes).

Anyway, Leno has increased his ratings lead over Letterman, and the news is even more incredible because CBS is a primetime ratings powerhouse and NBC, well, isn't. So I guess people really do change the channel.

What's going on at The Late Show With David Letterman? Last night's episode (with guests Charlie Sheen and Interstate) was the show that was supposed to be on tonight! And it's not just that they moved up the guests to another night or switched the guests around, this was the Friday show (you could tell because it had all the Friday night staples, like Week in Review and Wiill It Float?). It was taped, and Dave even signed off by mentioning the weekend and who was on Monday's show.

Anyone know what's going on and who's on tonight? Will it be the guests who were supposed to be on last night (Ted Turner, The Neville Brothers, and The Meters)? And if so, why the switch?

This story is almost as complicated as it is bizarre. Kelly Frank, a house painter accused of plotting to kidnap David Letterman's son and nanny, pleaded guilty on Monday and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. (Okay, this is where it gets weird.) But he didn't plead guilty to the kidnapping plot, but instead to overcharging the Late Show host for a paint job he did on the house. (Yup, I told you it was weird. It gets worse.) Frank was also sentenced on an unrelated felony charge for "possessing illegally killed wildlife." In addition to jail time, Frank was also ordered to pay $1,500 to Letterman's ranch (which the funny man plans to donate to charity) and $8,000 to the state of Montana. (But it gets even nuttier.) At the time of his arrest, Frank was also on probation for another case where he pleaded guilty for stalking and intimidating a woman. Whoa! This has the makings of a Law & Order episode all over it. I don't totally understand it all, but I'm just glad the bad guy is going to jail.

This is probably driving NBC crazy, but Martha Stewart will give her first late night show interview to David Letterman on September 19. It's a little surprising, since her Apprentice show is on NBC, but Martha has a long history with Dave, so it's good to see she's going to him first. It's a good thing.

This is just about the only thing that Jay Leno has over David Letterman: his show is shown in high definition. But that's going to change at the end of this month, when The Late Show With David Letterman goes high definition. So now Letterman is better than Leno is every way.

Conan O'Brien's show is in high-def too, but his show doesn't suck like Leno's.

Oh, will you looky here: both Tom Cruise and Russell Crowe are on the late night shows tonight! Oh thank you talk shows Gods!

Crowe is on Letterman, while Cruise visits Leno. Gee, what will they talk about, I wonder? Will Crowe take out a cell phone and throw it at Paul Schaffer? Will Cruise jump on Leno's couch and start humping it? Ladies and gentlemen, get your remotes ready! 

When Johnny Carson died, his former bandleader Doc Severinsen (along with producer Peter Lassally) came on The Late Show With David Letterman to talk about Johnny and their years on The Tonight Show with him. And Severinsen and his band played Johnny's favorite song, "Here's That Rainy Day," a song I had never heard before but is absolutely beautiful. The video is now up at Letterman's page at cbs.com and it's well worth a look. And yes, that is Tommy Newsom playing the sax and Ed Shaughnessy on drums.

We've told you before about Rosie O'Donnell's blog, where she writes about her life, her kids, world problems, and everything else in bizarre poetry form. In her latest entry, she discusses why she won't go on The Late Show With David Letterman. I can't really summarize it in one paragraph. The thing has to be read in it's entirety. I will say, however, that the poem contains the phrases "I did a lot of umms" and "I doubt I would be comfy."

 Our weekly preview of what's coming up on the late night talk shows.

• The Daily Show: tonight it's Byron York, author of The Vast Left Wing Conspiracy; on Tuesday, Senator Bob Dole; Wednesday has author John Avlon, and David Duchovny talks about his new movie House of D on Thursday. 
• The Late Show With David Letterman: Letterman returns with all new eps after a week that had a mixed bag of new eps and repeats. Tonight Robin Williams talks about House of D; on Tuesday Mickey Rourke from Sin City; on Wednesday Duchovny comes by to talk about X-Files 2.  Just kidding! He'll talk about House of D I'm sure (t's all D all the time this week); Anthony Lapaglia and Ana Gasteyer pop up on Thursday, and Friday's show will feature Kristen Chenoweth from The West Wing.

I was shocked when I saw the news of a kidnapping plot involving David Letterman's son and nanny scroll by on a news ticker this morning. The reality that some painter that worked on Letterman's Montana ranch was planning to kidnap the young boy and demand a $5 million ransom is just astonishing. It's a good thing an acquaintance of the accused Kelly A. Frank (shown here in a 1999 mugshot), told the police what Frank was planning. Crazy world.